KHAYELITSHA TACKLES WASTE through art

Indawo, Abantu, Injongo eKhayelitsha (Place, People, Purpose in Khayelitsha) is a community project run by a group of women in the Griffiths Mxenge section of Khayelitsha, Cape Town. The project incorporates waste removal, transformational art and green space creation, forming a watersensitive rain garden design that protects ground- and surface water systems, while promoting community engagement.

This community initiative, supported by The Umvoto Foundation (TUF), recently scooped three awards in the inaugural #cocreate Blue-Green Cities Design Awards. It not only won the Community-based Project category, but also the Most Valued Water-sensitive Innovation, and Most Valued Project: Water Champion prizes.

Where it all began

The #cocreate Blue-Green Cities Design Awards were announced on 27 October 2022 in Cape Town. They were aligned with the #cocreate DESIGN FESTIVAL, an initiative of the Mission Network of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Africa.

Illegally dumped waste – consisting of singleuse plastics, building rubble, medication, expired food and used sanitary items – has

WINNER – Best Community-based Project, Most Valued Water-sensitive Innovation, and Most Valued Project Water Champion (L-R): Hélène Rekkers, Consul General of the Netherlands in Cape Town; Busiswa Nomyayi, representing Indawo, Abantu, Injongo eKhayelitsha; Fahad Aziz, representing The Umvoto Foundation; Ian Neilson, portfolio committee chair: Water and Sanitation, City of Cape Town been a continuous issue for Busiswa Nomyayi’s community in Griffiths Mxenge, Khayelitsha. When it rains, sidewalk waste is mobilised and discharged into the stormwater system, impacting waterbodies and the underlying Cape Flats Aquifer (CFA).

Busiswa and a group of women in the community formed Indawo, Abantu, Injongo eKhayelitsha with the support of TUF, to transform and beautify their community.

TUF is a registered Section 18A non-profit company that supports the development of community capacity to achieve clean and healthy ecosystems.

Creating art from waste

The festival was organised in collaboration with the Craft and Design Institute and curated in partnership with the University of Cape Town’s Future Water Institute, the City of Cape Town and the Institute for Landscape Architecture in South Africa. Photos supplied

TUF hosted a water stewardship training course on how the earth, water and science interact. Busiswa attended this course and learned about the connection between stormwater and waste impacts. The group began doing regular clean-ups on their street, removing about 60-80 bags of waste each time.

Removing building rubble was the biggest challenge, proving both difficult and expensive. With TUF’s assistance, the group developed an innovative design to repurpose the rubble to create mosaicked concrete benches. TUF also collaborated with the City of Cape Town to host a training workshop on recycling material collected during clean-ups.

Art is a key design component of this initiative and an effective way to engage with communities to raise awareness of the importance of the environment and water systems. This was achieved through culturally appropriate designs of murals and mosaicked benches.

A rain garden was also constructed along the sidewalk where waste was often dumped illegally. This garden consists of colourful indigenous plants and vegetables, with plans to further extend it. TUF and the group are also developing a vegetable garden at the adjacent primary school.

Reducing water pollution

Clean-ups undertaken by Indawo, Abantu, Injongo eKhayelitsha have resulted in less waste being transferred into water systems, ultimately protecting receiving water bodies (including False Bay) and the underlying aquifer.

The creation of the rain garden has increased the permeability of the sidewalk, resulting in increased aquifer recharge and improved flood retention. The garden vegetation improves stormwater quality by assisting with nutrient assimilation from sources of pollution.

Furthermore, the rain garden has improved the biodiversity of what was a barren street, with sightings of various insects, bees and birds. Brightly coloured murals, benches and garden flowers have brought colour to the street.

Art has been an effective way to educate the community on complex environmental issues – Busiswa notes how one local child made the connection between the birds and insects shown on the murals/mosaics and the presence of birds and insects in the garden, which were not commonly observed before.

Partnerships and collaborations

The project has depended strongly on partnerships from inception.

Labour costs for artwork (mosaicked benches and murals) were covered by TUF, along with other minor costs. Riyaad Ajouhaar, a building contractor, assisted with recycling the building rubble and constructing benches.

TUF and the group also partnered with local artists such as SethOne and Regan Rubain to design and undertake the art mural and mosaicked benches, respectively. In both cases, Busiswa collaborated with these artists to develop the designs. Given a close relationship between Busiswa and the adjacent primary school, the school gave permission for the benches to be built and stored on their property.

The vegetable garden within the school property has received donations such as building material from Ajouhaar and plants from Christoph Reinhold, an architectural consultant.

Generous donations also came from Creative Space Clovelly and React Group in the form of tiles for designing the bench mosaics. Lastly, engagement and collaboration with the City of Cape Town resulted in a recycling training workshop hosted by the City to further upskill the group.

This project is a blueprint for community empowerment and community self-reliance for other parts of Khayelitsha and the rest of South Africa. The initiative advocates bottom-up approaches that illustrate the importance of community-led projects and strong partnerships with a wide range of collaborators, including scientists, engineers and artists.

The project team undertaking their weekly clean-ups