Communities take part in huge clean-up of the Kuils River

The clean-up of one of the Western Cape’s critical catchment areas signifies the kind of success that can be achieved when communities are given the resources to help improve the country’s natural water systems and other vulnerable ecosystems. Annelie Coleman reports.

- Annelie Coleman

The people involved in the river clean-up in Mfuleni and Makhaza near Cape Town must be lauded for their initiative to take responsibility for their own environment, according to Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, operations and stewardship manager at CropLife South Africa.

He added that these people were an inspiration to all South Africans, as their actions showed the kind of success that could be achieved if communities worked with other stakeholders to perform these kinds of tasks.

On 18 February, eco-club school learners, farmers, community members and water activists in Mfuleni and Makhaza led a mass clean-up of parts of the Kuils River Catchment Area.

One of the objectives of the clean-up was to highlight the deterioration of local waterways, wetlands and green areas, and the severe environmental health impact it had on the surrounding communities, land and animals, said Maria Welcome, spokesperson for the project.

She said in a statement that pupils from Fairdale High School, Manzomthombo Senior Secondary School, Bardale Secondary School and Mfuleni Technical Academy also joined the clean-up.