Author: Sue Maclennan

A selection of photos to remind our readers of what happened in Makhanda during 2020: the year Covid-19 changed the world, and our town. Most of these photographs were published in Grocott’s Mail. Compiled by Donnay Oosthuizen JULY The River Rescue team in action on Mandela Day. JULY Students in a paid learnership gather at the Department of Labour to complain that under lockdown, they’ve gone three months without their stipend. SEPTEMBER Child Welfare Director Woineshet Bischoff retires and Martha Thompson steps into her shoes. NOVEMBER Remembrance Day in Makhanda. [pdf-embedder url=”https://www.grocotts.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/End-Blurb-for-Word-Press-1.pdf” title=”End Blurb for Word Press”] https://www.grocotts.co.za/2021/01/25/goodbye-grocotts-mail-welcome-gmdirect/

Optical fibre internet rollout starts in Makhanda By the time of this year’s National Arts Festival, Makhanda should be alive with fast, reliable fibre-based internet. That’s the plan, anyway, as fibre internet infrastructure providers Frogfoot and Herotel race for market share in the fibre-hungry town. This week, Frogfoot contractors set up their trademark green and yellow shadecloth barriers and began digging cable trenches across the town. “We’ve launched a major rollout across all the towns in the region,” said Frogfoot Regional Manager Marius Snyman. By the end of April, Frogfoot anticipates having a large section of Makhanda live and ready…

The 51 CPAP oxygen-delivery machines delivered by Gift of the Givers this week to health facilities in Makana will significantly boost their capacity to assist Covid patients. This comes as hospitals, clinics and the ambulance services  brace for an anticipated rise in Covid cases when businesses and schools reopen. The handover on Wednesday was part of a consignment of 900 CPAP machines for health facilities across the Eastern Cape, and  12 000 nationally. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is a non-invasive method of assisting patients in respiratory distress to breathe. *A total of 20 000 CPAP machines have been produced in…

Smoke that filled Makhanda last night and today may be from a large veld fire at Oyster Bay near St Francis. No fire has been reported or discovered in or around Makhanda. Kouga Fire and Emergency Services this morning confirmed to Grocott’s Mail that there is a veld fire near St Francis. And the following message that was circulated widely on WhatsApp groups was forwarded to us. Grocott’s Mail cannot confirm the source. WhatsApp message (source unknown): These is currently a big fire in Oesterbaai area that stretched into the foothills of the Kouga. The big North Easter wind yesterday…

Disability activists in Makhanda have labelled the suspension of temporary disability grants as a violation of human rights. The South African Social Security Agency has suspended temporary disability grants from the start of 2021. SASSA says the high cost involved, and the need to comply with the law, forced them into this “challenging” decision. Temporary Disability Grants due to lapse in February 2020 were extended to 31 December 2020 because of the national coronavirus lockdown. At the end of December 2020, SASSA suspended a total of 210 778 disability grants nationally. Explaining the decision in a statement on 7 January 2021,…

The new Gift of the Givers 20-bed Covid-19 isolation facility, along with stretchers and personal protective equipment, will ease the pressure on Settlers Hospital in Makhanda. However, it’s not clear how or where the Department of Health will find the staff to run it. The fully equipped unit was opened less than 24 hours after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced strict enforcement of lockdown regulations in the Eastern Cape. The province is leading South Africa’s second wave of Coronavirus infections, with additional measures to slow down the infection rate in the Sarah Baartman and Nelson Mandela Bay hotspots. On the day…

Two Makhanda residents separately underwent Covid-19 antibody tests at a private facility. Both tested negative. Both left the test venue relieved, believing this meant they did not have Covid. Both were wrong. They continued to experience the symptoms that made them seek a diagnosis in the first place, and so underwent nasal swab (PCR) tests. Both subsequently tested positive for Covid-19. If your Covid antibody (serologic) test comes out negative, that does not mean you are in the clear for Coronavirus. What Coronavirus tests are usually done in Makhanda? Antibody (serologic) test: they prick your finger for a blood sample…

Statement from the Grocott’s Mail Board and the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies Grocott’s Mail has brought our readers news, information and a sense of community through three wars, droughts, floods, fires and the Spanish flu. Local politics, visits by national and international celebrities, controversies (like the name change) and travesties (like infrastructure failures), arts and culture (including the National Arts Festival), science and environmental activism, local sport and quirky characters: these are just some of what Grocott’s Mail had covered when we marked 150 years of independent journalism on 11 May 2020. We celebrated this milestone…

More than 300 children enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken curry with rice and pumpkin as a special Christmas treat recently at the 16 Currie Street community kitchen. Soup kitchen coordinator Di Oosthuizen provides meals for around 150 children twice a week. Knowing word would get around, she and her team catered for an extra 50 children last Thursday as they prepared for Santa’s visit – and had to quickly make a plan when no fewer than 340 queued for lunch and goodies. Santa duly arrived, brought by Vuyisile Yako on his cart, with trusty donkeys Professor and Sanitiser in…

Desryn Philips, Devron Voormink and Sulayman Koort take a photo break in the former private intensive care unit (ICU) at Settlers Hospital on 10 December 2020. They’re part of a team funded by the Gift of the Givers who are renovating and refurbishing wards there. This is to create more capacity  for Covid cases in the short term and in general in the longer term The R750k infrastructure upgrade at Settlers will increase bed capacity, including the installation of oxygen delivery equipment. Gift of the Givers teams arrived on 5 December, the facility is set to officially open on 15…