Author: Kathryn Cleary

Linda Nkohla smiles cheek to cheek as she recalls her 20 years at Pick n Pay. Joining the team in 1997 as a deli cook and meat wrapper, when the store first opened  and working her way up to a deli manager two years later, Nkohla is grateful for the work that she does. “Smile and good service”, she states are keys to success in her job. She lives with her parents and a 12 year-old son in Extension 6. Nkohla is thankful to her seniors at Pick ‘n Pay for helping her to grow in her career and hopes…

The organiser of a festive event at Fiddlers Green last weekend believes neighbouring residents would have been less frustrated about the disruption if the municipality had given them the heads up. And while residents expressed support for the event, they felt the noise levels needn’t have been so loud. On Saturday 11 November, QueenP Entertainment and Events hosted their second Annual Ladies’ Spring Picnic on Fiddler’s Green. The picnic featured fashion, cosmetics, accessory and food stalls, as well as music. Organiser Phindiswa Deu said they’d been hosting events throughout the year as a way to inspire conversations between women across…

It was only exceptional skill that averted an on-ground collision with livestock at the Grahamstown Aerodrome last weekend and a councillor has since warned that failure to secure the facility could see Makana sued for millions, and the aerodrome closed down. The Grahamstown Flying Club reported on social media that pilots had experienced two potential life-threatening incidents with cattle and horses on the runways on Saturday 11 November. “We wish to sincerely thank the Makana Fire Department for their immediate response and removal of the animals,” the Club said in their post. “Livestock… grazing on and around the aerodrome runways,…

The bubbly champagne and red carpet attire were not the only things making an impression during the 12th annual RUTV Documentary Film Fest, held the evening of 7 September at the National English Literary Museum (NELM). Six fourth-year TV Journalism students spent several months researching, filming and producing their own documentaries. Each documentary explored the theme, “quests and question marks”.   Money from the Sea produced by Abner Accomm and Daniel Tucker follows the journey of the ‘Jamie Jay’, a chokka (squid) fishing boat in Port Elizabeth. Accomm and Tucker spent time aboard the vessel getting to know the fishermen…

The Group Areas Act of 1950 ravaged communities across South Africa. Names like District 6 and Sophiatown stain popular history textbooks, but never are places like Grahamstown mentioned. Despite being left out of the textbooks, the Group Areas Act eventually reared its ugly head in Grahamstown in the early 1970s. Having the largest effect on Grahamstown’s Indian, Coloured and African residents, the Group Areas Act served to displace and destroy the very roots of these communities. Tears slid down Harry Rama’s face as he recalled his own story of the Group Areas Act, “all for nothing”, he called it. Rama’s…

On Wednesday morning (15 August) some 30 Joza residents gathered in protest outside the Magistrate’s Court in High Street. Residents held signs reading “Stop The Violence” and “Breaking The Silence of Killing”. This in response to at least three recent reports of murders of women in Grahamstown, and one attempted murder. The protesters demanded that the suspect in the gruesome murder of Noloyiso Speelman, whose body was found, burned, in a ditch between N Street and Scotts Farm on 6 August be denied bail. Residents handed over a signed petition to the Chief Magistrate emphasising “no bail for perpetrators of…

In Women’s Month, Kathryn Cleary hears the story of the 23 years a Grahamstown woman fought to escape horrific abuse. “The sad part of my story is that people didn’t do anything. Even if you cry for help, nobody is going to help you.” Naidene Mahapi stood up slowly from the shaded chair on the porch of her family’s home on Albert Street. She walked into the sunlight and squinted her eyes, looking off into the hills near Mary Waters High School. “You see those hills over there?”, she said pointing, “That’s where he beat me over the head with…

Sparkle, glamour, lights and more! All of these ideas were brought forward by a group of Grahamstown residents and businesspeople at a gathering this week. This year’s National Arts Festival left some complaining it had left them uninspired. However, one particularly enthusiastic resident, Michael Wynne took this feeling and turned it into an exciting opportunity. “We are re-imagining and glamorising fest,” Wynne explained. “There’s no limit.” Wynne organised the Creative Workshop in the orchestra room at Victoria Girls’ Primary School as a means for residents to work together in brainstorming their own version of Festival. After a Facebook post of…