By Anga-Anganda Bushwana Towards the end of Women’s Month, the corpse of a woman was found in U-Street, Tantyi. The woman, whose body was found at 6am on 27 August, was identified as 65-year-old Jongiwe Nancy Matshoba. According to Nkohli Majola, spokesperson of the South African Police Services (SAPS) in the Eastern Cape, “Police were summoned to the scene after the body of a woman was found lying on the roadside with no visible injuries”. The SAPS has opened an inquest docket and said at this point, it is not clear whether the woman is a victim of foul play…
Author: Anga Bushwana
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By Anga-Anganda Bushwana Berend Walters of Hooggenoeg in Makhanda has taken it upon himself to fix municipal drain blockages in his area in order to prevent sewage eruptions into the streets and houses of the area. “If I don’t do it then no one else will”, said Walters. He is now 60 years of age and still in good shape. He told Grocotts Mail that he is self-taught in plumbing. After leaving school in Grade Five, Walters later did electrical work and worked in videotronics before starting his own business as a contractor. He is well acquainted with the municipal…
By Anga-Anganda Bushwana “I am so happy to be here celebrating Women’s Day with all of you, but I’m a little sad at the same time because the more things change, the more they stay the same.” This was former Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi’s opening statement as she took the podium on Women’s Day, 9 August, which marked day 3 of Rhodes University’s Leadership Week programme. As an influential figure, the poised and elegant Tunzi once encouraged young African women that nothing is more important than taking up space, cementing themselves in society, and becoming the best versions of themselves,…
By Anga-Anganda Bushwana A 15-year-old Kingswood College Grade Nine learner, Savanna Renaud, has won Gold at the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in the Makhanda Regional finals, with a thrilling project that studies neurochemistry in mice to benefit children with autism. Renaud, just 15 years old, won a bursary to Rhodes University and says she knows that her future is now secured. “I remember calling my father first and his reaction was the best. He asked to take a photo of my certificate and he sent it everywhere. Now I am bombarded with thousands of congratulations messages from family members…
By Anga-Anganda Bushwana “Nanga ngobusuku ningalala nombethe ingubo yemvisiswano, uxolo nothando. Ndinithanda nonke emakhaya.” This was Noxolo Grootboom’s trademark sign-off for many years, every Saturday night at exactly 7:30pm on our television screens on SABC 1’s isiXhosa news. These heartfelt words will forever remain a much-needed message of hope and encouragement of peace to South Africans. Noxolo Grootboom from Lady Frere Eastern Cape was born on 8 October 1960. Her name Noxolo means mother of peace and she lives by this. She is a pioneer and one of a kind, a Xhosa queen who prides herself on the exquisite articulation…
By Anga-Anganda Bushwana Noziphiwo Lynette Roji, better known as Mamu Roji to Joza community members, has started a soup kitchen at 91B Joza Street, feeding the less fortunate. ANC member Roji, also a [former*(1)] committee member from Ward Two, said she could not sit back and do nothing about the dire situation of poverty she witnesses daily in the township. “I asked ANC Councillor Ramie Xonxa if we could start this initiative because I am witnessing so much poverty around me. I said to him, how about every Wednesday we cater as much as we can to community members?” says…
by Anga-Anganda Bushwana The Department of Political and International Studies’s annual four-day teach-in at Rhodes University got off to a great start with Sibusiso Nkomo of Afrobarometer speaking out on the energy crisis on 10 July. Afrobarometer is a pan-African, independent research network that measures public attitudes on economic, political, and social matters in Africa, which has been collecting the views of citizens on load shedding. As Nkomo began his speech, the electricity went off, setting a very ironic tone for the lecture. Nkomo said that electricity was one of the top three problems in the country. Afrobarometer found that…
By Anga-Anganda Bushwana One of Makhanda’s most prominent public intellectuals and social activists, Eusebius McKaiser, died suddenly on 30 May at the age of 45 from a suspected epileptic seizure. McKaiser’s cousin, Ashwell Adriaan, told Grocott’s Mail that the family was deeply saddened by McKaiser’s death and they would miss his vibrancy, his debating abilities, but most of all his ability to reach out to the different communities across the spectrum. “He was not afraid to put his position on the table for what he believed in and what he stood for” said Adriaan. McKaiser was a giant in the…
By Anga-Anganda Bushwana and Linda Pona Exactly 30 years ago, the United Nations adopted World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) on 3 May, 1993. This year, the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS) launched an annual inter-school dialogue on press freedom on the African continent on WPFD, hosted by South African broadcast journalist, author, and academic Thandeka Gqubule-Mbeki. Rhodes University Lecturer and veteran journalist Thandeka Gqubule Mbeki. Photo: supplied The hour-long dialogue included scholars from South Africa, America, and Kenya. The discussion focused on the contribution African journalists made to founding WPFD. That is because the 1991 Windhoek…
By Anga Bushwana My full name is Anga-Anganda Amadinga Amaxesibe, which means my family and ancestors are expecting more blessings for me. At 25 years of age, I am my ancestors’ wildest dream, and slowly but surely, I believe I am living up to my name. Growing up, I lived with my mother, father, and late brother. We were a very tight and close-knit family until tragedy struck and my brother passed away in a horrific car accident when I was 16 years of age. Even with all the mental health problems I developed from that event, I was encouraged…