Alex NGOs converge to clean up Jukskei River and distribute food
ALEXANDRA – A plan to develop the Jukskei River into a tourist attraction to create jobs was proposed.
As part of their celebration of Mandela Day, Gatha Youth in Tourism and Business Co-Operative NPO (Gatha) in partnership with Alex NGO Foundation held a clean-up campaign to clean the Jukskei River and distribute food to the less fortunate on July 18.
The campaign included organisations such as Alexandra Greening Route, TB Settlement, Greater Alexandra Community Members, and Catch Them Young, to represent Alex NGO Foundation, and Rebuild South Africa supported the campaign.
Gatha CEO and communications manager Paul Maluleke stated that the organisation has proposed rehabilitation of the Jukskei River and, as it was Mandela Day, they thought it was a perfect day to clean up parts of the river and to market and promote the campaign.
Since Gatha was established in 2017, it has been working with most of the national development organisations that are associated with the Mandela Foundation every year they celebrate Mandela Day.
“The Jukskei River is one of our most important heritage sites, and as a tourism association, we are confident that once the river is clean, the whole of Gauteng will be able to manage waste at source,” Maluleke said.
“We also proposed that the Jukskei River be developed as a tourist attraction to create sustainable jobs and develop an effective tourism infrastructure.”
Patrick Baloyi of TB Settlement, Sarah Hallaway of Rebuild South Africa, Abby Sechore and Lucky Sewela from Catch Them Young, and Semadi Manganye of The Hub Presents were among those who provided support to the event.
“The distributed food was donated by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation and their partner organisations. Rebuild South Africa also made a significant contribution to food distribution,” Maluleke said.
He explained that the campaign aims to cleanse the environment, as well as to begin healing the wounds of previous looting, violence, and domestic abuse cases that have arisen due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tshidi Zuma, leader of the TB Settlement, added that the event also aimed to address the effects of recent looting.
“Children and old people are currently terrified following the looting and riots that took place, which is why we are developing a community development programme that will be revealed once we reach agreements with all stakeholders,” Zuma concluded.
