Author: Sue Maclennan

This week, as Makana’s Fire Chief marks 35 years of service, GMDirect asks about his lifelong dedication to keeping his town safe. “People remember the two houses that were burnt – but not the 40 houses and an entire school that were saved.” There have been many serious fires in and around Makhanda but the 2015 fire was the worst the Makana Fire Services Manager has ever had to deal with. It was a nightmare. It started behind the electrical substation near PJ Olivier and with winds of 110km/hour, quickly tore up the hillside towards the school and rows of…

Rhodes alumni team up to bring financial literacy to ordinary people Too many South Africans get themselves into financial trouble simply because they don’t understand exactly what they are doing. That’s the starting point for a YouTube series by two former Rhodes University Accounting students who want to see that change. Robert Edwards and Onke Luzipho are now both qualified Chartered Accountants who started a project six months ago called Inyathi Imali (Buffalo Money) where they create podcast style discussions about money and finance, mostly in isiXhosa. The first three discussions are Budgeting and needs vs wants (Inyathi Imali -…

Please report any sign of a fire immediately and avoid strenuous work or exercise outdoors tomorrow, That’s an urgent request, and a warning from Makana’s Acting Fire Chief Vuyokazi Sam and the South African Weather Service, as Makhanda braces for 40-plus temperatures on Saturday 13 March. “The Sarah BaartmanDistrict’s weather warning shows a Red Fire Danger for tomorrow,” Sam said. “Makana Fire services is warning the public not to make any open fires or braais in areas where there is dry bush and grass. “Any fire will spread quickly and easily in these conditions, becoming a veld. fire that might put…

“I have never heard anything so loud in my life – hours later it was still ringing in my ears. I was so frightened, I couldn’t sleep last night and my child is still too scared to go outside.” eNkanini is still talking about the explosion that rocked the informal settlement on the north-east margin of Makhanda on Monday 8 March. It blew a bag of scrap metal to pieces, threw the bag’s owner five metres across the veld and left him with one broken leg and both legs full of shrapnel. It was not a “bomb”, although it was…

“What legacy will you leave behind?” Ntsika Secondary School Principal Madeleine Schoeman was addressing the Grade 8s at Rotary’s handover of their brand- new toilets in the second week of the school year. Ntsika has earned warm support from the community for its massive turnaround in academic performance and school culture. From a matric pass rate of below 30% in 2012, the school’s performance has improved consistently under Schoeman’s leadership. The 2020 Ntsika matrics achieved an 85% pass rate and nearly doubled their Bachelor passes: 46 were eligible to apply for university this year. The Rotary Club of Grahamstown has…

A man was taken to hospital after an explosive device he brought home from the army base in Makhanda exploded and injured his leg. Provincial Police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana said Joza Police had been called out to eNkanini informal settlement around 8.45am on Monday 8 March after an explosive device detonated there. “On arrival at the scene they found a 33-year-old  outside his residence at eNkanini with injuries to his left leg,” Kinana said. The man had been collecting scrap metal at a field used by the Grahamstown Military base to sell as scrap metal. “It is alleged that…

Among 191 stations and across 18 crime classifications, Makhanda appears in the top 30 eleven times in the South African Police Service’s third-quarter crime report. Alarming figures for the violent crimes of rape and assault emerge in the town, along with an average of around 30 residential burglaries a month. Provincial Commissioner Lt-Gen Liziwe Ntshinga and the MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Weziwe Tikana, released the Eastern Cape crime statistics for the third quarter at Cala on Friday 26 February 2021. The crime reporting periods follow the financial year, so Quarter 1 is April to June, Q2 is July…

A fire at Mountain View Manor in Makhanda on Sunday 7 March* was contained in three rooms. No one was injured. Owners of the landmark multi-storey guest house on Mountain Drive, Victor and Margaret Banks, were in their house behind the main building and were alerted to the fire by someone ringing the bell at the front gate. There were no guests in the building. Acting Fire Services Manager Vuyokazi Sam said fire fighters responded quickly after a call around 1.30pm yesterday. “A Vehicle was dispatched with two fire fighters,” Sam said. “On arrival they found a building in fire.…

The UPM says it will again seek to have activated last year’s high court order to put Makana Municipality put under administration and have the Council dissolved. This will be the second Section 18 application made by lawyers for the Unemployed People’s Movement. It follows two-and-a-half weeks of water outages in Makhanda caused by breakdowns affecting both water treatment plants. Adding to the headache for the city’s technical teams and residents were vandalism and theft affecting other infrastructure during this time. In fact, Infrastructure Director, Asanda Gidana, could not have had a more nightmarish start to her new job at…

Makana Fire Services quickly extinguished a fire in a waste container in the Shoprite parking lot.on Monday night 1 March 2021. Fire Chief William Welkom said a call was received around 9.30pm about the fire. “On arrival the crew found two refuse containers well alight. A crew of two fire fighters responded with one Medium Pumper Fire Vehicle,” Wel;kom said. “The fire was quickly controlled and extinguished and the crew monitored the scene for any flare-ups.” No damage to property or injuries were reported and by Tuesday, the cause of the fire was undetermined.