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6Editorial: living with crime

SportArchers take on Grahamstown

Kawela M’ule k.m’[email protected]

Widespread water short-ages were experienced in Grahamstown during the

Easter holiday, with Westhill, the army base and parts of Oatlands North (along Kettlewell Street) being the hardest hit. Some areas water trucks were supplied to assist the residents, as municipal officials scrambled to find a long-term so-lution.

Thandy Matebese, Makana Mu-nicipality spokesperson, said that the on-going water supply interrup-tions in Grahamstown are a result of pipe bursts and valves that could no longer handle the pressure.

“Due to the population growth over the past years the demand on the infrastructure has increased and Grahamstown was not built to accommodate as many people as it does at present,” Matebese said.

“There have been no upgrades to the infrastructure due to lack of

funds and prioritisation,” he said, adding that efforts would rather be made to supply water to places that do not have a constant water sup-ply. He mentioned Joza as one of those parts of Grahamstown that re-ceive water for a limited time every day.

Matebese said that the municipality has applied for a R30m loan from the Development Bank of South Africa to upgrade the water infrastructure. The municipality plans to build a parallel water line from James Kley-nhans Water Treatment plant to the Botha Hill reservoir which sup-plies... water to Grahamstown East.

He explained that without either the James Kleynhans Water Treat-ment or Waainek Water Treatment Works plants being upgraded, the water pressure in certain sites, espe-cially on hills, would continue to be low or to be interrupted.

Matebese said that adding anoth-er water line will relieve the pressure being placed on the current water plants and water can be supplied more efficiently to residents.

Water shortages persist over Easter as infrastructure fails

Zamathiyane [email protected]

Jackson Mthembu, ANC spokes-person, and DA Shadow Minister, Marian Shinn, came to Grahams-town last Thursday to speak about problems facing the South African media today.

The talk was chaired by Prof Jane Duncan, who opened by expressing her concerns about the decline of media freedom in South Africa.

“The diversity of the media is not what it should be,” she said. “Print media is dominated by four large companies.

“There are worrying signs of a regression on the horizon,” Duncan went on. “Freedom House used to rate the South African media as free and just. Recently it just down-grad-ed that rating to ‘partly free’.”

Mthembu criticised the South African media for perhaps being too free – to the point where it is irre-sponsible – and expressed concern that journalism in the country is not adequately regulated and moni-tored.

“The media also needs to sub-scribe to values enshrined in South Africa, even the press cannot act outside these values. The press can-not be free outside the Constitu-tion,” he said.

Mthembu said he was concerned about the way in which the South African media operated outside their own regulations and some-times disrespected their own regu-lators.

“We need an independent regu-lator that watches that the media adheres to its own codes of conduct.

“Not a code that comes from the government, but that comes from you,” he said, addressing the jour-nalists present at the discussion.

“This regulator needs to ensure that bad journalists are removed

from the system,” he said. “It has never been our wish to see the press being regulated by government. We want the press to able to operate on its own.”

Mthembu then asked how might it be possible to ensure universal ac-cess to the media. “And how did we allow the industry to self-regulate to the extent of abusing the South Afri-can people?” he asked.

Mthembu echoed Duncan’s con-cerns that South African media is monopolised by four companies, as well as the fact that there is only a 4.4% representation of women in the media.

He said technology had a leading role in bringing about more me-dia diversity, which Shinn heartily agreed with. She said that if South Africans are serious about media diversity, “we should be using tech-nology to break up the old monopo-lies of the past and power blocks of media ownership”.

She said that the government needs to free up the regulatory load however, and put up the basic infra-structures that allow media diversity.

“Take the opportunity that tech-nology offers and let’s use it to break new ground. The opportunity is al-ready there, it’s just a matter of con-necting the dots,” said Shinn.

According to the head of Rhodes University’s journalism department, Larry Strelitz, the only serious threat the media faces is the Protection of Information Bill.

“Even though there are chal-lenges, people in the media have been able to overcome these. The South African Constitution allows journalists to exercise their power,” said Strelitz.

Radio Grahamstown also dedi-cated an hour of programming last Thursday to a discussion on media freedom and the climate in which South African media operates.

ANC and DA representatives debate on media freedom

Continued Page 2

Desiree Schirlinger [email protected]

Port Elizabeth detectives have ar-rested a suspect linked to the mur-der of Rhodes University Honours graduate Lelona Fufu.

On Monday The Herald reported that the Swartkops Murder and Robbery Unit, investigating Fufu’s case, was alerted by detectives that they held a rape suspect, who is believed to be connected to Fufu’s murder.

The man was arrested in Kamve-lihle last week and is currently being held in St Albans Prison. The Moth-erwell Police Station warrant officer Dumile Gwavu stated that the sus-pect would appear in the Mother-well court today. He confirmed that “in a preliminary hearing... the sus-pect will be charged with the mur-der of Lelona Fufu.”

Rhodes graduate murder, rape suspect arrested

13 April 2012

www.grocotts.co.za

R5.00Friday

Allen Street pipe burst damages businesses

A Makana Municipality truck pumps leaked water from a burst pipe on Allen Street on Friday morning. The leak caused extensive damage to shops in Pepper Grove Mall. Photo: Desiree Schirlinger

Overburdened infrastructure fails, damages property and restricts traffic

Desiree [email protected]

Flooding on Allen Street on Thursday morning caused havoc for shop owners and

commuters. A burst water pipe and blocked storm drain covered a great part of Allen Street and parts of Pepper Grove Mall with munici-pal water.

A security guard reported the prob-lem to one of the affected businesses, Insight Technology, at about 6.30am. The water main to the immediate area was shut off at 7.45am to stop the flow and allow repair work.

One of Makana Municipality’s honey-suckers was brought to pump water out of the flooded area.

The truck removed water for 12 1/2 hours before the level was low enough to allow a steady flow of traffic.

Insight technology co-owner, Craig Foord said he could not even imagine how much this disaster will cost them in damages but it will

be thousands of thousands of rands. Their Pepper Grove Mall premises was flooded, destroying computer servers, furniture and records.

Dr Oosthuizen’s offices, next door to Insight Technology, were similar-ly affected.

Thandy Matebese, Makana Mu-nicipality spokesperson, said the night flow pressure caused the old asbestos pipe section to burst. Re-pairs are under way.

“The infrastructure in Grahams-town is very old, we’re slowly replac-ing as much of it as we can,” said Matebese, however, “the new pipes we are laying are technically far su-perior to the old ones and are coping much better with the demands.”

According to Matebese, Ma-kana Municipality has increased the maintenance budget allowance over the past two financial years but at this stage pipes can only be replaces once they have failed.

Matebese added that Makana was replacing the damaged pipes with technically superior ones.

2Fishaways’ heist accusedseek bail

Cacadu rename push from district ANCYLLoyiso [email protected]

The ANC Youth League in Cacadu district is strongly pushing for its renaming and say they mean busi-ness.

The youth league wants to change Cacadu to the “Sarah Baartman dis-trict municipality”. Mabhuti Maty-umza, chairperson of Cacadu district ANCYL and Makana Municipal-ity councillor, said discussions have been on-going for years now and the youth league had decided it was time to revive the move.

They said support for the Sarah Baartman name had come from the notion that it truly acknowledged the demographics of the region.

“It unites the people of Cacadu, as well as acknowledging the role played by the Khoi-San people in the liberation struggle of South Af-rica” said Matyumza.

“This Cacadu name change is not something that has just come up. We looked at history – what role she played and where she came from,” Matyumza said.

4RDP house “worse than a shack”

2 News

Thembeni [email protected]

Internal squabbling seems to be the latest stumbling block in the way of the municipality’s find-

ing a new acting Chief Financial Officer. Makana has been without a CFO since Jackson Ngcelwane was suspended a year ago.

Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart refuses to advise Council on who should succeed the latest acting CFO Marius Crous, whose contract ex-pired on Wednesday.

According to the Municipal Struc-tures Act, the municipal manager is required to advise the council re-garding the appointment of a person to act as CFO.

Baart’s reason for withholding her opinion, she claimed, was that she had already advised the council on this matter, but her suggestion had been ignored.

When Grocott’s Mail attempted

to find out why Baart’s original ad-vice had not been accepted by the council, we were referred to the May-or by the municipal spokesperson. The Mayor was unavailable for com-ment at the time of going to print.

In a special council meeting on Wednesday, DA councillor Les Reyn-olds said he had warned the council last year that the empty CFO posi-tion would become a problem, but the Mayor had responded by saying that everything would be sorted out by January. “We are now going into May and it’s not fine,” Reynolds said.

DA councillor Brian Fargher pro-posed that Crous should continue as the acting CFO, and the proposal was seconded by Reynolds.

A decision was taken at the meet-ing to come up with a list of names of people who could fill the position of the acting CFO.

The municipality has relied on acting CFOs since Ngcelwane’s sus-pension last May.

Officials undecided over Makana interim-CFO

Continued from Page 1

Cacadu-Baartman name change not official, says Cacadu manager

13 April 2012

Saturday

27° C 14° CHigh Tide: 10.16 ; 23.34Low Tide: 3.48 ; 16.32

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Visit www.ghtnow.co.za for the latest weather updates

Allen Street flood in pictures

Fishaways’ heist accused seek bail Thembeni [email protected]

Three men facing charges of armed robbery with aggravat-ing circumstances appeared

before for a formal bail application in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. The charges stem from an armed robbery at Fishaways take-away in High Street four weeks ago.

Sipho Biko, from Fort Beaufort, Mncedisi Khala Dibe, from Port Elizabeth, both 39, and Graham-stown resident Lithemba Seyisi, 29, allegedly entered the shop and or-dered the staff to lie down before making off with R7 000 and several cellphones. It was also alleged that they shot at a police vehicle that was passing by as they fled the scene.

On Wednesday, Biko took to the stand to plead his case before mag-istrate Ronny Lesele. He admitted that he had been in Grahamstown on the night of the incident and had gone to a shop near Checkers, but

that he had not looked at the name of the shop.

The court heard that Biko had mul-tiple previous convictions, including housebreaking, attempted murder and escaping from police custody. He committed these offences be-tween 1983 and 2000. Biko also has two pending cases of armed rob-bery. He told the court that he had a wife and children to support.

The second accused, Dibe, also claimed he had two children to sup-port and denied that he had previ-ous convictions or pending cases. However state prosecutor, Lungile Msutu put it to him that he had pre-vious convictions for housebreaking and armed robbery in Port Elizabeth between 1995 and 2002. He also has a murder case pending, in connec-tion with the death of his girlfriend last year. A warrant of arrest was authorised against him for this case.

Dibe denied any previous con-victions, claiming that the offences had been committed by his late twin brother, who had used his name.

Msutu put it to him that the fin-

gerprints in the cases for which he had been convicted were his, not those of his twin.

Dibe also admitted that he had gone to Fishaways on the night in question, but claimed he had been looking at the menu when two men entered the shop and ordered the staff to lie down while he was asked to stand aside. He said he did not know the men and had never seen them before.

The last accused, Seyisi, also de-nied that he had been at or near Fishaways on the night in question. He claimed that he was with friends buying liquor at Tops and they had not gone to Fishaways.

Seyisi also claimed that he was tortured and partly suffocated with a plastic bag by police when he was arrested, and as a result he had developed hearing difficulties in his left ear.

Their hearing had been postponed to today, when the investigating of-ficer is expected to give his evidence before the magistrate decides on the bail application.

A mini-bus drives through the water on Allen Street. Photo: Joshua Oats Onlookers watch flood water drain out away. Photo: Desiree Schirlinger

According to the Cacadu district municipal manager, Ted Pillay, the name change is not official and it has only been discussed outside of the Council.

A Cacadu municipality council-lor and former Makana councillor, Michael Whisson, said he was not clear on the question of renaming the district municipality after Sarah Baartman.

“We know little about her other than the abuse she received. I think the ANC Youth League is trying to show real support for the coloured population,” said Whisson. He add-ed that he was concerned about the cost of the name changing process and that as Cacadu was not a colo-nial name it was not offensive.

ANC Cacadu regional deputy chairperson, Lungile Mxube, said renaming Cacadu to Sarah Baart-man was a way of recognising her contribution and had been approved by the tripartite alliance. He contin-ued to say that her name will attract investors to the region as she is a recognisable and important histori-cal figure.

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Vacant positions cause rifts in Makana Zama Khumalo & Thembeni Plaatjie

Tensions are rising among Makana councillors as the Council comes under ur-

gent pressure to recruit suitable candidates to fill vacant manage-ment positions.

Called to account for the still vacant senior leadership positions – some of which have been unoc-cupied for nearly five months – the mood in a special council meeting held in the Council Chamber on Wednesday was one of anger and

frustration. The municipality is still strug-

gling to find a technical director, director of corporate services and chief financial officer.

“We need leadership in this mu-nicipality as soon as possible,” said DA Councillor Les Reynolds, at the meeting.

“We are the servants of the public and we can’t carry on without cap-tains of the ship… we know the situ-ation that we are in and we need to do something as soon as possible.”

Reynolds criticised Mayor Za-muxolo Peter for not responding urgently to the matter, saying his

written and verbal responses were “not good enough”.

Reynolds further expressed his disappointment that questions of the vacant posts issue had not been put into the meeting’s agenda and that a detailed report on the status of the senior posts had not been made available to the councillors.

“I would like to see a proper re-port; I don’t want to hear a brief verbal report from the mayor… I must express my disappointment in the fact that you did not put it upon yourself to put that item on the agenda,” Reynolds said.

The mayor responded by high-

lighting that there was a series of technical procedures that had to be adhered to when appointing peo-ple to posts of this level and that it entailed a lengthy administrative process.

Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart said the security clearance required for the candidates had not been made available.

Council Speaker Rachel Madin-da assured Council that a detailed report on the status of the vacant senior posts would be made avail-able soon and that a special council meeting would be scheduled for that item.

Felix [email protected]

Ratepayers across the country may be lumped with paying for the R338 billion shortfall that the Department of Water and Environmental Af-fairs needs to improve water ser-vices in SA.

But according to the environ-mental affairs minister, people have brought it upon themselves.

On Monday water affairs minister Edna Molewa announced plans to spend R670bn over the next decade

to develop national water manage-ment and infrastructure.

This hefty sum will go towards renewing infrastructure, investing in human capabilities, stimulating innovation and technological de-velopment and redressing historical inequalities

However, the department admit-ted that it is faced with a R338bn funding shortfall that may be col-lected by increasing consumer tariffs.

“We have said it before, that it is highly likely that if we do our billing properly and the right people pay

for water, there would not be a need for constant tariff increase,” Molewa said, “but tariffs do increase from time to time.”

In Molewa’s statement she also announced the publication of the second draft National Water Re-sources Strategy (NWRS- 2) policy document that focuses on priorities and objectives for the department from 2013-2017.

These include providing a frame-work for the protection, use, develop-ment and control of water resources.

Socio-economic growth and mat-

ters of sustainability have been high-lighted as priority issues that depend on effective management.

The publication of the document this week will be followed by a 90-day period during which members of the public can review and engage with the department’s policies by submitting comments, suggestions and complaints.

