More than 10 tonnes of rubbish removed from Hennops
"We were given permission to clean the river up; only I did not advertise it, because then it would be classified as an event and that would not be allowed.”
Not even the national lockdown could prevent a local non-profit organisation from dragging almost 11 tonnes of garbage from the Hennops River in Centurion recently.
“For almost two months we couldn’t do our weekly clean-up of the river,” said Tarryn Johnston, founder of the Hennops Revival non-profit organisation.
On 12 May, she and her team finally got their wish.
“A week ago, I took a chance. I asked if level 4 lockdown regulations would allow for a river clean-up to take place and we were given permission to do so; only I did not advertise it, because then it would be classified as an event and that would not be allowed.”
Johnston, who celebrated her birthday the day before, invited some waste pickers from the Lyttelton shelter and Marikana and Mushroom recycling compounds to join them for the clean-up.
The workers from the various informal settlements in the area were paid for their work on the day by MyiMali and Hennops Revival.
“I had the best time and my birthday wish was granted. I was most surprised by the beautiful efforts made by my friends, who hand-painted a huge banner for me, which was hung from the bridge,” Johnston said.
“On the day, a film crew from 50/50 visited the site and photojournalist Kim took the most incredible images.”
Johnston further praised Seeff Centurion for extending their bag sponsorship to this clean-up as well, which means R5 will be paid for every bag collected during the clean-up.
“Each person was screened for Covid-19 on arrival and issued with the most beautiful Hennops Revival face masks and sanitiser,” Johnston said.
For the day, the smaller than usual team made up of 45 people, collected 365 bags, which added up to 10 950 kilograms of waste.
“A massive thank you to everyone who made this day so special.
“It is difficult to say when the next clean-up will be, but we are definitely looking into another clean-up in the near future,” Johnston concluded.
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