Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

By HARRY OWEN Reddits Poetry, which has seen huge success in Grahamstown for more than twelve years, is coming to an end. This Friday, 29 January 2021, sees our official Farewell – and you are warmly invited to share this special evening (socially distanced, probably outdoors in the Amazwi amphitheatre) with us. If you can’t make it in person, we hope to bring the poetry into your home via Zoom, and will post a link as soon as we can. Additionally, our friends at Amazwi are busy working on a live stream platform. We hope to have the Open Mic streamed…

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.grocotts.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/End-Blurb-for-Word-Press-1.pdf” title=”End Blurb for Word Press”] https://www.grocotts.co.za/2021/01/25/iammakana-photo-competition-winners/

By PRUDENCE MINI Makana Tourism in partnership with Grocott’s Mail launched an exciting social media campaign last year called #IAM Makana. Up-and-coming local photographers and bloggers took up the challenge to share their personal journeys experienced in Makana. We saw everything from scenes at the taxi rank to a cyclist recording their love of Makhanda’s architecture and nature. All the photo submissions were a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark period of our lives. The overwhelming community involvement in the competition was a bonus, highlighting our town’s community spirit and togetherness. It also signaled that it was a people’s competition…

The Monetary Policy Committee has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 3.5% per annum, Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, has announced. Speaking during a virtual media briefing on Thursday, Kganyago said during the MPC meeting, two members of the committee preferred a 25 basis point cut and three preferred to hold rates at the current level. The repo rate is the rate at which the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) lends money to commercial banks. A change in the repo rate will affect people who have home loans or who have borrowed money from the bank. In the third quarter of 2020, the South…

If you are in a position to take advantage of the tax breaks available in this tax year, now is the time to do so. You can invest up to R 3 000 per month (R36 000 per annum) in a tax-free investment, with a lifetime contribution limit of R 500 000. The benefit of investing in this type of investment is that all growth is completely free of interest, dividends and capital gains tax. The drain that these taxes can potentially have on the end value of an investment is substantial. For example, Old Mutual recently examined the difference…

The festive season has come and gone and many South Africans are finding it difficult to meet the financial obligations facing them at the start of the year – school fees, school uniforms, transport, rent and more. But before you borrow money, make sure you know what you’re getting into, says Anne-Carien Du Plooy, Acting Manager: Education and Communication at the National Credit Regulator (NCR). Tips for consumers According to the National Credit Act, consumers have a right to receive information in plain and understandable language and to receive reasons from the credit provider if their application is declined. If all registered…

In these trying times of Covid-19, we need all hands on the deck and to try new strategies to fight the virus. One of the strategies DoH could implement is to keep community clinics open 24/7 so as to decrease the burden on our hospital. Minor cases can be treated in the clinics, even at night. In most cases, someone will be suffering from a stomach bug, a bad headache or a minor stab wound. Because it’s late and clinics are closed, they are sent to hospital. I believe such cases should be attended by clinic staff. The hospital should…

Monthly Rainfall Report for Makhanda by ROGER ROWSWELL December 2020 The rainfall received for December 2020 didn’t disappoint. In 19 raindays, 72.1mm  was recorded at Darling Street. This is slightly above the LTA and LTMed of 68.9mm and 55.5mm respectively. These welcome rains must have given some relief to the Howison’s Dam water levels – although none of the deluges we require occurred: the highest rainfall occurring in a 24-hour period was 16.0mm (it is understood that the dam catchment received notably higher rainfall), persistent rain over ten consecutive days at the beginning of the month must have brought some…

Lulama Maseti hosted a special Christmas Eve lunch party for 100 children. ‘But of course, the children told each other about the event and 133 children arrived!’ said Maseti. Luckily she’d planned for exactly that and had extra lunch packs on hand. Maseti and her team cook meals for community members from Extensions 4, 6, 8 and 9 as well as Transit Camp and eNkanini, Monday through Saturday. She dishes up at 9.30am. If you would like to know more, or assist, please call her at 076 922 2411.

For those who have attended our graduate show in the flesh, you will have been used to the convivial, public event where visitors may explore (for one-night-only) the various artistic incarnations created by our graduate students at multiple venues. This year, there will be no fainting in the over-packed art school for speeches, no gossiping up and down Somerset Street as you fall out of one venue – or the next – prompting others (you have not seen all year) about which shows to skip and which shows are worth the trek. There will be no cadging a lift up…