20/06/2026
SAVE THE BOSMONT SPRUIT – OUR COMMUNITY CANNOT AFFORD TO REMAIN SILENT
A Message from the Bosmont Football Association
For more than 25 years, the Bosmont Football Association (BFA) has been engaged in an ongoing struggle to save the Bosmont Spruit and protect the community facilities and recreational spaces that generations of Bosmont residents have enjoyed and built.
Today, we are compelled to share with the broader community the seriousness of the crisis we face. This is no longer simply a football issue. It is an environmental issue, a public health issue, a safety issue, and ultimately a community issue.
OUR SPRUIT IS DYING – AND SO ARE OUR COMMUNITY SPACES
The Bosmont Spruit forms part of the Braamfontein-Klipspruit waterway system. For decades it sustained an important ecosystem and provided the natural drainage that protected the community and surrounding facilities. Yet, through years of neglect and poor planning, an environmental disaster is unfolding before our eyes.
The BFA has consistently maintained that the root cause of many of the present problems lies in the decision by the City of Johannesburg to divert the natural flow of the spruit just south-west of the footbridge behind St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church. To this day, neither Johannesburg Water nor any other authority has been able to satisfactorily explain the reasons for this diversion or provide evidence that the required approvals and water licences were obtained, from the Ministry of Water.
After years of representations by the BFA, the City embarked upon a R28 million rehabilitation project in 2018 covering the section from Albertina Sisulu Road to the culverts under the N1 Highway. We expressed our concerns at the time and warned that the engineering approach being adopted would not solve the problem.
Unfortunately, eight years later, our fears have been proven correct.
Virtually nothing remains of that R28 million intervention. The problems have become worse, not better. The dam was repositioned, the channel behind the Bosmont Mosque widened, and the threat to the sports fields intensified.
As a direct consequence, Bosmont has already lost four sports fields. The Willows, a rich and treasured part of Bosmont's history and recreational heritage, has disappeared.
Millions of rand were spent, yet the community has been left with an even greater disaster.
NEGLECT BY ALL SPHERES OF GOVERNMENT
The problems affecting the Bosmont Spruit cannot be attributed to one department alone.
Over the last fifteen years, neglect by local, provincial and national government has compounded the crisis.
Mining activities west of the N1 Highway have obstructed the natural flow of the spruit. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources bears responsibility for ensuring that these activities do not interfere with the natural watercourse.
The culvert beneath the N1 Highway falls under SANRAL and the Ministry of Transport. Failure to properly maintain and clear this vital structure has further restricted the natural flow of water.
The Department of Water and Sanitation is responsible for protecting water resources, ensuring proper sewer management and preventing sewerage from entering natural waterways. Yet sewerage leaks continue to pollute the Bosmont Spruit and have effectively transformed sections of the system into a sewerage dam.
The Department is also responsible for regulating deviations to natural watercourses and issuing the required licences.
Without restoring the natural flow west of the N1 Highway, none of the other interventions can be effectively implemented.
Even SANRAL engineers cannot deploy workers and machinery into what has become a contaminated sewerage environment.
THE CONSEQUENCES ARE BECOMING MORE SERIOUS
The uncontrolled rise of the water table now threatens homes and institutions throughout Bosmont, particularly properties along Langerberg Avenue. Places of worship and education including the Bosmont Mosque, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, St. Luke's Anglican Church and St. Barnabas College are increasingly vulnerable. The N1 Highway itself has been forced to close on more than one occasion due to flooding. Albertina Sisulu Road floods whenever major storms occur. Maroela Street has had to be closed because of flooding. The Bosmont Sports Grounds becomes a lake after heavy rainfall, making the fields unusable for weeks at a time. This year alone, six weeks of sport have already been lost.
The destruction of our sporting facilities does not merely affect football. It affects children, families and the broader social fabric of our community.
WHY THIS MATTERS
This crisis affects:
• Public health.
• Property values.
• Flood prevention and community safety.
• Biodiversity and environmental sustainability.
• Sporting and recreational facilities.
• Future generations.
Every year that passes without meaningful intervention increases the cost of rehabilitation and places our community at greater risk.
WE HAVE FOLLOWED EVERY PROTOCOL
For more than two decades, the BFA has acted responsibly.
We have engaged local officials, area managers and departmental heads.
We have written to the Director of Sport.
We have engaged the Office of the City Manager, Floyd Brink.
We have addressed concerns to Speaker Margaret Arnolds.
We have challenged Johannesburg Water, Johannesburg City Parks and the relevant departments.
We have written to Ministers responsible for Water and Sanitation, Transport, Mining and Sport.
Over the coming weeks, we will publish this correspondence so that the community can understand the extent of our efforts and appreciate that politicians and public officials must ultimately be held accountable.
WHERE IS THE COMMUNITY?
One of the greatest disappointments over these years has been the lack of support from many community structures. This affects every resident of Bosmont and surrounding areas. Yet far too often, those entrusted with community leadership have remained silent. Silence helps no one. Future generations will judge us not by what we said, but by what we did.
THE BFA WILL NOT GIVE UP
The Bosmont Football Association comes from a proud tradition of accountability and community activism. We were shaped by the values of SACOS and by generations who fought for justice, dignity and equality.
Today, our fight is different, but no less important.
We are fighting for accountability.
We are fighting to preserve our sporting facilities.
We are fighting to protect our environment.
We are fighting for our homes, our churches, our schools and our future.
Our Constitution gives every citizen the right to demand accountability from those elected to serve.
Democracy only works when communities insist that it works.
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
This campaign is not about blame.
It is about action.
We call upon every resident of Bosmont and surrounding communities to stand with us.
Demand answers.
Demand accountability.
Demand urgent intervention.
Support the campaign to Save the Bosmont Spruit.
Because if we do nothing, we will lose much more than sports fields.
We will lose part of our history, our heritage and our future.
Today we publish the initial letters written to Ministers. Over the next few weeks we will detail the responses and correspondence we have engaged in with the Ministries and JHB metro especially their JHB Water officials. This will clearly reflect which Ministries are working and those that are clearly not.
Michael Kahn
Bosmont Football Association
Serving the Community Since 1964
