Rivers of pain in Nairobi and Johannesburg: How bad are they, and what’s (really) being done?
The Ngong in Nairobi and the Jukskei in Johannesburg run through some of Africa's most crowded neighbourhoods. Both are killing and sickening the people who live alongside them. We compare the floods, the filth and the fixes. The post Rivers of pain in Nairobi and Johannesburg: How bad are they, and what’s (really) being done? appeared first on Bhekisisa .
Two urban rivers, Nairobi’s Ngong and Johannesburg’s Jukskei, share similar challenges: frequent flash floods, raw sewage, and plastic pollution in flood-prone settlements. In Mukuru, a slum on the Ngong River, preliminary research indicates 44% of residents in flood zones suffer from PTSD, with 51% having survived five or more floods.
The same dangers plague residents of Alexandra, where the Jukskei River cuts through low-lying communities. Those who swim in the Jukskei face a 50% to 60% chance of contracting salmonella or shigella, and Mukuru records cholera cases annually. In response, Nairobi’s Nairobi Rivers Commission is actively dredging rivers, rebuilding sewers, and clearing flood buffers, while Johannesburg hasn't matched this scale of effort.
Written by urgent.news from Bhekisisa's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
