The Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Mrs Pamela Tshwete, at the invitation of Mhlathuze Water and in collaboration with UThungulu District Municipality, was active in a Clear Rivers event in celebration of Mandela Day.
In the spirit of volunteerism as espoused by the world icon that the day is named after, our democratic dispensation founding father, the late former President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, members of the Board, executive and officials of Mhlathuze Water and community members rallied around to make the day a success.
The fact that the river that was identified, namely, the Mzingwenya River in Eskhawini, KwaZulu-Natal, flows through what is naturally a pristine area, there was a considerable amount of shock on the realisation of how much rubbish/rubble that humans deposit indiscriminately, negatively affecting the fauna and flora, and the natural habitat of the “izi-ngwenya”, crocodiles, living in the river. The volunteers were very excited to see one of the small ones swimming along, whilst we were informed that the bigger ones would not show themselves with all the activity happening then.
This event was a response to a call made by DWS to all South Africans to participate in a Clear River campaign by cleaning a stream, river, wetland or any other freshwater ecosystem in their environment.
Deputy Minister Tshwete on addressing the volunteers said: “we are proud of being part of this day’s activities, in recognition of our icon, uTata Mandela as we lovingly called him. He showed us what the meaning of sacrifice and volunteerism implies. We are here today because in the same vein, we as DWS recognised the need to raise awareness and appreciation of our rivers, streams, wetlands and water ecosystems. This is necessary as the total populace has to understand what each of our activities end up creating in our environment.
“Before we receive our water from our taps, a lot of work is underway to ensure the safety and good quality of such water. We now want to bring a realisation to all that even prior to that, there is the issue of river health, impacting on the health of all as well as the health of our infrastructure, natural and man-made, thus the recognition of our water sources as natural infrastructure,” Deputy Minister Tshwete said.
DM Tshwete also made the point that the day’s activity was linked to Mandela Month in line with the call by the State President in the State of the Nation Address of 2014, that all South Africans, in the spirit of volunteerism, should dedicate 67 minutes towards cleaning South Africa.
The CEO of Mhlathuze Water supported by the Chairperson and Board members present, challenged Mhlathuze Water officials to on a monthly basis, give of their time in recognition of the 67 Minutes’ campaign.
The UThungulu DM provided the necessary trucks and human capacity to receive the rubble that was cleared. The amount of rubble cleared in that one part of the river shocked all of us as to how human behaviour can bring negative impacts to bear on the environment generally, but on the precious water resources particularly.
Enquiries:
Sputnik Ratau
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 874 2942
