Author: Sue Maclennan

If you live in the parts of town that report to the Grahamstown Police Station, the chances are quite high that in the past year your business premises were burgled, or something was stolen from your car. If Joza is your closest police station, you probably know someone who was burgled, or robbed in their home. Among South Africa’s nine provinces, the Eastern Cape sits somewhere in the middle when it comes to crime statistics as reflected in the presentation, Crime Situation in South Africa: 1 April 2016-31 March 2017 (bit.ly/GrocCrime2016_17), released last week by the South African Police Service.…

The Department of Women has urged kwaito singer Mdu Masilela to seek professional help in anger management. The plea follows an assault case opened against him by the mother of his eight-month-old baby, Sibahle Dlamini. According to a media report, Masilela allegedly assaulted Dlamini on Saturday night. Dlamini opened a case against him at Sandringham Police Station in Johannesburg. The star handed himself to the police and subsequently appeared in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s court, where he was released on R500 bail. Earlier this year, the kwaito star was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill his wife, Sarah Masilela. He was charged for…

“Crosswords may not matter, but they’re a game between consenting adults.” International crossword afficionado and best-selling author Sandy Balfour was in a provocative mood at the launch of a compilation of more than 100 homegrown original South African cryptic crosswords last Friday evening in Grahamstown. The labour of love (and conviction) of Grahamstown social entrepreneur and educator George Euvrard, it was piloted in Grocott’s Mail and also published later in the Mail and Guardian. Balfour lives in England and so the puzzle he quoted to illustrate the delight of a good cryptic crossword clue was very apt: “If B was…

Last Friday a pipe break near Whites Road forced Makana Municipality to shut off the water to several areas. In order not to damage the pipes, engineers had to release pressure in the system by opening several fire hydrants and releasing water – much to the concern of many who felt the water could have been used to fill water tankers rather than allowed to run run into the stormwater system. They let their feelings be known on social media. Vanessa Richards was one of two residents who, with no water supply to their homes, made hay while the sun…

A councillor has called for Makana to ringfence revenue generated for the sale of electricity for the sole purpose of paying the municipality‘s current account and settling its outstanding debt. Meanwhile, senior Council officials were scheduled to meet this week with experts to obtain advice on managing the Eskom relationship. In a written proposal to Council dated 2 October and tabled at a special council meeting on Wednesday, Ward 12 councillor Darryn Holm noted that because of Makana’s failure to adhere to its payment plan with Eskom, its debt would increase in the long term. Holm noted that Eskom constituted…

Rapportryers Grahamstad leader Strauss de Jager expressed shock and sadness at the theft of three brass plaques from the Bible Monument in Strowan Road. The plaques depict the historic hand-over of a Bible to Pieter Uys’s party of Voortrekkers outside Grahamstown in 1837. Speaking at the site yesterday, De Jager said it wasn’t certain when the 55-year-old plaques had been removed. “We have someone from Rapportryers whose responsibility it is to maintain the site. They came here this morning and that’s when they discovered the plaques were gone,” he said. Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said yesterday afternoon that no…

Telecommunication and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele says government will soon establish a task team to engage Telkom on the sale of a portion of its shares to address a revenue shortfall. The Minister said this shortly after Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba tabled the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), in which he announced the intention to sell a portion of the State’s shares to avoid a risk of an expenditure ceiling breach of R3.9 billion. The expenditure breach risk was brought about by the recapitalisation of SA Airways (SAA) and the South African Post Office (SAPO) amounting to R13.7…

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba says government needs to fast-track reform and make difficult, bold decisions in order to return the economy to a desirable growth path. The Minister briefed the joint sitting of Select and Standing Committees of Finance and Appropriations in the National Assembly on Thursday. When he tabled the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday, the Minister said a low economic growth and low tax compliance has strained the national purse with tax revenue collections being at concerning levels. Over and above a revenue shortfall, he announced a risk of breaching the expenditure ceiling following the recapitalisation…

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was refreshingly frank in the face of difficult questions following his address at Rhodes University this week. The guest of the Institute for Socio-Economic Research, he was in town to deliver the seventh Dr AB Xuma Memorial Lecture. On the topic, ‘Overcoming Health Inequality through a People’s NHI,’ the Minister addressed criticisms of South Africa’s National Health Insurance, which has just completed its first four-year research phase. Motsoaledi emphasised South Africans’ unequal access to quality health care, aligned with their socio-economic status. Private health care, in which 4.4% of the country’s GDP was invested, served 16%…

The South African Revenue Services (SARS) on Thursday announced that nearly 12 000 taxpayers have been assisted to make their tax submissions since operating hours were extended to Saturdays at selected branches around the country from 30 September. A total of 11 877 taxpayers have been attended to and 8 838 tax returns were filed on the three Saturdays from 30 September. SARS said it will prioritise income tax queries on Saturdays to help taxpayers comply with the tax season deadline of Friday, 24 November 2017, which is six weeks away. “Hours have been extended at selected branches in an…