The NWRS-2 document is avail-able on the Water Affairs website, which can be accessed at www.dwaf.gov.za

Ratepayers may pay water improvements

3Features

Pierre [email protected]

Rhodes’ professor Matthew Lester was yesterday or-dered to demolish his R8 mil-

lion Kenton–on-Sea property in a Grahamstown high court judgment yesterday by Judge Sytze Alkema, on the basis that the house contra-vened Section 21 of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977. The nine-year-long case entails neighbour-, public- and administrative law.

Ndlambe Municipality and High Dune House (Pty) Ltd, owners of a neighbouring property, applied for a demolishing order on Lester’s property, arguing it obstructed the view and affected privacy. Lester, a professor of tax law, proposed the house instead be altered according to submitted plans.

The case ended in the order for Lester to demolish his R8m prop-erty at his own expense and within 180 days. It did, however, grant him leave to apply for an extension on this deadline.

R8m home must be demolished

Anele Mjekula & Abongile Sipondo

Eastern Cape Basic Education MEC, Mandla Makupula, and his acting Superintendent General, Mthunywa Ngonzo, cannot be sent to jail until they have been offered a proper op-portunity to state their case in con-tempt of court proceedings.

Good Shepherd Primary School had desperately resorted to the High Court after waiting in vain for more than a year for the department to heed a July 2011 court order to fill a vital vacant mathematics teacher post at the school.

According to court papers, the school has had no maths teacher since the end of 2010.

Just over a year ago, the school won its case when the high court in Grahamstown ordered the MEC and Modidima Mannya, his head of department at the time, to fill the post.

Yesterday, Makupula and Ngonzo sought to postpone the case after they failed to submit affidavits on time. Judge Jeremy Pickering ex-pressed his unhappiness with the lack of urgency from the respond-ents throughout the case. The judge outlined how they had taken their time to comply with all the for-malities since being alerted of the intention to litigate in June. In a strongly worded statement, the judge accused the respondent of being in “contemptuous disregard of these proceedings”.

Despite his unhappiness, Picker-ing told the court that he could not make a decision on whether to send the two education department of-ficials to prison until they had filed the outstanding papers.

“I do not think it’s their personal fault,” Pickering said. “The order here is to send the MEC to jail... I cannot make an order to send peo-ple to jail if they have not been of-fered the chance to be heard,” he said.

The case was postponed until next Thursday. The respondents were in-structed to file their papers by 4pm on Monday and the applicants to file the responding affidavits by the end of business day on Tuesday.

Good Shepherd teacher Mathari Veliti spoke to Grocott’s Mail about the strain the absence of a math-ematics teacher had put on other teachers at the school. Veliti said the matter was frustrating for the teach-ers and that it was hampering the children’s progress.

No jail for education councillors

D-DAY: The High Court in Grahamstown has ordered that this R8m house in Kenton-on-Sea, be-longing to Rhodes Professor Matthew Lester, has to be demolished within 180 days. Photo: file

Anele [email protected]

Yesterday a local school withdrew its contempt of court charges against two provincial education department of-ficials. According to the acting prin-cipal, an out-of-court settlement is being discussed.

This comes after Good Shepherd Primary’s two-year battle with the department to have a maths teacher appointed.

The school has been locked in a contempt of court case with the de-partment since last year.

In desperation, the school had launched a High Court application to have Eastern Cape Education MEC Mandla Makupula and his acting superintendent general Mthunywa Ngonzo put in jail for contempt of court.

The application was launched be-cause the department failed to ap-point a maths teacher for the school following a high court order in July 2011.

In that order Judge Judith Mar-garet Roberson instructed the MEC and the then-superintendent gen-eral of the department Modidima Mannya to fill the post within 10 days.

Last week Thursday Makupula and Ngonzo sought to postpone their case after they failed to submit court documents on time.

Judge Jeremy Pickering said he could not send the education de-partment officials to prison until they had filled the outstanding pa-pers and had a chance to be heard.

The case was due to be heard by Judge John Smith yesterday, but ac-cording to Good Shepherd acting principal Cecile Mager they were in the process of negotiating an out-of-court settlement with the department.

Court papers in confirmed that the contempt of court charges had been dropped.

They also revealed that both the school and the department would be responsible for their own legal costs incurred during the court case.

At the time of going to print the school could not reveal the terms of the out-of-court settlement.

School withdraws contempt charges against DoE MEC

All Departments! Begins Thursday 12 April

Avuyile [email protected]

The municipal offices were closed on Monday morning as workers gathered outside to back repre-sentatives tackling the Mayor on Makana’s labour practices.

The meeting was a continuation of discussions which begun three days Earlier.

The workers reportedly want Hu-man Resources Manager Phumla Qhezu to be removed from her po-sition and have given the Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter 48 hours to respond to their grievances.

These reportedly include claims of favouritism and lack of consul-tation about appointments to key positions.

Municipal spokesperson Edward Ganza confirmed that there was an

internal staff meeting on Monday, in which workers addressed their con-cerns to Peter.

“One of the issues the workers raised was the employment of casual workers from other towns, whereas there are people from Makana who are unemployed,” Ganza explained.

“The sentiments of the workers are not entirely true, as most of the casual workers are from Makana and when appointing we give pref-erence to people from here.”

Municipal driver George Man-yashi said Monday’s meeting had been successful. “We are just waiting for them to respond. They promised that they would look at our con-cerns,” he said.

Remarking on Monday’s meeting with workers during a special coun-cil meeting yesterday, the Mayor said the municipality did not owe the media any explanation about it.

Workers’ complaints close Makana offices

Thembani [email protected]

A Victoria Girls’ High School pupil hit by a taxi in High Street this week is back in class, according to an em-ployee at the school.

A taxi knocked down a Victo-ria Girls’ High School pupil at the High Street pedestrian crossing in front of the City Hall on Wednesday afternoon.

According to an eyewitness who did not want to be named, the girl was walking on the pedestrian crossing when the driver of a white Toyota Venture failed to stop and struck her.

“She fell on the ground very badly and the taxi stopped approximately 10 to 15 metres away from incident,” the witness said. He said she was knocked to the ground, but man-aged to get on to her feet again. He said the taxi’s point of impact with the girl had been the rucksack she was carrying on her back.

He said the taxi driver had stopped only after onlookers shouted at him.

When traffic officers asked the driver for his licence, the witness said, it was found to have expired in 2005.

The girl was taken to Settlers’ Hospital for shock and for a further check-up.

VG pupil hit by taxi

13 April 2012

Avuyile [email protected]

A new early discharge policy at Temba TB hospital puts Grahamstown on the brink

of a health disaster. This warning came from the hos-

pital board’s chairperson this week, as the provincial health department confirmed that patients are now routinely being sent home before their treatment has been completed.

A handful of staff is struggling to care for a fast-growing population of TB patients in the Grahamstown area, as the health department drags its feet over filling essential posts at the 60-bed facility in Fingo Village. Staff shortages range from profes-sional nurses to porters and the hospital will be without a full-time doctor next month.

After a meeting of the hospital’s board on Wednesday, its chairperson Xolani Simakuhle confirmed that the hospital had resorted to limiting beds to numbers that the current staff can cope with.

“This could result in Makana hav-ing a TB crisis,” Simakuhle warned. “The bed limitation will impact very badly on the community, because

TB could spread to the people of Makana.”

Non-compliance with the rigor-ous treatment regimen for TB has in the past been identified as a factor in its rapid spread in communities and a low cure-rate. Hospitalisation has been identified as a way of ensuring that patients comply with treatment.

According to a statement from the Western Cape Ministry of Health on World TB Day on 24 March this year, the national incidence of TB is 823 per 100 000 population. TB in-cidence in the Eastern Cape is 960 per 100 000.

Simakuhle said they were not ask-ing the department for money but to give them the nod to absorb nurses who are on contract. “Dr Santhia, from Settlers’ Hospital, has agreed to assist while the department is in a process of appointing a new doc-tor. But we will still need a hospital manager,” he said.

According to Simakuhle the hos-pital had already started discharging patients. “Those patients can take treatment from their nearest clin-ics – but not every patient will be responsible enough.

Some could default in the treat-ment because no one is supervising

them. “This could impact badly on the community, because cases of MDR TB could happen,” Simakuhle said.

Multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB often develops as a result of patients not completing their treatment and the pathogen becoming resistant to the front-line treatment options.

Simakuhle said the hospital’s shortage meant the patient load would shift to local clinics. Temba has three professional nurses, who work on a week-long roster, around the clock.

“They are under severe stress,” he said. “Only [severely ill] patients who need injections every day will be left in the hospital as in-patients.”

A staffing task team has been set up. “We have sent these requests to the MEC and we will send them to the premier and all the department of health officials,” Simakuhle said. “Our priority as the board is to serve the interests of the community.”

He said the task team was also considering recruiting primary healthcare workers. “But they can’t do that for free. They will need an incentive,” he said.

Temba hospital’s staffing crisis has become worse this year. Earlier

wthis month the health department said staff shortages were a problem all over the Eastern Cape and that they were addressing these.

Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape’s Department of Health Sizwe Kupelo confirmed yesterday that patients had been discharged early from Temba.

“The department is aware of the situation. TB patients who are not very ill do not need admission and they continue collecting from the nearest facilities whilst in the com-munities and that includes MDR-TB,” said Kupelo in an emailed re-sponse to questions from Grocott’s Mail. He said this was in line with the newly introduced community based care approach.

He denied that it was risky to send patients home as they were given health education during their stay in the hospital and on discharge edu-cated on treatment adherence.

“The patients are referred to local health facilities for continuity of care. Patients, their families and commu-nities are given health talks on... in-fection control...” Kupelo wrote.

Kupelo said the department was in the process of appointing an ad-ditional doctor and nurses.

TB outbreak threatens G’town

4Features

PUBLIC NOTICE The Municipality recently experienced technical and elec-trical problems with the pumps and motors at James Klein-hans Water Treatment plant. Due to bad weather conditions (thunder and lightning) on 25 March 2012, Municipal water supply was interrupted because of burnt electrical cables.

This resulted in Botha’s Hill reservoir, which supplies Graham-stown East, experiencing very low water levels thus disrupt-ing the supply of water to most areas. Electricity was restored on 26 March 2012 and the operation was resumed. Water supply started returning to normal thereafter, with high ly-ing areas receiving water at a later stage.

The challenge that delays water availability after the prob-lem has been corrected is that it takes a while for the reservoir to reach a level where there is sufficient pressure for water to travel to high lying areas. For all areas to have water restored, the water level in the reservoir should be at approximately 60%.

We have also found out that there was dereliction of duty on the part of one of the operators which resulted in water outages on 3-4 April 2012. The matter has received serious attention and disciplinary processes are underway to deal with any unprofessional conduct.

We have also experienced interruptions in the supply of water to the Grahamstown West areas which rely mostly on the Waainek Water Treatment Works plant. After finding no fault at the plant we undertook a physical inspection of the valves, it emerged that some of the valves had been tampered with. The matter is currently under investigation.

In trying to curb similar occurrences in the future, the Mu-nicipality is going to intensify supervision of staff and closely monitor the plants. Dereliction of duty or negligence will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against culprits. We have also resuscitated the telemetry system which will assist us to detect problems early so as to take appropriate ac-tion swiftly. Lastly the Municipality will load all the water con-nections and valves on the Geographic Information System which will lead to the exact cause of any water interruptions.

During the water outages we tried to cart water to all the affected areas and filled the water tanks strategically posi-tioned for public consumption. We advise residents to report any water related problems to the 24-hour number 046 603 6000.

On behalf the Municipality, I wish to extend sincere apolo-gies to the residents of Makana for the inconvenience caused and thank them for their patience and understanding.

Ms. N.L. Baart Municipal Manager

Chelsea [email protected]

It’s not every day that someone turns their life around for the better. In fact, redemption sto-

ries have, thanks to Hollywood, be-come clichéd and unbelievable. But in Xolani, just a few minutes out-side of central Grahamstown, one ex-convict has really tuned out his transgressions and crooned his way beyond a life of crime.

Meet Norman Plaatjie: a father, a singer, a convicted rapist. He spent seven years in prison, from 1999 to May 2006, and emerged from his cell the leader of a gospel choir now bringing music and worship to the streets of Grahamstown.

He was born here, in the same Xolani house he still frequents to visit his mother and 16-year-old daughter. In 1985, when riots and vandalism made schooling here im-possible, Norman left to complete Grade 7 in the Ciskei, then returned for Grade 8 at Nombulelo.

This was as far as his school ca-reer went. “I left because of peer pressure at the time,” he says. “The guys were drinking, smoking, eve-

rything – there’s no time for school.” Norman isn’t shy about claiming his title as a gangster, both inside and out the penitentiary walls.

But there is one thing he wishes he had learnt back in school: the consequences of a life of crime. “If I had met someone before who had been to prison and told me what it was like, I would not have gone to prison,” he says.

This is the reason for Norman’s dedication to telling young peo-ple that “prison is not right”. While he was still serving time, he went in prison overalls to speak at drug and crime awareness campaigns at schools around Grahamstown. Now that he is free, he continues spread-ing the word with his choir group.

Although according to this ex-con, prison isn’t always as bad as it’s cracked up to be. “Prison now is a place of safety, it is not the prison of the past ages,” says. “Today in prison you can learn, go to school, do Bible studies. Those who are there, they can rehabilitate themselves.”

It was at the prison Bible studies groups that Norman began to feel the change. “When I was outside, I didn’t even attend churches,” he

says, telling the story of how he first became part of the Salvation Army ministry. “But when I was in prison I sat down and thought, let me go there, let me join these guys.”

Norman knew that preaching was not for him, and was drawn instead into the music of ministry. He had always enjoyed singing at funerals and community events, and had performed as a spoken-word poet before, but began taking singing se-riously in his second year of prison time. “When I’m singing I can feel it in my heart,” he says, with his hand and gold-bangled wrist beating his chest. “This is not the same man.”

And so was born Amagugu Am-atsha, an ensemble of men, some ex-convicts and some completely without police records, all dedicated to gospel music and keeping young people out of prison.

Norman describes the sound of the choir as being just like Ladys-mith Black Mambazo. They are even recording artists – in 2008, the group went to Johannesburg to record their first album. It sold every copy that was produced.

The choir began with four men, all friends of Norman’s from prison.

They wanted to use skills they had learnt inside jail to kickstart their lives outside, and also to show peo-ple what they had achieved while locked away from society. Of the original quartet, three are still sing-ing. The other one grew frustrated with life on the quiet side of the law, and is now back in prison.

It’s quite a change of pace, Norman explains, going from the life of a gang-ster to a choir singer. The men are at-tracted to the risk and the money and the reputation that can come with a life in the gangs. This is the reason for the tattoos that adorn his arms. “When you got a tattoo like this, you are the brave,” he says, recalling the pain and “street cred” that came with his many inkings.

He insists, however, that his gang and tattoo days are behind him, and that the images on his skin are marks of his past that bear no im-portance for his future. These stories will always be there though – the stories behind the words on his fore-arm that say “Sorry Mom”.

“I was there, and nothing can change that,” Norman finished. “You cannot change the past… but you can help change the future.”

