Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

One in three South African adults will experience mental illness in their lifetimes but the quest for equal access to better mental health for all is hampered by a severe lack of treatment facilities and mental health professionals, with only 1 000 psychiatrists[i] to serve the country’s almost 60 million people. World Mental Health Day was 10 October 2020 and the South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) has joined the global call by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partner organisations to scale-up investment to improve access to mental health as one of the most neglected areas of public health worldwide.…

Makana Municipality embarked on cleaning up, and the clearing of illegal dump sites in Joza on 27 August 2020. The municipal front end loader has been out of commission since March 2020. In other words, since the start of the lockdown, the municipality was unable to use it to clean the dump sites. We hired plant machinery, including a TLB (tractor loader backhoe – commonly known as a “digger”) and two tipper trucks to start cleaning up illegal dump sites while we waited for the municipality’s front-end loader to be fixed. This was done as one of the pillars of…

The Grahamstown Music Society is excited to present Christopher Duigan on piano in the Kingswood College Chapel at 7pm on Tuesday 13 October 2020 in a safe and socially-distanced recital of Beethoven (Waldstein Sonata), Clementi, Handel, Chopin and Rachmaninoff. We have all desperately missed the unique experience of enjoying a live concert, and our artists have really suffered from the lockdown and loss of income. Chris Duigan is one of South Africa’s leading pianists, who is most renowned for his MUSIC REVIVAL concerts. Please support the GMS and Christopher Duigan by attending this concert. The Kingswood Chapel is spacious and so the…

By SINOMBONGO AMAHLE Learners from Victoria Girls’ High School are collecting sanitary pads to donate to girls at schools in Makhanda’s poorer communities and we invite members of the public to support the campaign. For a long time, girls from poorer communities have struggled to stay in school while they’re having their periods. This is because some parents can’t afford to buy sanitary towels for their children. Most of the girl learners who are affected are the ones who go to the no-fee schools. Victoria Girls’ High School learners are involved in a project of donating pads to Fikizolo Primary…

By Shaun Goosen Former Southern Kings interim head coach Robbi Kempson is stunned at the manner in which the franchise’s board has treated members of its staff. It was announced recently that the Kings had been placed into a state of voluntary liquidation as stakeholders SA Rugby (74%) and the Eastern Province Rugby Union (26%) continue to face the prospect of having to repay an accumulated deficit of R55 million. The latest revelation in the Kings saga follows the decision made in August that the side would play no further part in any competitive rugby – and thus generate zero…

By DEBBIE SMUTS The Rotary Club of Grahamstown Sunset handed over the proceeds from their recent GBS Mountain Drive Virtual Half Marathon fundraiser ‘Miles for Meals’ to the Makhanda Circle of Unity Covid-19 community kitchen project on Friday 2 October.  The event raised R14 000 for the scheme, which equates to about 3 500 meals. While this sounds like a lot of plates of food, it is in fact only about half of the number of people fed by the scheme each week. While much of the food is cooked in private community kitchens during the week, there were large…

Well it didn’t turn out like I expected, it is the fourth lowest rainfall for September in 35 years of monitoring: only 10.7mm for the month. There have been similar circumstances in the past, where September rainfall has been exceptionally low. While the Long Term Average is at 52.9mm and the Long Term Median is 45.0mm, these are: 1996 (12.3mm), 2007 (9.9mm), 2011 (2.2mm) and 2003 (1.4mm). The rainfall bounced back in October in 1996 (73.2mm), 2007 (59.8mm), 2011 (101.4mm) and 2013 (140.3mm). This is what we need: buckets of rainfall to replenish our dams. The rainfall we received this…

A spell of fairly active weather is already unfolding, driven primarily by the development of a steep upper trough over the western and south-western parts of the country. A number of severe or extreme weather phenomena can be expected today and in the coming days. Over the Western Cape, cold, overcast and windy conditions with heavy rain and localised flooding will dominate the circulation pattern. Moreover, marine gales and high sea conditions will also affect much of the Western Cape coastline. Elsewhere, the Greater Highveld region, encompassing parts of the Free State, North-West, Gauteng and eastern highveld of Mpumalanga, can…

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has urged the public to continue to use water sparingly as some dams and river systems begin to recover from the winter dry period. “We should also intensify our efforts to harvest rainwater as we prepare for the hotter months ahead,” said spokesperson Luvo Dumse. “While some provinces such as the Western Cape has been blessed with abundant rainfall, this should not be reason for complacency. Water conservation efforts must continue,” Dumse said. With lockdown restrictions further eased and temperatures becoming warmer, it was tempting to use more water; however, everyone was encouraged…

SARU confirmed on Saturday that they had placed the Southern Kings in voluntary liquidation just weeks after the franchise had pulled out of all competitions for the remainder of the year. The decision was made by majority shareholders SA Rugby (74%) and the Eastern Province Rugby Union (EPRU) (26%). The Covid-19 crisis has hit the cash-strapped Kings hard, with the franchise now facing a debt upwards of a reported R55 million. Things aren’t looking too rosy in the Windy City following yet another SARU takeover of the Kings earlier this year after incumbent majority stakeholders the Greatest Rugby Company in…