Volunteers plant 45 wild olive trees along Jukskei River in Alexandra
Community groups and university partners join forces to revive a critical green space and boost ecotourism.
Fifty volunteers gathered at Jukskei Park 3 in Alexandra on October 25 to plant 45 wild olive trees along the banks of the Jukskei River.
The planting was led by Save the Earth from A to Z (ASEZ), a group of university student volunteers from the World Mission Society Church of God, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg’s School of Tourism and Hospitality and the Alexandra Water Warriors.
The Water Warriors were founded to clean up the heavily polluted river and to promote Alexandra as an ecotourism destination. UJ’s School of Tourism and Hospitality has long viewed the township as a site for regenerative tourism, where restoring the environment can also bring lasting benefits to residents.
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Water Warriors co-founder Paul Maluleke said the river holds deep cultural meaning for the community and stressed the value of working with different stakeholders to protect it: “The Jukskei River is our heritage site. It’s the only river we can pride ourselves on in Alex. We are so fortunate to have a river passing through our community in an urban space.”
Maluleke said the organisation is working with universities and government entities, and that the planting site is known as the Discovery Site because it is fully funded by Discovery Health.
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Prof Nicola Wakelin-Theron of UJ thanked the volunteers for their effort and said cleaner, safer surroundings are central to restoring dignity in a community: “We need cleaner, safer environments to restore dignity and give hope to a community. So, I’m very grateful to everyone. And thank you, ASEZ, for bringing everyone together and helping us carry out this programme.”
Thato Marolen, founder and managing director of the Kula Marolen Foundation NPC in Alexandra, also took part. She was excited by the programme and wants more done to publicise such initiatives so the wider community can take part: “I’m grateful for the invite and look forward to many more of these initiatives. I wish more awareness could be raised about these initiatives so that the whole community can partake.”
The planting builds on ASEZ’s ongoing partnership with UJ STH and the university’s College of Business and Economics (CBE), and marks the start of its collaboration with the Water Warriors. Together, the partners say they hope to leave a lasting mark on local communities through environmental restoration, sustainable tourism and community empowerment.
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