Cape Town: Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis with Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews visited the recreational vleis and marked a historic progress to protect the environment of the City of Cape Town.
Reportedly, this progress will also protect the dredging at Zeekoevlei well under way, and delivery of a second weed harvester for Zandvlei, the third specialised vehicle of its kind delivered this term.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said that the Capetonians pledged to restore the waterways, and it is a joy to witness critical milestones at two of the recreational vleis. Dredging commenced at Zeekoevlei on June 30, 2025 which is the first vlei dredging of the City of Cape Town, in 42 years.
According to Lewis, they are using innovative floating machinery so that they can go far beyond the water’s edge to remove sediment from the lakebed containing nutrient and pollutant build-up. He said that he is excited to see the impact of this extensive environmental restoration over the next 26 months.
Lewis expressed that he was also pleased to visit Zandvlei to see the second weed harvester delivered for the vlei, named Spoonbill. The arrival of Spoonbill is doubling the specialised vessel capacity at Zandvlei to assist with aquatic vegetation management in both the canals and the main waterbody.
Besides these two vessels, they also have a new weed harvester operating at Rietvlei. These vessels will improve the environmental health of these wetlands, and will also clear waterways to make the vleis more navigable and safer for communities.
Considered through a public nomination process, the Spoonbill is the third vessel of this design. It incorporates a number of significant modifications that improve performance, particularly when navigating the tight waterways of Marina da Gama.
The vessel is expected to begin operations on Zandvlei in the coming months, coinciding with the start of the aquatic cutting season.
The weed harvesters are key ecological management tools. By removing pondweed and algae, they extract excess nutrients from the system. Thereby improving water quality and reducing the risk of algal blooms and oxygen depletion associated with eutrophication.
Furthermore, two sections of Zeekoevlei will be dredged over a period of 26 months and the work has already begun at Storm Bay.
According to Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews they have undertook significant preparations for the dredging. This included the construction of a 4.3km long slurry pipeline to pump the dredged sediment from Zeekoevlei to the dewatering ponds; preparing the dewatering ponds at the Cape Flats WWTWs; and the assembling and testing of the floating suction dredger.
Notably, the dredging happens daily from 06:00 a.m. to 07:00 p.m. Andrew said that they have a team of 15 personnel on site who are involved with the operation itself from dredge operators to deck hands and divers to move the mooring blocks, dredger and assist with work under the water, as well as excavator operators.