Author: Kathryn Cleary

In an exclusive interview, Grocott’s Mail asked 2018 SRC President, Nhlakanipho Mahlangu pressing questions about the academic year ahead. Mahlangu is reading towards a Post-Graduate Diploma in Media Management (PDMM), after completing a Bachelors of Social Sciences (BSoS – Industrial economics, Sociology, Political and International studies). On what students and the Grahamstown community can expect from campus leadership in 2018. One of the key things that this year’s SRC is being visible and being as good communicators as we can be. Part of being a student representative, what we want to do is to be…

In last week’s edition, Grocott’s Mail reported on an exciting community partnership between Syracuse, New York and Grahamstown in the article “US town, Grahamstown in storytelling project”. Today marks the start of this (hopefully) engaging and enlightening project. After conversing with members of the Syracuse and Grahamstown communities, it has become clear that these two towns have many similarities. Both consist of a rich university high up on a hill that overlooks an impoverished community. Both communities suffer from inequality, poor service delivery, as well as educational and digital divides. With that, Grocott’s Mail has partnered with an inner-city community newspaper in Syracuse, The…

A man was taken to hospital after a tree fell on his vehicle around 1pm last Friday. The incident occurred at the entrance to Prospect Field Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape in strong winds. The man, who was sleeping in the car, appeared to have escaped serious injury according to people at the scene. Photo: Kathryn Cleary

“We’re more alike than different,” said Steve Davis, a lecturer at the Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University in New York. Davis, along with colleague Ken Harper, accompanied eight Newhouse graduate students and four Syracuse City High School students to Grahamstown for a week-long media intensive community project. The group visited from 27 December through 6 January. Davis and Harper worked with former Rhodes University exchange student, Jason Torreano. Though originally from the US, Torreano frequents Grahamstown due to his strong connection to Inkululeko, a youth development project based at Ntsika High School. Inkululeko works with Grades 8-12 pupils…

As Makana Municipality announced last week it had just received R3.5 million to rehabilitate roads, a group of citizens tired of waiting had already taken matters into their own hands. “Why must your car be roadworthy when the roads aren’t car worthy?” posed a resident on social media on 7 January. Grahamstown’s municipal, provincial and national roads are notorious among residents and visitors. Though roads ridden with potholes large enough to bathe in are the most noteworthy, many of the gravel roads leading to outlying rural areas are also in desperate need of attention. In recent months, improvements have included filling potholes…

After a citizen witnessed someone stealing wire and other materials from a warehouse in Knight Street, they entered the unlocked and derelict looking building to find unmarked and untouched water-saving supplies. Boxes postmarked November 2014 filled with ledger books for the municipality fill half the room. Water meters and meter covers sit in cobweb-drenched heaps, scattered across the floor soaked in bird faeces. Green toilet blocks remain neatly packed in tens of boxes, some opened and poured out as if searching for something more interesting. The only living thing that seemed to care about the contents of the warehouse was…

Walk-in registrations are not feasible at Rhodes or most institutions because the registration process is online. The EFF Student Command at Rhodes University said this in response to questions about EFF party leader Julius Malema’s call on Monday for potential students to walk in at universities to apply for places. This was in response to President Jacob Zuma’s announcement of free university education. On 16 December, following a last-minute announcement in a political move by Zuma, students around the country celebrated the announcement that fee-free higher education would kick in this year. Zuma said university fees would be fully subsidised for students…

Picketing has been proposed for today, 15 December, in Cape Town and Johannesburg, in response to Rhodes University’s exclusion of two students involved in the 2016 #RUReferenceList protests. Published anonymously on social media in April 2016, the list of male Rhodes University students alleged to have committed rape or sexual misconduct quickly went viral and led to prolonged protests and other actions on the campus. After more than a year of internal hearings, the two women student activists were permanently banned from Rhodes University after courts found them guilty of criminal activity. On 12 December, reactions flooded social media. The two students,…

The morning of 5 January, anxious smiles and laughter filled the hallways of Gadra Matric School as students patiently awaited their numbers to be called for their results. Volunteer teacher Tessa Kirkaldy stated that some students had travelled as long as six hours to retrieve their results. Principal Melanie Lancaster sat individually with each learner, reviewing and congratulating them on their results. Many of the Gadra students have plans for varsity this year, several heading just up the street to Rhodes University, while others have their sights set on schools a bit farther from home. Top Maths student,…

Police have asked the public to come forward with any information. Several charges including House Robbery, Theft of motor vehicle as well as Housebreaking and Theft have been opened following an incident that occurred at approximately 07:30 this morning 2/1. It is alleged that an unknown number of suspects entered the house of an employee on a farm outside Grahamstown. The suspects got to the family of four (husband, wife and their two children) and tied up only the husband with cable ties. No physical assault was sustained. The victims are however severely traumatised. Before leaving for the main house,…