Convict to choirmaster, rapist to singer

13 April 2012

Thembani Onceya [email protected]

Two years after construc-tion started, the residents of Transit Camp are still wait-

ing for their new RDP houses to be finally completed.

Grocott’s Mail visited the area on Wednesday to check on the project’s progress. Resident Funiwe Stamper said her house, started in 2010, was still unfinished.

“It has no window-glass, doors, taps or ceiling. The only thing it has is thousands of cracks,” said Stamper.

She said the shack she used to live in was bigger than the half-complet-ed structure she lived in now.

“They told me to destroy my shack so that they can build me a new RDP house. They built it – but they never completed it,” said Stamper.

“I used to have a six-room shack with a ceiling that didn’t leak, and windows with unbroken panes. My family fitted inside it – not like in this house where I cannot take a bath while my children are still around,” said Stamper.

Stamper said her house was the first one in the area to be started and that it was now the last one to be completed.

Community Liaison Officer, Mis-

ile Mentyisi, put the blame on gov-ernment officials.

“They don’t give are solid reasons for the project to be not completed at this point of time,” said Mentyisi.

He said the contractors were be-ginning a house and going on to an-other one without even completing the first one.

“There’s no 100% house here in Transit and that may be the fault of the department and his inspectors,” said Mentyisi.

He also claimed that the depart-ment employed people on the street who had never been trained to build a house.

The project steering committee chairperson, Andile Simemo, said that the project was supposed to be completed in one-year project, but had instead been dragged out over several.

“The foundation in my house is not yet been approved and it looks like it never will be,” said Simemo.

He said the project should have been completed on 28 March, but it seemed there was a lot still to be done it.

At the time of print, the Depart-ment of Human Settlements Com-munication Officer, Lwandile Sicwetsha, told Grocott’s Mail that he would answer questions when he was ready.

Transit Camp resident, Funiwe Stamper, stands at a window without a window-pane. She said her RDP house was the first one to be started, but it remains uncompleted. Photo: Thembani Onceya

Norman Plaatjie shows off the ink down his arms, although he insists the tattoos from his gang days are no longer meaningful to him. Photo: Jonathan Jones

Incomplete Transit Camp RDP houses “worse than shacks”

5Features 13 April 2012

Melanie Van [email protected]

It may not all be champagne and caviar dreams, but the Graham-stown Meals on Wheels Com-

munity Services branch has made and delivered cooked meals to vul-nerable citizens twice a week since 1992.

In July, Pick n Pay collected a full trolley of nonperishable groceries for the organisation, including a staggering 52.6kg of dry foodstuffs such as samp, pap, beans and rice. This has improved the organisation’s stocks for the moment and keeps quality meals rolling out.

Every Tuesday and Thursday the kitchen crew gather before 8am to fire up the stove and put together a healthy meal. Once known as Meals on Wheels for the Aged, the com-

munity service has now shifted its focus to include other vulnerable people.

Making it all happen is Gaelyn Grigg, who has been managing the branch for almost a year. Nomkhi-tha Xamyimpi and Nancy Kate have run the kitchen duties since 2002 and 1998 respectively.

The organisation occupies the premises at the Hayton Complex Senior Citizens Centre in Hill Street. Their menu offers favourites like beef stew with spinach and potato and battered fish with mash. Meals are complemented with simple des-serts like banana bread and peaches with custard.

Once the meals are packed, Kate and Xamyimpi take turns delivering meals with drivers Willie Erasmus and Bettie Smailes.

The Grahamstown branch gets

a subsidy from social development, allowing them to sell meals to pensioners for R10-R12 each. At a cost of R27 each to make, Meals on Wheels can supply 30-40 meals every twice weekly. All staff receive a small salary.

Besides their bi-weekly food de-liveries, this community service is currently involved in the recently developed Sandwich Project that delivers sandwiches to needy school children.

Around 27 sandwiches are deliv-ered to the Seventh-day Adventist Combined School in Joza, where this group of children has been identified as especially needy.

To contact Griggs about funding or donations call 046 622 9530 or 072 686 0524.

Rolling out meals for the needy17Grocott’s Mail Friday, 13 April 2012

GRADUATION

www.ru.ac.za/jobswww.humanjobs.co.za Human Communications (Cape)94331E

Recognising that diversity is important in achieving excellence, Rhodes Universityespecially encourages South African members of designated groups to apply

Closing date: 12:00 on Monday 23 April 2012.For application forms and full requirements, go to:

SUPPORTCaterer: Residential OperationsPurpose: The successful candidate will be responsible for the day to day running of a kitchen particularly withregards to the supervision of staff and the implementation of catering procedures and standards to ensure highquality service delivery.

Requirements: Relevant diploma (1 year) with four years’ relevant experience OR Matric with five years’ relevantexperience, Maths/Maths literacy at Matric level and two years’ supervisory experience.

Secretary (part time): English and LinguisticsPurpose: To provide an administrative and secretarial service for the department and specifically the ProfessionalCommunication course. This includes support to the staff of the department, the students of the department andother individuals/groups requiring the services/products of the department and the course in particular.

Requirements: Grade 12 with a secretarial/administrative diploma or certificate with 1 year’s relevant workexperience OR Grade 12 with 2 years’ relevant work experience.

Workshop Assistant (2 Year Contract): Fine ArtPurpose: To support the Principal Technical Officer by overseeing the use of maintenance and control of thedepartmental mechanical and woodworking workshop. To control specialised tools and mechanical equipmentand assist students with technical processes and procedures within the facility, showing students how to workwith machines and how to conduct themselves in the workshop. Regulate, check and supervise Health, Safety andSecurity imperatives in the facility. Support departmental PTO when necessary in complex fabrication and exhibitioninstallation.

Requirements: Grade 12 with 3 years’ relevant experience OR Grade 10 with 5 years’ relevant experience.

★

★

★

Convict to choirmasterCHELSEA GEACH

It’s not every day that someone turns their life around for the better. In fact, redemp-tion stories have, thanks to Hollywood,

become clichéd and unbelievable. But in Xolani, just a few minutes outside of central Grahamstown, one ex-convict has really tuned out his transgressions and crooned his way be-yond a life of crime.

Meet Norman Plaatjie: a father, a singer, a convicted rapist. He spent seven years in prison, from 1999 to May 2006, and emerged from his cell the leader of a gospel choir now bringing music and worship to the streets of Grahamstown.

He was born here, in the same Xolani house he still frequents to visit his mother and 16-year-old daughter. Along with three broth-ers and one sister, he grew up and attended school in Tantyi Lower. In 1985, when riots and vandalism made schooling here impossible, Norman left to complete Grade 7 in the Ciskei, then returned for Grade 8 at Nombulelo.

This was as far as his school career went. “I left because of peer pressure at the time,” he says. “The guys were drinking, smoking, eve-rything – there’s no time for school.” Norman isn’t shy about claiming his title as a gangster, both inside and out the penitentiary walls.

But there is one thing he wishes he had learnt back in school: the consequences of a life of crime. “If I had met someone before who had been to prison and told me what it was like, I would not have gone to prison,” he says.

This is the reason for Norman’s dedica-tion to telling young people that “prison is not right”. While he was still serving time, he went in prison overalls to speak at drug and crime awareness campaigns at schools around Gra-hamstown. Now that he is free, he continues spreading the word with his choir group.

Although according to this ex-con, prison isn’t always as bad as it’s cracked up to be. “Prison now is a place of safety, it is not the prison of the past ages,” says. “Today in prison you can learn, go to school, do Bible studies. Those who are there, they can re-habilitate themselves.”

It was at the prison Bible studies groups that Norman began to feel the change. “When I was outside, I didn’t even attend churches,” he says, telling the story of how he first became part of the Salvation Army

ministry. “But when I was in prison I sat down and thought, let me go there, let me join these guys.”

Norman knew that preaching was not for him, and was drawn instead into the music of ministry. He had always enjoyed singing at funerals and community events, and had per-formed as a spoken-word poet before, but be-gan taking singing seriously in his second year of prison time. “When I’m singing I can feel it in my heart,” he says, with his hand and gold-bangled wrist beating his chest. “This is not the same man.”

And so was born Amagugu Amatsha, an ensemble of men, some ex-convicts and some completely without police records, all dedicat-ed to gospel music and keeping young people out of prison.

Norman describes the sound of the choir as being just like Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They are even recording artists – in 2008, the group went to Johannesburg to record their first album. It sold every copy that was produced.

The choir began with four men, all friends of Norman’s from prison. They wanted to use the skills they had learnt inside jail to kickstart their lives outside, and also to show people what they had achieved while locked away from society. Of the original quartet, three are still singing. The other one grew frustrated with life on the quiet side of the law, and is now back in prison.

It’s quite a change of pace, Norman ex-plains, going from the life of a gangster to a choir singer. The men are attracted to the risk and the money and the reputation that can come with a life in the gangs. This is the rea-son for the tattoos that adorn his arms. “When you got a tattoo like this, you are the brave,” he says, recalling the pain and “street cred” that came with his many inkings.

He insists, however, that his gang and tat-too days are behind him, and that the images

on his skin are marks of his past that bear no importance for his future. The sto-

ries will always be there though – the stories behind a handgun perma-

nently painted on his right shoul-der, or the words on his forearm that say “Sorry Mom”.

“I was there, and nothing can change that,” he says. “You can-not change the past… but you can

help change the fu-

ture.”

DEAR Graduate,Today is a wonderful day, no? It’s not too long ago when you were a wide-eyed teenager with braces, tagging behind your parents as you were guided around the Rhodes campus during O-Week. You clung to your parents as they prepared to drive away and leave you on your own for the fi rst time in your life.

Remember how well-dressed you were in the fi rst few weeks of Term 1 in fi rst year? You were not alone, as every fi rst year’s Sunday best is often what you wore to class. That is until you all discovered that you could wear pyjamas to class, and to Pick n Pay. You cared what people said about you. If you had a “dawnie” – for the uninitiated, it’s a lecture that starts around 7am – the PJs were not coming off.

Remember the fi rst night without your parents around? When you could not believe you could go out and stay out? True, the Wardens warned you that drinking wasn’t too good. But what did the middle-aged you-know-who know about life? They all had a great future be-hind them. Plus you had a date at the Rat & Parrot and its New Street cousins.

There was SWOT week, when you did most of your studying; there was DC++ where you got your favourite series for free; there was some sports – never mind which, since you were never good at any. There

was that boyfriend (or girlfriend) whom you could not wait to ditch as soon as you’d found your feet; and the dodgy hook-up that gave you crabs after a drunken night out. There was that digsmate in third year who just never showered! That was your life at Rhodes.

One year turned into two years; which turned into three years; and four years; and now. You survived it all, and today is the crowning.

The good news is that school is over.

But that’s also the bad news.

Ideally, you should not be getting any more credit from the Bank of Mom and Dad, and should instead compete with the rest of us for the attention of Standard Bank Co. You will soon learn to keep an eye on the Reserve Bank and its prime lending rate.

You should be trying to get a job too.

Or if you’re lucky (or con-nected), you will be jetting off to one of two places: South Korea (to teach English), or Europe (to wash dishes).

The Korea story is good fi -nancially and I’d encourage it since you can apparently pay off all your student loans from a single year in Seoul. I know

you might much prefer to do dishes, wait tables, or look af-ter little children in Berlin or Madrid. Trouble is that every young person in the EU has already thought of the same thing. Oh, and those guys are local – which puts you at a dis-tinct disadvantage. For once, everyone will know that you are from “Africa”! But go on; there is no harm in trying. My own – un-solicited – view is that I would not wash dishes, or look after a snivelling two-year old just so I can save airfare to Thailand. But that’s just me.

Of course you can always stay in SA and get the kind of job for which you’ve just qualifi ed.

I am aware of the complica-tions related to that these days. It helps to be black; a woman; or disabled. In fact, the perfect job-seeker today appears to be a one-legged African woman with a degree in Computer Sci-ence. You might not be any of those things, but there are million other jobs. In fact, SA’s biggest problem with its young people is how little they are in-terested in actual work. Put it a different way: your parents should be disappointed in you if you are happier fl ipping burgers in Piccadilly Circus, than work-ing for Eskom.

If they are proud of you for this, tell your parents I am dis-appointed in them.

* Sim is not concernd that he never contributed a cent to

your education.

con, prison isn’t always as bad as it’s cracked up to be. “Prison now is a place of safety, it is not the prison of the

“Today in prison you can learn, go to school, do Bible studies. Those who are there, they can re-habilitate themselves.”

It was at the prison Bible studies groups that Norman began to feel the change. “When I was outside, I didn’t even attend churches,” he says, telling the story of how he first became part of the Salvation Army

too days are behind him, and that the images on his skin are marks of his past that bear

no importance for his future. The sto-ries will always be there though – the

stories behind a handgun perma-nently painted on his right shoul-der, or the words on his forearm that say “Sorry Mom”.

“I was there, and nothing can change that,” he says. “You can-not change the past… but you can

help change the fu-

ture.”

BRANDED FOR LIFE?... Norman

Plaatjie shows off the ink down

his arms, al-though he insists the tattoos from

his gang days are no longer

meaningful to him. Photo: Jonathan

Jones

Letter to an RU graduateSimKyazze

www.grocotts.co.za

Left: Nancy Kate, Nomkhitha Xamyimpi and Bettie Smailes dish up a chicken dinner complete with butternut and mushroom sauce.Right: Pick ‘n Pay branch man-ager Werner Pienaar helps the Meals on Wheels team offload the trolley full of donations collected by the store into the organisation’s 17 year old bak-kie in the Peppergrove center.Photos: Melanie Van Zyl

Felix [email protected]

Early every morning, Patrick Tiye gets up and prepares himself for work. He’s an entrepreneur, a busi-nessman, and the first thing he must always do is make sure that everything he needs for his enter-prise is in working order. But some of his business assets have a mind of their own.

Tiye is one of about 70 donkey cart owners in Grahamstown who face obstacles like keeping his don-keys from wandering off in the night, or being stolen by competitors.

Like many others, he uses his cart to collect and deliver firewood and timber for the construction of fences and houses in Grahamstown East. One of the biggest challenges he faces is the consistent theft of his donkeys. “Every week they steal my donkeys,” he told Grocott’s Mail.

Rival donkey owners, personal enemies, pranksters and even or-ganised donkey cart gangs have been accused of orchestrating the pervasive donkey theft.

Unfortunately, Tiye believes there is little that can be done to prevent these crimes. “When they can’t find a donkey, they just take any donkey,” he said. Another cart owner named Siya, who declined to give his sur-name, said donkeys are stolen with such regularity that they are practi-cally in public circulation.

One of the reasons for the wide-spread theft, according to Siya, is because donkey owners don’t have proper facilities to keep and look after the animals. Instead, they are allowed to roam the streets, often wandering off into the suburbs and posing a danger to motorists and endangering themselves.

According to municipal laws, donkeys cannot be branded, mak-ing it difficult to manage their own-ership.

