Surfing instructor evicted from a city-owned property at Muizenberg after allegedly contravening regulations
|||Surfing instructor Cass Collier was evicted from a city-owned property at Muizenberg yesterday after contravening regulations, said mayco member for community services Tandeka Gqada.
She said Collier, who had been running a surfing academy for profit at Surfer’s Corner, was removed from its building because he had failed to provide details on his surfing school’s non-profit outreach operations.
Surfers, mostly children who took lessons from the former surfing world champion’s surfing academy, were turned away by a notice at the door.
Yesterday a group of metro police, accompanied by members of the South African Police Service, evicted Collier from the property which houses his school on the beachfront next to change-rooms.
Surfboards and wetsuits were tossed outside while occupants were forcibly removed.
Collier said he did not know why he was ejected from the building.
Gqada said according to an agreement between Collier and the city’s sport, recreation and amenities department he was to submit reports on his outreach programme.
After failing to submit the reports he was served with a notice to vacate the property by November 25 last year.
“He has unfortunately not complied with the conditions since he began operating. This city facility is therefore currently being used for commercial purposes,” Gqada said.
Collier, a former world surfing champion, said he would go to the Simon’s Town Civic Centre to protest the decision to shut the school down. He would also launch a petition to get support from people to have his school reopened.
He said city officials had allowed him to use the building for his classes from 2009.
Since then, he said, he had been using the building for a community outreach programme to teach children surfing.
“We have maintained the proper condition of this place. We have obeyed all the council’s regulations and laws. I don’t understand where all this is coming from. There is nothing illegal going on here for the council to be kicking us out.
“This is unfortunate for the people who use this place. A lot of people, especially young kids rely on this place,” Collier said.
He had received a notice from the city in September but it did not specify what he had done, he said.
Collier said he had hired five people to teach surfing and help out with surfboards and wetsuits.
He hires wetsuits and surf- boards to tourists and locals who wanted to hit the waves.
Collier came to prominence when he won the World Big Wave championship in 1999 and was also known for being part of the documentary Taking Back The Waves. The documentary was about two black surfers who struggled to get recognition in the sport at the height of apartheid.
xolani.koyana@inl.co.za
Cape Times