On Sunday, 15 November Tshwane Executive Mayor Randall Williams and Environment and Agriculture Management MMC Dana Wannenburg joined the Hennops Revival NPO for a cleanup of the Hennops River at the Gerhard Street bridge in Centurion.
The Hennops Revival NPO was established to collaborate with all spheres of
government to work with the local community in order to revive and restore the
Hennops River. They have repeatedly held a number of clean-up campaigns along
the banks of the river.
However, much of their work was undone over the past few months, as the Covid-19
lockdown regulations prevented the NGO from organizing clean-up campaigns.
Pollution has been a major environmental threat to the Hennops river for several years,
as tons of waste from upstream communities in Ekurhuleni and the City of
Johannesburg has been accumulating along the river’s banks. At one point an
assortment of plastic, polystyrene and foam formed a solid island of trash floating in
the river.
A contributing factor to the river’s deterioration has been raw sewage spilling from the
waste water treatment works in Olifantsfontein, which over the years has caused the
Centurion Lake to become seriously contaminated.
In February 2020 under the DA-administration the City decided to open the weirs of
the Centurion Lake allowing the free flow of water. The city also started removing
hundreds of tons of accumulated silt from the lake.
The next strategic priority was to build a litter trap at the weir in order to capture the waste and ensure it did not pollute the whole river. Unfortunately, when the provincial government dissolved the municipal Council and deployed ANC administrators this plan was abandoned.
This strategic intervention will now be reinitiated so that we can begin putting in place a sustainable plan to combat the spread of pollution in the river.
It will also require increased inter-government relations, the vast majority of the waste is coming from areas south east of the city in Ekurhuleni and the City of Johannesburg that are not within the Tshwane municipality.
To this end I will prioritise engaging with the mayors from both cities so that we can collaboratively focus on interventions to minimize the waste at its source.
Let me take this moment to thank the Hennops Revival NPO for the continuous work they have done and for remaining steadfast in their commitment to protecting the river and safeguarding the environment.
It is an absolute pleasure to be able to support community groups who have taken the initiative on these matters and want to partner with the city.
Tshwane: Stable. Safe. Delivers.