Hoekwillers stand together against aliens

GEORGE NEWS - A group of Hoekwillers have taken it on themselves to clear the wattles and bitterboom (an acacia related to black wattle) that have been growing prolifically in the road reserves along Hoekwil Road after last year's fires.

Armed with a borrowed chipper, handsaws and the odd chainsaw, 15 ratepayers and their gardeners on Thursday 24 October sweated for a full morning and cleared the view site and surrounds, an area of about 200 metres, of alien growth.

Terry Smith, one of the tireless hackers, was pleased with their effort.

"People stopping at the view site will not be having wattles in their view anymore. The owner of the land further down from this site is also busy clearing his property and has made some good progress," he said.

According to the group provincial government, the owner of the road reserves, failed to respond to their pleas to do the removal. When a member of the Hoekwil Hackers WhatsApp group posted on the group asking if anyone would be interested in doing the hack themselves, the response was positive.

"We decided to take up the responsibility as there was increasing pressure from the community that something had to be done. Follow-up clearing will be needed as the trees had already started flowering and have reseeded the ground."

The Department of Transport and Public Works said it would have to determine whether the cleared sections were part of its property before it could comment.

The group who tackled the alien vegetation.