Dear editor, This is to invite all paid-up members of the Albany Sports Club to a Special General Meeting at the clubhouse at 5.30 pm on 31 March 2022. The meeting will discuss the audited financial accounts from 1 March 2021 to 28 February 2022. It is also proposed that the next AGM should be moved to March 2023 to try and align this event with the presentation of financial statements for the immediately preceding financial year. Other Agenda items include: Achievements made since December 2021;Discussion and acceptance of the drafted New Club Constitution;Concerns about the debt with Makana Municipality;The…
Author: Rod Amner
By TOTO TSARNEBA Need a document delivered in Makhanda? Or need someone to wait in a long queue at the Post Office, Traffic Department or Home Affairs on your behalf? Why not call Mzi’s Document Delivery and Queuing Services? Necessity is the mother of invention in a bleak economy. Mziyanda Bulani started his unique business in February this year and said it is “doing very well”. Mzi charges R10 for a single bicycle delivery, R20 for a return, and R50 for queuing for an hour. Prices are negotiable for queuing for less than an hour. Mzi transports CVs, certificates, and…
By CHRIS TOTOBELA The battle for league honours is heating up nicely in the Makana LFA as teams fought hard in last weekend’s fixtures. It was a good weekend for the struggling Makana Tigers as they played a goalless draw against Rhodes and edged Sophia Stars 2-1 in a tightly contested game. City Pirates cemented their pole position in stream A with 4-3 and 5-3 victories over Rhodes and Joza Callies, respectively, while Xl Attackers kept their stream B lead by beating Cameroon 7-0 and Grahamstown United 2-0. It was not a good weekend for the 6SAI Army team as…
By CHRIS TOTOBELA The biggest ever crowd since the beginning of this season packed JD Dlepu stadium on Saturday for Makana LFA games, but the main game of the day was an SAB regional league clash. Jacaranda Aces hosted log leaders Maru in the local derby. It was a hugely anticipated game, but it did not produce fireworks. It was more like an exhibition game as both teams held back a little and did not throw everything at their opponents, as is usually the case. Maru opened the scoring early in the half, and Aces equalised just a few minutes…
By CHRIS TOTOBELA It was a dark weekend for local boxer Mzoxolo ‘Black Tiger’ Ndwayana as he lost his fight against Namibian Charles Shinima. Ndwayana challenged Shinima for his WBO Africa Welterweight title at the packed Helao Nafidi Hall in northern Namibia. He started very well in the first round, monitoring the champion and looking for an opening. In the second round, Ndwayana exchanged severe blows with Shinima and unfortunately got caught in that mix. His father and trainer Bulelani expressed his disappointment: “I think Mzoxolo made a mistake and did not follow our game plan, which cost him the…
The popular Friends of the Library Lecture series is back. The 2022 series begins on Thursday 31 March 2022 with a talk by Jeff Peires entitled, “Pride or Prejudice? Updating the memory of the 1820 Settlers”. It’s more than 200 years since the 1820 settlers arrived, but nobody seems to want to talk about them. This talk hopes to provide a factual basis for beginning the conversation. Prof Jeff Peires When: Thursday 31 March 2022 Where: Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, 25A Worcester St, Grahamstown, Makhanda Time: 5.15 pm for 5.30 pm All are welcome, but please note that attendees must be vaccinated and wear masks. Temperatures will be taken at the door.…
By EDUARD JORDAAN, Associate Professor of Politics, Rhodes University The story of democratic South Africa and its approach to human rights in the rest of the world is a tale of woe. For two-and-a-half decades, its foreign policy mostly failed to defend internationally – and quite often contradicted – the human rights principles contained in its constitution. An assessment in the Washington Post more than a decade ago still rings true: South Africa remains an example of freedom while devaluing and undermining the freedom of others. It is the product of a conscience it does not display. Why has South Africa behaved this way? Surprisingly,…
By ANNA TALBOT, Rhodes University Community Engagement On Human Rights Day, we commemorated the extreme lengths citizens went to gain personal freedoms and shared rights. While there have been vast strides in the realisation of human rights in South Africa, statistics indicate that children in our country do not experience the protections and freedoms our constitution promises them. In South Africa, an Optimus Foundation study found that over 40% of young people aged 15-17 have experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse or neglect at some point in their lives. Recently, Makhanda was at the centre of Deon Wiggett’s and…
By MICHAEL DREWETT, Cutting Grooves and Mixtapes.org.za In our previous mixtape, we featured music by musicians who at some point or other have lived in Grahamstown/Makhanda. This time around, we focus on songs about Grahamstown, some of which are performed by musicians included in that mixtape. All the songs included here were recorded before Grahamstown became Makhanda, and so we stick with that name when mentioning the place the musicians refer to. Most of the songs (some of them instrumentals) refer to the town in general, including several named after the town itself. Two of the instrumental pieces – David…
Last week, a full bench of the high court upheld a 2020 judgment by judge Murray Lowe, finding that former arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa’s 2018 decision to rename the Grahamstown Makhanda had followed adequate public consultation processes and was legally sound. In this joint critique of the judgement, Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown (KGG) coordinators SIGIDLA NDUMO and JOCK McCONNACHIE explain their intention to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal. Sigidla Ndumo and Jock McConnachie, coordinators of the Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown (KGG) campaign. The latest judgement by the high court is regrettable both legally and in terms of…