Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Vehicle dealership drives Winter Warmers initiative
  • Shakespeare has been outdone
  • Get your passport blessed 
  • Yes, it changed us
  • The Enyobeni Tavern tragedy: lessons for our own municipality
  • The spirit of Africa in indigenous African instruments
  • A laugh a day keeps the end of fest blues away
  • The hole left by absent fathers
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
Cue Media
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»OUR TOWN»Health & wellbeing»Clean-up marathon
Health & wellbeing

Clean-up marathon

Sue MaclennanBy Sue MaclennanAugust 11, 2020No Comments2 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Zwelethemba Yaka. hoto: Sue Maclennan

Most residents know Zwelethemba Yaka from the roads of Makhanda, where he can be seen almost any given day putting in the miles for his next marathon.

Grocott’s Mail found him in the Newtown Cemetery on Women’s Day, Sunday 9 August, cutting back overgrown areas that locals say are a haven for muggers and rapists. The area is a convenient route for pedestrians coming from Joza who cut across above Fikozolo Primary School to get to Newtown, or beyond through Fingo Village to Sunnyside. Vukani residents also use the cemetery as a convenient shortcut.

“Criminals were hiding in the bushes. I thought to myself, what can I do to help? That’s when I decided I would make this my lockdown mission,” said Yaka, who is a minister in the Methodist’s Circuit 201 in Fingo Village.

“Lots of people here tell me how much they appreciate what I’m doing. Nobody comes to help, but that’s okay. I’ve told myself that this is something I’m doing from my heart.”

Close to being a pensioner (he turns 60 next year), Yaka does this in addition to the 24km a day he trains in preparation for marathons. A regular Comrades and Two Oceans runner, he’s looking forward to the day it’s safe to get back to the pack.

Meanwhile, he’s determined to help make one corner of our town a little safer, in his own way.

Previous ArticleEducation must lead Makhanda’s rescue
Next Article Life sentence for rapist
Sue Maclennan
  • Twitter

Local journalism

Related Posts

Vehicle dealership drives Winter Warmers initiative

The Enyobeni Tavern tragedy: lessons for our own municipality

RUCE SD card project pleads for more donations

Comments are closed.

Cue for you!
Cue for you!
Cue for you!
Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Latest video

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2022 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.