Lindani Donyeli asked stall owners how they felt about the new venue (Victoria Primary School/ Victoria Girls’ High School) for the Village Green at the 2018 National Arts Festival.
Author: Lindani Donyeli
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Rhodes Doctoral candidate and and keen environmentalist Namhla Gwedla has embarked on a study that seeks to investigate the barriers to, and possible enablers of tree planting in the Low Cost Housing/RDP suburbs of Grahamstown. Gwedla is a PhD student in the Department of Environmental Science, under the supervision of Professor Charlie Shackleton, and Dr Lausanne Olvitt from the Environmental Learning Research Centre. The vision of the project is to ultimately design and test a community-driven tree planting initiative specifically for LCH areas that will empower community members to prioritise tree planting, especially in their private spaces. Over the last year, Gwedla has…
Siphosethu Daweti is a boxer at the Imfuzo Boxing Club and is currently preparing for the finals in her weight category. The match is in Mpumalanga later this month. Having recently taken home gold at the Championships in Mthatha, Daweti hopes to do so again. After starting boxing in 2014, the former T.E.M Mrhwetyana pupil has seen much success in the sport, which is mainly dominated by boys and men. Daweti studied at Midlands College and returned to her hometown, where she was motivated and influenced by the way that the other boxers train in the gym. “Boxing is a very…
Garden lover Thabisani Ntloko believes that without his little patch of earth, life would be very different. And very difficult too. Ntloko plants different veggies at different time of the year. And no, he does not like to keep any piece of land free. Ntloko started gardening at his home in Vukani to supports his family and the community. “I like to keep the world green,” said Ntloko who has spinach, carrots, turnips, beetroot, and onions. Like many other gardeners in Grahamstown, his biggest need is that of sees. Ntloko also routinely has to beat off veggie thieves who jump over…
On 6 June the Department of Health and retired nurses joined forces with Jabez Centre and other NGOs, as well as mobile health services working in the Seven Fountains area. The retired nurses donated clothing, as well as offering health checks, including tests for blood sugar, high blood pressure, HIV status and weight. “The aim to do Seven Fountains is because it is an outlying area served only by a mobile clinic. “Most of the time, residents have to bring their health problems to Grahamstown,” said retired nurse, Rose Somngesi . “As retired nurses we still have power to do…
The second Sarah Baartman District Film Festival will run 7-9 June at NELM in Worcester Street. This year’s focus is Youth in Film, and the organisers aim to get schoolchildren to the event. “Not everyone is going to end up as lawyers and doctors,” said Festival Director Nceba Mgqolomba. “We want school children to come to the film festival so they can get an idea of what it’s like to be a film-maker.” The event opens with a community event on Thursday night. On Friday, registration takes place until 4pm, when there will be a workshop and screening. International award-winning…
Hi-Tec Security have joined forces with the community to make sure the town’s elderly have a place to call their own. The Ethembeni Old Age Service Centre in Nompondo Street, Joza, has, over the years, played a significant role in supporting the elderly residents in the community, providing meals and a range of activities, plus transportation to and from the centre. Elderly members of the community spend half-a-day at the centre enjoying each other’s company instead of spending time at home alone. However, due to rising costs over the past couple of years, the centre’s management board found it…
Egazini came alive with battle cries, British soldiers and amaXhosa warriors this week, as Rhodes University’s Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit gave high school pupils a first-hand experience of the Battle of Grahamstown. The confrontation nearly 200 years ago between amaXhosa warriors under Chief Ndlambe, led by Makhanda ka Nxele, and troops of the British commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Willshire, will be commemorated on 22 April 2019. The Department of Arts & Culture erected the Egazini Memorial in 2001 to honour the fallen Xhosa warriors – since badly vandalised. In 2015, mosaic pillars by local artists, each commemorating some aspect of the…
An assault case against a Grahamstown school pupil has been postponed twice. A schoolgirl’s family laid a charge against a fellow pupil following an altercation in which she was stabbed with a pen and received a gash on her cheek. The incident, on 7 May, took place at Nombulelo Senior Secondary School. Principal Nicci Hayes said they take such matters very seriously. “All forms of violence are completely unacceptable in a school environment,” said Hayes, who had strongly urged the family to open a case. “Such actions are not to be accepted anywhere in our society and should to be treated with…
Nine families from Reebeck East visited the Department of Education’s Grahamstown office in desperation last week, because their children have no reliable transport to attend school in Grahamstown. The parents have been paying out of their own pockets for their children to attend Nathaniel Nyaluza High School since January. They were accompanied by SGB members from Nathaniel Nyaluza – Thembinkosi ‘Teabag’ Mdyogolo (chairperson ) and Zwelinzima Somyali (deputy secretary). In his Budget speech on 6 April 2016, Eastern Cape Education MEC Mandla Makapula announced his department would be moving to rationalise small and unviable schools. He said the objective was to reduce…