Volunteers help clean the polluted Jukskei River “prone” to flash floods

In South Africa’s oldest township, volunteers in wetsuits jump into the thigh-deep water of the polluted Jukskei River to untangle a net that’s designed to trap garbage but damaged by heavy rains.

Without the nets, the shacks in low-lying Alexandra, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, could face disastrous flooding.

They are a “big hazard,” said Semadi Manganye, a resident and co-founder of the Alexandra Water Warriors.

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