{"id":54825,"date":"2026-04-03T06:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=54825"},"modified":"2026-04-03T06:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:54:07","slug":"klip-river-baptisms-joburg-polluted-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/04\/03\/klip-river-baptisms-joburg-polluted-water\/","title":{"rendered":"baptisms in Joburg&#8217;s polluted water"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>Worshippers believe the water allows sins to flow away. <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Every Sunday, scores of people from various spiritual traditions assemble along the Klip River, which runs through Soweto and Lenasia, to participate in spiritual rituals, including baptisms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe water cleanses us. It is holy,\u201d says Lee Ndlovu, a Lenasia resident who comes to the river nearly every week. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have people from everywhere using the river. Churches, sangomas, all of them use it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: What\u2019s really in your water? Damning report highlights how South Africa is failing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Worshippers believe the water allows sins to flow away. But as people were being baptised behind him, one could see the water foaming in places.<\/p>\n<p>Ndlovu said people \u201chave gotten sick\u201d from the water, but \u201cit is worth it \u2026 because the water is sacred.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ndlovu says many people come to the river out of desperation, with the hope that this spiritual act will provide them with a job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis river answers prayers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-polluted-waters\">Polluted waters<\/h3>\n<p>Department of Water and Sanitation spokesperson Wisane Mavasa said the section of the Klip River that runs through Gauteng has unsafe levels of E.coli, which is a direct indicator of faecal contamination, and of the pesticide endosulfan, which, due to its toxicity, has been restricted or banned in over 60 countries.<\/p>\n<p>Untreated sewage flows from the City of Johannesburg\u2019s Goudkoppies wastewater treatment works into the river. <\/p>\n<p>Downstream of the treatment works, where communities live along the river banks, the water gives off a repugnant odour. <\/p>\n<p>The river foams from the pollution, and the water is murky.<\/p>\n<p>Mavasa said a criminal case will \u201csoon be submitted\u201d to the NPA regarding non-compliance at Goudkoppies.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the failing sewage works, the river is polluted by toxic industrial and mining runoff, and household waste from surrounding communities.<\/p>\n<p>A 2025\u00a0environmental assessment\u00a0in Soweto by researchers from the University of Johannesburg found an \u201calarming presence of organic chemicals linked to organ damage, developmental disorders, and cancer in the river\u2019s sediments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE: SA\u2019s water crisis deepens as audit reveals municipalities are losing more water than they use<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dr Mathapelo Seopela, one of the study authors, explained that sediments contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pose a threat to communities that use river water. <\/p>\n<p>PAHs primarily come from oil spills, industrial runoff and leaking fuel tanks, as well as the burning of coal, waste and biomass.<\/p>\n<p>Livestock graze along the banks, \u201crisking toxin transfer to meat and dairy\u201d, said Seopela. Biodiversity, fish reproduction and the survival of amphibians are also at risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUrbanisation, inadequate waste management and historical pollution have turned the Klip River into a chemical reservoir,\u201d said Seopela. <\/p>\n<p>The damaged wetlands are not able to filter out the contaminants.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers studied the effect of the toxins on zebrafish embryos. The toxins were found to cause heart problems and spinal deformities. <\/p>\n<p>Zebrafish are the gold standard for toxicity testing because of their biological similarity to humans.<\/p>\n<p>The river is an important water source for residents and a key tributary to the Vaal River system. The section of the river that runs through the Free State is not as heavily polluted.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">No accountability<\/h3>\n<p>It is three years since civil society organisation WaterCAN laid criminal charges with the police and Green Scorpions against the City of Johannesburg and its municipal manager for persistent environmental negligence.<\/p>\n<p>WaterCAN alleges the municipality has violated the National Water Act, which makes it a criminal offence to fail to comply with directives from the Department of Water and Sanitation. <\/p>\n<p>The department had in 2022 issued a directive to end raw sewage flows into the Klip River.<\/p>\n<p>WaterCAN executive director Ferrial Adam said officials have faced no accountability. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis delay and lack of transparency should alarm all of us. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt raises serious questions about whether environmental crimes are being treated with the seriousness they deserve,\u201d said Adam.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE: Are corrupt water officials getting away with it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead, the process appears to have stalled behind closed doors, with no answers and no accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said this sends a dangerous message that environmental laws can be ignored without consequence and that the health and dignity of affected communities are undervalued. <\/p>\n<p>It is unclear whether the case has been handed to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccountability cannot be optional, and it cannot take years while people continue to suffer the consequences. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Klip River is dying under the weight of this pollution,\u201d said Adam.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was republished from GroundUp under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article\u00a0here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#baptisms #Joburgs #polluted #water<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Worshippers believe the water allows sins to flow away. Every Sunday, scores of people from various spiritual traditions assemble along&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54827,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54825\/revisions\/54827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}