The clean-up was held under the auspices of the Clear Rivers campaign, an annual departmental initiative which encourages individuals, businesses and civil society organisations to roll up their sleeves and be part of the cleaning of water resources such as rivers, streams and wetlands.

Addressing the volunteers, DWS Limpopo’s Director for Institutional Establishment, Ms Doris Maumela emphasised the need for the community to make sure they do not dump dirt on the river banks as that will end up in the river and polluting the water in the process.

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“As we are all aware that South Africa is a scarce water resource country, there is a need for water security, particularly in the face of global climate change. We call on communities to stop turning the river banks as their dumping site, as that will affect the water that is flowing in this river. The dirt that we see here around the river was dumped here by us the community, hence we need to mobilise everyone and encourage them not to dump dirt near our water sources. We need to make sure we work together with municipality and make sure we police our areas and report those who continue to pollute our river banks”, said Maumela.