This just in – the Macdonald Park Pool (Avondale’s city/public pool) has changed it’s opening times. It will be closed Sunday, and only open 0800 to 1200 Saturday. It will also be shut at 1600 everyday, not the 1800 it used to shut. But it will be available to hire for functions on those days. No reason has been given. This is city wide, directive from above.

I ‘understand’ things, since I have been involved in getting the Mac Park Pool rehabilitated and opened.

The first thing I know is that it was rented for functions at $300 a time. Weddings usually. And the area residents complained non-stop about the noise involved.

The second thing I know, on a warm weekend day, the pool would take in over $300 in gate proceeds. In a day! And, or course, the residents generally work on the weekdays, so can only swim on the weekends.

Conclusion. The City of Harare has decided to stop getting up to $500 (two and a half days’ income) and instead rent it out for $300. The City of Harare is trying to NOT make money. The City of Harare is trying to keep the citizens of Harare out of their pool.

Another thing known – The City of Harare takes all the gate takings. Banked straight to them. And rental of the place as a venue means the money goes to the pool, which then takes what it needs for chemicals and upkeep, and banks the remainder to the City of Harare. The City of Harare, however, never gives or pays for any chemicals or pool maintenance. So, the only way to keep the pool running is to shut it to the public, rent it to a private function, and use that money to keep it running for the public.

Is this not short-term policy to long-term disaster?

Please can we have the City of Harare run the pool for the Harare Public and make money?

This entry was posted on March 26th, 2012 at 10:41 am by Michael Laban and is filed under Activism, Governance, Reflections, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.