Author: Sue Maclennan

It’s a good weekend to be outdoors, with Saturday’s predicted sunny weather perfect for the feast of cricket and soccer on offer, as well as the Riebeeck East fete. Sunday will be much cooler and the right place to be on Sunday afternoon is the Guy Butler Theatre at the Monument, where you can hear local Classical music talent performing with a full symphony orchestra – a treat usually reserved for Festival time. Mandisa Manentsa-Titisi from the South African Weather Service’s Eastern Cape Forecasting Desk says the weather in and around Makhanda on Saturday morning 5 October will be cloudy…

On a hot Tuesday afternoon recently, delegates from Yuhang District in China’s Zheijiang Province were introduced to Makhanda during what was billed as a friendship programme. The visit was the extension of a two-day tour to the Eastern Cape by Governor Dr Yuan Jiajun and officials of the Province of Zheijiang. Makhanda was introduced as primarily a cultural and educational hub and their visit later to the newly opened Observatory Museum was a contrast to an industry focused time with Premier Oscar Mabuyane the previous day. The underlying message was essentially the same as the one Mabuyane expressed in his…

Around 500 members of the South African Municipal Workers Union gathered in the City Hall this morning were scheduled to meet with Municipal Manager at 9am. A list of around 20 grievances saw staff in Makana Municipality’s Cleansing and other departments embark on industrial action on Monday. Private collection services have been kept busy picking up rubbish from homes and businesses in the city and with rubbish bags left in CBD streets torn open by dogs and donkeys and strewn across the tar, three councillors, one of them the Mayor, joined forces across party political lines on Tuesday afternoon 1…

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has announced that its branches will be operational on Saturdays in October in an effort to assist taxpayers with the filing of personal income tax returns. SARS said during this period, branches will operate between 8am and 1pm. Assistance offered on Saturdays will be limited to the submission of personal income tax returns and assist individual taxpayers to register for and file on the SARS MobiApp. SARS re-emphasised that some taxpayers did not have to submit returns. These include taxpayers with an annual income of up to R500 000 before tax and only receive…

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has embarked on a nationwide recruitment process in an effort to bolster crime fighting efforts. This year, SAPS management said it is seeking to attract youth between the ages of 18 and 30 for the 2019/2020 Basic Police Learning Development Programme (BLDP) intake. Prospective applicants need to be in possession of a Senior Certificate/National Senior Certificate or National Certificate (Vocational). Those in possession of post matric qualifications and do not have criminal records and pending criminal cases are encouraged to apply. “Those who previously served in a government department and were subsequently dismissed due…

Local rain-watchers measured more than 10mm in and around Makhanda over the past 24 hours and the South African Weather Service (SAWS) recorded 13mm at its Grahamstown station. While 34.6mm measured at Plettenberg Bay, areas most severely affected by the drought received relatively little and Gift of the Givers has gone to Graaff Reinet, where the situation has become desperate. At Rivendell, west of Makhanda Nick James measured 10.5mm this morning, Monday 30 September. In Town, Jim Cambray measured 11.8mm. Neighbouring Adelaide, whose supply dam is reduced to a small puddle, received 8mm. Garth Sampson, Port Elizabeth based Client Liaison…

Two Makhanda businesses are helping lay the foundations for a solution to one of this city’s serious social problems. Sue Maclennan reports. GBS Mutual Bank and Makana Brick have donated funding and land, respectively, to establish a LIV Lukhanyiso Village for 500 orphaned and vulnerable children in this city. Social entrepreneur Lara Kruiskamp spoke of her vision for the centre, and what the backing of the two Makhanda businesses meant for it, at a function earlier this month. A Diocesan School for Girls and Rhodes University (B Comm Hons, 2001) alumna, Kruiskamp enjoyed a successful corporate career. An encounter with…

Quick responses by school staff and the Makana Fire Services meant no one was injured and damage restricted to one room, after a bus caught fire in the parking area outside Graeme College’s Grant House hostel on Wednesday 25 September. No boys were present because the incident occurred during the school vacation. Residents in the area earlier reported hearing two loud explosions around 9.20am and concern grew when fire engines and an ambulance raced to the scene. No one was injured in the incident, Principal Kevin Watson confirmed to Grocott’s Mail at the scene; however, the mechanic who had been working on…

Tomorrow will be a very good day for alien-busting in Botanical Gardens, buying books and spekboom and socialising at the Friends of the Library mini-fete, and watching soccer and cricket. With a very good chance of some decent rainfall moving into Makhanda and our neighbouring drought-hit areas on Sunday afternoon through into Monday, it looks like Sunday morning’s league cricket match could go ahead – provided they start early. “Heavy falls in excess of 50mm are expected along the South Coast and adjacent interior between Plettenberg Bay and Joubertina,” the South African Weather Service’s Garth Sampson says. This is where the main…

Makhanda residents were spoilt for choice when it came to celebrating Heritage Day on 24 September. Visitors to Church Square woke up to a unique performance on Heritage Day morning. Three poets, Dumisa Mpupha, Dudu Saki and Mandlenkosi Dyakala related the story of how the site of the Cathedral was once believed to be a kraal of Chief Ndlambe. A small kraal stood as their backdrop and inspired them to explain its symbolic significance for the regaining of African values. For more information on how to see the performance (it was video-recorded), contact Dumisa Mpupha 083 505 3452. Also focusing…