Volunteers are battling to keep the Uitsig canal free of illegally dumped rubbish, including dead pets.
Eddie Andrews, mayoral committee member for area south, has appealed to the public not to use the canal for waste disposal.
“We urge the public to please work with us by not dumping illegally. We are also encourage the public to report any illegal dumping. Awareness campaigns are run periodically to highlight the seriousness of the issue.”
Regular clean-ups, he said, were done in the canal to try to stay ahead of those dumping illegally.
“The cleaning of the canal this time, started on Wednesday November 15, and it will take approximately two weeks to clean the entire canal,” he said.
“Where litter enters the nature reserve, the City’s environment management department deals with this – although – it has limited resources available.
”Cheryl Cost, who lives on the Uitsig Peninsula in Marina da Gama, said she and other residents doing voluntary clean-ups had noticed a growing number of dead domestic animals in the canal.
“We have called on the SPCA to investigate the sudden increase in dead animals in the canal, as it’s now happening on a regular basis.”
One resident, she said, had confronted people seen dumping their bin contents into the canal near the mosque in Steenberg.
“This is clearly a lack of information regarding litter and dumping. People need to understand how bad it is for our
fragile ecosystem,” Ms Cost said.
Another resident, Stephen Marr, took photos of a clean-up he and Pixie Levesque did last Saturday.
Mr Marr, together with his daughter, Mandy, Mike Ryder and Bradley Hockey, also cleared
some of the trees hanging over the sides of the canal to allow better water flow and prevent the litter being caught up in the branches.
His volunteer work cost him his phone, which he lost in the canal during the process.
