'You'll burn, so no swimming' in Tshwane

A former SA Navy chief, a former mayor and an activist went to the Hillcrest swimming pool in Pretoria on the first day of spring to take a swim, but were instead stopped in their tracks because the pool wasn't ready.

- Marizka Coetzer

Yesterday, DA mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink and two others were told it was too dangerous to get into the swimming pool.

As soon as Brink, DA member and activist JP Verster and former SA Navy chief rear admiral Rusty Higgs tried to get into the pool, a man appeared out of nowhere and stopped them, saying the amount of chlorine in the pool would burn them.

"You will burn; we have had people in the hospital. This is not acceptable. We are busy getting the pool ready to reopen it," the man said before disappearing.

Brink said pools were initially closed in 2024 as a temporary measure during water shortages.