by Anna Majavu Makana municipality has allegedly banned all overtime payments for municipal workers, leaving residents affected by electricity breakdowns in the night or on weekends with no hope of help coming until the next working day. The apparent ban on overtime has irked opposition parties, the Makana Citizen’s Front (MCF) and Democratic Alliance (DA). “We don’t have a municipality. It has collapsed. One moment, it has a disclaimer and the next moment, they don’t have money to pay for overtime” said MCF secretary Ayanda Kota. Makana Citizen’s Front secretary Ayanda Kota. Photo: Daylin Paul/New Frame. Kota said the provincial…
Author: Anna Majavu
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Makana municipality has received its fourth negative audit report from the Auditor-General (AG) in a row, after the AG found it had no proper plans for service delivery, and no system to punish the municipal officials who committed unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Presented at a special meeting of the council at City Hall on 28 February, the report by AG Tsakani Maluleke listed over 80 areas where the municipality had failed to provide proper financial information to her. She gave Makana municipality a negative “disclaimer” opinion for the 2021/22 financial year, as had happened in the 2020/21 financial…
by ANNA MAJAVU Eastern Cape social movements came together on 22 February to protest against another austerity budget announced by Finance minister Enoch Godongwana. The protest, which followed a budget workshop at The Monument from 20 – 22 February, was part of a three day national speak out and wave of demonstrations against the government. About 100 members of the UPM, Makana Citizens Front (MCF), Isikhalo Womxn’s Movement against Gender-Based Violence, Amandla Collective of Gqeberha, the Alternative Information and Development Centre, Cry of the Xcluded, and Independent Komani Residents Association, discussed how they were affected by austere budgets in which…
By ANNA MAJAVU Disturbed by the gruesome killings of local ‘amaphara’ (petty criminals), allegedly by the Grahamstown Anti-Crime group, Makhanda residents are speaking out against rising levels of vigilantism. The “Grahamstown Anti-Crime” Facebook group has almost 40 000 members and is run by Luyanda Sakata, a former ANC ward councillor in Grahamstown, also known as “Honey”. But Sakata is now out on R500 bail, charged with murdering a young man who had been accused of housebreaking and theft. A discussion is also underway on the Facebook group about the murder of a second young man. Both victims’ identities are known to…
by ANNA MAJAVU A Grahamstown Feeding Association (GFA) survey has found that 9000 households, or a total of 51 750 people in Makhanda, survive on less than one meal a day, and that if the proposed High Court relocation to Bhisho goes ahead, the resulting job losses will cause “unmitigated devastation” to the town’s food security. In their submission to the government committee to rationalise the areas served by South Africa’s High Courts, GFA chairperson Gunda Krause said many people who lost their jobs and income during the Covid-19 pandemic now sourced their only meal of the day from Makhanda’s food…
By ANNA MAJAVU Activists from across the political spectrum are welcome in the Makana-Rini United (MARU) Club. It’s a setting where political foes from the ANC, Makana Citizens Front and other formations leave politics at home. They work together to support young people in a town without a single playground, few public amenities, overcrowded schools that lack basic equipment and a high unemployment rate. Unemployed Peoples’ Movement leader and secretary of the Makana Citizen’s Front (MCF), Ayanda Kota, is a former player in the MARU Legends team and was president of the Makana local football association when MARU Football Club…
By ANNA MAJAVU Parents and learners have shut down the Riebeeck East Combined School over the dire shortage of educators. The shutdown started on 19 January and will continue until the Eastern Cape education department appoints more educators, parents say. The small school of 93 learners, 42 kilometres away from Makhanda, has just three educators who teach all nine grades. One educator teaches Grades 1, 2, and 3 in the same classroom. The other two educators teach Grades 3-9. The school principal doubles up as a third educator. A parent who did not want to be named said it was…
A drama from Limpopo tackles the disturbing reality of politicians killing each other for positions. It is a cry from young South Africans for this deplorable situation to change, writes ANNA MAJAVU for New Frame. The Ward Councillor, a drama with the last NAF performance on 2 July, bears witness to the disturbing occurrence of political assassinations. Over five weeks in January and February, four ward councillors – one from the IFP and three from the ANC – were assassinated. In the run-up to the November 2021 local government elections, eight politically connected people were killed. In 2016 and 2017,…
Gender-based violence is highlighted in several heartbreaking performances at the National Arts Festival, writes ANNA MAJAVU for New Frame. The Fringe of the National Arts Festival is often where social ills and the many brutalities of life that working-class and impoverished people are forced to endure are reflected on stage. This year, eight live performances on the fringe programme are centred on gender-based violence (GBV) themes. Produced mainly by grassroots collectives, these performances are rooted in real-life experiences of femicide, attacks on women and the most vulnerable in our society, and the effects of child abuse on men’s expression of…
Botanists are working on an ambitious project to restore 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of degraded land in South Africa that were previously covered by thickets of the indigenous succulent spekboom (Portulacaria afra). Farmers have stripped the land of its native thicket over decades of commercial agriculture and livestock keeping, and following extended droughts, it’s now turning to desert. Spekboom, much praised for its ability to sequester carbon, is not only a resilient native plant, but its growth naturally promotes the recovery of other species. Carbon credits are one promising source of funding for restoration that could prove profitable…