Page 69 - Bulletin 22 2019

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Despite free bathing, the same report (Minute of the Mayor 1934) stated that the daily letting

of bathing boxes (there were 21 of these) was an unqualified success and a big source of
revenue. They were commonly booked five to six weeks in advance of weekends and public

holidays. It was suggested that the erection of additional boxes was therefore warranted and
that consideration could be given to the area east of the vlei mouth. In 1937 Council agreed to

this and an additional 50 sites were pegged there specifically for privately owned boxes.

Time passed, the war years came on, and Muizenberg’s fine public and private amenities

were put to good use as recuperation and recreation and fund-raising venues as part of the
war effort. After the war Council’s attention focused on improving Sea Point’s amenities.

By the early 1950s the problem of sand build-up and bathing safety again came to the fore. A
deputation of local residents suggested to the Council that the promenade be removed and

replaced by a retaining wall along the central axis of the sunken gardens, and that the front
row of bathing boxes at West Beach and all of those at East Beach (the ‘Snakepit’) be

removed and placed in a single row next to the new wall. This would widen the beach and
allow the tides and winds to return it to its old profile. Their proposals echoed some of Mr

Francis’ 1935 ideas. But Council decided to continue doing beach management while further

investigating how to achieve a permanent solution. (Cape Times, 12/10/1952.)

During the early 1950s, Council erected a double row of bathing boxes at Sunrise Beach, 26
in all, set well back from the HWM. There were now 200 boxes at Muizenberg.

By the 1960s engineers had determined that both the pavilion and promenade had become

structurally unsound owing to spalling of the concrete column and beam structure, and

therefore unsafe for public use. Around 1965 the promenade was demolished and replaced by
a similar elevated one sited some 50 m landward along the central axis of the sunken gardens.

The abandoned seaward half of the gardens reverted to being a 33 m-wide beach lying

between the new promenade and a new double row of bathing boxes that were erected a few
years later. These were flat-roofed squarish structures seated virtually on the sand, 41 in all,

and erected close to the HWM. All of this was, arguably, a poor substitute for the magnificent
gardens and promenade. In 1968 the pavilion and all the original bathing boxes were extant,

having survived the elements for nearly 40 years. (Figs. 2.38 & 2.39.) The total number of
boxes at Muizenberg, including Sunrise Beach, was now 241.