“I Thought It’s a Golf Course”: Aerial View of Hartbeespoort Dam Leaves SA in Disbelief
- North West Times shared an aerial video of Hartbeespoort Dam blanketed by water hyacinth, leaving viewers stunned
- The dam has reportedly been battling severe pollution from untreated sewage flowing from Gauteng’s failing wastewater treatment works
- South Africans flooded the comments with concern, disbelief and dark humour after the footage went viral on Facebook
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Source: Facebook
An aerial clip of Hartbeespoort Dam in the North West has stopped thousands of South Africans in their tracks. Facebook page, North West Times posted the footage on 23 August 2026, believed to have been originally filmed in November 2025, and the reaction was immediate.
The video shows the dam’s surface almost entirely smothered in a thick green blanket of water hyacinth. The invasive algae has spread so aggressively that several commenters initially mistook the dam for a golf course or a lawn.
What is killing Hartbeespoort Dam
The root cause is reported to be a process called hypereutrophication, an extreme overloading of nutrients in the water driven largely by raw and poorly treated sewage pouring in from failing municipal wastewater treatment works upstream in Gauteng.
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That nutrient-rich water feeds toxic algae blooms and creates ideal conditions for water hyacinth to thrive. The algae then spreads rapidly across the surface, cutting off oxygen and light to aquatic life below.
The consequences stretch beyond the environment. According to The Independent Co, local tourism and fishing businesses that depend on the dam are set to take serious strain, and without sustained rehabilitation funding, ecological collapse could become irreversible. Water supplied to nearby towns and farms could also turn unsafe, and regional health risks tied to contaminated water may follow.
Watch the aerial footage of Hartbeespoort Dam that sparked the debate below:
Mzansi reacts to the dam’s condition
South Africans in the comments could not hold back:
@Mahene Patrice Benzane said:
“I thought it’s a golf course.🏌️”
@Mark Stephan wrote:
“One big sewerage pool.”
@Bill Peebles pushed back:
“This is not accurate. I went over the bridge on Thursday and no hyacinth or water lettuce in view.”
@K Bobby Jones closed with a philosophical note:
“Money can’t buy everything 😅 nature will humble you.”
More polluted Mzansi sites
- A viral Facebook video showing piles of floating rubbish in Hartbeespoort Dam has left South Africans outraged.
- Gauteng’s rivers are facing severe pollution as untreated sewage, industrial waste and illegal dumping contaminate major waterways across the province.
- Research by the Centre for Energy and Clean Air (CREA) linked air pollution to an estimated 42,000 deaths per year in South Africa.
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Source: Briefly News
