The City of Cape Town released a media statement on March 24, informing the public that a clean-up operation is under way at St James tidal pool and the surrounding beach on the False Bay coast.
City officials said that Friday morning’s low tide exposed a possible oil spill which happened quite a few years ago at St James's Beach.
Teams from the City's Coastal Management and Solid Waste departments were immediately dispatched to start with clean-up operations.
The city stated that the clean-up work must be done by hand as heavy machinery such as a front-end loader would not be able to get onto the beach. The teams can also only work during low and mid-tides when the area is exposed.
The city wishes to assure residents and visitors that work is being carried out as fast and thoroughly as possible. During work, some material may become dislodged and re-float as the removal process is under way.
“However, we will continue the work for as long as needed over the coming days as the re-floated patches make landfall again,” the city said in a statement.
Alderman Eddie Andrews, the City's Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment said that “we have cordoned off the areas where work is under way.
“But otherwise, the tidal pool and beach are open to the public. Best is to avoid the work area. At this point in time, we suspect that this could be an old oil spill.
“We don't know where it came from when it was spilt, and so forth. This will have to be investigated, as the City has no knowledge of an oil spill in this area in recent years, nor are we aware of any reports. We will inform the public if any information comes to light,” he said.
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