Grahamstown Sheriff and chair-person of the Makana and Ndlambe Donkey Equine Livestock Associa-tion (MaNDELA) Annerie Wolma-rans has fought for the protection of donkeys for many years. She said most of Grahamstown’s donkeys are routinely abused, suffering beatings

and neglect. She suspects that this abuse may

be symptomatic of the widespread theft that the donkeys are subjected to, saying cart owners don’t respect donkeys they don’t own. “People take donkeys, then they abuse them and whip them,” she said.

The donkeys caught in residen-tial areas are routinely impounded by the municipality and taken to the SPCA. “They took my donkeys yesterday, so I must pay a fine to get them back,” Siya said.

He showed this reporter a ticket is-sued by the SPCA indicating a R300 fine for the impounding of two don-keys. “It’s a problem,” he said. “When the SPCA takes them, people will steal another donkey for their cart.”

The carts typically charge between R30 and R60 for a delivery of wood and only manage to make one deliv-ery in a day. Siya said he can’t afford to free his donkeys.

Wolmarans organises a monthly Donkey Clinic that offers free medi-cal services for the animals. Services include treatment of wounds, hoof care and de-worming medicine.

Donkeys lose in cart rivalries

Donkey carts are a common feature of Grahamstown’s streets. One owner says he can’t afford to free his don-keys, but the animals are stolen with such regularity that they are practically in public circulation. Photo: Felix Bodenstein

6Opinion & LettersA regular reader of Grocott’s Mail phoned in yester-day morning to complain that he had been mugged twice within a space of “twenty yards”. He said this was not terribly unusual, because he got mugged almost every time he went out on to the streets. As an elderly gentleman, he is clearly an easy target and the mug-gers wait for him, just as hyenas in the bush wait for their prey to go to the river.

We should be shocked that a resident of this town has lost count of the number times he has been mugged on our streets. In a normal society, if a person is mugged once, the police would rally around him, arrest the criminals and make sure that it didn’t hap-pen a second time. The police chief should personally ensure the safety of our senior citizens.

Apparently the several hundred policemen in this town do not see crime-prevention as part of their duties.

If you doubt this statement, then walk down High Street at the end of the month – it becomes a mug-gers’ paradise. You will see long queues of people lin-ing up outside banks to receive their pensions.

Bands of muggers happily walk up and down the lines, choosing who they are going to rob next, be-cause this is when they collect their monthly income and when police avoid the area like the plague.

It is shocking that the gentleman in question feels he has to phone the local newspaper to talk about being victimised. Why can he not talk to the police about the perpetual crime in Grahamstown?

We are also acutely aware of the absurdly high number of burglaries and attacks that occur every day in private residences. Windows and doors are bashed in, hands come through the windows and people are beaten in their own houses. Criminals routinely attack students to steal their phones and other electronic gadgets.

Crime is rampant in Grahamstown.This week another reader suggested that because

Grocott’s Mail does not publish the extent of the crime wave that is dragging this town down, this newspaper is somehow complicit in the general law-lessness.

The fact is we get pitifully little information from the police force and when we do manage to track down our own sources, the police bully victims into withholding information.

The comments above are a serious indictment on the local police force.

If, however any of the facts above are untrue, Gro-cott’s Mail will be happy to publish the police chief ’s rebuttal.

Living with crime

Established 1870South Africa’s Oldest Independent Newspaper

Incorporating The Grahamstown Journal (1831 – 1920) Vol. 143 No. 29

Published by the David Rabkin Project for Experiential Journalism (Pty) Ltd, 40 High Street,

Grahamstown, 6139Telephone: 046 622 7222 • Fax: 046 622 7282/3

Website: www.grocotts.co.zaPrinted by Paarlcoldset

Email Addresses:News: [email protected] Website: [email protected]: [email protected] or [email protected]: [email protected] Letters: [email protected] Manager: [email protected] news: [email protected]: Steven LangNew Media Editor: Michael SalzwedelStaff Reporters: Loyiso Dyongman, Desiree Schirlinger, Thembeni PlaatjieStaff Photographer/Reporter: Stephen PenneyAdvertising Manager: Ronél BowlesGeneral Manager: Steve Kromberg

Grocott’s Mail is published by the David Rabkin Project for Experiential Journalism, a company wholly owned by Rhodes University. The contents of this newspaper do not necessarily represent the views of either body.

I find myself wondering what Mr Wessels’s real agenda is? To give a fair comment would involve putting across both sides of the story, not merely extract snippets from a report that support your “argument”.

Why did he not include “The plan would involve transplanting about 40 percent of the 71 000 Bedouin residents in the unrecognized locales. The relocated Bedouin would receive both monetary compensation and alternate land.”

And perhaps “About 191 000 Bedouin currently live in the Negev, including about 120 000 in recognized communities, the largest of which is Rahat. Another 71 000 live in unrecognized locales. Data from the Prime Minister’s Office shows that Bedouin claim ownership of 640 000 dunams of land. (A dunam is about a quarter acre ). Unrecognized Bedouin settlements constitute 2.7 percent of the area of the Negev.” These quotes are direct from the website copy of the newspaper http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/netanyahu-s-office-promoting-plan-to-relocate-30-000-bedouin-1.365409)

In terms of Mr Wessels’s reasoning, it could be said that our present government is guilty of gross racial discrimination when it insists on moving squatters from unsafe or unserviced locales to areas where the residents can be better cared for.

I am still trying find anywhere in the quoted report that states – or even hints at – systematic cleansing of Bedouins.

I am not the one hiding behind distortions, and only use a pseudonym because I have previously been subject to a disciplinary hearing by my employers for a letter written to Grocott’s that they felt had a detrimen-tal effect on their business.

Still not so blonde

Bedouin article – reflect both sides of the story

What is it about the State of Israel that sends humani-tarians such as Paul Wessels through the roof and blinds them to the real humanitarian oppression that afflicts the whole Middle East? (Not-so blond really? Grocott’s Mail 5 April 2012)

The Syrian army is indiscriminately bombarding the residents of Homs killing thousands, if not tens of thou-sands of people and that does not bother Mr Wessels and his fellow anti Israelis at all.

The most oppressed people in the region are the Kurds and their plight gets nary a mention from those who lambaste Israel on “humanitarian” grounds.

Since the fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt the Coptic Christian minority in that country has come under sustained and violent attack and there is no men-tion of them. So, too, the people of the Darfur region of Sudan received no succour from those who complain of the “Ethnic Cleansing” of the Bedouins from the Negev while they were being ethnically cleansed.

Recently Al Jazeera screened a programme of refu-gees crossing the Sinai in an attempt to flee to Israel, and being kidnapped and murdered by Bedouin gangs for their body parts.

If Israel is so bad, why are poor, desperate people

trying to flee to the country, and why are Israel’s critics so silent about their plight?

While people protest against the “apartheid wall” in Israel they remain silent on the nearby wall that straddles Cyprus. They are very quick to accuse Israel of being “racist” and yet they remained silent when the head of Hezbollah publicly stated, “What a pity that not all Jews live in Israel. That way we could kill them in one blow instead of going after them one by one”.

Where have the Jews heard that kind of language before? Perhaps that is why they built that wall.

It is good that Mr Wessels quotes Haaretz. Can he name another country in the area which has a newspa-per that has been a legal and above-board critic of the policies of its government for so long?

Of course he can’t, for despite its faults, the entity he hates so much happens to be the oldest democracy in the Middle East. For decades it was the only country in the region where Muslim women had the right to vote. Israel’s critics remain silent on that point as well.

The anti-Israel crowd can protest against the policies of the Israeli government all they like, but until they are equally vociferous about the other, greater, incidents of human rights abuses in the Middle East, their com-plaints will ring hollow in this gentile’s ears. However I suspect that it is not Israel’s policies, but its existence, that causes them so much anguish.

Open your eyes to other Middle East Abuses

Contact us:Email: [email protected]: [email protected]: 082 049 2146Fax: 046 622 7282Snail-mail: The Editor, PO Box 103, Grahamstown 6140

For some time, about two weeks before Easter already, the water meter outside my house at 13 Hilda Mentoor Close, in Vergenoeg, has been leaking water on to the street. There is a huge amount of water going to waste, running down the road going nowhere. I have complained to the municipality over 13 times now. Every time I come into town I lodge a formal complaint.

A few municipal employees have come and fiddled at the meter, but have done nothing. They preach to us about preserving water and yet they allow this to happen.

Gary van Heerden

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Eddie Norton and Luthando for their excellent service and as-sistance in our recent water crisis in the Oatlands North area. They personally came to check if the water supply had returned after five days of no water.

The initially poor response of the water department to our enquiries was very frustrating, and it was a relief to have people like this coming on board to solve this problem, even if Eddie is retired. Just a pity the Makana Municipality can’t replace the retired staff with competent staff so that these ongoing water problems come to an end. We, after all, pay high rates for this bad service, which is unacceptable.

We called on many occasions to find out progress in the repairs with hardly any answers as to the cause or when the water supply would be restored. Once this was fixed, they personally came to make sure we were indeed getting the supply of water and at the required pressure. This was really going beyond the call of duty and we are most grateful for their assistance. Thanks, guys.

Oatlands North resident

Beyond call of duty in water crisis

On Wednesday 4 April 2012 I was in a hot cross bun (blind-tasting test) with Grocott’s and I am sorry I did not vote for Oatlands Bakery’s hot cross buns.

My sincere apologies to Oatlands Bakery. Mr Stevens means such a great deal, because of his ongoing generous donations received from him whenever I need some, like for the Red Cross and Donkey Carnival Events.

I also want to thank the Makana Municipality Parks Department, Mr Kevin Bates, for letting the egrets stay longer in the trees in High Street, for them to be able to grow in full and stretch their wings and fly away in peace.

Bakery support

No action over water

Terrence Bafo, thanks for your help three weeks ago and also for your visibility, as you are the most (often-)seen traffic officer around town. Some people say you are a pain in the butt, but I think they are wrong. Keep up the good work. I hope the others can do the same.

Keith

Good job Bafo

It is my privileged duty to thank Mr Eddy Norton and Mr Luthando for the exceptional service they offered me during the week-long water outage I had... they explained to me in full what the prob-lem was... Luthando, you and Eddie Norton are my heroes.

>>>>>

Before they suspend Ms Baart, the council must tell us who were the ghosts paid in the finance department. At finance they chased away Ms Dlulane because they were afraid that she is going 2 come up with something. Ms Baart do not go out alone - check for all the info. They will see what are politics.

>>>>>

Where are the staff members at FNB in High street? I see only one

teller every day (Ayanda). She’s their hard worker. Keep it up, Ayanda, you work hard sisi, every time I come to FNB I see you helping lots of people at this bank.

>>>>>

It’s just water problems and potholes around town and the problem is getting worse every day - but the money we have to pay for these services is on the in-crease. My whole holiday was disrupted by water outages, my car’s wheels get so many knocks from potholes and the muni just seems to feel noth-ing. Something needs to be done.

>>>>>>

Is it not ironical that a party such as the DA who professes the “fit for purpose” philosophy, now is quite happy with the incompetence of

Baart and her producing three consecutive audit disclaimers, numerous legal actions against the municipality and a dys-functional administration. Has cllr reynolds lost the plot? Is the DA now satisfied with mediocrity and maladministration, mismanagement and nepotism of the worst order?

>>>>>>

Another sports shop! For goodness’ sake there are already 2 in town (ALBANY & BIRCH’S).

>>>>>

Two vacant premises in High Street (CNA & Dunns). maybe we will get another Pep Stores and pizza place?

>>>>>

I would like to commend the Makana Municipality on their incompetence.

Can they not become more useless? Maybe the solution lies in employ-ing competent people and not all your useless friends. I am 7 days with-out water going on 8, and the muni does not an-swer their phones! Keep up the incompetence!

>>>>>

Police service stinks in this town. When a break-in happened over the weekend, phoning the police and finding emergency call operators laughing at you over the phone is enough to make your blood boil. And then to get the phone banged down in your ear. Mr Govender you must start acting against these members cause not even the major in charge could discipline the member. She refused to come out of the radio room. Who can the public turn to if the police have attitudes like these?

Text-speak: Send your sms to 082 049 2146

Letters

Code of ConductGrocott’s Mail subscribes to the Press Council’s Code of Conduct, which obliges us to report the news truthfully, accurately and fairly (www.presscouncil.org.za). If you think we are not living up to this, your first step is to contact the Editor. If you are still dissatisfied, we encourage you to contact the Press Ombudsman at 011 484 3612/8 or [email protected]

Seriola Lalandi Annerie Wolmarans

7Environment

Stephen [email protected]

The bi-annual Sasol Solar Challenge which runs from 18 to 29 Septem-ber will pass through Port Alfred on Monday 24 September.

The two-week-long solar chal-lenge starts in Pretoria on 18 Sep-tember and, spanning 5 400km, crosses to Cape Town, Oudtshoorn and East London (via Port Alfred) before finally heading back north to Pretoria.

The Challenge will see four con-testants participating, namely, Tokai University, Shinozuka, University of Kwazulu Natal and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

In the longest single stretch, the vehicles leave Oudtshoorn on 24 September for a sleepover in East London, with a 30-minute stop in Port Elizabeth.

According to race organiser, Win-

stone Jordaan, the first vehicle is ex-pected to pass through Port Alfred around 1pm and the last around 4pm.

Held under the auspices of Feder-ation Internationale de I’automobile (FIA), teams design and build their own vehicles in an exercise aimed at educating people in the arena of sci-ence, environmental consciousness, innovation, teamwork and business principles.

The Eastern Cape wishes the Nel-son Mandela Metroploitan Univer-sity the best of luck.

Port Alfred race checkpoint in Sasol Solar Challenge

Team NMMU, alongside their solar powered car, is set to participate in the Solar Chal-lenge later this month. Photo: Supplied

Adriana de Kock and Maricelle GouwsPressure is being put on local au-thorities to act fast with regards to problems associated with landfill sites. Mark Price, of Integrated Waste and Recycling Services (IWARS) in Grahamstown, discusses the impor-tance of proper recycling and land-fill management.

IWARS is a Grahamstown- based specialist waste company, estab-lished in 2008, which aims to cre-ate environmental solutions for the sustainable future of South Africa. Its programmes incorporate educa-tion, awareness programmes, skills development and correct implemen-tation of collection and separation methods.

Price explains the two-bag sys-tem of recycling used in Grahams-town. “It is so important to separate your waste for improved safety and efficient recyclability,” Price said. According to this system, residents place recyclable waste in orange or clear bags and the rest of their waste in black refuse bags.

Recyclable materials include pa-per, grey paper, cardboard, contami-nated plastic, bottles, carrier bags, cans, metal and tins. It is important to empty any containers and check that materials are dry before placing them into an orange bag. IWARS, however, does not currently recy-cle glass. “We do not take glass. We need to know that when a worker opens up an orange bag, they are not going to cut themselves,” Price said.

Price says that plastic is a valuable recyclable because it can produce polytimber, an innovative multi-purpose recycled plastic product used to make benches, chairs and decking. After Price’s recent talk about the importance of recycling, a demonstration was held at the lo-cal landfill, showing how polytimber is produced. He said it takes 1 800 plastic two-litre water bottles to construct a standard bench.

