Cleaning up the river

Over the years, Ncandu River has become a blight on the town.

Often, the river has flooded its banks during heavy rains, causing concern. Moreover, the river often feature debris and other rubbish.

Over the past two years, Newcastle Municipality’s community services department has taken it upon itself to clean and improve the quality of the river.

According to ward 4 Councillor, Tanya de Jager, the next phase of this project has begun.

“I want to thank the Strategic Executive Director of Community Services, Mandla Sithole, together with the Director of Parks and Recreation, Vish Govender, and his department because on the first of July they will begin the next phase of the river clean-up process,” said Cllr de Jager two weeks ago.

Cllr de Jager was mistaken, because according to Mr Govender, the project would only commence in the next three months, as the project was still in the bid proclamation phase.

Nonetheless, residents are eager for the project to kick off, as earlier this year some of the benefits of the previous river projects were seen when the river flooded its banks during the rainy season.

As no residents’ properties or homes were damaged during those floods, the effect of the clean-up was noticeable..

Yet work on the planned work for the river still continues, and Newcastle Mayor, Afzul Rehman explained why.

“We want the Ncandu River to be a recreational spot of Newcastle. We want the people of this town to have the opportunity to enjoy this natural beauty.”

Cllr Rehman believed through the right development, dangers of flooding would disappear, and the river would become a spot of aesthetic value for the residents similar to the river Thames in our sister city in England.

With the removal of alien vegetation and the introduction of Gabion baskets, possible flood monitoring buoys, and in the far future a possible board-walk, Cllr Rehman has proposed some major feature changes and technological improvements to a once sad feature in town.