Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

Just how much longer will Makhanda’s residents have to wait for enough reliable water and a functional sewerage system? That’s what JULIAN JACOBS wanted to find out during a fact-finding mission at the end of last month with Makana Mayor Mzukisi Mpahlwa and the chair of the portfolio committee on engineering and infrastructure, Ramie Xonxa. Water and Sanitation Manager Gubevu Maduna, who is also the acting Director for Engineering and Infrastructure, later filled in some of the technical and logistical details. Broken down pumps, burst and leaking old asbestos pipes and a prolonged drought have made it difficult for Makana Municipality to…

Dexue Liu (Head of Chinese Department and Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute;  Manie Cronjé (Principal) and Li Zang (Lecturer in Chinese Studies) outisde Good Shepherd Primary. The Institute donated a thermometer and a box of disposable masks to the school as it prepared to welcome back learners after more than five months. ‘We are grateful for this generous donation,’ said Principal Manie Cronje. ‘The Confucius Institute is an integral stakeholder in our school, as they are teaching Chinese to our learners from grades 4-7.’ Photo: Supplied

Hardly a month since the release of his gospel single, Pfuxelela, Rhodes University student Praise Ntsako Mathebula saw his song reach number one spot on the Google Play Gospel charts. The gospel artist and final-year Bachelor of Arts student, whose stage name is Praise Smo, recorded his debut album on 31 August last year. It was done at the Rhodes University Box Theatre with production company The Prophet and The Carpenter, founded by Elijah Madiba and Sebastian Jamieson. The 15-track album includes his hot single, Pfuxelela (‘Revive’)  which his fans have dubbed ‘The Revival Prayer’. His single was released on 14 August…

More Rhodes University students are to be invited to return to campus, after the country moved to lockdown level 2. “The… approach to allowing more students back on campus will be carefully balanced with important contextual factors. In particular, due consideration will be given to the capacity of health care services in the Makana local municipality to deal with any potential upsurge in Covid-19 infection cases,” Vice Chancellor, Dr Sizwe Mabizela said. This follows an announcement by the government to move the country to Alert Level 2 of its Risk-Adjusted Strategy to manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Mabizela said the University placed…

Child Support should be increased for each child, the special Covid-19 grant should be reformed to benefit more women and Unemployment Insurance Fund payments should benefit more domestic workers. These are some of the recommendations of a study on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the informal economy. “Women should be better supported, as they were the most vulnerable and the most severely affected group during the Covid-19 outbreak,” said Rhodes University’s Professor Michael Rogan, who collaborated with the University of Cape Town’s Caroline Skinner. Skinner is a researcher with the African Centre for Cities and Rogan a member of the…

Book review by Gillian Rennie my mother, my madness by Colleen Higgs (published by Deep South) Several themes surface in Colleen Higgs’s chronicle of her mother’s last years. There are those any daughter might recognise (the bond of loyalty, the bondedness of reality) and there are those anyone who has witnessed a decline towards dementia would recognise (irascible dishevelment, irrational attachments). This is unsurprising, considering the layered and complex emotions provoked by any and all of these. But there is one thread weaving through my mother, my madness, through these diary entries, these years, these lives, stitching them together even…

By NDUMISO KHUMALO and SIYANDA MAKUNGA Death is something that is certain, although when we will die is usually very uncertain. It is therefore important to plan for what will happen to your finances, your children and all your belongings when you die. Many people still refuse to discuss or think about this topic, as they believe that they are inviting death. ESTATE PLANNING One way in which to make sure that your wishes are fulfilled after you die is to have a Will drawn up by a person who is experienced in drafting Wills, such as an attorney. A…

By JULIAN JACOBS A young woman was left shaken but appeared to be without serious injury after she drove into a three-metre-wide hole in Fitzroy Street shortly before 8am on Thursday 20 August. Shocked commuters stopped to photograph the extraordinary sight of the vehicle upended in the hole left by repairs to broken water pipes. Two ambulances arrived; however, the driver declined assistance. A request for comment from Makana Municipality was not responded to. Late yesterday afternoon, residents in the area reported that a team appeared to be preparing to repair the pipe and fill the hole. Photos: Julian Jacobs…

STAFF REPORTER As schools welcomed Grade 12 learners back recently, the Paediatrician Management Group (PMG) and the South African Paediatric Association (SAPA) urged the government to open schools to all learners and not to allow fear or politics to harm the children of South Africa. Speaking out against government’s decision to close public schools again, local paediatricians said the decision was not based on scientific evidence, and the benefits to children of attending school outweighed the risks to both children and the broader community. With no clear evidence that closing schools significantly reduced community transmission or overall deaths, paediatric doctors…

Rhodes University will lead an international research collaboration that seeks to discover and accelerate the development of new antibiotics. The three-year, £1.5 million project, funded by the Newton Fund through the Antibiotic Accelerator Initiative of the United Kingdom (UK) Medical Research Council (MRC) and South African (SA) MRC, aims to discover novel compounds from natural sources that have the potential to be developed into new antimicrobial compounds to combat drug-resistant bacterial pathogens. The project will bring together scientists from 12 higher education and research institutions in SA and five from the UK. All the universities of the Eastern Cape and…