By ZIMKITA LINYANA Scifest Africa returns to its live format in Makhanda from 7-13 September 2022. This year’s theme is ‘Back to the Basics’, inspired by UNESCO’s ‘International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022’. Scifest will highlight the crucial role of basic sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics) in sustainable development and emphasise their contributions to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Stripping it ‘Back to the Basics” will allow Scifest to refocus its goal of making science accessible to all. On Friday, 9 September, Dr Graham Walker will present the…
Author: Zimkita Linyana
The Grade 8 and 9 boys from St Andrew’s repainted and fixed some of our yard jungle gyms and swings at Ikhayalosizo. They then took time out to braai and spend some time with the children. Photo Credit: SAC Facebook Photo: SAC Facebook Photo: SAC Facebook On Sunday, 16 July, St Andrew’s College boys started their 67 minutes for Mandela Day by revamping the Ikayalosizo play area. The College boys also spend most Friday afternoons reading to the children at the school. Photo: SAC Facebook
By ZIMKITA LINYANA Controversial former National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka dropped in on Makhandans at a packed Albany History Museum on Monday to promote a new biography of his life, Bulelani Ngcuka – The sting in the Tale. The biography, written by Rhodes School of Journalism alumnus Marion Sparg, is based on many hours of interviews and uncovers the roots of Ngcuka’s fearless activism. She goes back in time to his modest beginnings in the Eastern Cape, to his lawyering years with the formidable Griffiths Mxenge, his various periods of detention, exile, and his homecoming. Ngcuka played a…
By ZIMKITA LINYANA and LIYAHLUMA TWANI Last weekend, the world awoke to the devastating news of 21 children who had died in Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park, a disadvantaged part of East London. EC Safety and Liaison spokesperson Unathi Bhinqose said the children between 13 and 17 years old indulged in a night of ‘groove’ to celebrate the end-of-term ‘pens down’. Underage drinking was in the mix. Forensic experts are working around the clock to determine the cause of the fatalities. The SAPS has expressed concerns about rumours circulating on the cause of death. “We urge people to refrain from…
By BANOYOLO SICWEBU “What is a story? A story has a beginning, middle and end. A story takes you into a different world and paints a picture. A good story contains a moral lesson, loveable characters; characters the audience can relate to and resonate with.” This sentiment set the stage for the recently-performed lyrical production (Not) A Place of War, created by Rhodes University drama alumna Thembela Madliki in collaboration with her cast. This opening line glued the audience to their seats in anticipation of the promise of a ‘good story’. The immense impact of war on a country, its citizens,…
By ZIMKITA LINYANA Makana Municipality has scored a stinking 9% in the 2022 Green Drop report benchmark test – down from 62% in 2013 when the last report was released. Peter Sturrock (MSc Civil Engineering: Water Treatment) said wastewater treatment in Makhanda is “really bad”. For one thing, many sewage pipes and maintenance holes are leaking and overflowing and that “sewerage ends up in the streams as you can see near Cash Build, Matthew Street and towards Fort England hospital.” The Green Drop report is an incentive-based regulation spearheaded by the Department of Water and Sanitation that monitors wastewater networks…
By ZIMKITA LINYANA The Scotts Farm area (including Wylde and Trotter streets and Ghost Town) has had to endure seven weeks without running water. The root cause was a leak in the pipeline under a building on Wylde Street. It needed rerouting as the houses built on the street had been extended over the piping system and yarded off due to inadequate town planning. The rerouting process took less than a week and yet has only this week been repaired, restoring the water to taps. Scotts Farm residents expressed their displeasure with the Ward 4 Service Delivery WhatsApp group. One…
By ZIMKITA LINYANA Makana Executive Mayor Yandiswa Vara handed over the keys for a R2.8-million Mercedes-Benz Arocs skip loader to delighted Department of Community Services (DCS) members last Friday. The national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) donated the gleaming vehicle in response to a distress call from Makana’s DCS director Kelello Makgoka. The vehicle will be put to immediate use by helping to eradicate about 130 illegal dumpsites in Makana. The municipality failed to meet the Legal Resources Centre’s (LRC) 18 February deadline to fully comply with the Makhanda High Court order of September 2021 to eradicate these…
By ZIMKITA LINYANA Despite countless attempts, we have not yet received word from the Makana Municipality about plans to repair the maintenance hole on Fitzroy street. The hole is a potential hazard to motorists, humans, and even cattle and donkeys who roam the town’s streets. Photo: Zimkita Linyana
By ZIMKITA LINYANA Makana is amongst the three worst-performing municipalities in the Eastern Cape for water quality according to the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue Drop risk rating benchmark. With a score of 95%, Makhanda is in the critical category. Image: 2022 Blue Drop Progress Report The Makana Municipality is comprised of three drinking water supply systems: Alicedale (which scored 47.8%, in the low-risk category), Riebeek East (48.7%, also low-risk), and Makhanda (95%, which ‘critical’). Image: 2022 Blue Drop Progress Report Makana would be marked red on this map were it not for the relatively safe water supplies in…