Author: Sue Maclennan

South Africa is in the process of finalising a set of regulations that will introduce further restrictions and requirements to regulate the domestic trade in rhino horn. “South Africa would like to assure the European Union Member States that it remains committed to ensuring the effective and strict regulation of the legal, domestic trade in rhino horn,” Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said. Addressing the Ambassadors of the European Union member states in Pretoria on Tuesday, she said the implementation of the integrated strategic approach to address poaching of rhino and the illegal trade in rhino horn remains a priority…

By Kutlwano Kepadisa On Saturday 30 September Grahamstown Cathedral presented a public event consisting of multi-genre musical performances. The Grahamstown Cathedral Prestige Music Concert aimed to be the first of a series of annual Cathedral events, providing a platform for parishioners and others who help maintain the Cathedral as a highly creative yet sacred space of worship. The idea behind the concert was to select a number of top achievers who have done well in music at schools, externally at festivals and competitions as well as in the Cathedral itself, and who form part of the musical ministry of the…

Settler’s dam might run dry by the end of November and Makana Municipality says if this happens, it will be not only the city’s old, leaking infrastructure that is to blame, but residents in west Grahamstown who are disregarding water restrictions. In a statement issued via Communication Officer Yoliswa Ramokolo yesterday afternoon, Makana said the municipality had officially declared a state of disaster in the municipality in May, due to dwindling dam levels as a result of drought conditions. “In such situations the Disaster Management Act allows for a local authority to declare that they cannot cope with their resources,…

Richard Gaybba I recently watched a video by Vice News on the NFL protests in the US. The video focused on the similarities between the NFL protests and the Free Speech Protests on the Berkeley Campus in the 1960s that were a direct result of the University of California banning all political activity on its campuses. The resulting standoff between the University and protesters resulted in more than 800 arrests. What interested me about the protest was that it was not one group or political persuasion that was protesting, but that a very wide and diverse group of people joined in…

If we trace our ancestory back through time we rapidly reach our four-legged ancestors (or tetrapods). And if we follow that line far enough, say to 360 million years ago (in the Devonian Period), we meet ancestors who were also the ancestors of elephants, kangaroos, canaries snakes and all other land living creatures with backbones – some of whom have later lost their legs! World renowned expert on Devonian tetrapods, Prof Per Ahlberg from Uppsala University in Sweden recently gave a public lecture on these fascinating creatures at the Albany Museum in Grahamstown. Ahlberg came to South Africa at the…

One of the reasons the numbers of stray livestock have increased in Grahamstown is that there has been no operational pound since early last year. A standoff between Makana Municipality and the SPCA started in late 2015. The lead-up to the eventual impasse is described differently by Mark Thomas and Jeff Budaza, respective Managers of the Grahamstown SPCA and Makana Parks Department – but what was clear was that both were very frustrated. According to Thomas, the SPCA had been tasked with running the municipal pound since 2009. The were paid a monthly fee and a proportion of the fines…

Access to Milner Dam for members of the public was never restricted, Makana Parks Manager Jeff Budaza says. He was responding to questions from Grocott’s Mail about concerns that the Slaaikraal commonage and dam, a popular recreational area, had been annexed or acquired by a group of stock owners. Outdoor enthusiasts complained on social media that they’d been unable to access the area because two padlocked gates stood in their way. On a recent visit to the dam, Grocott’s Mail met Mashiyani Skele, who lives in a prefabricated structure next to the ruins of the old brick house above Milner…

Makana says state owned farms and commonage form part of its strategy to deal with stray livestock. This follows the a truck driver’s narrow escape when his 14-wheeler hit cows on the N2 outside Grahamstown recently. Grocott’s Mail asked Sanral what the extent of their responsibility was when it came to maintaining and securing roads under its stewardship, and whose responsibility it was to keep cattle and other livestock off national roads. The Agency said they had noted and, where possible, acted on the concerns over wandering livestock on the N2. “The upkeep and maintenance of the fences is the…

The Grahamstown SPCA is bursting with pride at rescue dog Rocket, who saved the lives of at least five people and two homes when a fire started in the city centre last weekend. The five-month-old border collie cross was adopted around a month ago and is the first in what her new family consider to be a series of small miracles. Claire Nye Hunter is the Senior Assistant Priest in the parish of the Cathedral of St Michael and St George and lives with her husband Andrew and their two daughters in The Deanery, behind St George’s Hall in High…

The Ethnomusicology and B.Ed students from ILAM and the Department of Music and Musicology invite members of the public to their end of year presentations Friday 13 October – a celebration of the Musics of Africa. They include a student concert and a performance by the world-renowned Ugandan musician, Albert Ssempeke. The ILAM concert will take place in the institute’s amphitheatre on the Rhodes University campus at 1pm and entry is free. Uganda’s Royal Court Musician Ssempeke will perform later, at 6pm in the Music Department’s Beethoven Room. Tickets cost R20.