Author: Sue Maclennan

Judge Igna Stretch has dismissed Makana’s bid to appeal her 14 January order for the Council to be dissolved and ordered that it be immediately implemented. In a scathing judgment handed down today, she said of the Province and the Municipality, “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing” and that the way Makana’s situation had been handled was “embarrassing”. Her January order came at the end of a 117-page judgment that said Makana’s failure to ensure the provision of services to its community in a sustainable manner, to promote a safe and healthy environment, structure and…

“The support from local volunteers is amazing, overwhelming!” Food4Futures (F4F) non-profit organisation founder, Mary Birt, has been providing regular meals for some of Makhanda’s most vulnerable people for just over two years. F4F operates from St John’s Centre in Hill Street and is usually a lifeline for around 50 people. “We’ve expanded from 50 to 530 parcels a week since 6 April,” Birt told Grocott’s Mail. F4F is now in partnership with the Cathedral’s COVID-CARE to provide food during the current hunger crisis. Thousands of Makhanda residents have been affected by the national lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus.…

On Monday 11 May 2020, Grocott’s Mail turns 150 and we’re quietly and respectfully honouring this milestone. Here is our new-look email newspaper, and some news about what we’ve been doing over the past few weeks. [pdf-embedder url=”https://www.grocotts.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/8-May-2020-Newsletter.pdf” title=”8 May 2020 Newsletter”] Makhanda currently has no confirmed active positive Covid-19 cases – this was confirmed last week by the Mayor who is head of the local C19 joint operations committee. Experts say the health crisis will hit us later in the year. Right now, what’s been laid bare are the narrow margins on which most local businesses operate, the fragile…

A change-over in electronic payment systems is responsible for dozens  of Makhanda women not receiving maintenance payments through the Maintenance Court. The glitch, which an official says is a national problem, could be responsible for thousands of parents across the country failing to receive the money they need to care for their children. Dozens of angry and frustrated women have contacted Grocott’s Mail in recent weeks, complaining that maintenance payments via the magistrate’s court in Makhanda have been delayed by up to three months.  All the women who spoke to Grocott’s Mail usually receive money deducted from the salaries of…

Inmates at the Grahamstown Correctional Centre say they will join a nationwide hunger strike to call attention to overcrowding and alleged poor hygiene in the facility. The Department of Correctional Services says overcrowding in South Africa’s prisons is a national problem, however, and it is doing its best to reduce this. On 9 April this year the Waainek, Makhanda, facility was nearly two-thirds over its capacity, the Department has confirmed. Inmates said they feared they were going to die there as the number of positive Covid-19 Coronavirus cases in Eastern Cape prisons continued to rise. Inmates at the Waainek facility…

An emergency food fundraising and distribution group has been established in Makhanda to respond to the hardship many families are experiencing under the Covid-19 lockdown. It is working alongside the programmes of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the Department of Social Development. The Circle of Unity Makhanda Food Group is using existing food distribution projects as well as schools to identify those in need. Since Saturday 11 April, they have delivered 170  food parcels to the most vulnerable households attached to Mary Waters Secondary and Grahamstown Primary schools, Amasango, Khutliso Daniels and Ntsika Secondary School, as well…

Grocott’s Mail spoke to residents in eNkanini informal settlement who said getting food under lockdown conditions was almost impossible. Transport from the area is erratic under normal conditions and now had almost come to a halt, residents said. The piecemeal work many relied on was impossible under lockdown. Angelina Bruintjies does washing and ironing for people at their houses. “Nou dat dit lockdown is is dit baie swaar. Ons het kinders. Ek kry swaar want ek werk nie. Ek kan nie jobbies toe gaan. Ek het nie kos om vir die kinders to gee nie.” On Saturday she had in…

As of Wednesday 15 April, the number of positive cases in Makhanda was unchanged, at two. This confirmation from Makana Subdistrict Health Department spokesperson Siyanda Manana came as the number of positive Covid-19 cases in the Sarah Baartman District rose to 12 and total cases in the Eastern Cape to 175. Makhanda’s two confirmed positive cases were a resident who returned from the UK, and a person whose positive result was recorded in Makhanda because they’d tested here; however they were staying in the Paterson area. The Department of Health said the resident had self isolated on his return from…

“We will not be going ‘left’ again for a while!” That’s what Makhanda couple Sally and Colin Price-Smith vowed after completing the Two Oceans Marathon – or at least the equivalent – in their back yard. Sally set off at 6.10am on Saturday 11 April to complete the 56km ultramarathon.  Forty minutes later, Colin began his half-marathon. Dubbed the ‘Two Streets Marathon’ because the couple’s property runs between two streets in Makhanda, it was far more than just a lockdown dare, however. The ‘56km for Makhanda’, run at the couple’s home under lockdown regulations in 0.18km laps of the couple’s driveway…

Steven Lang Umongameli uCyril Ramaphosa ubeke imithetho ekufuneke abemi meli bayithobele, ngezizathu ezilungileyo.Lemithetho yenzelwe ukuba inqande ukunwenwa kwe ntsholongwane yeCorona, iCOVID -19,ukuze kunciphe ukusweleka kwabantu kwelizwe. Owona mthetho unzima kodwa obalulekileyo ngulo wokugcina umgama ongane 1.8 yemitha .Lomgama ulingana nobude bomtshayelo xa uwolulile ngengalo eluliweyo,ukuba uyakwazi ugcina lomgama unako unciphisa amathuba okusuleleka. Ukugcina umgama kukhusela wena ungosuleleki yintsholongwane futhi ungosuleli nabanye kwi meko apho ungazi ukuba sowusulelekile yiyo. Akukho lula ukuba qelele ebantwini ngokuba seyisisiqhelo ukusondelelana xa sifolile,xa sidlulana endleleni na xa sihleli ezimontweni okanye kwi zithuthi zika wonke-wonke. Umongameli wenze esisibhengezo ukuze kusinde ubomi bethu.Amapolisa namajoni agadile ezitalatweni ukuze…