Wednesday October 31, 2019 at Protea Hotel Centurion
Strategy meeting to unite efforts and work in partnership with government, civil society and corporates to establish an ongoing and effective clean up campaign, rehabilitation and conservation of the Hennops River around the Centurion Lake area.
Attendees: Please see attached list of attendees
Tarryn Johnston, abraxasplus@mweb.co.za, 082 460 2899, volunteer cleaning Centurion Lake area, Gareth Bryce Hansen volunteer assisting fresh.ngo, hansen.gareth@gmail.com, 084 045 6969
Strategic and ongoing clean up campaign at the bridge of Centurion Lake. Support required for:
Payment for volunteers below the breadline
Gloves, boots, masks and plastic bags
Food and water for volunteers
Advertising of the clean ups
Tarryn is receiving support from Protea Hotel who will contribute in the form of volunteers for clean ups. Protea Hotel manager Johann Briedenham will be contributing to the purchase of paint and materials for the planned painting on the underside walls of the bridge of Centurion Lake area which is currently covered in negative graffiti. Thank you. Ward Councillor Peter Sutton has agreed to the painting of the bridge and confirmed that we will receive permission in writing. Awaiting the letter with urgency as the event is a week away and we need to get artists on board.
Mariske Keyter, staff helping SA out co-ordinator for Outsurance, offered staff support from Outsurance for the clean ups.
Tarryn mentioned that she can conduct a clean up of the area twice a month with support.
Please contact Tarryn to provide support with the above listed requirements.
Gareth Bryce Hansen represented the emotive side of the river and the harm we are doing to mother earth. He has been working hard with Willem Snyman on erecting litter traps at strategic points along the river to catch waste. Locals have agreed to clear the traps but in order of this to be sustainable and effective payment for their work is required.
Katherine Fillmore, Hennops Blue Horizon www.hennopsblue.co.za, 084 302 9186, kathfillmore@gmail.com, currently working on two initiatives to heal the Hennops namely:
Arehlwekiseng - Let’s Clean Campaign in Tembisa
Ubuntu Flow - Education
Created the Facebook Page Heal the Hennops River which has over 3000 followers and attracts a lot of support and input.
Outsurance supports Arehlwekiseng. Hennops Blue Horizon requires sponsorship to expand Arehlwekiseng along the Hennops River and to extend education to all schools along the river.
Funding is required for an active social media education campaign to reach South African youth to stop littering. Youth follow celebrities on Instagram so it would be powerful to get a famous South African celebrity to work on this educational project with them posting on the importance of looking after our water sources as it would guarantee many followers and make a big shift in the mind of the youth regarding protecting their environment and water.
We need an active no littering campaign like the campaign of our youth that was called ‘Zap it in the Zibbie Blik’ that was very effective, enforcing the idea that littering it simply not cool and bringing about a change in the mindset of South Africans to throw away their rubbish and recycle. Tshwane ward councillor Peter Sutton mentioned looking into this.
Willem Snyman, fresh.ngo, 082 395 3312, willemsnyman@gmail.com, conservation initiative and financial support for the Kaalfontein area cleanup.
Willem outlined his vision for a whole nature corridor along the Hennops River catchment connecting all areas along the river with strong focus on a source park in the Kaalfontein/Olivenhoutbosch area. He highlighted that by us all working together the Centurion Lake area can become a beautiful nature reserve in the middle of town.
Willem Snyman requires ongoing support with his effective initiatives.
Willem Snyman and Lutske Newton will meet to assess areas of the river together and discuss the silt problem and solutions.
Anton Bailey, BluSwirl Recycling www.bluswirl.co.za, 071 485 4431, anton@bluswirl.co.za, project plans for the river.
Anton has been helping extensively as a volunteer with recycling and removal of rubbish taken from the Hennops River. His contribution has been invaluable.
Please e-mail Anton for a copy of his two project plans for the Hennops River.
Kyle Odgers, KleenUP, 083 641 6069, kyle@kleenhealth.co.za, synchronised school education and flush initiative.
