Tshwane community gets a lesson in cleaning up rivers

More than 30 members of the International WeLoveU Foundation teamed up over the weekend with residents of ward 92 for their annual clean-up initiative in Sunnyside, along Walkerspruit, which rises in the Waterkloof Koppies and runs through the eastern suburbs of Pretoria.

Following the extreme floods in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the foundation’s communication liaison, Lehlohonolo Makhokolo, said it was important to keep the environment clean.

Most importantly, the foundation wanted to ensure that the environment was safe and clean for all living things, while raising awareness for communities living around the area to be more conscious about climate change and dumping into the river nearby.

“We mark the day for the clean world movement, which is carried out by all our organisations across the world to raise awareness of environmental protection,” Makhokolo said.

Although much was being done in SA to combat the climate crisis due to human-caused climate change, it was not enough and a lot more could still be done to educate the community on the dangers of littering, he said.

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“We cannot have a clean world if we’re all not participating in the process of cleaning it.

“Everyone needs to love this world as well, because it’s not just the role of the government to keep an environment clean,” he added.

Community member Zelda Davids said she wished there could be more community support for this kind of initiative – not only for the volunteer days but for the long-term of conserving the entire area.

“I’m super happy with it, better than expected, better than we thought and really happy for everybody that will be able to enjoy the clean river and enjoy it not only today, but in the future,” Davids said.

“I wish more people could be told about this prior to the day so that we can all do what we can to keep this place clean and safe.”

Meanwhile, a member of the foundation, Herbert Muda, said many residents would normally dump things into the river and the banks of the river, which caused pollution.

“So we’re actually cleaning here to make sure that people are conscious before throwing anything like garbage into or near the river,” he said.

Councillor of ward 92 Leanne Jennifer de Jager, expressed her gratitude to the foundation and told the community that it was very important that an urban area had clean green spaces for children and residence to enjoy.

“We’re very pleased with the foundation’s assistance.

“In honour of the clean world movement 2022, it really is of huge importance to a community at large to keep this river clean and safe,” De Jager told members of the community.