The Kaalspruit River Catchment (KRC) cuts across the three Metropolitan Municipalities (metros) of Gauteng- (Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg) and, while it is a vital source of ecosystem services, it is highly degraded and presents a severe health, environmental, socio economic and economic risk. There is thus a need for coordinated municipal efforts to enhance the resilience of the KRC.
In February 2024, the Cities Support Programme and the City of Ekurhuleni, with support from the World Bank and One World Sustainable Investments hosted a 2 day workshop on the Kaalspruit. The workshop objectives were:To elicit concrete actions for the establishment of coordinated efforts between the three metros in enhancing the resilience of the KRC,To highlight areas of alignment between the challenges and opportunities facing the three metros in terms of effective management of the catchment,To determine areas of KRC management where further support is required from national government by the metros, andTo offer lessons learnt and insights to the metros from international case studies with a similar context and conditions.
The workshop included a case study input on the Msimbazi River, which flows through Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and faced many of the same challenges as the Kaalspruit. Through the Tanzania Urban Resilience Programme – a partnership between the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development – the Msimbazi Opportunity Plan was developed. Ashort video introducing the Tanzania Urban Resilience Programme was shown which set the scene for the keynote speaker, Eng. Mussa Natty (Urban Resilience Specialist, World Bank) who presented on the process of developing the Msimbazi Opportunity Plan and the similarities between the challenges and opportunities of the Msimbazi and the Kaalspruit.
Following the outcomes of the workshop, the Cities Support Programme, supported by the World Bank, has developed a proposed programme for the next steps of the Kaalspruit Resilience Project. The programme consists of three synchronised activities: Knowledge Exchange, between Dar Es Salaam & South Africa to take place in South Africa, Charette Process and Dar es Salaam Study Tour.