Posted on September 10, 2025
Work is on track at popular recreational sites like Zeekoevlei and Zandvlei, says the City.
Amy MacIver (in for CapeTalk’s John Maytham) chats to the Mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Mayor Geordin HIll-Lewis visited Zeekoevlei and Zandvlei on Tuesday to mark ‘historic’ environmental protection progress at Cape Town’s recreational vleis.
The City says dredging commenced at Zeekoevlei on 30 June, its first vlei dredging in 42 years.
Sediment containing pollutants and excess nutrients is being removed to restore the ecological health of the vlei.
The second weed harvester ordered to clear Zandvlei, was also delivered this week.
The vessel was named ‘Spoonbill’ through a public nomination process.
This means there are now two weed harvesters operating at Zandvlei, and another at Rietvlei.
In conversation with Amy MacIver, Hill-Lewis highlights that one of the pledges he made on being elected mayor was to clean up Cape Town’s waterways.
“Prior to 2021, these vleis were actually closed to the public for most of the year. One of the things the experts said was that Zeekoevlei and Milnerton Lagoon need to be dredged, and separate to the dredging we need to get these weed harvester boats that control the pondweed in the summer months.”
Geordin Hill-Lewis – Mayor of Cape Town
“Our biodiversity department had been asking for that for a long time and hadn’t got the budget support that they needed, and it was clear if we wanted to start a turnaround of our rivers and our vleis we had to make some investment.”
Geordin Hill-Lewis – Mayor of Cape Town
The dredging of Zeekoevlei will take the better part of about 18 months, the Mayor says.
The work at Milnerton Lagoon is yet to commence.
“The three new weed harvesters are going to mean that we can control that pondweed on the major vleis around the city through the hot months and that is going to really dramatically improve water quality in those vleis.”
Geordin Hill-Lewis – Mayor of Cape Town
The City has provided a detailed outline of the work on Cape Town’s recreational vleis on its website.
