By Andrew Stone

Just four months after regaining its coveted Blue Flag status, Gonubie Beach has again lost the right to fly the prestigious flag.

This after Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) again failed to submit water samples in the allocated time.

Alison Kelly, National Blue Flag Programme Manager, confirmed to the Daily Dispatch that Gonubie Beach had been stripped of its Blue Flag status four weeks ago.

“Samples should be taken every two weeks, but since November it has happened twice that the municipality has not taken the samples within the allocated time and sent them to the lab for testing,” said Kelly.

BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya blamed the service provider tasked with taking water samples for not complying.

“We are in an unfortunate position in BCM because there is only one accredited service provider that can take water samples for Blue Flag purposes and thus their shoddy service has had a negative impact on us.”

Gonubie Beach was one of 29 beaches around the country named in October last year by Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk that had won the right to fly the Blue Flag.

Kelly said at the time it was a tremendous achievement for Gonubie to have regained the flag.

“It really shows the commitment from those at Buffalo City Municipality to regain Blue Flag status and meet all the necessary requirements.”

Tourism Buffalo City CEO Peter King said it was disappointing news “since the tourism industry uses this status as a marketing tool to promote the attractiveness of the region”.

“It will be doubly disappointing if this loss cannot be remedied in the short-term, since it seems to rest more on a procedural omission than an environmental shortcoming.”

It was reported last year in the Dispatch that Gonubie Beach had lost its Blue Flag status after BCM failed to deliver a water sample on time to the laboratory in Port Elizabeth.

In 2007 BCM also missed out on the opportunity to fly the Blue Flag on Gonubie Beach due to poor water quality.

Source: Daily Dispatch