act
Busi Moloele
NEXT time you’re in Witbank, look carefully between the giant forms of the iron-smelting factory, the electricity power-stations and the gangling steel factory. There, huddled in a space named Kwaguqa, you are likely meet an intrepid band of environmentalists who are trying to make a difference.
In 1994, a group of standard eight, nine and matric boys from Edward Matyeka School and their teacher, Haroon Maduna, started by clearing one dumping site in Kwaguqa’s Extension 2.
Derided and ridiculed (“Haven’t you anything better to do?”), the group persevered, dragging in the council to supply trees and grass plugs.
Students Themba Shongwe, Emmanuel Ramagayane and Colin Maseko laugh as they remember the stage at which people in the surrounding houses realised that they had a green playground for their children where there had once been glass bottles and rubbish.
“They began to bring out food to us and the men came out and helped us,” recalls Maduna.
Heartened, the group moved on to other dumping sites in the township, and soon word spread of their work. They have since organised regular clean-up campaigns to involve the community, developed play areas and five other parks, as well as a perma-culture gardening project (using home-made compost, natural fertilisers and pesticides).
This year, they plan to begin a water- awareness project which will involve testing water at various sites. The results from these tests will provide some evidence which can be used in the uphill task of awakening the factories bordering Kwaguqa to the fact that their atmospheric and water emissions are affecting the health and lives of the people who live near them.
“This project is good because it makes the youth responsible, and removes the temptation to look to material or destructive things to occupy your time,” says Ramagayane. “However, the numbers of teenagers in the core group have dwindled since 1996.”
“Projects like these teach you self- reliance and about how environmental issues affect our lives,” adds Shongwe, “but some young people just don’t appreciate that.”
Nevertheless, their effect has spread beyond their school. With the blessing of their school principal, the Edward Matyeka group has begun to work with satellite groups in the 10 primary schools in the area, engaging in gardening and recycling projects. Younger people, it seems, are more receptive to the idea of a healthy future.
And so, it appears, are older people – the pensioners’ gardening group the group established in January is going strong.