By JOY HINYIKIWILE You have probably seen them in town or at the Settlers Monument playing traditional and popular South African sounds using marimbas. Four ex-prisoners – Andile Jaha (48), Zola Mqwebedu (37), Phumlani Sonwabe (37) and Thobelani Mali (33) – have been relentlessly sharing their music in the city. They were setting up their equipment at Peppergrove Mall when I asked to talk to them. The Makhanda men were serving prison sentences when they met and were taught to play the marimba. They came out of jail and decided to use their newly-learnt skill to turn their lives around.…
Author: Joy Hinyikiwile
By JOY HINYIKIWILE In honour of Nelson Mandela Day, Makhandans were invited to a session of information sharing and discussion on the challenges they face in accessing information and finding work and the help they need to overcome these challenges. Organisations such as Harambee4Work, SA Youth, PSAM Africa, Oxfam SA, ECDC, Seda and Kagiso Trust made presentations about the kind of work they do in communities and then met with attendees for a question and answer session. The event, held at the Joza Indoor Sports Centre on Monday, 18 July, attracted residents of various age groups. It was organised by…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE and LIKHAPHA THAATHAA ASSITEJ South Africa – an alliance of organisations and individuals involved in promoting theatre for children and young people – celebrated its 15th anniversary at the Amazwi Museum of Literature during the National Arts Festival on 2 July 2022. It was a morning filled with children’s indigenous games, story-telling and playback theatre. The celebration continued with a session of reminiscing on the organisation’s 15-year-journey with its members and community members and sharing and receiving well-wishes from various ASSITEJ friends worldwide. ASSITEJ was founded in Paris in 1965 – the name ASSITEJ is the French…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE Rhodes University Community Engagement’s SD Cards project is appealing for more donations. The project donates 32 Gig SD cards loaded with study material to matric learners in no-fee paying schools in Makhanda. It raises money to buy the cards, which cost R110 each and loads them with relevant study material for learners. For 2022, the project aimed to raise enough money to donate 540 SD cards, which will cover every matric learner at all no-fee paying schools in Makhanda. So far, the project has donated 320 cards to three schools – Mary Waters, Nyaluza and Khutliso. It…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE The Eastern Cape Department of Education has been given until 13 July to temporarily appoint four new teachers at Mary Waters Secondary School after the school, represented by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), made an urgent court application to the Makhanda High Court. The school reported a loss of 124 teaching periods a week since the start of the year due to teacher shortages. It says the department short-changed it by several teacher posts for its 2022 post provisioning. Angry parents have staged various protests against the shortages over the past few years. On 23 June, Makhanda…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE The first day of the National Arts Festival (NAF) got off to a rocky start when Festival-goers struggled to buy tickets or get their tickets recognised by scanners at venues. Cue staff members were alerted to the challenges. “I was told my ticket doesn’t look legitimate,” one audience member said. Others explained they never received tickets despite paying for them online. NAF CEO Monica Newton said her team was unaware of scanner issues at venues but hoped people who showed proof of ticket purchase were allowed in regardless of whether scanners could read the tickets. She promised…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) was implemented in SA schools in 2000 as part of Life Orientation to contribute positively to adolescent sexual health in a holistic manner. But is it succeeding? Catriona Macleod, a Rhodes University psychology professor and SARChl Chair in Critical Studies in Sexuality and Reproduction, recently delivered a lecture to the Friends of the Library titled, ‘How school-based sexuality education fails South African youth’. Macleod said many young people receive lessons on sexuality in schools, which is still the best way to reach most of the country’s youth. But, she pointed to four problematic…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE A humble, quiet person and a great soccer player – this is how family and friends described the late Rhodes student Lizo Lunga Tshila as he was laid to rest in eNgcobo on Saturday, 4 June. The body of the 23-year-old, third-year Bachelor of Pharmacy student was found in the Botanical Gardens at about 8.30 am on Saturday, 28 May. Lizo’s passing triggered concerns about mental health services at Rhodes University, as many believed he had committed suicide. However, the cause of Lizo’s death has not yet been confirmed. SAPS spokesperson Majola Nkohli said an inquest docket…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE In March 2022, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upheld with costs the case by former Rhodes student, Yolanda Dyantyi, to appeal Rhodes University’s disciplinary case against her. Dyantyi was permanently excluded from the university with two exams left before completing her BA degree in November 2017. Along with Dominique McFall and Naledi Mashishi, she was accused of being involved in an incident in which three male students were held against their will during the 2016 #RUReferenceList protests against sexual harassment and rape. On 17 November 2017, it found Dyantyi and McFall guilty of kidnapping, insubordination, and…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE They lived between 1760 and 1999 and made an indelible mark on literature. They composed hymns, wrote novels, short stories, poems, articles and essays; established newspapers and translated literary work between English and IsiXhosa. Their works live on, yet their names are in danger of being forgotten. This is the motivation behind Amazwi’s exhibition of twelve Xhosa literary legends: Ntsikana, Isaac Williams Wauchope, John Knox Bokwe, Nontsizi Mgqwetho, JB Sinxo, DLP Yali-Manisi, Tiyo Soga, DDT Jabavu, JJR Jolobe, AC Jordan, SEK Mqhayi and WB Rubusana. In the spirit of Africa month, Amazwi South African Museum of Literature…