By JOCK MCCONNACHIE, Makana Independent New Deal (MIND) councillor candidate In the Apartheid era, the ‘swartgevaar’ scare tactic persuaded many to vote for the National Party. The ANC and others use the scare tactic that voting for a ‘white’ party or candidate is a vote for a return to Apartheid. The DA has for some time used the scare tactic of ‘splitting the vote’, and that voting for a small party opens the door to (horror of horrors!) the ANC. But it is nothing more than that – a scare tactic, and a cheap one at that, which the DA’s Ward…
Author: Rod Amner
By TRISTAN COOKE Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) hosted its annual award ceremony on Tuesday 12th October 2021. The second virtual award ceremony, in as many years, praised the hard work of student volunteers, community partners, staff and donors. Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic and Student Affairs, Dr’ Mabokang Monnapula-Mapesela welcomed all the attendees and said: “Tonight we are reminded that in every crisis, there is a silver lining, that at times, sweet are the gains accrued from a crisis, and these, we have witnessed in the courage, resilience and personal development in our students and our community. Tonight – we celebrate…
Residents of small settlements in Makana and other parts of the Sarah Baartman District say they are not hopeful that their appalling conditions will change after next month’s elections. Still, many seem willing to cast their vote regardless. New Frame’s ANNA MAJAVU, BONILE BAM, and SIBONGILE PORTIA JONAS report. Local government elections are a painful reminder of how much the government has ignored residents who have spent decades in small and often isolated shack settlements without houses, water, electricity, toilets, roads and rubbish removal services. But despite not resolving these issues for decades now, politicians are crisscrossing the country, promising…
By STAFF REPORTER The SAPS arrested two men in possession of over 600 kilograms of copper worth R84 000 in Makhanda on Tuesday, 20 October. According to SAPS spokesperson Sergeant Majola Nkohli, the arrests followed a morning raid of five local scrap metal dealers by police. Police found a stash of copper under piles of compressed aluminium bales in a dealership in Victoria Street. The dealership has been shut down. The confiscated copper is valued at around R 84 140. Among the seized items were pipes, taps, wiring and cables. The dealership owner and his assistant were arrested for contravening…
Event: The Rev Kirkby Memorial Concert Venue: Kingswood College, City Lords Date and time: Sunday 31 October, 3.30 pm Tickets: R40 (children under 13 years: R20) The Reverend Howard Kirkby was a man who dedicated most of his life to Kingswood College. He was a long-serving teacher, chaplain and Kingswood Council member. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of music at the College. The Annual Memorial Concert named in Howard Kirkby’s honour serves as an active memorial to a great man. Join us for an afternoon filled with musical magic outdoors on City Lords field. Music by various ensembles. This…
By STAFF REPORTER Approved applicants of the special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grants have until 30 November to collect their unclaimed funds at the Post Office. Unclaimed grants were to be forfeited on 31 August 2021, but the deadline has been extended until the end of next month. The Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu announced the extension through the recently published Ministerial Directions. Payments not withdrawn by the end of November 2021 will be forfeited to the State to fund other government priorities. SASSA CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula, said, “It’s an early Christmas for the first cycle’s approved beneficiaries who…
By LOYISO DYONGMAN The Makana Citizens Front’s (MCF) Ward 4 candidate Philip Machanick said he was stunned to hear that completion of Phase 2 of the long-stalled James Kleynhas Water Treatment Works upgrade had been delayed again to June 2022. “We were promised in January 2019 that this project would be fast-tracked, after the previous attempt, starting in 2016, failed. But the end of 2019, only one of four phases had completed. Since then, we have been promised that the entire project would complete by October this year, then March 2022. Now this,” said Machanick. He said Phase 2 would…
By GEOFF EMBLING, DA candidate for Ward 4 Local government elections are about voting for the political party, bringing good governance and service delivery to your municipality. On the other hand, national elections are more about political ideology – voting for the party which will implement provincial and national policies that you would like to see. This is why some people vote for one political party in a national election and another in a local election. In the 2020/2021 financial year, a mere 27 out of 257 municipalities in South Africa received clean audits, and R26-billion of local government (municipal)…
STAFF REPORTER The Makana Municipality has scored a failing 43% in News24’s Out of Order index. The index allocates each of the 215 local municipalities and eight Metros a score on a scale from 0-100, where 0 is a ‘failure’, and 100 is ‘perfectly performing’. The average index score is 45% for all municipalities, indicating the national crisis in local government. Makana is one of 41 municipalities in the 41%-45% range and is listed as a ‘dysfunctional municipality’. A further 88 municipalities were rated worse than Makana (scoring between 26% and 40%). And a further 94 achieved scores of 46% and…
NOTE: An earlier version of this story erroneously reported that two dogs tested by the Makhanda state vet both had rabies. Only the one dog, killed by lions at Amakhala, tested positive for rabies. Grocott’s Mail regrets the error. By CAITLYN HILLIARD-LOMAS The first case of canine rabies for several years has been confirmed in the Makana district. On 1 October, a field guide from Amakhala Private Game Reserve, 50km outside Makhanda, spotted a stray dog wandering near the public gravel road between Amakhala game reserve and the Conservation Department. Amakhala staff are unsure where the dog came from.…