The Blespokspruit catchment area, a critical wetland under threat. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla) 
As we have reported, a reclamation operation at the old Grootvlei gold mine in eastern Gauteng has recently been a hive of questionable activity that experts say poses an environmental threat to the Blesbokspruit, which flows through a Ramsar (designated to be of international importance) wetland site and the Marievale Bird Sanctuary.
Our queries and photographs prompted an investigation by the Department of Water and Sanitation that found that the company conducting this dubious operation – Upward Spiral – had no water authorisation, and enforcement measures are being taken against it.
Hopefully, this will will bring an end to this sordid saga – and kudos to the department for taking this matter seriously and taking action based on our intelligence. But the Blesbokspruit remains under threat and its fate is emblematic of the sad state of SA’s waterways.
Flowing through the Highveld of Gauteng, the Blesbokspruit is a key tributary of the Vaal, making it one of the arteries of the province’s supply of water. It is one of the largest wetlands in southern Africa, and its status as a Ramsar site underscores its ecological significance and wealth of biodiversity.
As a keen angler, this correspondent can attest to its reputation as a waterway teeming with yellowfish that will readily take a fly, and that points to the intricate web of life spun in its waters from insects to fish to birds to vegetation.
Treasured spot
The Marievale Bird Sanctuary is a treasured spot for birding in Gauteng – another indicator of its conservation importance.
But it is all being fouled by a toxic mix of factors rooted in corruption and the pursuit of illicit gold, as well as more mundane things such as urban sprawl.
“... the wetland has recently been under very intense ecological strain due to the increasingly growing urbanisation and anthropogenic activities along the wetland catchment”, notes a 2024 study in the peer-reviewed journal Science of the Total Environment.
The hazards underlined in the study include “rapid and intense ecological degradation attributed to continuous influx of underground water from an ancient Grootvlei mine and its mine dumps, unmonitored sewage spillages and wastewater drainages from the informal settlements, leachates from illegal solid waste dumps and agricultural run-offs”.
Indeed, the study cited above says that after its initial Ramsar listing it was “enlisted on a Montreux Record of Ramsar sites of degradation in 1996 because of its rapid and intense ecological degradation”.
The spectre of Grootvlei is now haunting the site in a renewed form, as our reporting and the Department of Water and Sanitation’s probe have shown.
This mirrors the unfolding tragedy of many other South African waterways in the age of state failure, including the sewer that is running through the Cradle of Humankind.
SA is a water-scarce country and its rivers, streams and wetlands are confronted by multiple hazards that threaten biodiversity, human health and the economy. Several small, family-run businesses have suffered in the Cradle because of the mess unleashed there.
This threat to ecosystems is toxic on other fronts as well. Much of the damage being inflicted stems from illegal mining operations that flow into the murky streams of transnational organised crime.
The Department of Water and Sanitation action regarding the dodgy operation at Grootvlei is welcome. But much more needs to follow. DM
