Author: Sue Maclennan

Cogta Minister Zweli Mkhize will send a senior delegation to Makhanda (Grahamstown) next week to look into the urgent concerns raised by Makana residents, according to the Department’s Head of Communications Legadima Leso. This follows the handing over of a petition to Cogta’s Provincial Office in Bhisho earlier today, Friday 9 November. The three-person delegation of Ayanda Kota (Unemployed People’s Movement), Daphne Timm (petition campaign leader) and Tim Bull (Grahamstown Residents Association secretary) this morning delivered the petition calling for Makana Local Municipality to be put under administration. MEC Fikile Xasa was attending a meeting in Pretoria and the petition…

Public service watchdog PSAM has called on the Speaker to explain to the public her decision to call in law-enforcement officers to remove two councillors from Wednesday’s disrupted Council meeting. Eight armed police officers and two traffic officials removed two councillors from the Makana Council Chamber on Wednesday, following a heated exchange between members of the DA caucus and the Speaker Yandiswa Vara. Other councillors threw themselves into the fray in an hour of chaos that left Makana’s sole EFF councillor shaken after an ANC councillor confronted her at close quarters and saw the DA caucus stage a walk-out for…

The upgrading of roads in the CBD came to an abrupt halt last week, with a construction company contesting the bid process that saw the tender awarded to Mamlambo Construction Company. Makana Municipality began the first phase of its Roads Rehabilitation Programme on Monday 15 October 2018 with the R10 million funding sourced from the Municipal Infrastructure Services Agent (MISA). For the project, MISA has appointed Mamlambo Construction Company for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the three main roads within the CBD: Somerset, Huntley and High streets. In a statement issued last week, Makana Communications said it was anticipated the…

The Electoral Commission has announced the dates for its second and final voter registration weekend for the 2019 national and provincial elections. The country’s 22 932 voting stations will open from8am to 5pm on Saturday 26 January and Sunday 27 January 2019 to allow new voters to register and existing voters to update and to check their registration details. The Chairperson of the Commission Glen Mashinini announced the dates at the media conference in Centurion 7 November 2018. The media conference was also used to introduce the three new commissioners appointed by the President following the recommendation of the National Assembly…

Ten armed police officers removed two councillors from the Makana Council Chamber today following a heated exchange between members of the DA caucus and the Speaker. Other councillors threw themselves into the fray in an hour of chaos that left the sole EFF councillor shaken after an ANC councillor was restrained from physically confronting her, and saw the DA caucus stage a walk-out for the second time in eight days. Today’s special council meeting was the adjournment of the one scheduled for Monday 29 October. A DA walkout forced the adjournment of that meeting when only 13 of the 27…

The KGG’s says its submission of objections to the name change from Grahamstown to Makhanda has been returned “unclaimed” by the Post Office. In a statement on Saturday 3 November, the Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown Campaign said its submission of over 1000 pages on behalf of approximately 10 000 individual objectors had been despatched to the office of the Minister before the close of the 30 day period for the submission of objections after the proposed name change was gazetted on 29 June 2018. “Proof of despatch was provided to the Minister’s personal secretary, Ms Leonah Smith, together with a copy…

The march to hand over a petition to MEC Fikile Xasa at the City Hall today will go ahead, says organiser Daphne Timm. The petition, which calls for the dissolution of the Makana Municipality Council in terms of Section 139(1)(c) has 20 500 signatures. Meanwhile Local leadership of both Sanco and the ANC have confirmed a second march announced on social media today. This is despite strong concer expressed to local ANC leadership and REC deployees about it. Sanco chairperson Bongile Singata says they will join the march after a court case under way today. ANC local leadership have confirmed…

The weather, poor infrastructure maintenance and vandalism, alongside Eskom’s continued threat to cut off power to Makhanda (Grahamstown) starting 4 December has made the city hell during the past two weeks. First was a more than usual overflow of raw sewage into people homes and gardens, and down the streets. Sewage poured out of junctions and inspection covers in Extension 5, Extension 6, Extension 9, Scott’s Farm, the Rhodes University campus and Joza, filling the hot, still air with a stench that some said they could smell from the top of Mountain Drive. Then repeated water outages caused first by…

Three Black Sash stalwarts again stood in protest last week in another landmark action. The anti-apartheid organisation was founded in 1955 to defend the Constitution against the Nationalist government. Veterans Rosemary Smith, Adrienne Whisson and Kay Marx on Tuesday 30 October, held placards in protest outside Makana Municipality’s Finance Department. For the past two weeks, a group of activists has been staging daily protests and inviting passers by to sign a petition calling for the dissolution of the Makana Council in terms of Section 139(1)(c). They cite numerous infrastructural and administrative failures, including alleged unpaid debt to Eskom leading the…

Legal action by local business people has been put on hold after evidence that Makana Municipality is back on track with its payments to Eskom. However, litigation would remain an option should things change. In a letter sent to its members Thursday 1 November, the Grahamstown Business Forum said Makana Municipality had, to date, settled all amounts outstanding longer than 60 days and had committed to making the remaining payments to Eskom before 19 November 2018. The settlement was contrary to the statement issued by Eskom’s Media Desk to Grocott’s Mail on 29 October and reported on Grocott’s LIVE that…