THERE’S a new(ish) kid on the block when it comes to the recycling of electronic goods down here on the lower South Coast. He’s Wessel Pretorius who owns and runs a computer shop in Ramsgate.
Wessel is without doubt a serious greenie, so much so that he has created a sort of micro-industry in the Ramsgate community of people who do nothing but recycle the usable bits out of electronic waste.
Wessel points out that if he and his community didn’t do it, such waste would end up at the Oatlands dump inland of Margate, where all the nasties would leach out of the throwaways and into the environment, ‘Ending up in our river and our lagoon here in Ramsgate!’ he says indignantly.
Wessel takes any electronic equipment (preferably not TVs, they’re too big) and recycles just about every component. He and his staff either repair or rebuild computers from the dumped ones, and give them to needy schools in the rural areas – they’ve been doing this for about four years.
Metal components that can’t be used are given to men from the rural areas who sell them as scrap, other people collect other components to strip them of precious metals, including copper and gold, which is again recycled.
Nothing, it seems, goes to waste. Anything that can’t be recycled locally is picked up once a month by a company from Durban which is a member of the Electronic Waste Association of South Africa. In fact everything is done according to the association’s guidelines.
It’s a fantastic project and shows what can be done with just a little initiative and effort. Well done, Wessel and his team.
Moving to an artistic note, we went to the opening of an exhibition at the Riverbend Art Gallery recently, work by that well-known South Coast trio, Izidro Duarte, his son Everett, and just to keep it in the family, Everett’s wife, Frances (née Schandera).
There are several forms of art on exhibition, but what appealed to us most were the paintings by Everett and Frances (they call themselves Mpenja) of the dry land of northern Namibia.
They have roamed and painted extensively in and around the Etosha Game Reserve in Namibia, capturing beautifully not only the atmosphere of the place: the occasional tall palm, the dry, white pans, the dry land animals, zebra and of course gemsbok, but also, most interestingly, the people.
They have included some evocative images of the Himba who live to the west of Etosha, including them in the dry land scenes – a very special creation. There are also some excellent pieces covering the somewhat more lush bush and wildlife of Zululand – Hluhluwe and places like that, so they’re working at home too.
Sadly, the exhibition will have moved on by the time you read this, but keep an eye out for the Duartes, all of them, because they will be back.
That’s it for now, from rubbish to art, cheers!
* To contact Wessel at his shop (opposite the BP garage in Ramsgate) call 039 3144359.