By using the two-bag system, workers can identify the recyclables easily and efficiently. Addressing a commonly expressed concern, Price said residents should not fear when different coloured bags were thrown together on to the municipal rub-bish truck. “When the workers see an orange bag on the landfill they

can quickly remove it and start sort-ing it. It really helps,” he said.

However, if Grahamstown resi-dents are concerned about where their waste goes, they can drop their orange bags at various spots on Wednesdays on the Rhodes Uni-versity campus. These spots are in-dicated by maps available at several points on campus.

Price could not stress enough the positive effects of proper recycling on towns. He said his company’s operations had had a great impact on Kenton-on-Sea’s Blue-Flag status and on Port Alfred being named the cleanest town of the year.

Price aims to get Grahamstown up to the same standards, while cre-ating jobs and helping create a sus-tainable environment.

Bringing home the message of recycling

13Grocott’s Mail Friday, 13 April 2012 NEWS

Visit www.grocotts.co.zafor your online fi x

ONLY RENTALS specialises in rental propertiesand is looking for a dynamic individual to join their team as

MARKETING AND RENTAL MANAGER

This is an ideal opportunity for a motivated individual tojoin this growing business and develop with it.

ONLY RENTALS is looking for a self-motivated person with well-developed communication skills (fluent in English).

The position involves all aspects of sales, marketing andcustomer care.

Applicants should have excellentinterpersonal, organisational and time-management skills

and a background in marketing or sales would be advantageous.

Working as an integral part of this small team, applicants will be requiredto be proactive and have an ability to deal with people at all levels.

Candidates must be fully conversant with Microsoft Office.An Estate Agents NQF4 qualification would be an advantage.

This position is based in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape.A competitive salary and commission structure will be offeredto the successful applicant. Please send a covering letter andCV with contact details and at least two contactable referees

to [email protected] or Only Rentals, P O Box 492, Ght, 6140Closing date: Monday 23rd April 2012.Telephone 083 294 7709 for queries.

Please note that unsuccessful candidates will not be contacted.

MUNICIPAL NOTICEAPPLICATIONS FOR GRANT-IN-AID IN LIEU OF RATES

Makana Municipality invites applications for Grant-in-Aid in Lieu of Rates for the 2012/2013 financial year from deserving organiza-tions/PBO’s such as (Welfare organizations, Museums, Sporting Bodies affiliated to Provincial/National governing bodies, Edu-care Centers, Arts and Culture Organizations, registered NGO’s engaged in Economic Development through job creation/SMME development/inward investment/training/communit development and tourism).

Application forms are available from the Finance Directorate (Old Perm Building-High Street) and can be obtained from Mrs. Diane May via e-mail address [email protected] or be contacted telephonically on (046) 603 6213. Completed applica-tion forms must be submitted on or before Tuesday, 29 May 2012 (12H00) to Mrs Diane May.

NO FAXED, E-MAILED AND LATE APPLICATION FORMS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

MS. N.L. BAARTMUNICIPAL MANAGER NOTICE NO.: 36/2012

reflect and imagine

...the making of a great place to be

200 years

Tickets on sale for variety fundraiser

Five thousand to feed at party of the yearKAWELA M’ULE

The staff of all 11 kitchens on the Rhodes campus will be working flat-out from early tomorrow to prepare for the big-

gest social event on the university’s calendar – the Graduation Garden Party, which caters for 5 000 graduates and their friends and families.

It’s a time where graduates can celebrate their achievements with those closest to them and they’ll be hoping for good weather – but none more so than Charmaine Avery, Manager of Functions and Events and Oppidan Catering at the university.

While tables and tents will be springing up on the Drostdy Lawns today, it’s only tomorrow that the food preparation starts.

All food is made fresh on the day, plated in the Drostdy dining hall and kept in a holding tent until guests arrive.

Platters consisting of cocktail snacks, sandwiches and savoury desserts, and bever-ages such as tea, coffee, juice and bottled wa-

ter are served at the event.Registrar Stephen Fourie, who oversees

graduation, said most universities hosted a cocktail party for graduation and the Rhodes Garden Party was one of the country’s biggest graduation events.

Avery has been catering for the Garden Party for the past seven years and it’s her job to make sure that the food is at its best quality when served.

“The Garden Party is the highlight of grad for us because that is when all catering staff and managers put everything aside and vol-unteer to help out with the event,” said Avery, who is also responsible for organising other graduation events.

Fourie said there was usually excellent at-tendance at the party, but the weather was an important factor.

If the weather was bad, the event might be cancelled, because there was no hall in Grahamstown large enough to accommodate that many guests.

BIG JOB... Manager of Functions and Events and Oppidan Catering at Rhodes University, Charmaine Avery, has her work cut out for her organising tomorrow’s Garden Party, as well as the other graduation functions this week.Photo: Kawela M’ule

ON Saturday 12 May at 7.30pm, the Rotary Club of Grahamstown Sunset will again be presenting Alive! at the Monument, the variety concert that showcases the musical and dance talent that exists in Grahamstown. All proceeds will go to Rotary’s community, health and education projects.

Last year’s show received rave reviews and this year we will present new items, interspersed with popular repeats.

Tickets (R50) are available at Kodak, Post Net, Pam Golding, PG Glass, Albany Sports, Café D’Vine, and at the Monument on the night.

For more details call 082 809 3395 or email [email protected]

Tickets (R50) are available at Kodak, Post Net, Pam Golding, PG Glass, Albany Sports, Café

Tickets (R50) are available at Kodak, Post Net, Pam Golding, PG Glass, Albany Sports, Café

Money behind the magicTHOBANI MESANI

THE National Arts Festival –going for its 38th year this winter – has proved its sustainability and has grown to be one of the leading arts fes-tivals in southern Africa.

The festival’s stated objectives are to deliv-er excellence, encourage innovation and devel-opment in the arts by providing a platform for both established and emerging South African artists; to create opportunities for collabora-tion with international artists and build new audiences.

Tony Lankester, National Arts Festival CEO, says all of this would not be possible if it weren’t for sponsors, who play a crucial role when it comes to funding the event. The festival’s total revenue is around R27 million, Lankester says, and about two-thirds of this comes from sponsors.

The majority of the funding from sponsors is used for productions and to pay artists on the festival’s main programme. The technical budget is about R4 million – this is for techni-cians, venue hire, seating arrangements and equipment.

The festival office has a policy of trying to spend as much money as it can in the Eastern Cape, rather than using it on businesses from outside the province, so the bulk of the equip-ment hired is from Port Elizabeth.

The funding generated from sponsors also helps provide employment opportunities to Grahamstown residents. The festival office hires about 400 temporary staff during this time and for 70% of the hired people the remu-

neration they receive is their only source of in-come for the whole year.

Lankester says they have an agree-ment with artists who are in the main pro-gramme as to how much their fees will be, so they have a guaranteed amount, unaf-fected by their productions’ ticket sales. Artists on the Fringe do not have set fees, but receive a stipend and 80% of the ticket sales. Ten percent goes to the festival office as an overhead fee and the rest goes to Computicket, as commission on ticket sales.

Lankester stresses that without the spon-sors the Festival isn’t sustainable.

“And that’s not unique to this festival. Every festival in the world operates like that,” Lankester said. He said a normal festival ticket ranged from R60 to R180, but if there were no sponsorships, tickets would cost R300 to R600. This means all tickets are subsidised by the money received from funders.

Lankester said about 90% of the festival’s funding for this year was in place, but there were some organisations which had not yet replied to the festival office’s sponsorship pro-posals. He said this year’s funding had been finalised on time, unlike last year.

“I mean last year we got some confirma-tion like just before the festival started which was very tricky,” said Lankester.

There are various kinds of festival spon-sors – they do not all give money.

Some organisations provide free legal ad-vice to the festival office and there are also media sponsors which give the festival free advertising.

ARTS CHAMPIONS... Tony Lankester, National Arts Festival CEO, says without sponsorship the festival would not survive. Photo: Carla Fuller

Sam [email protected]

The men aren’t searching for gold or diamonds, and this isn’t Kimberley or the Witwatersrand. These miners want sand, from the beaches of the Wild Coast.

All along this stretch of strand, informal sand miners, acting ille-gally, work to support a booming artisanal brick making and plaster industry. The practice often pits en-vironmentalists and the hospitality industry against rural communities who view it as a basic building ma-terial.

Miners like Victor Nkushubane, who live in the Willowvale Dis-trict of the former Transkei, defy the law twice a week sometimes in their efforts to serve their growing customer base of brickmakers and homeowners. In repeated visits to one stretch of beach known for its accessibility, this reporter encoun-tered several teams shovelling five, seven, and eight-ton trucks full of beach sand.

Like many problems of sustain-able development in South Africa, the concerns of the poor and unem-ployed are often pitted against the integrity of the country’s eco- sys-tems. Illegal beach sand is an infor-

mal activity that employs a handful for a few day’s work. But while a truckload only yields R 500 in profit now, larger amounts of sand could be extracted as the demand for con-struction material increases.

According to South African law, any person who mines any mineral (including sand) without a permit is liable to pay a R100 000 fine or face imprisonment for up to two years. In practice, along much of the Wild Coast this has meant that miners may pay a penalty of up to R2500. This sum is often two-and-a-half times the monthly house- hold income.

“We only have one legal mine in the Eastern Cape where dune sand is being mined. This is done from a back dune and cannot be classified as beach sand”, says Department of Mineral Re sources (DMR) spokes-person Zingaphi Jakuja. “All other forms are illegal.”

On almost every homestead in rural Mbashe, a Wild Coast local municipality, there is a structure that is either being built or modi-fied. The ubiquitous rondavel, the “six-side” and long house all require bricks and plaster — much of them made from beach sand.

Mbashe residents like Xolisa Ncobo have been buying beach sand

from illicit miners and building their homesteads with it for decades.

“We need the sand to do anything here — everyone uses it,” says Nco-bo. “We are poor here and we can-not buy those fancy red bricks that you have.”

Indeed, at R1 200 for 10 tons of beach sand, or R750 for eight tons, the most commonly cited prices in discussions with sellers, one can build a moderately sized rondavel. Bernard Mini, a local brickmaker who uses illegal beach sand, notes that factory bricks are much more expensive.

“People will have to pay two times as much for the red ones,” he says, referring to the bricks by their dis-tinctive clay content, “but who will do [this]? Only the big men, the rich men.”

A review of the available options at Transkei establishments confirms this. At Buildrite bricks range between R10.95 and R9.35 in price, whereas artisanal brickmakers charge R5 a brick. A typical rondavel requires 2 500 bricks, most for walls.

Many hoteliers remain uncon-vinced by a pure supply-and-demand economic argument. A businessper-son from along the coast, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from miners, says

that mining is out of control. She says the government is the culprit.

“What the government needs to do, [Department of] Mining, is to control this. It’s completely out of hand,” she says, citing countless occasions when she’s informed au-thorities about miners, only to be falsely reassured that enforcement was being carried out.

Some environmental activists concerned with the Wild Coast go one step further in saying that the beaches are being destroyed for little more than greed, such as environ-mental activist and long-time Port St John’s resident John Costello.

“This isn’t about development or poverty; these are fallacies perpetrat-ed to allow the continued destruc-tion of our environment. Times have changed: There is no real poverty in the Transkei,” he insists.

“Sand [for construction] could be fairly and legally obtained if people here were more patient and thought about the future, instead of just fetching as much of it as they pos-sibly can.”

It is that last point that remains.

Cheap bricks prompt ‘beach theft’Three men shovel beach sand into a lorry bound for a brick factory.Photo: Sam Schramski

Staff Reporter

Doing their bit for National Arbor Week, Pam Golding Properties in Grahamstown planted a wild olive tree in the Umthathi Training Pro-ject’s Linomtha community garden.

Recognising the importance of Umthathi’s many efforts to improve the lives of local communities, the tree is an addition to one of the pro-ject’s many gardens.

Custodian of Umthathi, Lawrence Sisitka explained that the commu-nity garden is on land leased from Makana as part of the municipal-ity’s drive to improve conditions for local communities, and has been many years in the making.

Sisitka said the project has features including an area devoted to dem-onstration gardens in which vegeta-bles are cultivated by the Umthathi staff, “and a larger area dedicated as an indigenous plant centre where lo-cal indigenous plants are propagated, grown and sold”.

The largest area is devoted to the cultivation of vegetables for self-sufficiency and sale by local com-munity groups and individuals, he explained. “These community gar-deners are trained and supported in sustainable vegetable production by

the Umthathi trainers,” Sisitka added. Umthathi’s community garden

co-ordinator Sicelo Dyira invites applications from community groups for plots to grow vegetables at Linomtha. Dyira is hopeful that within the next six months the en-tire area will be under cultivation.

The produce from these gardens will help to improve the food se-curity of local communities, Dyira said, and in the process enables the gardeners to generate some income.

Sisitka said they intend to hold regular markets where Umthathi and the community gardeners will have the opportunity to sell their produce to local consumers.

Another upcoming event that township gardeners can look forward to is this year’s flower festival in early October. Entries for the Township Gardens section of the festival’s Gar-dens of Grahamstown competition are open until Friday 21 September.

Entry forms for this category are available from Umthathi Training Project at 23 Xhora Street in Exten-sion 7.

For questions about the Gardens of Grahamstown competition and the Linomtha gardening project contact Dyira at 046 637 0012.

Greenthumb Umthathi project garden success

13 April 2012

8Entertainment14 Grocott’s Mail Friday, 13 April 2012ENTERTAINMENT 15ENTERTAINMENT

7am YO.TV Crib Notes, 9am Dance Your Butt Off, 10am Generations, 12.20pm Infomercials, 1.30pm The Bball Show, 3pm Laduma: Absa Premiership, 7.30pm News, 8pm Laduma: Absa Premiership, 10.15pm Deliver Us From Eva.

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5am News, 6am Expresso, 9.30am What I Like About You, 10.30am Generations, 11.00am Isidingo, 1pm News, 6.30pm The Big Bang Theory, 7pm News, 7.30pm Isidingo: The Need, 8.01pm Gossip Girl, 11.10pm Total Dance.

7.05am Cool Catz, 8am Thomas & Friends, 9.05am Sistahood, 12.30pm e-Shibobo, 1.30pm The Planet's Funniest Animals, 4pm WWE, 6pm eNews, 6.05pm Breaking The Magician's Code.., 7pm eNews, 7.30pm The Showbiz Report, 8pm Surf's Up, 9.40pm The Moment After, 11.30pm World Combat League.

6am Ice Castles, 8am MasterChef South Africa, 10am CSI: Miami, 11am Blue Bloods, 12pm The Celebrity Apprentice, 1.30pm Got To Dance, 5pm Terra Nova, 8pm Missing, 10.45pm Mike & Molly, 11.35pm Lying Game, 11.15pm CSI.

6am Handy Manny, 8.30am Challenge SOS, 10am Victorious, 6pm Celebrity Biographies, 7pm News, 7.30pm The Sisterhood Of The Traveling..., 9.30pm Sport Wrap, 9.35pm The Bang Bang Club, 11.30pm CSI: Miami.

