Author: Sue Maclennan

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has called on the newly appointed Board of Amatola Water to ensure that Eastern Cape residents receive potable water. Amatola Water is the implementing agent for the upgrade to the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works. The plant serves the water requirements of 70% of Makhanda’s population of around 82 000. The Minister has called on the board to ensure that municipalities it serves have potable bulk water. Sisulu made the call after Cabinet approved the appointment of the water utility board members for a period of four years, starting from 1 March…

Makana Municipality estimates that the town’s water supply will be fully restored on Sunday 28 February 2021. Water was restored to most areas for a day on Wednesday 24 February, after a six-day outage. Residents were advised it would be off again on Thursday and alternating until Sunday, with water deliveries continuing to throttled areas. In a statement on Thursday, Makana said water supply would be restored again Friday 26 February; however, there will be areas that will not get water due to the fact that the plant is still operating at 50% capacity.  New pumps and motors arrived at…

Highly motivated  learners who had each other’s backs;  teachers and principals who gave their all; strong support from the business and education community, and parents who bought into the project are the common factors among Makana’s record-breaking Matric 2020 schools. Discipline, consistency and motivation “What excites me most is not so much the growing quantity, but the improved quality of our passes.” A Bachelor pass means a high enough mark to make you eligible to apply to University. And that’s the gold that Khutliso Daniels Principal Radio Mcuba is after. “It means the way is open for these children: they’ve…

A case has been opened at Joza Police Station after vandals have destroyed a R250 000 telemetry system at Makhanda’s main supply reservoir. The discovery was made when water technicians went to reopen the supply to residents after a six-day water outage. The water outage was caused by a blown gasket on a pump at James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works. The leaking pump flooded the pump station, leaving the town’s residents without water for six days. Technicians were brought from Joburg to commission a backup pump while the broken one went for repairs. The water supply was partly restored on Wednesday…

Residents can expect water to be running in their taps again today, just in time as the outage threatens schools ability to stay open after an already delayed start. As Makhanda schools celebrated the town’s record matric pass on Tuesday 23 February, many were also having to cut short teaching time as days five and six with no water took their toll. Water is expected to be running in the town’s taps today and on Friday. But in an already delayed first week of the school year, no water for toilets or drinking or cooking school meals means some have…

Hunger and social problems, both results of the Covid-19 lockdown and months out of school, are among the concerns of primary school principals in Makhanda. GMDirect reports from some of these on the first day of term, Monday 15 February 2021. ‘They must see it in your eyes’ Good Shepherd Primary “In my 36 years of teaching, this is the first time I have felt so emotional.” Manie Cronje, Principal of Good Shepherd Primary School, said it was heartbreaking seeing parents having to leave their children at the school gate on their first day of school. “You know how it…

Scotts Farm residents put up a barricade of burning tyres and branches at the north end of Albany Road on Monday 22 February, in frustration after five days without water in their taps. Their fury was triggered around 10am when a municipal water truck arrived to dispense water, but left before everyone in the queue had a chance to fill their buckets and bottles. “There were less than 10 people here,” said Scotts Farm resident Chrissie du Plessis. Only about half the people had got their water and already the truck was leaving,” she said. “They told us there was…

“I had 120 messages and 75 calls yesterday – really, my phone was going non-stop.” Gift of the Givers’ Pamela Kaptein is used to getting calls from desperate residents at all hours. “But this was just crazy,” she told GMDirect as she organised a queueing system at a Gift of the Givers water truck that had just arrived on a street corner near  the Extension 9 hall. “I can’t blame them though, people were just desperate.” Kaptein manages the organisation’s regular water deliveries  in Makhanda where Gift of the Givers stepped in at the beginning of 2019 after two weeks…

The Department of Health says it will ensure the closure of clinics in Makhanda and Port Alfred  by community health workers (CHWs) will not disrupt the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine locally. However, there is no scheduled date yet for the launch of the vaccination programme in Makhanda. Clinics in Makhanda have been closed since Monday as community health workers again took to the streets to demand absorption as employees in the Department of Health. Their demands include permanent employment. Community Health Workers earn a stipend of R3 500 per month with no benefits. As a contingency, patients have been…

Makana Municipality has promised to remove a mountain and river of rubbish from the north end of Albany Road  at the beginning of the week starting 21 February 2021. It’s among at least 40 dump sites across the town identified in a Council portfolio committee report just over a year ago. What started as a pile of litter on a small patch of veld next to the Oval rugby stadium has over seven years filled a stormwater drain, forming a river of rubbish. It smells, breeds flies, causes flooding and residents want the municipality to take it away. To make…