Rhodes University virologist and member of the Provincial COVID-19 Expert Panel, Professor ROSEMARY DORRINGTON, addresses some of the myths and misinformation currently in circulation about the COVID-19 vaccines. There is an ever-increasing number of myths and misinformation doing the rounds, and I am here to set some of the facts straight. Let’s take some of the most common concerns and dig a little deeper into each one. 1. The vaccine will not prevent me from dying – FALSE There have been “breakthrough cases” where vaccinated people contract COVID-19. However, even with the Delta variant, vaccinated people are nine times less…
Author: Rod Amner
By DANA OSBORN The Makana Citizens Front (MCF) has registered to contest the local government elections with a diverse slate of candidates representing everyone “from the poorest of the poor to highly qualified professionals, black and white, male and female”. MCF spokesperson Lungile Mxube said the front was making an explicit bid to “change who is in government and improve service delivery for the better”. “There is a long history of decline in Makana – RDP houses are no longer built; we are lucky if we get water every second day; our streets and open spaces are filthy; roads are…
Below is the programme for tonight’s much-anticipated live concert by Khanyisile Mthetwa (Flute) and Peter Cartwright (Piano) at 7 pm in the Kingswood College Chapel, hosted by the Grahamstown Music Society. They will perform some of the works that they have recently recorded on a CD called African Bird. CDs will be on sale at the concert. You can support Khanyi’s YouTube channel here and enjoy her recently released recording of Valerie Coleman’s “Requiem Milonga”. African Bird South African and American music for Flute and Piano Conrad Asman – One Lingering Quasar Musa Nkuna – Black Autumn Hendrik Hofmeyr –…
The street dogs of Makhanda scavenge, scrounge and scamper through our town. This week CAITLYN HILLIARD-LOMAS started responding to the strays with a simple idea. Collect ice cream containers. Ask restaurants to fill them with leftovers headed for the bin. Feed the hungry dogs. She plans to continue this programme until the end of this year. This is the start of her journey. It is 4 pm on a Saturday. The first sunny day of the week. Overly excited and underdressed, I set out for my first donation of scraps from Gino’s, the family restaurant. I arrived with a quirky…
By PHETOLO PHATSIBI Eager teams of volunteer creatives converged on the Amazwi South African Museum of Literature last week to create a rich collection of new Eastern Cape picture books. The Rhodes University Centre for Social Development (CSD) and Amazwi organised the Makhanda Book Dash event to celebrate Amazwi’s 20th and CSD’s 40th anniversary. Each team had a writer, an illustrator, and a designer and all teams worked in solidarity, filling Amazwi with creative energy and inspiration. CSD director Nicci Hayes said the project encouraged children to read more books by creating books they can relate to. The books, written in isiXhosa, Afrikaans…
The Cathedral Choir of St Michael and St George and Makana Choir School invites all parents of young singers to the Makana Choir School AGM taking place on Sunday 5 September 2021. The Makana Choir School is a choral programme that aims to educate and enrich young talented individuals into becoming competent singers and choristers. Choristers sing in the context of the Cathedral Choir of St Michael and St George, under the group, Cathedral Iimvumi. Choristers receive tuition in theory, sight-reading and choral technique to a high standard and attend rehearsals every Wednesday during term time. New choristers begin at…
By MATTHEW PETERSEN The rebooted Grahamstown Cricket Board Umpires’ Association (GCBUA), part of the Grahamstown Cricket Board (GCB), is recruiting new umpires after acquiring four new sponsors. Each new umpire will receive a shirt with the new GCB logo and will be taken through an umpiring course. The hope is to find more sponsors and umpires as well as electing an office structure for the board. The GCB met one of the sponsors, Murray Hobson of Hobson & Co. at an official handover at St Andrew’s College on Monday. The GCB was started in 2010 by Eric Jonklaas and Barry…
Hi-Tec Security has partnered with a mobile safety app called Buzzer, which has achieved remarkable success in and around Cape Town for the last two years. Buzzer gives users a personal SOS button and has a community report function for crimes, fires, and suspicious activity. All alerts made through the app go directly to Hi-Tec Security – and the neighbourhood. The app was designed by a team of Hout Bay residents and rolled out in 2018. It responds to the need for a solution that could efficiently connect neighbours to neighbours and the local security service providers. Upon sending an…
As the local football season heads towards its climax, another round of exciting matches in the Makana LFA Premier League and First Division kicked off on Saturday and Sunday at Extension 7, Fiddlers Green and the JD Dlepu Stadium. MATTHEW PETERSEN filed this report from the Jacaranda Aces vs New Seekers game. In a match played in very windy conditions, Jacaranda Aces and New Seekers kicked off in the 3 pm game at JD Dlepu Stadium. Aces started the match brightly and took the lead in the first 10 minutes through Sixolile Koliti, who used his pace to get in behind…
By CHRIS TOTOBELA Makhanda’s football fraternity suffered another great loss with the passing of the legendary Joza Callies goalkeeper, Misile Krismesi Ntlanjeni. At the time of his passing last week after a short illness, he was part of Callies’ technical team. Ntlanjeni came from a great footballing family known for producing great goalkeepers – and he was undoubtedly on top of the list. He was one of the great shot-stoppers not only in Makhanda but in the entire region. On Saturday, 28 August, people came in numbers to bid farewell to this icon who dedicated his life to football development in…