5.57am Op Pad, 7am Week-end Live, 9am House Call, 10.30am Wise Up!, 11am Keeping It Real, 12pm Mother Of All Professions, 1pm Muvhango, 3pm Late Night With Kgomotso, 4pm License To Wed, 7.30pm News, 8pm The Voice, 11pm Cold Case.SA

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6am Kids News And Current Affairs, 9am Generations, 10.30am Spirit Sundae, 1pm Lunch Time News, 2.30pm Matrics Uploaded, 3.20pm Infomercials, 6pm The Bold And The Beautiful, 7.30pm News, 8.30pm Zone 14, 10pm Rookie Blue.

6.31am Bonisanani, 8.30am YO.TV Team Green, 10am Spirit Sundae, 12pm Daddy 24/7, 1pm Roots, 2pm Infomercials, 3pm Matrics Uploaded, 5.30pm Gospel Gold, 6.30pm Sunday Live, 7.30pm News, 8pm BET Gospel Celebration 2011, 10pm Role Models.

5am Fun Factory, 6.30am Mickey Mouse Club House, 9.30am Isidingo: The Need Omnibus, 2pm Mr Bones 2: Back From The Past, 6pm Na-tional Geographic, 7pm News, 7.30pm Ugly Betty, 9.30pm Interface, 10pm What I Like About You, 11pm Two And A Half Men.

7.30am The Wild, 8.30am The Wild, 10am African Cats: Kingdom Of Courage, 12pm Grey's Anatomy, 2pm Lying Game, 3pm Missing, 7pm Carte Blanche, 8.05pm The Next Three Days, 9.55pm CSI: New York, 11.20pm CSI: New York.

5am Hallelujah Af-rica, 8.30am Hillsong, 9am Paddington Bear, 9.30am Shiz Niz, 10am Mona The Vampire, 12pm UEFA Magazine 2011/2012, 6pm eNews, 6.05pm AXN Action TV, 7.30pm Modern Family, 8pm Big Momma's House, 10.05pm Madame Sousatzka.

5am Infomercials, 11am Eastern Mosaic, 2.30pm Pa-sella, 3.30pm 7de Laan, 6pm News, 7pm Ga Re Dumele, 8pm Gospel Classics, 9pm Beauty, 10pm Monk, 11pm Ghost Whisperer.

5.30am Sunrise, 10am 3rd Degree, 10.30am Young And The Restless, 1pm News Day, 1.30pm WWE: NXT, 2.30pm Paddington Bear, 6pm eNews, 6.30pm Rhythm City, 7.30pm Scandal!, 8pm WWE Afterburn, 10.30pm So What.

6am Morning Live, 8am Infomercials, 10am Jakkals Jol, 11.50pm Dr Phil, 12.40pm Judge Mathis, 3pm 7de Laan, 5pm Batman: The Brave And The Bold, 5.30pm News, 6pm When Duty Calls, 7pm News, 9pm Muvhango, 10pm The Assassination Of Jesse James....

6am Expresso, 8.30am Dtv, 10.30am Generations, 7pm News, 7.30pm Isidingo: The Need, 8pm Survivor 19: Samoa, 9pm Sport Wrap, 9.40pm Rules Of Engagement, 10.10pm CSI: Miami, 11.10pm Desper-ate Housewives.

6am Hollywood's Top Ten, 9.30am Sunshine Cleaning, 11.30am Mike & Molly, 12pm Man Up, 1pm The Talk, 2pm American Idol, 6pm Got To Dance, 8.30pm The Good Wife, 9:30pm Private Practice, 10.30pm Welcome To The Rileys.

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6am Morning Live, 8am Infomercials, 9.50am Magic Cellar, 10.50am Ratanang, 11.50am Nanny 911, 6.30pm 7de Laan, 7pm News, 7.30pm Noot Vir Noot, 9pm Mmampodi, 9.30pm Powerball, 10.30pm Athletics Yellow Pages SA Senior.

5.10am The Talk, 7pm The Wild, 9.30am Hop, 1pm The Talk, 3pm Carte Blanche,4pm Desperate Housewives, 5pm Blue Bloods, 6pm Mike & Molly, 7.30pm Wipeout, 8.30pm Lying Game, 9.30pm Game Of Thrones, 11.30pm Splice.

8am eNews Sunrise, 10am Mad About You, 11.30am 3rd Degree, 1.30pm WWE Smackdown!, 2.30pm Silver Wolf, 5.30pm Medical Detectives, 7pm eNews, 7.30pm Club 808: Make Some Noise, 8.30pm Ring Of Fire II: Blood And Steel, 10.30pm EFC Africa.

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Puzzle 16 Fiendish Book 2The solution will be published on Tuesday, 17 April 2012.

HOW TO PLAY: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. No number can be repeated in any row, column or box. Solution for Thursday, 5 April

APRIL 13 to APRIL 19

Peppergrove Mall, GrahamstownTel: (046) 622 3440, Fax: (046) 622 8368

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Have your say SMS 082 049 2146

Riveting reads in Van Schaik book give-awayGrocott’s Mail and Van Schaik bookstore are having their monthly competition.

To win one of two books offered as prizes, all you need to do is answer this easy question:Who became President of South Africa after Thabo Mbeki?

This month’s prizes are: Eight Days in September by Frank Chikane or The Last Rhinos by Lawrence Anthony. All correct answers will be put in a hat and the two prizewinners will be drawn from

the pool. Entries can be emailed to [email protected] or dropped off in an envelope at 40 High Street. All entries must have a phone number or other daytime contact details.

The MagicAuthor: Rhonda Byrne

Cry HavocAuthor: Simon Mann

Hunger GamesAuthor: Suzanne Collins

Steve JobsAuthor: W Isaacson

Nicky & LouAuthor: Nataniël

Hunger Games: Catching fi reAuthor: Suzanne Collins

Hunger Games: MockingjayAuthor: Suzanne Collins

Inside Coca-ColaAuthor: Neville Isdell

Life on Lawrence Anthony’s game reserve, Thula Thula, is rarely dull, what with spit-ting cobras endangering his rangers and the unpredict-able behaviour of his herd of elephants.

But at least his orphaned rhino Heidi is calm around people, and a favourite of staff

and guests alike. Until she is brutally slaugh-tered for her horn. Fu-rious and heartsick, Lawrence heads off to track down the poach-ers, but also embarks on a bid to save the Congo’s last few northern white rhino from extinction.

Diplomatic efforts are failing, so he takes action himself, fl ying into a war zone to ne-gotiate with rebels. Will he survive his most

dangerous adventure yet, and will Thula Thula survive the drought that threatens the region?

Peopled with unforgetta-ble characters, from the local witch doctor to eccentric con-servationist Brendan and the elephants who have such an extraordinary bond with Law-rence, The Last Rhinos is a sometimes funny, sometimes moving, always gripping read.

2

The Last RhinosAuthor: Lawrence Anthony ISBN: 9870283071621

A riveting, behind-the-scenes account of the removal of Thabo Mbeki as President of South Africa, which exam-ines the build-up to events, describes the details of those seven days in September 2008 and explores Mbeki's legacy. “Eight days in Septem-ber” refers to the period in September 2008 when Thabo Mbeki was removed from of-fi ce as the President of South Africa. At the time, Frank

Chikane was the Sec-retary of Cabinet and Head (Director-Gener-al) of the Presidency and in that capacity he was responsible for managing the transition from Mbeki to Kgalema Motlanthe and then on to Jacob Zuma. He thus had a front row seat to the unfolding drama and was one of very few insiders to be privy to the transition in such a unique way. In July 2010

Chikane published a series of articles with Independent Newspa-pers that came to be known as the “Chikane Files”. These form the

basis of some of the content of this book (about a quarter of the book’s total contents), which Chikane says he feels compelled to tell from his per-spective in an effort to provide an insider’s account of this key historical period.

1

Eight Days in SeptemberAuthor: Frank Chikane ISBN: 9781770102217

Theatre at the heart of 2012 festivalJOSHUA OATES

ISMAIL Mahomed, the National Arts Fes-tival Director, said a number of interest-ing developments would be taking place at this year’s Festival.

“We are putting a spotlight on thea-tre this year, especially the solo acts,” Mahomed told Grocott’s Mail in an inter-view this week, as the Festival launches its 2012 programme. One of these solo acts will be world-renowned actor and au-thor, Pieter-Dirk Uys. Also in the line-up is Steven Cohen, a South African perform-ance artist who stages interventions in public spaces.

This year, the Festival will also be showcasing eight acts from France, in a collaborative effort.

Mahomed advises Festival-goers to watch Athol Fugard’s world premiere of The Blue Iris, as well as the Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners’ shows, as these form the core of this year’s programme.

A change this year is the conversion of the Thomas Pringle Gallery at the 1820 Settlers National Monument from an exhibition room to a performance venue for contemporary dance acts and some of the French performance acts.

“There will be a number of street per-formances springing up, guerrilla-style,” said Mahomed. These are likely to be un-expected and exciting, so Festival-goers should keep a lookout.

Mahomed plans the daily pro-gramme, which gets assessed every morning.

“I only get to see most of the perform-ances after the Festival, because I get locked in the offi ce,” he said, adding: “As a general rule, I do make it a point to see as much as possible.”

Ismail Mahomed. Photo: Desiree Schirlinger

Body partsJOSHUA OATES

Rhodes graduate Bailey Snyman brings a groundbreaking dance piece to this year’s Festival, exploring sexuality and violence.

One of the five Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners, Snyman’s work will feature on the main programme of the National Arts Festival from 28 June to 8 July.

Based on the novel Moffie by Andre Carl van der Merwe, the work aims to challenge percep-tions. Snyman will also showcase a new dance work, Carrying the Fire in September.

“Audiences at the 2012 National Arts Fes-tival can expect a work that is driven by my core research into sexuality and violence,” said Snyman. He said he wanted to create a visu-ally provocative, yet poetic dance work, which he hoped would challenge the dominant ideolo-gies and perceptions that society holds in the 21st century.

Snyman, 33, said that winning the award meant a lot to him and had been a personal goal for many years.

“I believe that it provides a great opportunity for me to develop and to expose my work to a greater audience,” he said.

The Standard Bank Young Artist Awards are given every year to young South African art-ists on the brink of national, and international acclaim.

The winners of the Standard Bank Young Artist Awards are given opportunities to represent South Africa on international stages, as well as develop and present new works to audiences from around the globe. They are given financial support and a slot in the National Arts Festival programme, which they can use as a platform for experimentation.

“This award is a reflection of the many years I have spent refining my craft as a dancer and chore-

ographer. It is a validation that hard work does pay off and that the arts community in South Africa recognises excellence,” Snyman said.

He graduated from Rhodes University with a Degree in Drama, Philosophy and Or-ganisational Psychology. He then went on to achieve a Masters Degree in Choreogra-phy, Contemporary Performance Stud-ies and Dance History.

In 2006, Snyman co-founded the Matchbox Theatre Collective with Rhodes alumnus Nicola Haskins. The company aims to promote secondary and tertiary theatre education.

Snyman and Haskins won a Standard Bank Gold Ovation Award at the Na-tional Arts Festival last year, for their work, The Anatomy of Weather. These awards recognise and celebrate innovation and excellence by high-lighting original, diverse and cutting edge produc-tions from the National Arts Festival each year.

Snyman is also cur-rently working on a number of projects in-cluding a proposal for his PhD, which inves-tigates the impact of HIV/Aids, crime and the performed body and choreo-graphic process. See page 19.

SHAPING ATTITUDES... Bailey Snyman and Nicola Haskins rehearse Anatomy of Weather for last year’s National Arts Festival. Photo: Supplied

“We are putting a spotlight on theatre this year, especially

the solo acts,”

Theatre at the heart of FestJoshua Oates [email protected]

Ismail Mahomed, the National Arts Festival Director, said a num-ber of interesting developments would be taking place at this year’s Festival.

“We are putting a spotlight on theatre this year, especially the solo acts,” Mahomed told Grocott’s Mail in an interview this week, as the Fes-tival launches its 2012 programme. One of these solo acts will be world-renowned actor and author, Pieter-Dirk Uys. Also in the line-up is Steven Cohen, a South African per-formance artist who stages interven-tions in public spaces.

This year, the Festival will also be showcasing eight acts from France, in a collaborative effort.

Mahomed advises Festival-goers to watch Athol Fugard’s world premiere of The Blue Iris, as

well as the Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners’ shows, as these form the core of this year’s programme.

A change this year is the conver-sion of the Thomas Pringle Gallery at the 1820 Settlers National Monu-ment from an exhibition room to a performance venue for contem-porary dance acts and some of the French performance acts.

“There will be a number of street performances springing up, guerril-la-style,” said Mahomed. These are likely to be unexpected and excit-ing, so Festival-goers should keep a lookout.

Mahomed plans the daily pro-gramme, which gets assessed every morning.

“I only get to see most of the per-formances after the Festival, because I get locked in the office,” he said, adding: “As a general rule, I do make it a point to see as much as possible.”

Joshua Oates [email protected]

Rhodes graduate Bailey Snyman brings a groundbreaking dance piece to this year’s Festival, exploring sexuality and violence. One of the five Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners, Snyman’s work will feature on the main programme of the National Arts Festival from 28 June to 8 July.

Based on the novel Moffie by An-dre Carl van der Merwe, the work aims to challenge perceptions. Sny-man will also showcase a new dance work, Carrying the Fire in September.

“Audiences at the 2012 National Arts Festival can expect a work that is driven by my core research into sexuality and violence,” said Snyman. He said he wanted to create a visually provocative, yet poetic dance work, which he hoped would challenge the dominant ideologies and percep-tions that society holds in the 21st century.

Snyman, 33, said that winning the award meant a lot to him and had been a personal goal for many years.

“I believe that it provides a great opportunity for me to develop and to expose my work to a greater audi-ence,” he said.

The Standard Bank Young Art-ist Awards are given every year to young South African artists on the brink of national, and international acclaim.

The winners of the Standard Bank Young Artist Awards are given op-portunities to represent South Af-rica on international stages, as well

as develop and present new works to audiences from around the globe. They are given financial support and a slot in the National Arts Festival programme, which they can use as a platform for experimentation.

“This award is the reflec-tion of many years I have spent refining my craft as a dancer and choreographer. It is a validation that hard work does pay off and that the arts community in South Africa recognises excellence,” Sny-man said.

He graduated from Rhodes Uni-versity with a Degree in Drama, Philosophy and Organisational Psy-chology. He then went on to achieve a Masters Degree in Choreography, Contemporary Performance Studies and Dance History.

In 2006, Snyman co-founded the Matchbox Theatre Collective with Rhodes alumnus Nicola Haskins. The company aims to promote sec-ondary and tertiary theatre educa-tion.

Snyman and Haskins won a Standard Bank Gold Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival last year, for their work, The Anatomy of Weather. These awards recognise and celebrate innovation and excel-lence by highlighting original, di-verse and cutting edge productions from the National Arts Festival each year.

Snyman is also currently working on a number of projects including a proposal for his PhD, which in-vestigates the impact of HIV/Aids, crime and the performed body and choreographic process.

