Jukskei River gets attention on Mandela Day

Pollution of the Jukskei River and its banks was partially reduced on Mandela Day through collaborative efforts of many partners led by the national Department of Water and Sanitation.

The river’s poor condition was reported on in Old Alex residents saddened by Jukskei river pollution, Week ending 6 May 2014. The river meanders through the township from its source near Joburg’s inner city, past some of the city’s affluent suburbs, plots and farmlands in the north of the province and pours into the Crocodile River en route to the Hartbeespoort Dam, the centre of holiday resorts west of Pretoria.

Like factory owners upstream and others downstream, Alex residents are victims and villains in the river’s pollution through chemical, plastic, and household waste, refuse and rubble dumping which pose a health hazard, especially to some churches which baptise their converts, and children who innocently play in its murky water.

The department’s minister, Nomvula Mokonyane said the one-day cleaning event was in honour of Nelson Mandela who had a passion for healthy living. To ensure a safer water source and a cleaner environment for the township’s residents, she said, required a partnership of community organisations and businesses, and the government conducting environmental health awareness campaigns.

She added that this was important at a time when the world faced many challenges which were dwarfed in magnitude when compared with the danger to life posed by environmental mismanagement that has caused global warming and droughts, and which could lead to wars. In reference to the water supply from Lesotho to Gauteng through an agreement between the Lesotho and South African governments, she said water should be a source of friendship .

“Environmental management and health cannot be achieved in the absence of countries and communities caring for their water and its sources,” Mokonyane said.

She implored businesses and government to support community organisations which conducted clean-ups of the river. She promised to announce a government support programme in this regard in September this year.