Happenings - Save the Vaal Environment

CRUISE CARIBBEAN STYLE ON THE VAAL RIVER FOR SAVE

SAVE invites you to join them on a FUN fund-raising cruise and DINNER/DANCE down the mighty Vaal river aboard the magnificent SPIRIT OF JEN.

When: Saturday 11 October 2008. 17:30 for 18:00 to 21:00

Where: The Spirit of Jen – the Vaal's luxury cruiser departs from Stonehaven-on-Vaal, Vanderbijlpark at 18:00 sharp.

Cost: Tickets are R 300 per head and I urge you to participate in this wonderful cruise while assisting SAVE in its endeavours to clean up the River.

Tables seat a maximum of 12 and you can book a table or fewer than 12 tickets, even one or two. Please advise per return email if you are able to take up some tickets for this worthy cause. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

RSVP For further information telephone Thomas 082 419 6526

or e-mail

Please see the attached invitation for a spectacular cruise on the Vaal River

REPORT BACK MEETING

Attend our meeting on 16 July 2008 where the relevant officials will report back with the plans that DWAF and Emfuleni envisage to implement to halt the pollution.
Time: 11:00
Venue: At Luciana Country Estate lapa
(Near the Barrage - Free State side of the River).

How can you help S.A.V.E.?

SAVE, together with the River Property & Safety Association and other interested parties have launched a campaign to stop Emfuleni Municipality from further selling off public areas along the Vaal River. The recent sale of Eligwa club for private development of townhouses and commercial development have raised many concerns amongst River lovers. SAVE is of the view that it is the duty of a municipality to supply services such as public recreational areas and caravan parks – not to sell off such land without replacing the facilities.

Members of the public who are being deprived access to the River have expressed strong feelings and legal action will be taken against the municipality in order to reverse the sale of Eligwa and to prevent further sales of public land.

Any person interested in assisting this with cause should be in contact with Andy Henegan 083 7000 452 or Thomas du Toit 082 419 6526.

26 July 2008 and beyond...

With the River quality as bad as it is, SAVE (Save the Vaal Environment) arranged a meeting with the authorities late last year and proved to them what the problems and dangers are. The Emfuleni Council, DWAF (both national and Gauteng) all denied the existence of the problem. All role players met again on 4 March 2008. The denials have gone away and it is now common cause that a serious problem exists. All accepted that solutions must be found.

DWAF, Emfuleni, Rand Water and interested water users met to discuss the way forward. We had an instructive and constructive meeting of about 60 people and Emfuleni reported that it now received R 50 million to do certain repair jobs at the most urgent problem areas. On a helicopter flight over the sewer works at Sebokeng and Vereeniging, it was clear that sewage is running from these non-functioning works along furrows straight into the Vaal. The undertaking was to spend the R 50 million at these points in the near future. In order to keep the pressure up, SAVE arranged a report back meeting on 16 July 2008 in the Luciana lapa where we evaluated the progress.

After encouraging news from DWAF and Emfuleni Municipality that some of the sewage treatment plants have been repaired and that the Rietspruit works will be fully operational by September 2008, another report back has been arranged for 1 October 2008 at 11h00 in the Luciana lapa. The Rietspruit is the most polluted of all the tributaries and a clean-up of this part of the River will be a major step forward. A meeting with the Director- General of DWAF is also scheduled for 2 September 2008.

However, the problem is not limited to 2 sewer works. It is far greater and other entities upstream (sewer works at Three Rivers and Sasolburg) will have to be engaged and be forced into co-operating with SAVE and other role players to stop the pollution of the Vaal River.

To this end, SAVE has embarked on a fundraising drive in order to take legal action where required. Join us on the the SPIRIT of JEN on 11 October 2008.

New threats

To ensure the integrity of the Vaal river and its environment, S.A.V.E. has now embarked on a campaign to bring to book polluters of the river, whether it be municipalities allowing sewage contamination or companies causing chemical pollution. Enough is enough! The pollution must stop!

Join S.A.V.E. and bring your family and friends on board as well.