By SHABIR A MADHI, Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at Wits University; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, Wits South Africa reacted with outrage to travel bans, first triggered by the UK, imposed on it in the wake of the news that its genomics surveillance team had detected a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa has monitored changes in SARS-CoV-2 since the pandemic first broke out. The new variant – identified as B.1.1.529 has been declared a variant of concern by the World…
Author: Rod Amner
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By ROD AMNER The African National Congress (ANC) held onto its control of the Sarah Baartman District Municipality (SBDM) during the inaugural ceremony on Thursday, 25 November, despite controlling just 14 of 30 seats on the council. According to Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader in SBDM, councillor Karen Smith, two of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) councillors voted with the ANC. The ANC needed the help of either the DA (12 seats), the EFF (three seats) or FF+ (one seat). A total of 16 councillors voted in former Makhanda mayor Nomhle Gaga as Speaker and Mzimkhulu ‘Scara’ Njadayi as Executive…
By POELO IRENE KETA Siphumze Bani has been awarded a distinction for his Masters in Biotechnology for an impressive thesis project on water desalination through the Rhodes University Biotechnology Innovation Centre (RUBIC). Desalination is the removal of dissolved salts from seawater and, in some cases, from the brackish waters of inland seas, highly mineralised groundwaters and municipal wastewaters. Bani comes from Willowvale, a small town in the Eastern Cape, which he fondly describes as being “surrounded by trees and hills”. Sadly though, Bani explained, “Whenever I came home for the holidays, the water tanks were dry, and people had to…
By KARABO DIKOBE Rhodes University, home to the oldest biotechnology academic programme in South Africa, boasts no less than seven graduate distinctions from the Biotechnology Innovation Centre this past October. For a small department, the Rhodes University Biotechnology Innovation Centre’s (RUBIC) recent October graduation was cause for celebration. Nine postgraduate students received degrees, including one PhD and eight Masters students. Of the eight Masters students, a staggering seven received the degree with a distinction. Launched at the University twenty-three years ago, biotechnology was later formally established as a separate discipline within the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology (BMB Department).…
By CHRIS TOTOBELA Makhanda’s very own female boxing champion Luyolo “Killer queen” Nketsheni is hard at training preparing for her trip to Maseru in Lesotho. Nketsheni will be representing South Africa in the Region 5 Youth Games and is part of the nine-member team that consists of six boys and three girls. The 17-year-old grade 11 Ntsika Secondary school scholar will be fighting in the 53kg category. She is currently the Eastern Cape youth champion in the 52 kg category and holds the crown for Breast Cancer Awareness in the same category. She is the 2021 national silver medalist. Nketsheni…
An excerpt from The Quiet Place Daily Devotional Readings by Nancy Leigh De Moss: Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped – Job1:20 Martin Rinkart was a seventeenth-century Lutheran pastor serving in his hometown of Eilenberg during the height of the Thirty Yeas’ War. A walled city, Eilenberg soon found itself overrun with refugees and injured troops, bringing on not only fear and overcrowding but a deadly wave of disease, pestilence, hunger, and want. The Rinkart home became a makeshift refuge of sorts for many sick and stranded. And though…
By CHESLEY DANIELS Cherano Christian and Devan Duiker were selected for the Eastern Cape U/15 cricket team to participate in the National School Summer Games Championships to be hosted by the National Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts & Culture (DSRAC) and Department of Basic Education (DBE) in Gauteng Province in Tshwane and Johannesburg from 15 – 20 December 2021. These two players were part of the Sarah Baartman District team who recently competed in the Eastern Cape Summer Games trials in East London. Their outstanding individual performances ensures them a place in the EC Side to compete in the National…
By CHESLEY DANIELS Cuylerville’s captain and in-form batsman Brandon Handley recorded yet another century to make sure his team handed Salem 1st their first loss of the season. Salem 1st are now three points ahead of Southwell on the log standings, while Station Hill remains firmly on top with 43 points after eight rounds, even after losing to Southwell. Port Alfred 2nds are in second place on the log standings with 33 points with a game in hand. Mueed Fritz (Swallows) and Mike Mattison (Salem 2nds) recorded the only two five-wicket hauls over the past weekend. GCB 1ST LEAGUE Southwell…
By GMDirect REPORTER Household refuse remained uncollected for a second week following what the Makana Municipality Communications office described as “a serious mechanical breakdown” of the Makana Municipality’s compaction truck. This was compounded by a late order for fuel, according to a Democratic Alliance (DA) Makan Facebook post. The Municipality urged residents to keep their refuse inside their yards until further notice. However, according to the DA, on Thursday, 25 November, the municipality obtained two LDV bakkies and one roll-on container truck to service Hill 60, the Graeme College area, Somerset Street, African Street and the CBD. The DA post noted…
By LUCAS NOWICKI In June 2019, the contractor tasked with upgrading Grahamstown Primary School abandoned the site after the provincial Department of Education and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure – the implementing agent for the school upgrade – failed to pay them. The R55 million upgrade was set to provide the school with a new administrative block, library, IT centre and school hall. Principal Leon Coetzee said, “One morning, the contractor came to me and told us he had never been paid. He gave me the keys and left. All the looting started after that.” Coetzee will retire…