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When South Africa became a democracy in 1994, there was a high level of anticipation that a new dawn had begun. The first set of legislation that was passed was the National Water Act (NWA).
Central to that noble piece of legislation was the recognition of the rights that aquatic ecosystems have to the water needed to sustain the vital processes that occur in the water column. The NWA even mandates the classification of all rivers, making it a policy priority to rehabilitate any degraded system to a minimum standard of ecological functionality. It even goes further by stating that the management objective of any given water resource is to improve the ecological functionality, if possible, to the next higher level of classification.
This is a noble ideal that has quite obviously not been applied to any distressed river in the country. But the Jukskei is not just any river, for it has profound historic and therefore cultural significance in South Africa. It was the first water resource used to sustain the dusty mining town of Johannesburg in the early days of the Gold Rush.
The source of the river is from a spring in the vicinity of what became Ellis Park Stadium. Water drawn from that source was used to supply the needs of the miners, prospectors and investors before the Witwatersrand became the largest single gold mining area on the planet. That spring of crystal-clear water used to flow into the Jukskei River, named after the wooden yoke used to span a team of oxen into the wagons used by transport riders back in the 1800s, through Bezuidenhout Valley. That valley became the site for settling many of the mining pioneers, and the suburb of Bez Valley thrived in the early days. The river flows along the southern side of a low mountain ridge, created by the tectonic activity unleashed 2 billion years ago when a meteor the size of Table Mountain crashed into the ground at a place we now know as the Vredefort Dome.
The Jukskei receives additional water from a tributary draining Hillbrow and Yeoville, emerging from its concrete confines on the present-day Observatory Golf Course, where it flows through Bezuidenhout Park. Finding a gap in this mountain ridge, in the vicinity of present-day Bruma Lake, the larger river swings in a northerly direction past what used to be Gilooly’s Farm. It then flows through a wide valley previously dominated by agricultural land until it joins the Crocodile River. From there, the combined flow of the Jukskei and Crocodile makes its way to Hartbeespoort Dam.
Today we know that Hartbeespoort is the most polluted dam in Africa, followed closely by Lake Chivero in Zimbabwe, both of which receive the sewage outfall from major cities. The entire Jukskei River has now been “‘tamed” ’ by concrete and steel, having been reduced to nothing more than an open sewer that receives the combined flow of runoff from the streets of the eastern part of Johannesburg naturally draining south of the Witwatersrand Ridge. In fact, very few people know that Ellis Park is the original source of the water that created the biggest economy in Africa. The Jukskei now lies buried beneath the streets of Johannesburg, emerging for the first time from a concrete drain located in Judith’s Paarl. It has the singular dubious distinction of being a river that is highly polluted before it ever sees the light of day. Many of the hijacked blocks of flats have so deteriorated, that the sewage is now directed straight into the stormwater channel, because the sewers have ceased to function. Therefore, the Jukskei River is highly polluted at the source, carrying a range of chemical substances that include partially metabolised recreational drugs, oestrogen, antibiotics, antidepressants and antiretrovirals. It also carries a host of pathogens, making direct exposure to the water somewhat hazardous.
All of this is in direct contravention of the NWA, but more importantly, it also manifests as a growing problem for the many residential estates that have mushroomed along the length of the abused river. This makes a compelling case for the restoration of the river. In fact, the river tells us many stories, beyond the fact that it provided the original water for Johannesburg before Rand Water Board was created. For example, an early case of pollution in the Bezuidenhout Valley area, resulted in an outbreak of cholera. This event became one of the drivers for the need to source water from the Olifantsvlei, home to the present headquarters of Rand Water Board. More recently, it’s a known fact among aquatic scientists working on rivers, that the E. cColi counts vary along the Jukskei, from its new source at the exit of the concrete drain in Judith’s Paarl, to its confluence with the Crocodile. There are two known spikes in coliform count – one at the point of emergence and the second as it flows through Alexandra – but in both cases, the recorded values decrease in a predictable way the further one goes downstream from the point of sewage discharge.
This tells us a powerful story because it proves that aquatic ecosystems perform useful functions if allowed to do so. In fact, ecosystems rehabilitate themselves if given a chance. This is manifest by the known spike in the coliform count at the start of the river, followed by attenuation as nature deals with the problem. The coliform count becomes quite low after Bruma Lake, but it spikes again as the river receives raw sewage from Alexandra. Once again nature attenuates the coliform count to reasonable levels by the time it flows through Dainfern Valley and joins the Crocodile.
This tells us that rehabilitation is possible if enough people in positions of authority decide to cooperate in finding a solution in partnership with nature. This is best achieved by the respective residential estates expressing a desire to cooperate with the developers of the land around the Mall of Africa and the development around Bruma Lake. There are enough existing open spaces, – from Bezuidenhout Park and the Observatory Golf Course, through Bruma Lake and the open veld at the Tropical Disease Hospital –, to enable nature to be given a chance. Should this be done, it will be 100% consistent with the stated objective of the NWA to rehabilitate severely degraded rivers. Lessons can be learned from the Hennops Revival process, where the management of plastic waste has become a major issue.
The Jukskei River is historically significant and legally protected. The fact that it is probably the most abused river in the country, speaks to the core drivers of our demise – a breakdown in the rule of law and an erosion of the structures of governance. Therefore, any efforts made to rehabilitate the Jukskei will also become a catalyst for the stabiliszation of institutions of governance, and the restoration of the rule of law. More importantly, such an initiative will convert a current health hazard into an investment- enhancing asset for the many residential estates that have grown along the floodplain of the once beautiful river that became the hydraulic foundation of the largest gold- producing economy the world has ever known. That’s a powerful story that more people need to embrace.
