It was with great enthusiasm that residents, organisations and businesses gathered at allocated meeting points around the dam on Saturday morning for the Harties Clean and Restore project.

Participants gathered at the Schoemansville resort from where teams were dispatched to the various areas.

The clean-up was coordinated by Rotary Brits Hartbeespoort, WESSA and Birdlife Hartbeespoort and teams worked around the dam to clean the environment from litter. Some of the key clean-up areas were the dam wall, the area around the bird island in Ifafi, Kosmos area, banks of the Crocodile River, and Damdoryn, to name but a few.

At Kosmos, residents worked together with residents of the informal settlements to clean the various areas. The Madibeng municipality assisted with trucks and a front end loader to remove rubble and rubbish.

Driving around the dam on Saturday, there was a buzz of activity, from people cutting grass, fixing road verges and picking up litter, to boats removing Salvinia weed and rubbish from the dam.

Actions included fixing of potholes, painting of roads, repairing walls on the dam wall road, upgrading the dam wall picnic site, cleaning the info tent area, dustbins, concrete seats and benches, painting of palisade and bridge rails and replacing the bamboo screen above Tan Malie.

Teams from various estate agencies and other businesses took part in the clean-up, and learners of the Mountain Cambridge school cleaned up around their school.

On the water, a number of boats and pleasure boat owners joined the clean-up removing litter and Salvinia weed. Members of the yacht club also participated.

According to John Wesson of WESSA, businesses in Hartbeespoort contributed over R 260 000 worth of materials and or services for the clean-up. “The day ended at around 14:00 with a sense of great achievement and support from all parts of the community for us to lead the way in making a difference. We want to thank every business and residents who came out to assist and make a difference to restore Hartbeespoort,” he said. Neurorocket marketing who handles the WESSA Northern Areas marketing and social media will be producing a video on the event which will soon be available on Youtube.

The next clean up morning is planned for International Clean-up Day on 17 September. “We hope we have instilled a sense of pride in this town, and when we do the next cleanup there will be a lot less litter. On behalf of the three organisations that coordinated the project, we thank you the Harties community and business owners for your support and look forward to working with you again in September.”

Thank you to the following organisations, companies and every member of the community for donations and contributions: Rotary club of Brits Hartbeespoort, WESSA Northern areas region, Hartbeespoort Cableway, Funds to Rotary from a number of individuals, REMAX, Seeff, Century 21, M&M Garden Service, Aloe Farm, Elite Car Wash, Mugg &Bean The Islands Mall, The Islands Mall Spar, Dreiers, Build It, Terries Paving, Obaro, Harties Printing, SAC Trucks, Village Mall, Brits Poles, Bushkateers Nursery, Style Décor, Chameleon Village, Talisman, Spar Damdoryn, SRU Security, Kshane Estate, Barbados restaurant, Squires, TOLBLIK.