Body Parts

Bailey Snyman and Nicola Haskins rehearse Anatomy of Weather for last year’s National Arts festival. Photo: Supplied

Thobani [email protected]

The National Arts Festival is going for its 38th year this winter. It has proved its sustainability and has grown to be one of the leading arts festivals in southern Africa.

The festival’s stated objectives are to deliver excellence, encourage in-novation and development in the arts by providing a platform for both established and emerging South Af-rican artists, it creates opportunities for collaboration with international artists and builds new audiences.

Tony Lankester, National Arts Festival CEO, says all of this would not be possible if it weren’t for spon-sors, who play a crucial role when it comes to funding the event. The festival’s total revenue is around R27 million, says Lankester , and about two-thirds of this comes from spon-sors.

The majority of the funding from sponsors is used for productions and to pay artists on the festival’s main programme. The technical budget is about R4 million – this is for technicians, venue hire, seating arrangements and equipment.

The festival office has a policy of trying to spend as much money as it can in the Eastern Cape, rather than using it on businesses from outside the province, so the bulk of

the equipment hired is from Port Elizabeth.

The funding generated from sponsors also helps provide employ-ment opportunities to Grahams-town residents. The festival office hires about 400 temporary staff during this time and for 70% of the hired people the remuneration they receive is their only source of in-come for the whole year.

Lankester says they have an agreement with artists who are in the main programme as to how much their fees will be, so they have a guaranteed amount, unaffected by their productions’ ticket sales. Artists on the Fringe do not have set fees, but receive a stipend and 80% of the ticket sales. Ten percent goes to the festival office as an overhead fee and the rest goes to Computick-et, as commission on ticket sales.

Lankester stresses that without the sponsors the Festival isn’t sus-tainable.

“And that’s not unique to this fes-tival. Every festival in the world op-erates like that,” Lankester said. He said a normal festival ticket ranged from R60 to R180, but if there were no sponsorships, tickets would cost R300 to R600. This means all tick-ets are subsidised by the money re-ceived from funders.

Lankester said about 90% of the festival’s funding for this year was in

The man behind the magic, Tony Lankester, CEO of the National Arts Festival confident about this years sponsors. Photo : Carla Fuller

place, but there were some organisa-tions which had not yet replied to the festival office’s sponsorship pro-posals. He said this year’s funding had been finalised on time, unlike last year.

“I mean last year we got some confirmation like just before the fes-tival started which was very tricky,” said Lankester.

There are various kinds of festi-val sponsors – they do not all give money.

Some organisations provide free legal advice to the festival office and there are also media sponsors which give the festival free advertising.

Sponsorship makes it all possible, Arts Fest CEO

Chelsea Rose [email protected]

The Big Apple will soon be welcoming local star Shaleeni Ranchhod, who leaves for New York tomorrow to begin her studies at the New York Film Academy. In September, the 18-year-old will begin a three-year specialisation in Musical Theatre.

The former DSG pupil gushed on the events thatbrought her this far:

“My friend phoned in as me and set up my audition date. I had to pre-pare a song and on the way to Plett Rage, I flew up to Joburg and per-formed in front of a panel of three judges.

I was the youngest applicant in the group of 600 people and most were in their 20s.”

After performing Michael Buble’s, Feeling Good, she was told on the spot that she and two others would be going to New York to attend one of the finest performing arts schools

in the world.The New York Film Academy

was founded on the philosophy of “learning by doing” combined with the best industry practices.

“I have always loved performing, as long as I can remember. From the age of three, my mom used to take me to the ballet. I remember watch-ing musical theatre, enthralled at the idea that it could one day be me up there.”

This could easily be a reality con-sidering that the likes of Steven Spielberg, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Glen Close and Sir Ben Kingsley are among the lecturers.

From DSG to NYC

13 April 2012

9Art Special 13 April 2012

Mikhael Subotzky: Beaufort West

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Nelson Mandela - For Die Vier Hoeke Pictures by Mikhael Subotzky

(all pics taken from http://www.subotzkystudio.com )

10Lifestyle 13 April 2012

Steven [email protected]

Craig Rippon loves olives. He speaks about them with a passion that lights

up his face and inspires visitors to buy armfuls of olive products before they leave his estate near Alicedale. Close to forty people joined the tour of Springvale Olive Estates at precisely 10:30 on Saturday morning at the start of a most enjoyable outing.

Rippon led the walking tour of the estate and did not stop talk-ing about the different types of olives and their relative strengths and weaknesses for two hours.

First we walked across the main road linking the N2 to Alicedale and then huffed and puffed up the hill to see rows upon rows of neatly aligned ol-ive trees.

Rippon has planted just over 7 000 trees of 12 varieties since he started the project in 2000. Most of the time he talked about the Mission olives, and the Man-zanillas that this crafty Western Cape farmer surreptitiously slipped in among the Mission

seedlings, but there were also the Kalamatas, the Frantoios and others with exotic names.

One of the visitors asked Rip-pon what was his favourite type of olive – a question he was una-ble to answer because he says he loves whatever is being harvest-ed at the moment. Why olives? After all, the Eastern Cape is not known as an olive producing re-gion. He explained that his fam-ily had bought the farm from the Wilmots in 1915 and ever since then his family raised sheep, cat-tle and even Angora goats.

However, he realised that stock farming was becoming more dif-ficult in the area as game farming gained momentum. The game farms allowed for the prolifera-tion of small predators such as jackals that frequently took his lambs. As the predators lived in a conservation area it became increasingly difficult for him to protect his flocks. He said that his grandfather had at one time planted mielies on the farm but baboons helped themselves to his crops too often. Olives, on the other hand, come straight off the trees with an unpalatably bitter taste, so they are hardly stolen by people or animals.

Rippon has six permanent staff members and up to 40 seasonal workers who help him man-age and harvest the olives. The groves cover roughly 34 hec-tares and can produce more than 100 tons of olives in a season. His best year was 2007 when he harvested 115 tons, but the long drought that followed slashed production drastically and he was forced to pump his dams dry just to keep the trees alive.

At the end of the tour, visitors were invited to taste the various types of olives produced at the estate, and of course everyone was trying to decide which type to buy and take home. Guests could then have lunch on the patio or a beautiful lawn outside the farmhouse.

Lea Davies from a farm in the Adelaide area and Lisa Mickel-wright, a teacher at DSG, pre-pared the platters artistically made up of various types of ol-ives, smoked ham and salami kebabs, cumin seed cheese, ol-ive tapenade and grapes.

Clean air, a selection of Medi-terranean style treats, a glass of wine and good weather made the outing a massive success for all concerned.

Speaking about what his most passionate about,Craig Rippon explains where it all began. Photo:Steven Lang

Strike oil: for the love of olives

Mikaila [email protected]

Bathurst was abuzz last Sunday as book-lovers flocked to the small town to enjoy the annual Book-fair.

The fair is currently in its 11th year and boasted a seemingly un-limited selection of second-hand books, laid out by a number of Ba-thurst residents as well as the Lower Albany Historical Society, Sunshine Coast Hospice, a stall in support of St John’s Church Restoration Fund and our local Fables Bookshop.

Owner of Fables Bookshop Ian Balchin said he had been here since the fair’s beginning and that it was always a worthwhile day out.

The fair was held at organiser Pe-ter Mosley’s house and attracted a large crowd. “It was a fabulous Book- fair, with great weather, lots and lots of books at real bargain prices and super food from Treat of Bathurst,” Mosley said.

All stalls donated R100 towards the Sunshine Coast Feeding Fund and managed to raise over R2 500 in total both from the Book-fair and a limerick reading at the Bathurst Arms.

Mosley organised a limerick com-petition and had numerous entries. The limericks were judged in two broad categories: under 16 and over 16.

The specifications for the limer-ick were that it should be about Ba-thurst or Port Alfred and/or relate to people or animals.

Rhodes University students Jona-than Stein, Martha Soteriades and Bianca Phillips all thoroughly en-joyed the fair. “I think every town should have one of these,” Soteriades said.

Phillips agreed that it was fantas-tic and that the variety was diverse. Stein also enjoyed the fair but felt like some books were missing: “It’s really great. I’ve bought seven books already and the prices are very rea-sonable.

There’s lots of popular fiction and great classics but it would be nice to have something in between,” he said. Fairgoer Glynis Furniss had a fabulous time: “I bought a mixture of books, some of which I have been looking for ,for ages, and I was so surprised to see them here. And the prices are ridiculous!”

Despite the limerick competition being over, Mosley encourages lo-cals and those from the surrounding areas to keep submitting limericks in order to compile a book of limer-icks from this year’s fair. Submission boxes can be found

at Bargain Books in Port Alfred, the Pig and Whistle in Bathurst, The Bathurst Arms, the Bathurst library or The Farmers’ Co-op in Bathurst.

Book-lovers gathered with hopes of finding their favourite books at low costs at the annual book-fair.Photo: Mikaila Thurgood

Bathurst book buzz

Chelsea Rose Farrelly [email protected]

The 2012 Matrics have the great pleas-ure of graduating at the end of the year with John ‘Spud’ Milton, South Africa’s favourite literary schoolboy.

The Spud novels were created by South African author, actor, play-wright and producer, John van de Ruit. The first instalment debuted in 2005 and was the winner of South Africa’s Booksellers’ Choice Award.

The wickedly funny novel by van de Ruit introduces 13-year-old Spud Milton, who is about to start his first year at an elite boys-only boarding school.

Armed with only his wits and his diary, Spud takes readers on a rowdy romp full of illegal midnight swims, raging hormones, and catastrophic holidays. Three books later and the final instalment, Spud – Exit, Pur-sued by a Bear finds Spud Milton returning to boarding school for his 1993 Matric year, his last as a schoolboy. Armed with a prefect tie

and a raging libido, Spud soon dis-covers that being a largish fish in a small pond has its challenges.

The final instalment is entertain-ing and promises fans all the belly laughs and tears That the previous books delivered, only coated with a the bitter-sweetness of knowing that this time when you turn the final page you will bid farewell to all your favourite characters.

At the recent launch in Sandton City, Joburg, van de Ruit comment-ed on how he felt about ending the series: “It has to end sometime, but as I was writing it and getting to the end I started getting a lump in my throat, saying goodbye not only to Spud but to so many characters...

We all dream of having a best-

selling novel that gets a movie made out of it. I put it out there and the people have spoken.” They have. In a country where best-sellers rarely pass 10 000 books, he has sold near-ly 600 000 copies.

The first book of the series was turned into a movie and the second, Spud – the madness continues, is currently shooting on location.

When asked by Alec Hogg on Money Web about his success, he elaborated, “As an artist or a creative person you buy your life back.”

You are able to operate on your own terms and create on your own terms.” This strange, sometimes wildly unbelievable world of boys shakily navigating their way towards manhood, is a must-read.

Exit - Spud

Pierre [email protected]

When friends tell me they’re working towards doing the Two Oceans

Marathon (there’s always one com-ing), I feel sorry for them. They tell me about that hour-a-day-on-the-tread- mill thing, assuming every-one does crazy things like this.

As if my days are really that empty.

I see no point in running if something is not chasing you. The most running I do is between the television and the bathroom in breaks – but I’ve successfully managed to scale that down, since I no longer have a TV.

Perhaps I won in the gene-pool lottery, as I somehow stay in acceptable form even after weeks-long junk food diets. Whatever the reason, I have no guilt when it comes to people talking about exercising, espe-cially going to the gym.

The general consensus among my friends is that gym makes you feel good and gives you that “I’m ready to rule the world”

feeling. Call it endorphins – or a symptom of indoctrination. Some say it helps with concen-tration (how bored do you have to be?), while others describe running on the same spot as ex-citing (enough said about that).

And what’s up with rolling in other peoples’ sweat?

When uncles or aunts give me that supposed-to-be guilt-in-ducing speech about how young people like myself should be at the peak of their fitness, I never let slide the opportunity to de-fend my position. After all, look where it brought them – nice and round or with aches and pains – or, worse, both.

Have they no idea how nature works? The golden rule un-derlying all of science and the natural world: conserve energy! Ask any science teacher, and they’ll tell you that electrons don’t go for workouts in the next energy orbit unless they have motivation i.e. got fused, or need bonding. The latter be-ing the only legitimate reason to go to a hell-hole like the gym (though I know of many better,

less sweaty places to go to for that purpose).

I’m convinced that whoever invented planking was faced with the same stupid comment about living an active lifestyle, and invented planking as a radical response.

Planking is a new sport in-vented around 2009 and is based on the mimicking of lazy squir-rels in a version of extreme ly-ing down.

There’s also a sport called ex-treme ironing – as if ironing were not already extreme. But it’s now considered an extreme sport, making it an addition to my list of sports I can now talk about doing.

Both these sports fall into the same category of sports like owling, horsemanning, Batman-ning, bed racing, competitive toe wrestling, cheese rolling, card-board-tube duel- ling, or club swinging for that matter.

All of them fit the Google definition of sport as “an activ-ity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against an-

other or others”.And all of them have organisa-

tions, associations, competitions and even awards and records. And they probably all beat the hell out of time-wasting, soul-killing gym workouts, golfing and fishing.

So when my science says no defence fails to deter stupid top-ics like becoming gym-active, I resort to a ‘if you can’t beat them join them” approach, in which I baffle them with all the new and extreme sports that they should try – two of which I’m practis-ing daily (planking and iron-ing). Mentioning the danger of these sports or that people have died practising it (some have received Darwin Awards after their deaths) should shut them up, or at the very least disturb their train of thought

with planking questions. And if they start talking about the meaninglessness of these ri-diculous sports, then I ask: How meaningful is running on the same spot or picking up heavy things while sit- ting in some-one else’s sweat?

Blood, sweat ‘n trane


Local swimming sensation Calvin Price is ready to dive into his prom-ising sporting career and leaves for the United States on Sunday to start a four-year scholarship and train-ing programme there at a university.

His mother Sheena Price, who is also his coach of 14 years, is burst-ing with pride and said her son has come a long way from the outdoor pool he used to train in, in the Free State town of Ficksburg. She said that they used to try to keep the pool heated with donkey and cow manure and “now he has a scholar-

ship to an American university!” Olivet Nazarene University in

Illinois is where Price is going and the institution’s head coach, Scott Teeters, said he has never come across a swimmer so hungry for success. Heavy words from a man who has over 25 years of experience on the pool deck and has coached four-time Olympic medallist Peter Vanderkaay. But he isn’t exaggerat-ing – Price managed to tackle the usual six month application and ad-min stint in just four weeks.

A Kingswood College matriculant of 2011, Price has been awarded a full sports scholarship to study and swim at Olivet, which is extremely rare. The United States is interna-

tionally known for its sporting and academic opportunities. “Calvin ap-plied at the perfect time when Teeters was desperately looking for a breast-stroker; we’ve been very lucky,” his mother said.

But it was much more than luck that brought Price to where he is today. For years he has trained rig-orously; during school holidays he trained for four hours every week-day and during term time he logged two and a half hours daily. He also swam for an hour and a half on Sat-urdays.

“Being able to get this far is just such a relief,” he said. “I’m over-whelmed with joy. Finally all the sacrifices I've made for swimming,

all the effort and time I’ve put in have paid off.”

