Maritime watch-dog concerned over Doorndraai safety

When Col. Keith Nortjé, a retired police colonel who now serves as the  South African Maritime Safety Authority’s (Samsa)  law enforcement officer on the Norht West province’s inland water bodies, visited Doorndraai dam last weekend, he expected a Samsa-trained gatekeeper to inspect his boat.

Nortjé, a man with a passion for doing things right, believes there should be a safety officer/gatekeeper to inspect all boats entering a public dam. Such an officer should verify that boats have certificate of fitness issued by an accredited Samsa inspector and a buoyancy certificate. Each skipper should have at least a Category R or E skippers licence for boats with engines larger than 15hp.

While most skippers on the water were well behaved on the weekend Col. Nortjé spend at Doorndraai dam, he did see some things that concerned him. “Each trailor should have the skipper’s name and telephone number printed on it. This way people know who to look for if a boat doesn’t come back in the evening,” he explains.

Nortjé ads that he saw quite a few skippers pulling skiers who didn’t have red flags up when they had a skier in the water. “A few years back I saw a boat cut a child in a canoe’s legs clean off, what chance does a skier stand in the water?”

And its not only members of the motor boating fraternity that don’t stick to the rules. Col. Nortjé says he saw many bank anglers paddling in their bait without wearing life jackets while on their canoes.
“Now we have paddlers without life jackets and motor boats not adhering to the rule that says they shouldn’t cruise closer than 50m to a bank where anglers are fishing, and you have a recipe for disaster,” he says.

Col. Nortjé suggested the dam be zoned like Loskop dam and other popular water resorts in South Africa. There should be a demarcated area for water skin and jet ski's, then there should be a zone for fishing and there should be an area for fishermen and paddlers.

But to have any of this, the dam needs enforcement. At many dams in North West, Nortjé recruited members of local boat clubs as officials on their club waters, but for Doorndraai dam, there is no local boat club.

Gary Millar who has a concession to operate game-viewing cruises from pontoon boats on Doorndraai dam has, however, expressed a willingness to undergo the necessary Samsa training and volunteer as a safety marshal at Doorndraai dam. “I really hope we can get this right,” said Millar. I hope the boating fraternity understands that enforcing the rules is not something I would want to spoil people’s enjoyment of the dam, but rather to enhance it by ensuring everyone can enjoy a safe time on the water.”

Doorndraai Dam resort manager, Manda Rasebake, said he was not allowed to talk to the media and referred Northern News to Environment and Tourism spokesperson Kgatla Nlhekeng. To date neither Nlhekeng nor the department responded with comment on the lack of enforcement or the plans by Col. Nortjé and Millar to ensure the resort complies with Samsa regulations.