THE fact that certain members of the Nzimakwe royal family are buried on the site of the planned nudist beach approved by Hibiscus Coast Municipality has angered the KwaNzimakwe community.

At an imbizo held at Braemar Hall on Monday, tempers flared when the nudist beach topic arose. The KwaNzimakwe community said it was very concerned that the municipality had approved the beach for that specific area.

“How can the municipality disrespect our iNkosi’s family?” said Simphiwe Lubanyana, a member of the ANC Youth League.

He also told HCM representatives at the imbizo that a huge protest would be staged against the approval of the beach.

“We are just waiting for the matric exams to finish before we march to the HCM offices,” he explained.

“We want answers. How can HCM hold a public consultation and ask for our views, find out that most people are against this beach, but still approve it?” he asked angrily.

“We have raised our concerns with the municipality and have voiced our dissatisfaction to our ward councillor Dave Watson, who has told us that he was also not happy with the decision taken by the municipality,” added Mr Lubanyana.

When iNkosi Bhekizizwe Nzimakwe was asked for his view, he said couldn’t comment as the matter was now out of his hands.

HCM spokesman Simon Soboyisa said that the municipality would still engage with Nkosi Bhekizizwe Nzimakwe about the graves.

“The municipality decided to approve the beach proposal because the South Coast is a tourist area. Council felt that the beach would attract tourists from all over the world, which would boost the area economically and create job opportunities,” he said.

He added that the municipality was still engaging with Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife to officially open the beach.