Youth remove hyacinth from the city’s water bodies
The plant also provides an income for some families.
Work to remove hyacinths, an invasive water plant, in the City of Ekurhuleni’s lakes, dams and pans has started in earnest, providing unemployed young people with a lifeline.
The robust hyacinth removal project that began in November employed over 100 young people through the Expanded Public Works Programme.
These young people use integrated methods such as manual removal, spraying herbicide and biocontrol agents.
The project, set to run until June, focuses on the Blesbokspruit, Witfield and Bredell dams and the Wattville Pan.
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The impactful work caught the attention of two women from Slovo Park near Springs, Johanna Makoe and Fikile Nkonyane, who saw the group of workers removing the evasive plant from Blesbokspruit.
“We make a living by gathering and drying hyacinth, then weaving it into dry furniture. All you need is time and patience,” said Makoe.
The city’s wetlands management unit plans to remove hyacinths from the water bodies beyond the end of the current programme.
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