Palmiet River rehab project crisis
Palmiet River Watch's Lee D'Eathe says the Palmiet River Catchment has been subjected to over a decade of misaligned interventions.
THE Palmiet River Watch (PRW), an independent environmental watchdog, has urgently called attention to the disastrous consequences of the discontinuation of the 2012 Palmiet Catchment Rehabilitation Project (PCRP).
PRW’s Lee D’Eathe said the PCRP was adopted by eThekwini in 2012 as a flagship project, aiming to rehabilitate degraded river systems within the Palmiet Catchment and to inform eThekwini’s future catchment rehabilitation initiatives, using nature-based (ecological infrastructure) solutions.
Despite its promise, the project was used instead to implement a different agenda.
“The Palmiet River Catchment has been subjected to over a decade of misaligned interventions. The imposed river movements approach has proven reactive, duplicative, and ultimately destructive. Public funds have been squandered on superficial activities that sideline professional expertise and community-led solutions. The river is now a degraded corridor of ecological neglect, institutional failure; an opportunity lost, locally and city-wide,” said D’Eathe.
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He added that the eThekwini Municipality missed its chance for meaningful transformation by failing to prioritise effective interventions in key areas, including to:
- l Introduce efficient governance in eThekwini.
- l Prioritise environmental sustainability.
- l Control development with proper stormwater management.
- l Shift to proactive asset spending.
- l Create strategic funding for targeted community investment.
- l Support non-partisan, community-focused leadership.
- l Govern selflessly for collective benefit.
- l Collaborate for innovative solutions.
- l Foster holistic teamwork across departments.
- l Ensure transparency and accountability.
- l Measure success by outcomes and reward results.
- l Promote responsibility among individuals, NGOs, academia, and consultants
“The key issues the Palmiet River Catchment is facing that have city-wide implications have led to extremely high river water E. coli counts and beach closures, damaging Durban’s reputation as a tourist and business destination,” said D’Eathe.
The PRW has urged the eThekwini Municipality and its partners to take immediate action to restore ecological health and rebuild confidence in the Palmiet River Catchment by doing the following:
- Acknowledge the failures: Recognise the devastating outcomes from sidelining the 2012 Palmiet Catchment Rehabilitation Project (PCRP) and the 2016 workshop outcomes, as well as the ineffectiveness of the imposed river movement approach.
- Conduct an independent audit: Commission an independent audit to report on all Palmiet catchment-related expenditures since 2012 and apply corrective interventions as necessary.
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