By Luvuyo Mjekula Supporters of murder-accused former Makana Municipality councillor Luyanda Sakata and one of his three co-accused, Mphitizeli Diko, left the Makhanda Magistrate’s Court bitterly disappointed after the duo were refused bail on Friday. The release of their two other co-accused, Xolisile Mlatsha and Vuyo Madinda, did, however, bring some joy to the group of supporters. Sakata, 42, Diko, 63, Mlatsha, 54, and Madinda, 42, are all charged with beating Siviwe Sajini, a 34-year-old man, with sticks and steel pipes, in a mob assault in Ethembeni Location in March 2023. Sajini died in hospital from a head injury due…
Author: Luvuyo Mjekula
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By Luvuyo Mjekula Many factors could lead a mother to do the unthinkable – abandon or harm her newborn baby. She could be suffering from “the baby blues” or postpartum depression. According to social worker and founder of Eyam Consultancy in Makhanda, Nomonde Stamper, bringing and raising a child is a mutual commitment between the mother and the father. It involves two mature, stable and financially secure adults as well as lots of planning before the child is born. “But when this does not happen, everything falls apart,” she warns. She says in some instances, the teenager, child or adult…
By Luvuyo Mjekula Former Makana Municipality ward councillor Luyanda Sakata and three other men – all charged with murder – are due to appear in the Makhanda Magistrate’s Court for a formal bail application today (Friday). The bail hearing was due to proceed on Wednesday but had to be postponed because there was no water at the local court. The presiding magistrate cited “infrastructure problems” as his reason for postponing the matter but also noted that there was no interpreter present in court. This, the magistrate said, was an essential element of the case as it had the potential to…
By Luvuyo Mjekula and Rikie Lai Following the discovery of E. coli in water samples from three communal areas in Makhanda, the Makana Municipality recently went on a programme to mitigate the potential danger. A team from the municipality cleaned and disinfected the affected areas while sharing information with the local communities. Joza Clinic, the military base and the municipality’s own environmental health office were the three places whose water samples were found to contain high levels of E. coli. E. coli is a type of bacteria that usually lives in the intestines of humans. It is also found in…
By Luvuyo Mjekula A resident of the police barracks in Somerset Street says she and fellow dwellers were fortunate to escape without harm after a cement truck drove into the building at the weekend, razing one of the flats to the ground. The accident claimed the life of the truck driver. Onlookers told Grocott’s Mail that the truck, carrying a full load of concrete mix, drove down Lucas Avenue, between the Albany Museum and Eden Grove, at high speed before smashing into the police barracks, destroying one of the residences and ripping live power cables. A resident of the barracks,…
By Luvuyo Mjekula While justice was served in the Makhanda High Court last week, it would not bring back the lives of two women brutally robbed, kidnapped and butchered in July last year. These were the sentiments of family members of Zoleka Gantana and Kholosa Mpunga outside the high court in Makhanda on Friday. It was a bittersweet moment for the families who lauded the swift justice but were still battling to come to terms with losing their loved ones. Struggling to hold back tears, Gantana’s brother, Vuyani, told Grocott’s Mail: “We are grateful that justice was served quickly because…
By Staff Reporter The Democratic Alliance in Makana has once again called for the dissolution of the Makana Municipal Council after the party walked out of a special council meeting meant to discuss the important item of the adjustment budget last week due to the late distribution of agendas. According to a media statement from the DA, the agenda for the special council meeting that sat on 28 February 2024 was distributed late to councillors – a day before the meeting. As a result, councillors did not have sufficient time to properly consider and interrogate the agenda, the statement said.…
By Luvuyo Mjekula The state has asked for lengthy sentences for three men who pleaded guilty and were convicted in a case classified by a senior Makhanda advocate as “evil”. The three men were found guilty of various charges related to the gruesome killing of two women – Zoleka Gantana, 56, a Kidd’s Beach spaza shop owner and her assistant Kholosa Mpunga, 27, in July last year. The court heard that five men entered Gantana’s shop on 8 July 2023 and, armed with a firearm, forced the two women on the floor and tied their hands with cable ties. They…
By Luvuyo Mjekula People from all walks of life attended Makhanda activist Ayanda Kota’s memorial service on Wednesday. From religious and political leaders to representatives from educational institutions, civic associations and the sporting fraternity. Scores of ordinary members of the community were also present, joined by members of Kota’s Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) and Makana Citizens Front (MCF). All packed the Ethiopian Episcopal Church in Raglan Road. Their message was unequivocal: Kota’s legacy will live on. “We are saying the role [Kota] played for Makhanda’s community, we will continue to play. We will carry on with the struggle the way…
By Luvuyo Mjekula “I am who I am today because of Ayanda Kota.” This was a common statement among Makhanda residents who gathered at Kota’s Joza home for a community prayer on Sunday. “I am where I am because of Ayanda. If Ayanda was not in Makhanda, I am not afraid to say I would not be a PR councillor,” said Reverend Milo Geelbooi. Geelbooi told the gathering that even if Kota did not have money, he made means to provide food to the hungry. “I thank God for his life. We still needed him in our lives,” he said.…