In 2019, the Eastern Cape Karoo was in the midst of a crippling drought — some said the worst they’d ever seen. The Nqwebo dam in Graaff Reinet had gone dry. More than 600 volunteers, young and old, had gathered to remove dead fish from its cracked floor. The clean-up...
One of the major needs in getting waste management systems right is the better inclusion and recognition of informal waste reclaimers. The thousands of individuals across the country who are waste reclaimers provide a major free service to municipalities and...
Themba is in his 30s and is a waste reclaimer living in Diepsloot. He travels through the settlement with his wooden cart and large bags, searching the dumpsites for cardboard, paper, plastic and metal. Glass bottles, he says, are not worth collecting “because you...
Why do people litter? This question was the focus of a 2022 study published in the South African Journal of Science. Over 300 residents in a number of lower-income communities were surveyed to understand their subjective perceptions about why people litter. Their...
In Pearston, a small town between Graaff Reinet and Somerset East where residents live off groundwater, the river is dry but pouring with rubbish. For decades, Pearston’s riverbed has separated its black township, Khanyisa, from its town centre. “When I grew up here...
Zelda lives in a middle class suburb outside Pretoria. “For those of us who want to separate our waste and put out different bags, the garbage collectors don’t care – they just put everything into the garbage truck. So, I don’t know where to begin even.” Even in...
The Eastern Cape Karoo has been battling drought along with water outages and hikes in the price of municipal water. Because they struggle to access water, both the rich and the poor in the Eastern Cape Karoo are less likely to grow their own vegetables, or any food,...
Somerset East is a small town in the Eastern Cape Karoo. Here, as in many other towns around the country, apartheid planning is on full display, with the town centre in the valley, and its ‘workers’ in peripheral townships (although work is now hard to come by). By...