The Jukskei River in
South Africa
is nothing short of filthy. Where the river skirts the north eastern edge of Johannesburg it is subjected to regular rubbish dumping, illegal sand mining, and even open defecation. People leave remains from rituals and animal slaughters in its waters while decaying pipes and sewage infrastructure cause leaks along its riverbeds, and invasive species have taken over other sections.
But there is one group of volunteers who have vowed to clean it up, at least in their own neighbourhood. The Alexandra Water Warriors (AWW), a non-profit community group based in the Alexandra township, has bold plans to improve the river dramatically enough to make it a must-see destination. “We want Jukskei River to be rehabilitated and transformed to be a tourism attraction,” co-founder Paul Maluleke told
The i Paper
.
For now, the volunteers have their work cut out for them. The high rate of
E. coli
recorded from sewage leaks and overflows, and the widespread heavy metal concentration caused by rubbish dumping, gives a stark indication of pollution levels in the water.
While there is no safe level of
E. coli
in drinking water, the South African government’s Department of Water and Sanitation indicates that anything between 130 and 400 units of
E. coli
per 100ml in recreational water poses a health risk. The levels of the bug detected in the Jukskei have ranged from around 100,000 units to as many as 2.5 million in recent years. Whatever the level, it is clear there that making the river clean and healthy for the people living around it will be a mammoth task.
But it hasn’t stoped the volunteer group from trying. Formed during Covid, the AWW started as a group of around 250 people who wanted to collectively tackle the issues plaguing the Jukskei. As employment was hit, the decline of the already challenged river, environment and tourism infrastructure helped to unite the community of Alexandra, Mr Maluleke said.
The organisation has grown rapidly in the few years it has been running and boasts as many as 3,000 volunteers on its books. Hundreds turn up on any given day to participate in various projects in an attempt to clean and revitalise the river. Collectively they can remove several hundreds of bin bags full of rubbish from the river every day.
Each weekday morning AWW volunteers meet at their hub at 8am and split into groups to tackle different issues. Some are on invasive species removals, some plant indigenous trees, and others carry out the daily task of clearing rubbish.
Dumping is a significant problem in Alexandra, where the majority of the 180,000 residents are not served by the municipal city waste collection, leaving piles of rubbish to build up and find its way into the river.
Ivan Hleza is one of up to 17 security guards who now patrol the river to catch it before it happens. He always “looking for people dumping [or] people who do ritual slaughtering of animals and leave remains, washing in the river”.
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The volunteers have also made a river litter trap from 5l water bottles that have been tied together with netting. Installed in 2022, it is now the main source of removing large waste from the river. Sponsorship from Coca-Cola has helped the AWW set up a sorting space where volunteers can sift through the rubbish and pick out what materials can be sold and recycled.
The space means the volunteers cleaning the river can make some money, while some positions have become salaried thanks to a combination of public and private financial support secured by AWW. Mr Hleza, who started as a volunteer, is now a paid security guard.
One project, Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa, is funded by the Canadian government, while the City of Johannesburg and South African corporates have provided other revenue streams to keep projects afloat.
“We’re trying also to sort out the issue of unemployment in our community,” said Mr Maluleke. Poverty and unemployment is high in Alexandra despite sitting just 1.5 miles away from Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile. South Africa is currently in the grip of an unemployment crisis, with a unemployment at 32 per cent nationally.
Despite the challenges and scale of the task, the volunteers ar optimistic they can help turn things around. “I think in the three years I’ve been volunteering it’s got much cleaner,” said Reuben Williams, who has led a team on tree planting and cleaning up flood damage.
Flooding is another major problem in the area. The invasive plants plaguing the water and the big sections of rubbish cause the river to flow inconsistency and more rapidly in places, which makes it more dangerous when its bursts its banks. The informal housing in Alexandra that lines the river’s banks are often washed away during the city’s summer storms if built on flood plain.
But Mr Maluleke has seen a marked difference on this issue since AWW started making interventions. “One of the positive impacts we have seen is the flow of the water, because we are removing objects. We used to have a lot of floodings, but now the water is flowing normally.”
Engaging with the local community is the final piece in the puzzle for AWW’s work to get Alexandrans invested in having a cleaner, safer river. The group works ith schools, local newspapers and radio stations to get their message out, and carry out community awareness programmes that see them going door-to-door through the township’s streets. “We will keep on doing what we’re doing until one day everybody realises that we need to make sure that we take care of the river,” said Mr Maluleke.
It’s a positive approach despite the scale of the task. But Mr Maluleke is not the only one who believes the area can be truly transformed. Mr Hleza is just one of the volunteers that carry his same confidence: “It’s going to be a tourist destination,” he said.