Author: Sue Maclennan

We try to support each other, and remember this is the work we have chosen Makhanda’s undertakers are begging the community to take Covid-19 seriously as rapidly rising deaths in the town bring heartbreak for families and strain for those who help them through it. Sue Maclennan reports. Caring for heartbroken family members, while meeting the strict requirements for funerals under the Covid-19 pandemic, along with keeping themselves safe, is putting funeral home staff and owners under extraordinary strain. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday night declared a second wave of Coronavirus infections in South Africa, with the Sarah Baartman District and Nelson Mandela Bay…

Nightmare for psychiatric patients and staff as guards stage sit-in over pay. Confined to their cells for two days and two nights, dozens of patients screamed through barred windows and banged on doors to be let out as terrified staff mopped up urine streaming into the passageways at Fort England Psychiatric Hospital’s Maximum Security Unit (MSU) last Thursday. When security guards left their posts in protest against late payment, nurses and cleaning staff were unsupported as they cared for patients from all over South Africa  accused of serious violent crimes and considered dangerous. They are under observation in the Hospital’s…

A team from Gift of the Givers will today start refurbishing wards in Settlers Hospital’s former Netcare private section to accommodate the rapidly increasing number of local Covid-19 patients needing care. This comes just three days after Dr Imtiaz Sooliman visited the district facility this week.. The Gift of the Givers founder visited Settlers Hospital with his co-ordinating team  on Monday 30 November to assess what’s needed to equip the former private intensive care unit and other sections to care for Covid patients. Accompanying the Gift of the Givers team was Makana Mayor Mzukisi Mpahlwa. They met with Chief Medical…

“Om ‘n Bybel to oorhandig is nie net vriendskap nie: dit se, ‘Ons gee om vir julle. Meer as ooit tevore is dit tyd om vir mekaar te bid.” Dit was die woorde waarmee Voortrekker afstammeling Johan Uys ‘n spesiale Bybel aan Blyth Thompson, die groot-groot kleinkind van Britse setlaar William Thompson, oorhandig het. Vir die vierde keer is die historiese oorhandiging van ‘n Bybel deur lede van die Britse Setlaars aan verteenwoordigers van die Voortrekkers herdenk. Volgens die Graham’s Town Journal van 20 April 1837 was Die Bybelmonument die plek waar Pieter Uys met ‘n groep van 23 wae…

Makana Municipality has lost its bid to appeal a contempt of court judgment that could see its Mayor and Municipal Manager committed to six months imprisonment. Earlier this year Judge Miki Mfenyana ruled the three were in contempt of court for failing to comply with a five-year-old order to properly manage the Cradock road landfill. Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) Judges Mahomed Navsa and AJJA Poyo-Dlwati have dismissed their application to appeal the March 2020 ruling by Judge Miki Mfenyana. In 2015, Judge Jeremy Pickering handed down a detailed court order requiring Makana Municipality to undertake specific actions to ensure…

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has announced dates for payments of social grants for the month of December 2020: OLD AGE: Tuesday 1 December 2020 DISABILITY: Wednesday 2 December CHILD SUPPORT, FOSTER AND CARE DEPENDENCY: Thursday 3 December CASH PAYPOINT PAYMENTS: Friday 4 December Special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) grant: Friday 4 December (Sassa will not be paying this grant on the first three days of the payment cycle). The Agency appealed to all social grant beneficiaries to be wary of misleading information in some social media. Contact Sassa on their customer care lines toll free…

There were no injuries in a midnight fire at Victoria Hotel in New Street that was quickly contained by fire fighters. Makana Fire Services Manager William Welkom said a call was received at 12.10pm that there was a fire at the Victoria Hotel in New Street. “On arrival the crew found the building well alight,” Welkom said. “The fire was quickly confined to avoid fire spread to adjacent buildings. The fire was brought under control and damping down procedures commenced.” A total of eight Fire Fighters and five vehicles attended the incident,. One vehicle and two fire fighters from the Army,…

“This is a good day for the rhinos, and a good day for the communities in conservation in the Grahamstown area,” a relieved Dr William Fowlds commented after the High Court in Makhanda on Tuesday 24 November dismissed the appeal of convicted rhino poachers Jabulani, Forget and Sibusiso Ndlovu. And Premier Oscar Mabuyane has pledged the government’s continued support against poaching in the Eastern Cape. Mabuyane coined the phrase #NotInOurProvince almost exactly two years ago when he led an anti-poaching march ahead of sentencing in the Ndlovu trial. Today, he told Grocott’s Mail, “As the people of the province, in…

Covid cases in Makhanda rose to 363 this week. Anxious residents want to know whether our town’s hospital has the capacity to care for them should they get sick – and where they can go if it can’t. Grocott’s Mail heard some individual accounts which, when added together, paint a poor picture. But we also spoke to patients, professionals and officials who offer a different perspective. We’ve done our best to provide a situation report on Settlers Hospital this week that is reasonably balanced. We hope it reassures you if you have to go to hospital. The individual reports we…

A clear day with temperatures in the low 20s made for perfect weather for the eighth edition of G2C cycle race on Sunday 8 November. With 348 cyclists finishing, it was an impressive turnout. Along with the rest of life, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted organised sport in 2020. The G2C traditionally takes place on the last weekend of the National Arts Festival, bringing the culture of fun and competitive cycling to Makhanda. The Festival became vNAF – the Virtual National Arts Festival – and the G2C was postponed to 8 November in the hope that the worst of the pandemic…