By TOKOLOGO LEKOMA What does happiness feel like to you? Is it that jolt of bliss you get when you dip your toes in the ocean? Or is it when the morning sun can’t wait to greet you through the curtains? Perhaps it is that moment when everyone laughs so hard that tears stream from person to person. Mam’Margaret Ncgancga, who started Home of Joy, is the exact personification of this sensation. Local Makhanda resident, caregiver and community worker Mam’Ncgancga comes from a line of people who loved helping others in need. Her grandfather and mother, to be specific. Before…
Author: Rod Amner
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By JULIA KINGHAN Gwen Johnson is not a teacher. She is not a tutor. She is something in between and a little bit more. She is a mentor. Seven years ago, Johnson started a business aimed at helping children with learning disabilities to develop more effective ways to manage their academics. She currently mentors over 28 high school children in Makhanda weekly, encouraging them to cope with their academic challenges and understand that their brains might work differently from other people’s, but not any less brilliantly. Johnson sits comfortably in her open and sunny living room, with its sparkling clean…
By KAMVALETU BOOI A woman of prayer. A woman of ambition. A woman of demanding work and dedication. A daughter. A sister. A colleague and a mother of a 13-year-old daughter. Nosabelo Someketa is a 41-year-old woman who works at the Makhanda Fire Department in the town where she was born and raised. After finishing high school in Makhanda, she studied Basic Ambulance Assistance in Gqeberha. She also did voluntary work and some waitressing jobs. She took courses in fire instructing and fire prevention. After all her years of studying and obtaining her qualifications, on 1 November 2011, she became…
By GAIL OLIVER South Africa was the first country in the world to make sexual orientation discrimination illegal in its Constitution and the fifth in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. The protection afforded to LGBT+ people is unparalleled compared to the rest of the continent. However, there is a gap between what’s on official paper and what gay people actually experience. Students at Rhodes University felt it was important to embrace, represent and celebrate queer people and did something about it. This was when the student society Nkoli Fassie was born. The inspiration behind the society’s name is Simon…
By KATLEGO NKOSI A few connections. An ask here and there. Instagram stalking and a quick well-constructed direct message. A ready and willing student photographer who is also an upcoming DJ to join my adventure. A fifteen-rand taxi to Makhanda’s township and almost getting lost. This is all it took to meet with Lazola finally. A face in Makhanda. The way I met Lazola, popularly known as DJ Admix SA, is precisely how our interaction carried throughout our interview on that autumn Sunday afternoon. A hasty character bumps into Tlamelo, the photographer, and me as we enter the gates of…
After a short Festival break, the Makana LFA first division returned to action this past weekend. This break seemed to work well for some of the teams, while others felt the impact of it. Former Makhanda’s football giants Santos FC are finding life very difficult in the lower ranks as they lost both of their games 1-4 and 1-2 to Young stars and African Spears, respectively. Early title contenders and stream A leaders Black Stars collected maximum points as they defeated African Spears and Young Stars by 3-2 and 4-1, respectively. Sophia Stars humiliated Young Ones by eight unanswered goals…
Last week, Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) partnered with Amakhala Game Reserve to provide SD cards to the Grade 12 learners who live in the communities of Amakhala. These SD cards contain study materials, including subject-specific study guides, videos explaining concepts and past exam papers. The learners will use the SD cards on their phones to study and prepare for their final exams. The SD card campaign is a Vul’Indlela initiative which began during the Covide-19 pandemic when learners were required to learn remotely. The campaign has provided matric learners in several local no-fee paying schools in Makhanda with SD…
By HARTMUT WINKLER, Professor of Physics, University of Johannesburg South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has not been able to provide a steady electricity supply for several years. At the start of the 2022 winter, the utility warned the public to expect up to 100 days of rolling power outages. At the end of June, there was at times a 6,000 MW shortfall in electricity supply, corresponding to about 20% of the evening peak demand. While there is consensus that new electricity generating plants are urgently needed to minimise power outages, there are radically differing views on how this is best achieved. The official electricity…
By CHRIS TOTOBELA Local boxing clubs hosted a Port Alfred-based boxing club in early July as part of the preparations for the upcoming district trials. There were some very exciting bouts at the Joza Indoor Sports Centre that got the crowd on their feet. One of them was between Ayabulela Mxuma from Port Alfred and locally-based Philasande Myeza of Masibambane Boxing Club. Mxuma won the fight with a TKO. The main bout of the day which also happened to be the last was between Makhanda’s Qhama Dzedze and Mihlali Daniels from Ndlambe. Dzedze, who is also part of the Eastern…
By GEOFF EMBLING, Ward 4 Democratic Alliance councillor “Grahamstown has old infrastructure” is the standard excuse at council and portfolio meetings. London and other European cities have infrastructure many times as old as Grahamstown’s. The difference is that municipalities there use ratepayers’ money to upgrade the infrastructure on an ongoing basis. Thirty years ago, one never thought about ‘potholes’. Grahamstown had good roads, working streetlights and drains, and water was available 24/7. The infrastructure held out for 15-20 years with little maintenance, then it started deteriorating at an increasing rate. Now it is collapsing. The municipal rates and taxes, intended…