By JOY HINYIKIWILE The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) has given Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga until Friday, 13 May, to organise scholar transport for 129 qualifying Makhanda and Fort Beaufort learners – and as many as 52 000 learners in the rest of the province. If the LRC does not receive confirmation before Monday, 16 June, that the learners will begin receiving transport to school, urgent high court proceedings will be launched to obtain appropriate relief to ensure that learners’ rights to education are respected. The LRC said its offices had been flooded with complaints from parents and schools over…
Author: Joy Hinyikiwile
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By JOY HINYIKIWILE They describe themselves as “an incredible group of women who are inspired by faith, fun, caring, and courage; to step up to the plate, empower and make a difference in the lives of others. “Oh, and we like to run (a lot).” The Sole Sisters aim to counter societal messages that encourage women to develop negative self and body images and adopt unhealthy lifestyles to meet unrealistic body standards. They encourage each other to create positive mindsets and give back to their communities. On Saturday, 26 March, 14 women gathered at the Natural Affinity Yoga and Pilate…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE EC Education Head of Department Ntombizanele Naledi Mbude’s precautionary suspension has received mixed reactions from opposition parties. Premier Oscar Mabuyane placed Mbude on precautionary suspension with full pay last week to allow for investigations on matters affecting the province’s state of learning and teaching. The media statement announcing her suspension notes delays in stationery and textbook delivery to schools, the 2021 festive season delays in the payment of educator assistants and the under-expenditure of the infrastructure conditional grant leading to the return of R205 million to the treasury as ‘concerning issues’. Deputy director-general in the Office of…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE The Eastern Cape Department of Education says it has finally managed to deliver textbooks and stationery to all schools in the province. However, some schools report they still have not received them. On 5 April, the department released a statement saying it had delivered textbooks and stationery to 100% of the schools in the province by 31 March. The only shortfall was in the supply of top-up textbook delivery. The top-up project provided schools with additional textbooks from the ones retrieved in the previous year. According to the department, only 77 schools had yet to receive top-up…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE The Eastern Cape Department of Basic Education has promised to meet the Makhanda High Court’s order to deliver stationery and textbooks to schools by 31 March. The order resulted from legal action taken by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) based on the department’s failure to deliver textbooks and stationery to over 3 000 public schools in the province by the start of the 2022 academic school year. The LRC represented the education organisation Khula Community Development Project and children and parents from Makhanda and across the province. On 15 March, the High Court in Makhanda ordered the department…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has upheld with costs the case by former Rhodes student, Yolanda Dyantyi, to appeal Rhodes University’s disciplinary case against her. Dyantyi was permanently excluded from the university with two exams left before completing her BA degree in November 2017. Along with Dominique McFall and Naledi Mashishi, she was accused of being involved in an incident in which three male students were held against their will during the 2016 #RUReferenceList protests. The #RUReferenceList protests named students accused of sexual harassment and rape. The university held a disciplinary inquiry on the matter. On…
Stakeholders in children’s rights and care gathered at St Mary’s Development and Care Centre on Thursday evening to launch the Makhanda Children’s Rights Coalition. The coalition aims “to be a dynamic space for children’s rights and protection practitioners to deliberate and collectively act on matters affecting the lives of children in Makhanda,” said Anna Talbot from Rhodes University Community Engagement. School counsellors, members of the SAPS, the Rhodes University Community Engagement and NGOs involved in child care were amongst stakeholders present at the launch. Stakeholder representatives at the launch of the Makhanda Children’s Rights Coalition launch at St Mary’s DCC…
By JOY HINYIKIWILE Mary Waters High School alumni Zizipho and Azizipho Nqoqo, 19, say they doubt they would have passed matric if it was not for community engagement projects like the SD Card Project. The Joza-based twins attained Bachelor passes last year and are currently BA (Politics and Sociology) first-year students at Rhodes University. Their school was one of four no-fee paying schools in Makhanda that received SD Cards loaded with study materials last year and given to each matric learner to access learning material. The cards can be inserted into a cell phone, tablet or laptop. Azizipho (left) and…
It’s 8 am on a Saturday and time for Makhandans to run. By JOY HINYIKIWILE It is Saturday morning and fitness fanatics have gathered at the Makana Botanical Gardens for the weekly 8 am community fun run/walk. The sun is slightly shy to come out, but the temperature is warming nicely. This is the kind of Saturday morning weather that attracts a lot of participants, the organisers say. Turnout is lower on rainy and cloudy mornings. On this particular Saturday, 19 March 2022, 118 participants will complete the 5km route, which winds twice through the bushy green hills below the…