By ATHI NONDZABA Third-year Rhodes student Simphiwe Magolego co-hosts and produces a podcast she founded a year ago using her favourite medium. “Audio is like speaking to the soul,” she says, “because there is so much intimacy. It is not like writing where you are giving a person a written voice or a video where you assign a voice to a face.” She believes audio soul-talk allows her to explore depth in her storytelling and creativity with a podcast that focuses on spirituality. The Sacred Tapes serves as a medium for discussions about the spiritual side of our human experiences.…
Author: Rod Amner
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By GAIL OLIVER Art is deeply rooted in Makhanda’s culture. There’s the National Arts Festival, which began in 1974 as a project of the 1820 Settlers Foundation (later renamed the Grahamstown Foundation) and is now one of the top arts events in Southern Africa and the world. Outside the Festival, art is seen on various walls around town, on High Street, and at monthly thrift markets. Art makes this small town go round. But art means artists. Grocott’s Mail caught up with two of our town’s queer artists. Farron Adriaan: “Art has always been a part of my life.” Born…
By JACKIE GROVÉ Thursday 1 September, was not only the first day of Spring but also a special anniversary for Dr Davies Optometrists who celebrated their “second 30th Birthday”. Due to Covid-19, they could not celebrate their 30th birthday. So, their 32nd birthday was celebrated as their second 30th birthday. A giant cake and doughnuts were handed out to the community to celebrate their anniversary and to make community members aware that Dr Davies runs an eye clinic on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings to help people who cannot afford private eye care. Doughnuts were handed out with the message,…
By JOCK McCONNACHIE and SIGIDLA NDUMO, joint co-ordinators, Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown (KGG) Sigidla Ndumo and Jock McConnachie of Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown. Photo: supplied “…But he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him and leaves me poor indeed”, so goes the quotation from Shakespeare’s Othello and if ever a name was ‘filched’, it was the name of South Africa’s second oldest city, Grahamstown. There will be those who question whether Grahamstown was ever a ‘good name’ considering the exploits of the alleged ‘butcher’, Col John Graham, who was tasked with the ‘clearance’ of…
Caryl Anne Oosthuizen, 70, who was reported missing on Wednesday, 31 August, was found on Thursday in rough terrain near Peddie. Caryl is the wife of local GP, Dr Fred Oosthuizen. An alert was issued by her daughter, Lizle Oosthuizen, on Facebook and by the SAPS after Caryl Anne was seen leaving Makhanda in a red Hyundai i20. According to police spokesperson W/O Majola Nkohli, a herder flagged down a police patrol vehicle between Tamara SAPS and Peddie and alerted members that he saw a red vehicle travelling in the bushes. “I suspected that a white lady driving that vehicle…
By MARION WHITEHEAD A new initiative will see the first-ever Thicket Festival in Bathurst during the long weekend of September 24-25. Organised by Friends of Waters Meeting Nature Reserve (FoWM), it will celebrate Albany thicket, the remarkably tough and diverse vegetation type growing on our doorstep. FoWM chairperson Dr Rina Grant-Biggs “Our Albany thicket vegetation is very adaptable. It’s thousands of years old and has evolved to take anything except extreme frost. It has survived centuries of climate change, and if we take care of it, it will continue to thrive – and us with it,” says Dr Rina Grant-Biggs,…
A huge shout-out to Nita’s Makhanda Events WhatsApp group for these listings. FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER SPCA Quiz and Burger Evening@ Grahamstown Bowling Club, African Street18:00 for 18:30R40pp (max 4 per team) R80 pp including burger – meat/ vegCash barTickets are available from SPCA Charity Shop/ SPCA Industrial Area/ Hoof & Hound. Donations are welcome, e.g. pet food and cleaning items. Enquiries: tarrbenita@gmail.com Live Music with Julie BakerCovers and originalsDrinks specials@ The Pothole and Donkey, 123 High Street19:00 – 21:00Free entry All Black ExperienceHeadline: DJ LigwaHosted by Sihle ZwaneDJs: RS, Classic Keys, Benji and Ten80PAmapiano, Gqom and HouseDrinks specialsHub rental@ 37 on New19:00Strictly…
By LUNGILE MXUBE We have lost many corruption whistle-blowers whose killers are still at large. I have long wondered why the police take so long to conclude these investigations. But, when corruption is taking place right inside the SAPS, especially amongst the top corps, who will protect us against these criminals and enemies of the people? A recent scandal in Gauteng involved former acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahane, deputy commissioner Bonang Mngwenya and six other top police officers in a corrupt tender for the supply of blue lights and sirens in the Gauteng SAPS. The Hawks secured a court order…
By HLONIPHANI NONGAUZA and LIKHO FUNANI After 31 years as a premier accommodation and dining venue, Makhanda’s Cock House and Norden’s Restaurant will close on 14 September. Manager Yvonne Gretton said all 12 staff members, including herself, would be retrenched from the business. A local buyer has bought the property, but not the business or the furniture and fittings. There is a possibility the new owner will outsource the restaurant to an independent operator and that the rooms and flats might be rented to students or other tenants. The Cock House was opened by the husband-and-wife team, Peter and Belinda…
By LUCAS NOWICKI Lubabalo Kosi is a 21-year-old self-taught artist from Vukani who has captured the hearts of Makhanda residents through his melancholic pencil portraits. “I started drawing when I was young but only decided I should pursue it after I finished grade 12 in 2019,” says Kosi. His mother died when he was three months old, and he never knew his father. He says he “moved around a lot” growing up before moving in with his aunt, who also died tragically when he was in grade 10. Kosi says that after finishing school, he met a young artist who…