Author: Rod Amner

Alicedale’s two townships – Transriviere (coloured) and KwaNonzwakazi (black African) – lie cheek by jowl. But, when Grocott’s Mail recently visited the area for comment on the service delivery crisis in the town, the political fault lines between the townships were marked. Young people in Transriviere willingly revealed their deep frustrations with Makana, while several residents in Nonzwakazi, including a Makana councillor, were unwilling to be quoted or photographed. Here is a snapshot of what some locals had to say. Jessica Rothman (right), with friends “Makana is very ‘unfit’. If we call them for a pipe that has burst, nobody comes. But, if…

The province’s farmers have been battling the worst drought in a century for the past four years, says Agri Eastern Cape president, Dougie Stern. The cumulative effect of four consecutive years of way-below-average rainfall is placing an enormous financial strain on farmers. “They have had to spend money simply to keep their productive animals in a productive state,” he said. He said the situation was “critical” in about two-thirds of the province, with the western half – including the Makana and Bedford districts – worst affected. “It is a sad reality that we have had absolutely no assistance as commercial…

2011: Strategy completed for Riebeeck East (RE) water. November 2012: Pre-feasibility study indicates that owing to high poverty levels, it is not economically feasible to seek surface water alternatives for RE. Study recommends the use of rainwater harvesting tanks to diversify the water mix for households and the use of a defunct irrigation dam of 30 000 m/3 to augment domestic supply. 2015: Riebeeck East experiences severe drought conditions. Residents sign a petition about the water crisis, which is sent to Parliament. February 2015: Site visit investigation by two engineers from the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) indicates that while…

Riebeeck East’s meagre borehole water supply is deteriorating daily. Resident and DA councillor Cary Clark says the interim solution of lowering the pumps in the existing boreholes is not helping much. “We are regularly without water and the pressure is not enough to get the water to everyone. There are some people who live higher up or further out of the village who are getting almost no water,” she said. The last remaining water in the existing boreholes is being throttled: the valves are opened for an hour at 5am, 12 noon and 6pm. Municipal officials have yet to meet…

The official estimate of the water level at Settler’s Dam is a paltry 15%. The much smaller Howieson’s Poort is at about 25%. Four consecutive years of well-below-average rainfall have taken their toll. Grahamstown Residents Association secretary Tim Bull estimates that the dams’ water supply to the western side of the city will last for another 35 days before they reach their ‘dead water’ level. High temperatures and evaporation can reduce these estimates, though rainfall can extend them. However, unless there is substantial rainfall, we will reach Day Zero mid-February – the start of the Rhodes University academic year. If a…

Riebeek East’s boreholes are almost exhausted and residents have very limited access to a throttled water supply. But, help is on the way. Makana Democratic Alliance councillor Carolynn Clark, who lives in the town, said that an R810 00 drought disaster relief grant was made available to the Makana Municipality earlier this year to fix the town’s water supply, which is currently reliant on four exhausted boreholes. A Gauteng-based contractor visited the town recently to identify where there was a better water supply and then sunk four new boreholes on the outskirts of the town, Clark said. But, those boreholes have…

Gadra Education’s new Whistle Stop School (WSS) is succeeding where no-fees schools are failing. In just one year the school raised the literacy levels of a Grade 3 class by two years – a reminder, if we needed one, that all South African children are equally teachable. The WSS is a resource-intensive literacy intervention that has no obligations to the formal CAPS curriculum. Instead, it relies on highly qualified staff and, most crucially, strong relationships between small groups of learners and their teacher. ALICE DRAPER reports. The sound of approaching laughter and chattering can be heard in the brightly-decorated Whistle…

Local civil society organisations that attended a recent NGO workshop held at the National English Literary Museum have committed to work together more closely to achieve greater impact in Makhanda/Grahamstown. The workshop was convened by a funder, the HCI Foundation, to share and celebrate good practice, encourage collaboration, and emphasise monitoring and evaluation. Of the 31 HCI-funded NGOs that attended the workshop, nine are based in Makhanda/Grahamstown. They affirmed their commitment to working together to provide essential services in the face of funding shortages and the breakdown of many public services due to corruption, mismanagement, and patronage. At the workshop,…

By Rod Amner and Sphume Ndlovu Civil society organisations are feeling the funding pinch. This was revealed in a recent survey conducted by a concerned funder, the HCI Foundation. Of the 126 non-governmental organisations that responded to the survey, the majority reported that “fundraising” and “insufficient funds” were, by some distance, their biggest challenges. The survey results were presented at an HCI stakeholder workshop with 26 Eastern Cape non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the New English Literary Museum in Makhanda last week. The Foundation, which funds dozens of Eastern Cape NGOs, is the corporate social investment arm of HCI, a black empowerment…

A few years ago, a kindly retiree in the KZN Midlands decided to get out of his La-Z-Boy and start an innovative education project. After receiving Rotary funding, he set up TV sets and some instruction videos in nine schools. The impact on matric results has been spectacular. His grand-daughter, Alice Draper, tells his story. Rows and rows of almost identical houses sit parallel to one another in Amber Valley, a retirement village in Howick, a small KZN town. In one such house, a man called Pat Draper, rocks backward in his brown La-Z-Boy chair. The chair is one of…