March 12, 2003
By Bongani Majola
GAUTENG'S Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs will spend R6 million to clean up the Klipspruit River in Soweto, an unpleasant source of pollution for many years.
MEC Mary Metcalfe, who unveiled the joint initiative with the City of Johannesburg at the Ubuntu Kraal in Orlando West in Tuesday, said her department took pride in the community-based natural resource restoration project.
An amount of R1,2 million will be allocated annually to the project for the next five years.
Locals will not be exposed to contaminated water any longer
Fifty people, nominated by 43 Soweto community wards, have been employed as cleaners to clear solid waster from close to 100 kilometres of river frontage. "This is a major output of the project, giving effect to governments' drive to eliminate poverty and to invest in the poorest of the poor," said project manager Nicky Naidoo.
Encouraging best river care practice, the project will promote natural resource care ethics in the area stretching from the south of the Main Reef Road up to Kliptown, and ensure that Soweto residents will prevent future pollution of their wetland resources, said Naidoo.
In her usual anecdotal manner, Metcalfe told a story of a quality of a people's lives as being reflected on the quality of the water. "We want to tell a story of a people with a better quality of life because of the Klip River," she said.
Parks Tau, a mayoral committee member responsible for development planning and the environment, was there to affirm the City of Johannesburg's partnership in the project.
He appealed to the community to respect natural resources. "Do not throw dead animals into the river," he asked of the community members gathered on the occasion. Tau said his government was committed to improving the quality of water in Soweto, "a task we can do through cooperation with the Gauteng provincial government."
"We need to strengthen our local and provincial government interaction in the interests of improving lives," Tau said. Overlaps between the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng provincial government were so important that many people thought the two tiers of government were the same, he said.
"This partnership thus has to extend to all the community agencies," Tau said.
