By Ovayo Milisa Novukela Nine months ago, on 5 September 2022, residents discovered the body of a three-year-old girl, Mbali Koba, at her home in the early morning hours after being brutally raped and murdered. A few days later, community members marched to the Alicedale police station demanding updates on the murder and other unsolved cases. Nine months after Mbali’s murder, the investigation was withdrawn due to insufficient evidence. On Thursday, 8 June 2023, Grocotts Mail went to Alicedale to meet with Mbali’s mother, Vuyokazi Koba, her stepfather, Ntsikelelo January, and the community task team dealing with Mbali’s murder case.…
Author: Grocott's Mail
By Lelethu Zono and Ntombentsha Yamiso During the cold winter of 2017, the Pyks family was left stranded after their home on 5th Avenue in Hooggenoeg was burned down and demolished in a fire accident. To aid in their situation, community members immediately intervened and relocated the Pyks family to the local community hall, which they have been occupying ever since. For the past six years, the family has been waiting for the Makana Local Municipality to respond through its Disaster Management Unit and assist in providing them with a house or at least a basic temporary structure but to…
By Owethu Nokhangela Residents of Vergenoeg in Makhanda have suffered the cruelest ordeal of not having water for five consecutive weeks, making it more than one month filled with nothing but poor hygiene and health hazards. Residents in Vergenoeg’s Valley Road interviewed by Grocott’s Mail said their water supply stopped after municipal workers dug open holes, which led to pipes bursting. Ever since, the municipality had ignored their complaints and pleas for assistance, the residents said. “Water trucks do come to give us water, but we are not sure when they come as they have no consistent timetable”, senior resident…
A big shout out to SIZO MEDIA for these listings!Stay in the loop with the latest and join the MEW WhatsApp group! POP-UPS/ FESTIVALS/ EXHIBITIONS/ REPEAT EVENTS Friday, 9 June – Saturday, 10 June WESSA 1st Pass Excursion: Zuurberg PassJoin WESSA on sightseeing the “forgotten” long and sometimes extreme gravel pass approximately 27,5 km long, Zuurberg Pass. It is one of the longer passes in South Africa and traverses all four tiers of the dominant Zuurberg Mountain range.Vehicles will leave at 14:00 from Eden Grove, 09 June, to overnight at the Zuurberg Inn villages and complete the pass the next day.Contact details: Leo Goosen…
By Rod Amner Fikizolo Primary School rolled out an exuberantly South African welcome of marimbas, song, dance, and praise poetry to a special visitor from Toronto, Canada, on 7 June. Courtney Doldron from Toronto’s Rotary Club of North York is in Makhanda until 25 June to scope a five-year project to provide training and support to up to 50 local teachers. Doldron is a human rights activist, former teacher, and secretary of the Basic Education and Literacy Rotary Action Group (Belrag), which supports international literacy aid projects. Belrag works with Education Beyond Borders, which operates five-year Train the Trainer programmes…
By Sinalo Peyi The local members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA) stood up against the high rate of drug usage in the small location of Bathurst in the Eastern Cape and conducted a Drug Awareness Day campaign in the SDA building. The church members invited community leaders who were the speakers on the day. The community leaders spoke about the importance of the day, noting that the drug usage rate was increasing every day among the youth in Bathurst. The campaign kicked off on 12 May 2023 in the morning when the first speaker addressed the community. A…
By Staff Reporter A man suspected of transporting more than R1 million worth of poached abalone has been caught outside Makhanda – after he crashed his car while attempting to smuggle the rare mollusks from Gqeberha to Bloemfontein. The South African Police Services (SAPS) said in a press release that police were told that a white Toyota bakkie was transporting abalone on the R350 road late at night on 3 June. The Makhanda K9 unit then spotted the bakkie 27 kilometres outside Makhanda, which had crashed and been abandoned. “Off duty Seargeant Anthony Benade of the Makhanda K9 Unit, assisted…
By Pulane Choane This week, Rhodes Music Radio (RMR 89.7FM), South Africa’s first legal campus community radio station, announced that its radio license had been renewed by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) for the next seven years until 2030. This news follows the station’s relaunch in August last year, with its new Station Manager, Unathi Koboka, taking the helm after a turbulent period of change at the station that saw management changes and a reduced programming schedule since December 2021. “The radio industry is currently facing serious challenges, which have been intensified for many local radio stations,…
By Staff Reporter A fire broke out in Checkers, in High Street, at about 2pm on 28 May, causing staff to quickly evacuate all shoppers. Bystanders praised the Makhanda Fire Brigade for arriving and dousing the fire very fast. No injuries were reported. The store’s manager would not confirm that an oil fryer inside the store was the cause of the fire, referring Grocott’s Mail to Checkers’ Head Office, who would also not give the newspaper any details.
By Steven Lang There’s good news and bad news depending on where you live in Makhanda, according to the latest crime stats. On Tuesday, 30 May, the South African Police Service (SAPS) released crime statistics for the first quarter of 2023. Two police stations serve Makhanda: Grahamstown Police Station on Beaufort Street and Joza Police Station on Sani Road in Joza. Comparing contact crimes, such as murder, sexual offences, assault and robbery, it appears that the number of incidents reported at the Grahamstown Police Station during the first quarter has gradually declined over the past five years. There were 229…