AP

The eThekwini council will assist children who have been separated from their parents at Durban beaches during the festive season – but those children are not the council’s responsibility.

“If you take your kids to the beach then it is your responsibility to take care of them,” said Dumi Mbatha of Durban Tourism yesterday at the municipality’s official launch of its festive season plan. Speaking at uShaka Marine World, Mbatha compared parents’ negligence in losing their children at the beach to going to a party and drinking and then forgetting about their children.

“Council is just there to assist.”

The senior manager of parks, leisure and cemeteries, Sbu Mkhwanazi, said 50 beach guides would be deployed at beachfront to assist by getting children name bands with their parents’ telephone numbers on them.

“Six overnight security guards will be deployed at the gazebos where separated children will be collected. Children will then be moved to a safe location,” he said.

Mkhwanazi said that 24 child minders would be at this home looking after the children till they were collected by their parents, and to prevent them being abducted by people pretending to be their parents, the location would not be named.

He said that 69 security guards would be deployed from Saturday to work from 6am till 6.30pm, when beaches closed for swimmers.

“However, we will have 26 security guards around the clock outside change rooms at the beachfront, and some of these will be manning the beach from 6am till the afternoon,” he said.