Author: Sue Maclennan

Animal whisperer Basil Mills made his strangest capture yet outside Grahamstown (Makhanda) this morning after “something big” careered across the road just in front of him as he drove towards town on a misty Port Alfred road this morning. “All of a sudden I saw this huge thing moving across the road,” Mills told Grocott’s Mail. In the mist and rain, he couldn’t make head or tail of it at first. “At first I thought it was one of [nearby game reserve owner] Warne Rippon’s elephants,” he told Grocott’s Mail. Mills pulled over, took out a long rope that he…

While Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has praised an “active citizenry” for speaking up about their objections to changing Grahamstown’s name to Makhanda, the Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown campaign has disputed his statement that only 332 objections were received and are preparing to take the matter to court. In a statement issued Tuesday 7 August, Mthethwa said he had received just over 300 letters objecting to the gazetted name change of Grahamstown to Makhanda. On 29 June 2018 the Minister of Arts and Culture published in the Government Gazette No 41738 the approval of “Grahamstown” to “Makhanda” after receiving recommendation…

Road upgrades in the Grahamstown (Makhanda) CBD could be the city’s R10 million Christmas present after the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) advertised the bid on Friday 27 July. MISA Provincial Head Luntu Ndalasi said the bidding process would close within this month. “Depending on the response, there should be a contractor appointment early in September,” Ndalasi told Grocott’s Mail. “We expect that the work will be completed before the festive season.” The CBD would be the focus of the initial upgrade work. “The immediate concern is the potholes,” Ndalasi said. “But we are not patching them. It will be…

The Grahamstown Music Society will host a recital of guitar music to be performed by Cinzia Milani on Thursday 9 August 2018 at 7.30pm in the St Andrew’s College Chapel. The programme is entitled Around the World – a tribute to Ida Presti, Italian, Brazilian and South American Music. Ticket prices: R90, R70 (pensioners), R50 (students in tertiary institutions); no charge for Music Society members or schoolgoers.

A double challenge to the appointment of Makana’s new manager is gathering momentum less than a week after he occupied his office in the City Hall, with claims that he was “brought” to Makana in a trade-off against expensive litigation. There are fears that questions about the hiring process will frustrate efforts to bring stability to the municipality which has for six years lacked a permanent accounting officer. Municipal Manager Moppo Mene was setting up introductory briefings with senior staff and giving his first official media conference on Thursday 2 August. Meanwhile, an attorney was giving the DA caucus the…

HOW MUCH SHOULD PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING COUNT? Grocott’s Mail asked Lecturer in Organisational Psychology at Rhodes University,  Sandiso Bazana what value should be placed on psychometric testing in interviewing and selecting a candidate for a position. This follows controversy about the hiring of Makana Municipality’s new Municipal Manager, Moppo Mene. Mene started work on 1 August 2018 and faces challenges from several fronts to his appointment. Following the 19 July Council meeting where his appointment was approved, experienced councillors from both the ANC and DA expressed shock that of three candidates, Mene had scored the lowest on one of the screening…

Newly appointed Municipal Manager Moppo Mene is very worried about Grahamstown’s (Makhanda’s) water. Spread out across his desk when Grocott’s Mail walked into his office yesterday morning – his second day at work – was a wall-chart-sized schematic diagram of the City’s supply. Road infrastructure, refuse management, nurturing an active citizenry and stimulating economic development are among Mene’s other priorities as he lands in what must be one of the country’s most fraught and difficult political and socio-economic environments. “My ideas and strategies are around creating an institution that moves from a negative position to a positive on, and a…

Makana has signed a memorandum of agreement with renewable energy trader PowerX, taking a step that could change South Africa’s energy landscape. The Trade Agreement, known in the Electricity Supply Act as the Use of Systems agreement, will make Makana only the second Eastern Cape municipality to enter the renewable energy trading market in a sustained and systematic way. The recent signing in the Council Chamber follows more than two years of negotiations between Makana Local Municipality, and Power X, facilitated by Cacadu Development Agency (CDA). The municipality’s Local Economic Development Directorate have been project managers and Cacadu Development Agency…

Five men were arrested and four firearms recovered after cellphone shop in Greenacres mall, Port Elizabeth, was robbed. SAPS spokesperson Captain Khaya Thonjeni said six or seven people had walked into the shop around 12.30pm Wednesday 1 August, pretending to be customers. “One firearm was produced and the three front assistants were ushered to the back of the store where the manager was busy,” Thonjeni said. The manager was instructed to open the safe and around 35 cellphones were removed, he said.  They left the store with the phones, 2 laptops, the employees personal phones and some petty cash. As…

More than 800 Grahamstown (Makhanda) phone and ADSL customers were affected by damage to a Telkom line last weekend. Since Saturday 28 July, residents have shared their frustration with intermittent, slow or no internet, on social media, with some reporting it resolved by Sunday afternoon. Others were still struggling with connectivity on Tuesday. Telkom spokesperson Nomalungelo Faku confirmed the outages. “One of our main lines in the Grahamstown area was damaged by faulty power supply on Saturday 28th July,” she told Grocott’s Mail. “This impacted around 840 customers.” Faku said Telkom had been working on the issue since Saturday morning…