Pollution Stops Khayelitsha’s Canoe Club Classes

Akhona Sopangisa, co-founder of Khayelitsha Canoeing Club, says they have not been able to give canoe classes or do water tours due to overflowing sewage and invasive hyacinth in the Blowy wetland in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.

Members of the Khayelitsha Canoeing Club are pleading with the City of Cape Town to clear the waterways of the Khayelisha Wetlands Park (known as the Blowy wetlands), which are filled with pollution and invasive hyacinth.

The Blowy wetlands are used by the club to paddle. But it is overrun with hyacinth, blocking waterways in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.

Akhona Sopangisa, co-founder of the club, said that since September 2024 residents have had to divert sewage water from their homes into the canals, causing the hyacinth to grow. He said this was because a sewage pipe caused their drains to malfunction. He said the City of Cape Town fixed the problem about four weeks ago, but the sewage remains in the wetland.

Sopangisa and other volunteers now spend about two hours each week removing the invasive hyacinth. “We can’t work for too long in the dirty water because the smell is overwhelming,” he said. “We don’t know what diseases we will catch.”

Sopangisa said they have asked the City for machinery to better remove the hyacinth so they can use the waterway again. He said they have not been able to teach youngsters canoeing in the wetland or take tourists there for months.

“To generate income, we are now focusing on walking tours, which involves taking tourists to community gardens where we use biochar as a fertilizer.”

Sopangisa and his brother Siyanda founded the Khayelitsha Canoe Club in 2023. They now work with over 20 volunteers to remove the hyacinth and rubbish from the wetland. We reported, in 2023, on their previous efforts to clean the wetlands.

A volunteer, Monde Kuse, said the overflowing sewage may be killing the wetlands fauna, including turtles and crabs. “We no longer see mudfish, which locals often fished for,” he said.

Zahid Badroodien, mayco committee member for water and sanitation, said the City plans to remove alien plants in Blowy from January.

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