# Joburg’s public pools crisis

An episode of [The Midday Report with Mandy Wiener](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1074292047), 20 Oct 2026, 4:49.

Audio: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/5dcefa8e-00a9-4595-8ce1-a4ab0080f142/fe8d1a9a-a053-424d-9f40-a57500d5394b/4b442091-e465-4532-a894-b4e900b4debb/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=18146681-7843-46cf-9a9c-a57500d59fe7

Mandy Wiener speaks to Deputy Director of communications at the City of Johannesburg , Nthatisi Modingoane about Joburg’s public pools crisis as some public pools remain unopened. The Midday Report with Mandy Wiener is 702 and CapeTalk’s flagship news show, your hour of essential news radio. The show is podcasted every weekday, allowing you to catch up with a 60-minute weekday wrap of the day's main news. It's packed with fast-paced interviews with the day’s newsmakers, as well as those who can make sense of the news and explain what's happening in your world. All the interviews are podcasted for you to catch up and listen to. Thank you for listening to this podcast of The Midday Report Listen live on weekdays between 12:00 and 13:00 (SA Time) to The Midday Report broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from The Midday Report go to https://buff.ly/BTGmL9H and find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/LcbDdFI Subscribe to the 702 and CapeTalk daily and weekly newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Let's have a look now at the situation with pools,
[0:03] Speaker 1: public pools in the city of Joburg. So 36 pools
[0:07] Speaker 1: were due to be opened at the beginning of October.
[0:10] Speaker 1: There were delays due to compliance and maintenance issues. Funny enough, again,
[0:13] Speaker 1: it's chlorine. Again, that seems to be the problem. But
[0:17] Speaker 1: a number of pools haven't opened that were supposed to
[0:20] Speaker 1: open today. Ntatisi Modinguane is the Deputy Director of Communications
[0:25] Speaker 1: at the City of Joburg and joins us now. Deputy Director,
[0:29] Speaker 1: good afternoon to you. Thank you very much for your time.
[0:32] Speaker 1: What is the status of the public pools in Joburg?
[0:35] Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Mindy, and good afternoon to the listeners. Yes,
[0:40] Speaker 2: the City of Johannesburg has... a total of 57 swimming pools,
[0:47] Speaker 2: public swimming pools. To date, 33 of those are open
[0:52] Speaker 2: and up and running. The city adopted a phased approach,
[0:57] Speaker 2: looking at issues of safety and all the issues so
[1:02] Speaker 2: that we open them, we stagger the opening of the
[1:05] Speaker 2: swimming pool. Once the swimming pool is ready, we open
[1:07] Speaker 2: it to the public. So there are a number of
[1:10] Speaker 2: challenges that are keeping some of the pools not open currently,
[1:16] Speaker 2: for example. If you look at the swimming pools in
[1:25] Speaker 2: Region A, for example, one of the swimming pools there,
[1:28] Speaker 2: it can't open because of community issues. People are raising
[1:33] Speaker 2: issues of employment there and so forth. The Florida north
[1:38] Speaker 2: in region C, there's an issue of a circuit breaker
[1:42] Speaker 2: that we are busy dealing with and there's a cable
[1:45] Speaker 2: theft in that area. So we are dealing with these
[1:48] Speaker 2: challenges that are emanating from the pools, but we are
[1:54] Speaker 2: definitely sure that before the middle of the summer time,
[2:02] Speaker 2: all the pools that need to be open will be open.
[2:06] Speaker 1: I understand from Ground Up's reporting that there was also
[2:09] Speaker 1: an issue with getting chemicals to some of the pools.
[2:13] Speaker 1: And this was because the tender for pool chemicals only
[2:17] Speaker 1: closed in mid-September. So is that accurate?
[2:21] Speaker 2: Yes, there was a delay in terms of some of
[2:24] Speaker 2: the procuring of the chemicals. But however, that issue has
[2:28] Speaker 2: been resolved because... On the 13th of October, we received
[2:37] Speaker 2: bulk supply of the chemicals. So we don't have an
[2:40] Speaker 2: issue there. The issue that might still hold some of
[2:45] Speaker 2: the pools is maintenance, repair and maintenance, as well as
[2:50] Speaker 2: onboarding the seasonal labor. Because if you recall, we did
[2:55] Speaker 2: issue a statement to say, This issue of the new
[2:58] Speaker 2: municipal regulation in terms of the qualifications of the people
[3:03] Speaker 2: that are onboarded was raised to a metric. And most
[3:08] Speaker 2: of the lifeguards that we've been working with over the
[3:12] Speaker 2: years do not have that metric. So it was reducing
[3:16] Speaker 2: the pool of the people that we can onboard as
[3:20] Speaker 2: seasonal lifeguards that can assist with safety issues in the pools.
[3:24] Speaker 2: But however, that issue has been resolved. We did write
[3:27] Speaker 2: the deviation, which was approved by the city manager, and
[3:31] Speaker 2: we are onboarding those lifeguards and making sure that whenever
[3:35] Speaker 2: the pool is ready, they are there to assist the public.
[3:39] Speaker 1: A quick question. A listener is asking if Ellis Park
[3:41] Speaker 1: swimming pool will be opened.
[3:44] Speaker 2: Which one?
[3:45] Speaker 1: Ellis Park.
[3:47] Speaker 2: The Ellis Park one. Let me check. I don't know. Florida.
[3:55] Speaker 2: Let me see.
[3:57] Speaker 1: It is obviously one of the biggest in the city
[3:59] Speaker 1: of Germany.
[4:00] Speaker 2: Yeah, it is the biggest. I'm trying to check my
[4:03] Speaker 2: list because they gave me a report of all the
[4:07] Speaker 2: pools that are going.
[4:08] Speaker 1: You can get back to us if you want and
[4:10] Speaker 1: then we can announce it tomorrow.
[4:13] Speaker 2: Yeah, okay. No, that's fine. I'll check that for you.
[4:15] Speaker 1: It's not on your list, eh?
[4:17] Speaker 2: It's not on my list now. Currently, the list that
[4:21] Speaker 2: I've been referred to. I don't have a date for
[4:25] Speaker 2: that one. We can check and come back to you.
[4:28] Speaker 2: All righty. Great.
[4:29] Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Ntatisi Modengwane, Deputy Director of Communications at
[4:34] Speaker 1: the City of Joburg, speaking to us there about pools.
[4:37] Speaker 1: Are your pools, your public pools, are they open? And
[4:40] Speaker 1: I don't understand. The same thing happens every year. Like
[4:44] Speaker 1: summer comes every year. And the pools need to open,
[4:47] Speaker 1: but they are never open on time.

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