By STAFF REPORTER At the recent GBS Mutual Bank dinner, it was announced that from 1 December 2022, Jonty Fincham will be taking over the role of managing director from Anton Vorster, who has been MD for the past 15 years. Fincham has been at GBS for seven years, five as an executive director and the past year as deputy MD. He has extensive local and international banking experience, having worked at Deutsche Bank’s London and New York offices, Royal Bank of Scotland in London and UBS in Zurich. Vorster has agreed to continue working with GBS in a different…
Author: Rod Amner
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By THE PUBLIC SERVICE ACCOUNTABILITY MONITOR (PSAM) The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) notes the tabling of the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) and Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure (AENE) by the Minister of Finance,Enoch Godongwana on 26 October. Notable adjustments and policy commitments announcedinclude increased allocations to key institutions tasked with implementing recommendations of theZondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture (Zondo Commission), restoring financial health inmunicipalities, efforts to avoid greylisting and procurement reform. While the MTBPS shows some commitment to solving persistent challenges, there is very little detail on how this will be achieved. Enoch Godongwana, SA’s…
By ROD AMNER Alicedale is being overwhelmed by sewage and refuse – and the town’s fragile water supply is starting to break down – as the Makana Municipality’s authority and service delivery systems disintegrate. Several residents complained to Grocott’s Mail that unsupervised municipal workers were failing to do their job after a manager and a “capable and hardworking foreman” were forced to leave” by a faction of residents and workers. Meanwhile, the town’s fragile water supply has been disrupted because the hardworking municipal employee who works day and night to keep it going is exhausted. According to resident Eli Konstant,…
By CHESLEY DANIELS The Grahamstown Cricket Board (GCB) T20 1st League got underway this past weekend with some exciting cricket on display despite the rainy conditions on Saturday. In the GCB 1st League 50-over Competition, Willows got the better of Station Hill in their first of two Derby encounters on Sunday. GCB T20 AT SALEM, 22 OCTOBER Salem, Willows and Makana Sona battled it out to see which two teams would advance to the semi-finals. Defending Champs Willows and Salem advanced, while Makana lost their matches. SALEM VS WILLOWS Salem 133/4 (20 overs) Bradley Wilmot 52*Cole Wessels 1/14 (3), Ruwayne…
By LIEZL HUMAN The R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant is being extended for an additional year until March 2024, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced on Wednesday. Presenting his medium-term budget policy statement to Parliament, Godongwana said: “The SRD grant was introduced in May 2020 as a temporary measure to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable who were affected by lockdown measures. It has been extended several times since then. Discussions on the future of the grant are ongoing and involve very difficult trade-offs and financing decisions.” But millions of people who used to get the grant have…
By APHIWE NONYUKELA, candidate legal practitioner, Rhodes University Law Clinic Two of the aims of the National Credit Act are to ensure that creditors do not grant credit recklessly and to encourage responsible borrowing on the part of consumers. There is a duty on a credit provider to ensure that the credit provider checks a consumer’s creditworthiness before granting credit. This is done to avoid consumer over-indebtedness, a situation discussed in September’s article where a consumer’s debts exceed the consumer’s financial means. A pre-agreement affordability assessment Before entering a credit agreement with a consumer, a credit provider must undertake a…
By JACKIE CLAUSEN Local optometrist Dr Trevor Davies and former colleague Dr Jinjong Chung have launched a foundation in honour of their former business partner, close friend, and philanthropist Eiohn Hayes, who passed away in 2020 from cancer. The Eiohn Hayes Foundation will strive to make eye care even more accessible to those in the region who cannot afford to pay. Dr Chung is its first big donor. Hayes and Davies studied together and built a friendship which later became a business partnership when the two started an optometry practice in Port Elizabeth. They ran it together for eight years…
By ROD AMNER The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) investigation into the theft of 5954 solar geysers from the municipal storage in the Indoor Sports Centre earlier this year has been withdrawn due to “insufficient evidence”, the SABC has reported. In May, Grocott’s Mail reported that just 46 of the 6000 solar-powered geysers donated to Makana in 2019 by the Department of Energy and the Central Energy Fund were in a state to be installed. The rest were mysteriously stolen or rendered inoperable because essential copper and brass parts were stolen from their ‘packs’. The unit cost for each solar geyser…
By ROD AMNER A letter from Grahamstown Business Forum (GBF) chairperson Richard Gaybba to Executive Mayor Yandiswa Vara and Municipal Manager Moppo Mene was the catalyst for a frank and well-attended Makana Stakeholder Collaboration Meeting at the Monument on Thursday. In his 19 September letter, Gaybba said the city could not be rebuilt without collaboration between all spheres of government, institutions, and civil society. Grahamstown Business Forum (GBG) chairperson Richard Gaybba addresses the Makana Stakeholder Collaboration meeting at the Monument on Thursday, 20 October. Photo: Rod Amner “Civil society and institutions are willing to collaborate, but it needs to be…
After two years of Covid hibernation, the Rapportryers-PJ Olivier Fun Run is back. It starts at 5.30 pm on Thursday 27 October at PJ Olivier sports grounds and finishes there. The proceeds of the run will be donated to Brookshaw Home. Date and time: 27 October at 5.30 pmOrganisers: Rapportryers, in conjunction with PJ Olivier Goals Raise money for a worthy cause in the Makhanda community.PJ pupils learn that it is good to give something back to the community.PJ pupils learn of the needs in the community – Grahamstown at large.PJ pupils learn to set a goal (to finish a…