The clean-up of Little Princess Vlei has come to a halt, leaving piles of biomass removed from the vlei yet to be collected, as the breeding season of the Western Leopard Toad is in full swing.
City of Cape Town officials have been left scratching their heads on how to safely remove the waste without violating legislation to not disturb or work within 500 m of the water’s edge during breeding season of the leopard toad.
According to resident Lynn Arendse, each year the leopard toad migrates to Little Princess Vlei between August and November, something the City is well aware of.
“On Saturday (20 August) morning City teams arrived to remove the waste only to be stopped by another City department due to the leopard toad breeding season.”
Arendse, a resident who has lived in the area for more than 20 years, said residents asked the City when they will be cutting and removing the biomass well before the leopard toad breeding season had begun.
“We have so many beautiful wildlife in the area, recently we’ve seen an otter in the vlei. We just need the City departments to work together and tell us what can be done.
“If it is not removed it will start to smell, there will be lots of mosquitoes and they will have to wait until after the toad breeding season which is in January.”
According to Zahid Badroodien, the City’s Mayco member for water and sanitation, the department has been using an external plant hire tender for clean- ups which expired on Saturday 2 April.
“After the expiry of the tender, the department had challenges in finding capable machinery within the city fleet up until July, therefore this resulted in the late start for the clean-up at the Little Princess Vlei.
“Currently, the department is exploring the possibility of using the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) teams to remove the material instead of a big machine. This will result in the material being removed earlier than January 2023.”
In a meeting with City officials on Wednesday 24 August, the department discussed possible solutions on how to safely remove the waste.
“Since our meeting on site with the councillor for the area we have engaged the biodiversity section regarding a clean-up during the breeding season. We are looking at the possibility of using EPWP teams which biodiversity section needs to approve.”
He added that in accordance with national and provincial legislation (The National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act and the Nature & Environmental Conservation Ordinance) the City has a shared responsibility to protect natural heritage and in particular, threatened and protected species.
