The Khayelitsha Wetlands Park, a former centre for tourism, sport, and community life, has been rendered unusable by a severe infestation of invasive water hyacinth, forcing the beloved Khayelitsha Canoe Club to suspend all operations.
The park, once described as the pride of the Makhaza area, has seen its waterways completely smothered under a thick blanket of the fast-spreading plant. The Khayelitsha Canoe Club, founded over ten years ago to teach water safety and provide a positive outdoor space for youth, has been left with its canoes sitting idle.
A spokesperson for the club explained the severity of the situation: “One of the things it does when it completely takes over the water body is it blocks the water. There is water underneath… but it completely covers the top part. So yeah, it’s very difficult to canoe in this type of environment.”
Authorities and community members cite chronic pollution as the primary catalyst for the hyacinth’s explosive growth. The crisis is fueled by blocked sewer systems, illegal dumping, and sewage inflow from upstream, which severely degrade water quality. Additionally, growing illegal occupations around the wetland’s perimeter have exacerbated the environmental strain.
The City of Cape Town acknowledges the multi-layered crisis, confirming that the problem runs deeper than the invasive species alone. A City spokesperson stated that pollution from these combined sources “continues to worsen water quality, creating the perfect breeding ground for hyacinth.” The City says it is addressing the issue from multiple angles, with a major clean-up operation in the planning stages.
While awaiting large-scale governmental intervention, members of the canoe club are pioneering innovative methods to combat the problem and create opportunity from the crisis. They are manually removing the hyacinth and processing it into a useful product.
“We take it out of the water. We put it near the river bank for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, if it’s completely dry, we burn it… and then we make biochar out of it,” the club spokesperson said. They described the biochar as a nutrient-rich, sponge-like material that retains water and can be used to improve soil, reducing the need for irrigation.
The group’s innovative spirit extends beyond the hyacinth. They report that new eco-business ideas are taking shape, utilizing both general waste collected from the wetland and the hyacinth itself, demonstrating community resilience in the face of an environmental standstill.
For now, however, the park remains at a standstill. The water that once offered a peaceful escape and a venue for mentorship and tourism is inaccessible, buried under the green invader that thrives on the area’s unresolved pollution challenges.