Author: Mzwamadoda Makalima

Water and power failures Over the last week we have reported numerous incidents of power failure and water outages. In general, what happens is that the first outage cascades, causing others. For example, when much of town was out of electricity, the problem was isolated and solved. Then when power was turned back on, an underground cable in Market Street blew because the aged insulation failed under the extra load. Possibly something similar is happening with water – when a leak is fixed, turning the pressure back on causes failures of other weak points. We are doing our best to…

By AMINA DEKA ASMA, THANDEKA SITHOLE and SIVE MATINJWA Aviwe Matiwane is a Rhodes University PhD student in Palaeontology – the branch of science concerned with fossil animals and plants. The 30-year-old from Mqanduli, in the Transkei, completed her undergraduate degree in social sciences at an Eastern Cape University before choosing Rhodes as her ‘home’ for postgraduate studies. “I have always wanted to do my science studies at Rhodes University,” Matiwane said. “This place is renowned for academic excellence, especially the Department of Botany. My years doing Honours, Masters and now a PhD have been a true testimony of this widespread reputation.” The following interview…

Ward 7 Councilor Malibongwe Khubalo and Multimedia Makenik will host an event at Tantyi Hall, where different computer and indigenous games will be played. The game day will be hosted tomorrow (16 June) to commemorate Youth Day and encourage young  people to look into the future, as technology is growing everyday. Games of the day that have no age restriction will include Xbox: FIFA 14; PS 3 – Rugby Challenge 3; PS 2 – Hitman; Nintendo Wii – Wrestling; Pool Table; draughts; dominoes; chess and playing cards. Councillor Khubalo told Grocotts Mail this week that holding events like these will help young people…

Grahamstown’s Mandilakhe Ncwadi, a Nombulelo Secondary School learner who lives at the Eluxolweni Child and Youth Care Centre is a Presidents Award Gold ambassador, representing the Eastern Cape. The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment is a sustainable national youth development programme that has been operating in South Africa for more than 30 years. It reaches more than 16 000 young people from schools, community groups, residential youth facilities and correctional centres. Mandilakhe, 18, was competing with a Port Elizabeth pupil for gold status and was selected to represent Eastern Cape in Johannesburg Schools Sleep-Out. He attended school at Amasango andin the past was ashamed to mention that he lives in an…

Townships are a by-product of apartheid. And as such we need not cherish and celebrate their existence. The advent of townships was an insult to the indigenous people, disrupting social and family networks. To a great extent this phenomenon frustrated human development. Townships were designed to accommodate those perceived to be sub-human. Such places were not developed to thrive economically. The motive behind their creation was to establish cheap labour reservoirs, relatively close to economic centres dominated by whites. The commodification of human beings introduced new life trends. Township design and planning paradigms impacted negatively on communities. As a result…

The National Arts Festival is what set VGHS old girl Viwo Kulati on a course that will see her drop an album this year.