Kyle represented extensive knowledge of the pollution problem with a strong focus on reaching schools and improving ablutions to uplift and educate youth on the importance of protecting and maintaining the sewer system. Kyle has excellent connections and is putting Lutske Newton in touch with Rudy Joel from the Harties Foundation. He invited Mary Evans (from Wits) and Kousar Hoorzook (from the University of Johannesburg) who have extensive knowledge of water and river systems. Mary spent two years in the Kruger and has conducted broad studies on the silt and flow of the Sabi River. She mentioned she can look into creating a research project on the Hennops River and activate students to engage in the study. This is powerful as educating our youth on river conservation is vital in protecting our water in South Africa. Kousar can look at projects but requires a sustainable model with income generation to secure funding.
Mark McClue, ARMOUR, 081 262 9505, sixteenboxes@gmail.com/Anthony Duigan, ARMOUR, 082 657 2120, anthony@jcp.co.za, suggested action plan
Mark and Anthony shared amazing knowledge of river catchment rehabilitation initiatives with many shared solutions having worked on the Jukskei catchment for many years.
Anthony outlined the power of social media in getting the message across to the public and his wife, Helen, mentioned the ripple effect the ‘healing the Hennops River’ campaign is creating through Facebook. She said that we are casting a huge boulder that is raising a big current of change. It is connecting people across the country giving people courage to take action and engage in clean up campaigns. Helen’s ARMOUR FB page is an effective tool connecting us to healing rivers in South Africa.
Anthony highlighted the two-fold approach that needs to be adopted namely support and challenge.
He outlined the importance of what civil society can do in partnership with government and corporates.
Mark concluded the meeting outlining the importance of the the connection between all present and the positive focus forward.
In addition:
The meeting highlighted the importance of combining and co-ordinating efforts.
Working together in one unified voice.
Ward Councillor Peter Sutton introduced Lutske Newton City of Tshwane as the project manager for the rehabilitation of the Centurion Lake.
Lutske requested a written summary of what each organisation that presented at the meeting does. Please mail the summary to lutsken@tshwane.gov.za including two high quality photographs.
Gert Brumme Divisional Operations Manager from the Centurion Lake Legacy Hotel highlighted the importance of a sustainable investment of resources when contributing to helping rehabilitate the Hennops River. He mentioned the importance of working at source which fresh.ngo and Hennops Blue Horizon are actively doing. He outlined the importance of dustbins and effective waste removal. Peter Sutton mentioned he would look into the supply of dustbins in the Centurion Lake area.
James Barnes from Stratexec outlined his expertise and said his company offers skills training that can empower unemployed volunteers working on the Hennops River. (This has worked very effectively in Natal under the stewardship of i4water.) He suggested employing the informal recyclers along the Hennops River to assist in cleaning and monitoring illegal dumping and sewer leaks etc.
Raymond Kodisang, General Manager Legacy Hotel Centurion Lake , outlined the importance of the area for tourism in this country with the pollution of the river having a very adverse effect on business.
Both Legacy Hotel and Protea Hotel offered their venues free of charge for future meetings. Thank you.
Peter Sutton to supply us with the 8 focus areas identified in the rehabilitation of the Centurion Lake area.
Michael Correi from City of Tshwane Conservation outlined that trees must not be planted along the Hennops River but at parks and schools. He says tree planting in the Centurion area needs to be discussed with him before trees are planted. He outlined the importance of the work being done by fresh.ngo on healing the Hennops and the valuable support he needs from volunteers.
Tarryn put Michael in contact with waste removal in the Centurion area. Tarryn has established a good relationship with this contact to ensure the removal of rubbish collected from the river.
Strategic relationships are what will heal this river.
Ward Councillor Mariske Kruger Muller mentioned that shanepaul@tshwane.gov.za can be contacted in connection with trees. Mariske please confirm this e-mail is correct.
Zee van Rooyen from Kokoro Business Consultants kokorowealth@gmail.com outlined her exciting plan to work on the Hennops River linking businesses to the rehabilitation of the river and engaging in educational projects starting with an adventure company along the Hennops. She has a plan to make a powerful awareness video of the Hennops River and post it on #ImStaying, the FB page that has over 800 000 followers.
Land Rover could not attend the meeting but has shown interest in supporting this project.
