- The Witness
- BYRONE ATHMAN
VOLUNTEERS cleaned up the banks of the Msunduzi River at Camps Drift on Friday.
Litter and alien invasive plants were removed as part of the Camps Drift Spring Clean-Up Campaign.
The Duzi Umgeni Conservation Trust (Duct), Project Gateway, the Upper West Side Community, Isibane Industries and Alumico all assisted in the clean-up around the Ernie Pearce Weir. Pollution control officer Sanele Vilakazi said Pietermaritzburg has massive issues with solid waste, especially with people dumping in rivers throughout the city.
“We want to revive our areas and make them more aesthetically pleasing and maybe that way the people of Pietermaritzburg will be kinder to our rivers,” said Vilakazi, who thanked those who volunteered their services.
Duct employee Portia Vilakazi said that they were working on an plan to create a barrier to prevent people from dumping. Vilakazi said Duct is meeting community organisations and schools to educate them about the area and the impact that pollution has on the environment. She said Duct’s vision is an ecologically healthy and biologically diverse uMngeni-uMsunduzi river system that provides sustained ecological goods and services for the communities that depend on the rivers for their survival.