World championship medal winners Thanduxolo Royi and Lutho Singata will be among those in action at the Joza Karate Championships this weekend, alongside other top karateka from across the Eastern Cape. Joza Karate Club will host its championship event this Saturday 5 October at the Indoor Sports Centre in Hlalani location, with doors opening at 8am. Members of the public may attend as spectators. Signed up and ready for action are clubs around the province and one from the Western Cape. Among the competitors will be 2019 United Shotokan-Ryu national team members. The team of Makhanda karateka, Royi, Brent Smith…
Author: Staff Reporter
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By PETER ROSE The new wing of the Holy Cross School at the Monastery on the Highlands Road was opened recently at a dedication service led by the Bishop of Grahamstown, Ebenezer Ntlali and Bishop Stacey Sauls, CEO of US-based educational NGO ‘Love Must Act’. The new buildings will provide classrooms for the expansion of the highly successful school to Grade 7 over the coming years. Grade 4 was introduced this year and Grade 5 is planned for next year. The school was established in 2011 by brothers of the Anglican Benedictine Order of the Holy Cross, who stepped in…
Eight shops were affected by a fire that broke out in Peddie around 2.30am on Monday 1 October. South African Police Services spokesperson Captain Khaya Thonjeni said Peddie Vispol members conducting patrols in the town noticed smoke from a shop adjacent to the Peddie Spar. The fire spread rapidly, affecting eight shops in a short time, Thonjeni said. “The Amathole District dispatched Komga fire fighters to the scene who tried to extinguish the fire. A total of eight buildings were affected by the fire,” Thonjeni said. These included a supermarket, a salon and six immigrant-owned shops of which three were…
Cash-strapped consumers will have to dig even deeper into their pockets as the price of petrol is set to increase by 18 cents a litre tomorrow, Wednesday 2 October. Announcing the price changes on Sunday, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said a litre of 95 (ULP and LRP) will rise by 18 cents a litre while that of 93 (ULP and LRP) will decrease by 4 cents a litre. Both grades of diesel (0.05% Sulphur) and diesel (0.005% Sulphur) will increase by 25 cents a litre. The price adjustments — which will come effect on Wednesday — will…
By CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE, UCT In June, the Children’s Institute, as part of a group of concerned academics and civil society leaders wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa urging him to make violence against women and violence against children in all it’s forms a top priority for his new cabinet. The president’s office sent us a lacklustre response that same month. (Read it: http://bit.ly/2jYtJNX) Women and children are typically raped and murdered by someone they know, and their screams continue to go unheard. We will not hear them during the moments of silence observed across the country today, but the public outcry…
Every now and again, we all need help to get out of a rut (or a very deep trench, as the case may be). This Friday 4 October provides the perfect opportunity with a lunchtime talk in Makhanda (Grahamstown) by Virginia Solomons who, with the support of a wise and loving family, overcame extraordinary difficulties. Gugulethu, Cape Town-born Solomons was just approaching her second birthday when she suffered severe burn injuries that left her covered in scars that would stay with her for life. As a child, she experienced the cruel side of human nature. Other children were brutal with…
The Child Support and Grant-in-aid grants will increase to R430 per child, per month as from today 1 October 2019, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) said in a media statement today. This was in line with the announcement made by the Minister of Finance in the Budget Speech earlier this year. SASSA said October grants were available as from today, 1 October 2019. “Grants can be collected at ATM’s, merchant stores or the Post Office. Beneficiaries who receive their grants at cash pay points will continue to receive their grants on normal days as communicated to them during their last payment.” Social…
Climate change adds to the long list of negative events in our world we feel unable to fight. But here in Makhanda, we are ideally placed to do something more: we can plant spekboom – a powerful antidote to climate change. One hectare of spekboom can absorb more than four tons of carbon dioxide a year, making it more effective than the Amazon rainforest at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to widely shared statistics. Here on our doorstep, the Great Fish River Reserve is the site of an important environmental project to restore degraded land by planting the miraculous…
Eastern Cape Premier, Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane used his speech at the Provincial Heritage day to call for the use of and preservation of African mother tongue languages to preserve the diverse heritage of the people of South Africa. Speaking at the Dutywa Sports ground on a day that looked more like a winter’s day than a bright spring day- owing to the chilly weather conditions – Mabuyane said African mother tongue languages are a critical element of culture and heritage of the people forming part of a basis for ethnic, regional, national and international identity. “Government continues to promote use…
There is a bit of temporary relief for the drought stricken areas of the Eastern Cape for the weekend, says WeatherSA’s Garth Sampson. However, the forecast until December shows no signs of the drought breaking and water users still need to conserve dwindling supplies across the province. There is a 60% chance of rain over the western half of the Eastern Cape (west of Port Alfred) on Sunday 29 September. “This will include the interior and the drought stricken areas of Adelaide and Bedford,” Sampson said in a media release today. Sampson is Client Liaison Officer for the South African Weather Service…