Water museum coming to Alex?
ALEXANDRA – A group of ‘property hungry mafias’ in the township is eyeing the plant with the desire of building rental houses over it, says Mopasi.
If all goes according to plan, Alexandra may soon have a museum dedicated to the colourful township’s water and sanitation history.
This was disclosed by a member of Alex Peace Ambassador, Thabo Mopasi who was recently appointed ambassador of the national Department of Water and Sanitation and is also the custodian of the rich history of the township that was established in 1912.
Soon after his appointment, Mopasi was charged with the task of orchestrating the formation of the now three-month-old Alex Water and Sanitation Forum to spearhead the department’s water education and awareness programmes designed to help community members in the township understand the need to conserve the scarce resource and where they fit within the cycle of water.
Speaking to Alex News along with his two colleagues Paul Mokoena and Lebo Nthane, Mopasi said the forum had ambitions of turning the decommissioned Waste Water Treatment Plant into a museum to showcase the water and sanitation issues and related history matters on water and sanitation in the township.
“We would like to get a buy-in from the department towards our project of building a museum to document the water and sanitation history in the township. This will be coupled with the establishment of food gardens in the area which has been the desire of organisations such as the Alexandra Renewal Project and Joburg Water, including a Jewish organisation too,” Mopasi said.
The former North West province-owned plant that used to produce manure for farmers in the province is threatened by what Mopasi described as a group of ‘property hungry mafias’ in the township who want to fill it in with sand and rubble and ultimately build rental houses to bulge their pockets.
In an unrelated matter, Mopasi said the forum would work closely with anti-drug campaign group Alex Local Drug Action Committee formed by the late mayor Geoff Makhubo and championed by Thabo Msuthwana in its fight against drugs.
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