Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

By ROY LUBKE There was quite a furore in email exchanges this week after the Festival from those trying to ‘Beautify the High Street’. I will attached extracts of the emails which tell the story. It started off with a message from the High Street Beautification Project to all those on the emailing list: “I wish to object in the strongest possible terms regarding the condition of the High Street area adjacent to the cathedral. “This is not the way we live and this is not the image Grahamstown wants to portray. We are trying to beautify a town on the…

Kingswood travelled to Woodridge on Saturday 7 July to take on a team that was brimming with confidence after a good win in Grahamstown (Makhanda) last year.  The game started in typical derby day fashion with both teams strong on defence and making mistakes under pressure on attack. It was Woodridge that got the scoreboard ticking over with two penalty goals. Kingswood finally made use of the possession they were getting with a tries by Athi Galada and Jared Manas, which seemed to calm the nerves of the visitors.  Woodridge kept in touch with another two penalty goals which tied…

ITrading Live yinkqubo eququzelelwa yiRhodes University ezama ukukhulisa uluntu lwaseRhini luphelele, ngokudibanisa abantu abohlukeneyo abanezakhono ezahlukeneyo ukuze kubekho ulwabelano oluthile. Le nkqubo ithatha iveki apho kubakho iindibano ezahlukeneyo ezenzekayo, eziququzelelwe abantu abafuna iqonga lokwabelana ngezakhono zabo. Le nkqubo ithiywe emva kukaTata uNelson Rolohlala Mandela neenzame zakhe zokudibanisa uluntu lwaseMzantsi Afrika lube lunye, lubambane. Kulo nyaka ka-2018, le nkqubo izokuqala ngomhla we- 18 ukuya kumhla we-24 ka-July. ITrading Live yaqala ngo-2012 apho abafundi kwakunye nabaphangeli baseRhodes banikwa ithuba lokuthatha inxaxheba ngokuncedisa kwiphulo lemizuzu ey-67 apho uluntu lwenzelana iinceba. Emveni kokuqalwa koku, kwabonakala ukuba abantu abaninzi abathatha…

By NONTSIKELELO LENTO Akhona Makhalima is the only professional female soccer referee in South Africa. She was born in a small town, Ngqamakhwe in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. She always had a love for soccer, starting off as a soccer player, and grew wings to become an assistant referee in 2011. She is now a FIFA accredited referee. Makhalima has refereed 7 national and 7 international games and has performed 13 fourth official duties in her career so far, which includes PSL debuts. She believes staying in shape, by staying fit and strong and avoiding injuries, is important. Apart…

Spending time in the market gives you the benefit of compounded returns on your investment. We are often asked questions such as “When would be the best time for me to start investing?”  “Should I wait until there is more certainty in the economy?” “Should I wait until the political situation in the country becomes more stable?” The longer you take to decide whether or not to invest, the more you will miss out on the powerful force known as compounding. The beauty of compounding is that it is available to everyone, and it can have an exponential effect on the value…

Yamkela Koti shares some of the local talent to lookout for at the 44th edition of the National Arts Festival. Rhythm of Makhanda is a play loosely adapted from the book The return of Makhanda by historian, Professor Julie Wells, The piece fuses dance and poetry to tell the story of the battle of Grahamstown between the amaXhosa and the British soldiers in 1819. This show features local artists and pantsula dancers from Via Kasi Movers, which won the 2016 Makana Drama Development Festival. Shows from 28 June until 8 July 2018. The ‘Ingoma’ is an old sage Jongilanga reveals…

By Samantha Carolus Julia Skeen is bringing a walkabout with contemplative mediation accompanied by art work at Spiritfest this year. The walkabout and meditation will take place in the Chapel of St Mary and All Angels situated on the  Rhodes University Campus. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in Grahamstown which was built for the nuns of the Community of the Resurrection (CR) over a century ago. The fresco above the apse in the chapel was painted between 1924 and 1928, by Sr Margaret CR, who worked in a CR home for unmarried mothers in Queenstown. Skeen notes that, “The russet-brown brickwork of…

Testing Tap Water In the absence of any water quality results from Makana Municipality, ‘citizen scientists’ are once again testing tap water at home. The ‘H2S strip test’ is a low-cost and effective ‘early warning’ system. If the water sample turns black, it tells us there are microbes in water. If this happens, researchers in the Environmental Health and Biotechnology Research Group in the Faculty of Pharmacy at Rhodes University will once again do more detailed – and costly – lab tests to check how many faecal coliforms are in the water. Look out for the results in Grocott’s Mail:…

By Strauss de Jager In the short and almost obscure letter of Paul to Philemon he declares, “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.” Our normal instinct is to be blessed directly by our personal prosperity or success. Amazingly, an elderly Paul writes from a state of unjust imprisonment, and with no thought of his own interests, finds cause to rejoice that Philemon was a blessing to the believers in his city. Following this affirmation and motion of confidence, he continues to make a carefully constructed and fervent…

Your editorial “Name Change Controversies” (Grocott’s Mail 8 June ) refers inter alia to all the protracted debate over changing Grahamstown’s name and quotes Judith February’s comment that the debate about name changes “needs to happen in a way that unites and does not drive South Africans further apart.” Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu warned many years ago about the divisiveness of name changes and referred to them as a “monumental red herring”  to distract from the failures of government. February’s comment and Tutu’s warning have specific relevance to Grahamstown where the failures of government, particularly at the local government level, are…