Price said at times he had won-dered if all his sacrifices and dedi-cation had been worth it. “I had thought: Why have we put so much time and effort in all these years? Where has it taken us?” Then he met South African swimming champion Penny Heyns who gave a coaching clinic in Grahamstown earlier this year and she made him realise that he could make a career from swim-ming – if he knew the right avenues to take.

Price enlisted the help of a US business called American College Connection where agents contact learning institutions for athletes and

help them apply for bursaries. It is possible to contact the universities yourself, but although it’s cheaper this is a more taxing option.

Now Price has signed a four-year contract with Olivet, which stipulates that he is allowed to return home to compete in major galas. Teeters has already confirmed that he would like to accompany Price back to South Africa next year in April to swim in the South African National Aquatics Championships in Port Elizabeth.

But Price will also be coming home to see his family, including his sister, Tamlyn. “Seeing what's happened to my brother it’s inspired a lot of us to swim harder,” she said. “It’s going to be sad without him here though!”

Student Swimmer heads for US waters Price swam for Rhodes University during the Intervarsity tournament. Photo: Desiree Schirlinger

Wolves left sheepish Mvuzo [email protected]

The final week of the Rhodes University internal rugby league was crammed full of drama. The Wolves entered the last round of matches last Friday in pole position to make the playoffs at number three on the log. By the end of the match played against the Heathens at the Great Field, they were huddled at the centre of the field, concluding a season.

The internal league reached its finale with the shock realisation that the team that had played the most exciting rugby last year had tumbled to fifth place.

The first misfortune that befell the Wolves was the loss of points due to fielding more than six nonstudent players. This meant the battle for a place in the play-offs became a two-horse race between the Heathens and a re-surgent Hill.

Having lost most of those play-ers, they found themselves with a tight three that were as fickle as twigs in the wind.

Heathens took advantage and immediately put the Wolves un-der their boots, pinning them back with a good kicking game.

It was a matter of time be-fore the Heathens breached the Wolves line. With the amount of pressure applied early some-thing had to give, and it was a cheeky kick over the defence by the Heathens fly-half that did the trick.

Once the first loose thread was exposed, the rest of the Wolves outfit unravelled quickly. The defence were at sixes and sevens and played right into an opposi-tion that was hitting their stride.

The Heathens were like a cat toying with their prey. They dou-bled their points to 14 when the forwards bullied their way over after a solid few phases.

Although the Wolves pulled a try back in, it was not enough to match the four tries that were scored against them.

They stayed in the game and went toe to toe with the chal-lenger, but took too many shots to the head. By the end of the weekend the Wolves stumbled at the final hurdle while in an-other game, Hill showed they were championship material by beating the Dream Team.

Founders, Dream Team, Hill and Heathens will challenge for honours next term.

Chesley Daniels

Grahamstown Brumbies rugby teams suffered their worst de-feats in their 12-year existence against the strong and starstud-ded Nelson Mandela Metro Uni-versity (NMMU – Madibaz) on Friday afternoon at the Univer-sity Grounds in Port Elizabeth.

In their Grand Challenge Competition, Brumbies 1sts lost 137-5, while the Madibaz 1st Re-serves and 2nd XV teams also had record wins over Brumbies, with 84-6 and 85-6 respectively.

This weekend Brumbies take on PE Police at the Oval and they will play against former Spring-bok Sevens legend and former Brumbies teammate, Fabian Ju-ries and his brother Christopher, who represented SA Schools.

Juries says he’s looking forward to playing in Grahamstown again.

NMMU slaughter G’town Brumbies

11Sport 13 April 2012

Sports Diary

SportsTodayArchery –

The South African National ArcheryChampionships is being held at the RhodesUniversity Great Field. See report above.

Saturday 14 AprilTennis –

The Bathurst and Districts LawnTennis Association league starts this week-end with matches taking place across the district. A league (home side first):

Southwell vs Blaaukrantz, Grahamstown vs Seven Fountains, Kenton vs Port Alfred.

B league: Coombs vs Seven Fountains,Grahamstown vs Port Alfred, Kenton vs Blaaukrantz, Clumber vs Shaw Park, Southwell vs Sidbury.

C league:Kenton vs Salem,Salem vs Port Alfred, Seven Fountains vs Grahamstown,Shaw Park vs Coombs, Clumber vs Southwell.

Archery – The South African National ArcheryChampionships are being held at the RhodesUniversity Great Field. See report above.

Rugby – EPRU Wellman Harmse – Lily Whitevs Old Collegians and Wanderers vs Swallowsat Miki Yili. 1 st reserves at 2.10pm and 1stsat 3.30pm.

Football – Makana LFA league fixtures onFiddler’s Green: 9.30am - Maru vs YoungStars, 12.30pm – Mighty Chiefs vs Chelsea,2pm – Shooting Stars vs Linge Stars, 3.30pm- Amavototo vs Pioneers. Rhodes King Field:11am – Pillars vs Golden Stars, 1pm – Shin-ningStars vs Early Birds, 3pm – Black Starsvs Love and Peace.

Sunday 15 AprilFootball -

Makana LFA league fixtures on Fiddler’sGreen: 11am – Joza Callies vs GoldenBros, 1pm – New Seekers vs Italy.

Malibongwe Maxhawulana

A referee came under attack at Fid-dler’s Green last weekend during the Makana Local Football Asso-ciation’s (LFA) Easter tournament, almost ruining one of the games.

Defending Makana LFA league champions, Cameroon, were up against Golden Stars in the second match of the tournament. It was the second half of the match and the score was 5-2, with Cameroon on the losing end.

One of the Cameroon defenders was red-carded. When, a few min-utes later, a second Cameroon player committed a foul and was also red-carded, the idea of finishing the match with only nine in the line-up was all too much for the frustrated players. They rushed at referee Litha Tyala, who ran away, fearing for his own safety.

The Golden Stars players and

coaches then got involved, trying to stop the angry Cameroon players and president of the Makana LFA, Ayanda Kota, then stepped in.

It looked like the match would have to be stopped, apart from any-thing else because the referee was still in shock – his mouth was bleed-ing, apparently after a punch from one of the Cameroon players.

The league’s disciplinary commit-tee quickly met and everyone was expecting Cameroon to be expelled from the tournament but, as official Xolani Ncikwe explained later, in the spirit of the game the alleged puncher and the ref shook hands, the match continued and Cameroon played all their other scheduled matches.

Malibongwe Maxhawulana is an independent citizen journalist for Grocott’s Mail.

Ref attacked at match

Stephen [email protected]

More than 100 archers were in action yesterday at the start of the annual South

African National Archery Champi-onships on the Rhodes University Great Field.

Top archers from across the country, as well as a team of inter-national archers from Namibia are participating in the event hosted by the Eastern Cape Archery Association.

Archers arrived in town earlier this week, with their first official practice held on Wednesday. Yester-day began with a practice session, followed by the opening ceremony,

where Rhodes archers raised the South African flag, as well as archery flags, during the singing of the na-tional anthem.

In welcoming participants to the shoot during yesterday’s official open-ing ceremony, president of the South African National Archery Asso-ciation, Selwyn Moskovitz, said the first day’s event would determine the country’s archery champions in vari-ous categories.

The South African Na-tional Archery Association (Sanaa) Olympic Commission would also use the champs to identify and nurture talent for the 2016 Rio Olympics, according to Moskovitz.

The Fita round (scoring arrows)

and mixed team events took up the rest of the day.

The weekend’s shoot will also be used to determine who will repre-sent South Africa at the University Games in Spain, the archery world cup in the US as well as the Para-archery champs in Britain, all taking place in the next few months.

Rhodes University archers taking part are Lance Ho, Simon Naude, Et-tione Ferreira, Catherine Linklater, Kevin Lobb, Stuart Bodman and Leanne Poole.

Bodman, Naude and Ho make up the Eastern Cape Provincial team for their division.

Dave Martin has been chosen as the director of shoot for the event,

while Mike Wisch, of Rhodes, will be among a few judges who will un-dergo their practical judging exam to qualify as Continental Judges.

Robyn Martin, chairperson of the Rhodes Archery Club, said it was a great honour for Rhodes to have been chosen to host the event.

Today’s 720 round, elimina-tions to semifinals, got under way at 8.30am. The team matches start at 11.15am, followed by the mixed team matches at 12.30pm. Today’s competition is expected to end around 3pm.

The team events and medal matches will be held tomorrow. These will be followed later by the awards dinner in the evening.

Lance Ho (Rhodes) takes aim at the National Archery Championship. Photo: R. P. Mills

Top archers shoot it out

Malibongwe Maxhawulana

Only one of the 24 teams in-vited for the Makana Easter soccer tournament missed the opportunity of a guaranteed R 1 500 boost for the team, plus a possible share of the R27 000 prize purse for the top four teams.

Last weekend’s Makana Local Football Association event saw Joza Callies finishing fourth and walking away with R3 000.

A lot was expected from City Pi-rates, who play in the South African Football Association (Safa) Cacadu SAB league, but they finished third, winning R5 000.

Pillars were runners-up again, winning R8 000, and tournament favourites Makana Rhini United football club (Maru), who have not tasted defeat this season, won the R12 000 first prize. They beat Pillars in the final 1-0.

Maru head coach, Jeff Budaza, said they were looking forward to the play-offs for the Cacadu league, which will happen if they win the Makana league.

“We have one game in the league. We will win it, then take it from there,” Budaza said.

Team captain, Siyabonga Dumi-sa, thanked the supporters and his teammates.

Maru take Easter tourney gold

Chesley Daniels

In a surprising match between Nathaniel Nyaluza Secondary School and Mary Waters High School first rugby teams, Nyaluza clinched the win they’ve been wait-ing years for.

The match was a round robin fixture in the Closed Season Com-petition run by the Department of Eductaion and Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture.

Nyaluza faced old arch rivals, Mawas, in cold and windy condi-tions. In the first half Mawas winger Jermaine Walters scored a try, while Nyaluza flyhalf succeeded to slot in a penalty giving Mawas a narrow 5-3 lead at the break.

The Nyaluza side took full advan-tage of the strong wind behind them and a penalty to give them a 6-5 lead

with 15 minutes left to play. Mawas left winger Llewellyn Featherstone crossed over for his team’s second try as Mawas regained the lead 10-6.

With 10 minutes to play, Nyalu-za’s winger upped the pace to bring his side into the lead again, at 11-10. For the remainder of the game, Ma-was searched for the winner and launched wave after wave of attacks but solid defence from Nyaluza pre-vented them from scoring. Mawas also lost focus and made some bad decisions. The final whistle blew and Nyaluza won 11-10.

It has been a few years since Nyaluza last managed to beat Mawas. The curtain-raiser between the two schools’ second teams saw Mawas 2nds beat Nyaluza 19-0.

Chesley Daniels is an independent

citizen journalist for Grocott’s Mail.

Nyaluza 1sts shake losing streak against Mawas

13 April 2012www.grocotts.co.za

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Kawela M’ule k.m’[email protected]

Widespread water short-ages were experienced in Grahamstown during the

Easter holiday, with Westhill, the army base and parts of Oatlands North (along Kettlewell Street) being the hardest hit. Some areas water trucks were supplied to assist the residents, as municipal officials scrambled to find a long-term so-lution.

Thandy Matebese, Makana Mu-nicipality spokesperson, said that the on-going water supply interrup-tions in Grahamstown are a result of pipe bursts and valves that could no longer handle the pressure.

“Due to the population growth over the past years the demand on the infrastructure has increased and Grahamstown was not built to accommodate as many people as it does at present,” Matebese said.

“There have been no upgrades to the infrastructure due to lack of

funds and prioritisation,” he said, adding that efforts would rather be made to supply water to places that do not have a constant water sup-ply. He mentioned Joza as one of those parts of Grahamstown that re-ceive water for a limited time every day.

Matebese said that the municipality has applied for a R30m loan from the Development Bank of South Africa to upgrade the water infrastructure. The municipality plans to build a parallel water line from James Kley-nhans Water Treatment plant to the Botha Hill reservoir which sup-plies... water to Grahamstown East.

He explained that without either the James Kleynhans Water Treat-ment or Waainek Water Treatment Works plants being upgraded, the water pressure in certain sites, espe-cially on hills, would continue to be low or to be interrupted.

Matebese said that adding anoth-er water line will relieve the pressure being placed on the current water plants and water can be supplied more efficiently to residents.

Water shortages persist over Easter as infrastructure fails

Zamathiyane [email protected]

Jackson Mthembu, ANC spokes-person, and DA Shadow Minister, Marian Shinn, came to Grahams-town last Thursday to speak about problems facing the South African media today.

The talk was chaired by Prof Jane Duncan, who opened by expressing her concerns about the decline of media freedom in South Africa.

“The diversity of the media is not what it should be,” she said. “Print media is dominated by four large companies.

“There are worrying signs of a regression on the horizon,” Duncan went on. “Freedom House used to rate the South African media as free and just. Recently it just down-grad-ed that rating to ‘partly free’.”

Mthembu criticised the South African media for perhaps being too free – to the point where it is irre-sponsible – and expressed concern that journalism in the country is not adequately regulated and moni-tored.

“The media also needs to sub-scribe to values enshrined in South Africa, even the press cannot act outside these values. The press can-not be free outside the Constitu-tion,” he said.

Mthembu said he was concerned about the way in which the South African media operated outside their own regulations and some-times disrespected their own regu-lators.

“We need an independent regu-lator that watches that the media adheres to its own codes of conduct.

“Not a code that comes from the government, but that comes from you,” he said, addressing the jour-nalists present at the discussion.

“This regulator needs to ensure that bad journalists are removed

from the system,” he said. “It has never been our wish to see the press being regulated by government. We want the press to able to operate on its own.”

Mthembu then asked how might it be possible to ensure universal ac-cess to the media. “And how did we allow the industry to self-regulate to the extent of abusing the South Afri-can people?” he asked.

Mthembu echoed Duncan’s con-cerns that South African media is monopolised by four companies, as well as the fact that there is only a 4.4% representation of women in the media.

He said technology had a leading role in bringing about more me-dia diversity, which Shinn heartily agreed with. She said that if South Africans are serious about media diversity, “we should be using tech-nology to break up the old monopo-lies of the past and power blocks of media ownership”.

She said that the government needs to free up the regulatory load however, and put up the basic infra-structures that allow media diversity.

“Take the opportunity that tech-nology offers and let’s use it to break new ground. The opportunity is al-ready there, it’s just a matter of con-necting the dots,” said Shinn.

According to the head of Rhodes University’s journalism department, Larry Strelitz, the only serious threat the media faces is the Protection of Information Bill.

“Even though there are chal-lenges, people in the media have been able to overcome these. The South African Constitution allows journalists to exercise their power,” said Strelitz.

Radio Grahamstown also dedi-cated an hour of programming last Thursday to a discussion on media freedom and the climate in which South African media operates.

ANC and DA representatives debate on media freedom

Continued Page 2

Desiree Schirlinger [email protected]

Port Elizabeth detectives have ar-rested a suspect linked to the mur-der of Rhodes University Honours graduate Lelona Fufu.

On Monday The Herald reported that the Swartkops Murder and Robbery Unit, investigating Fufu’s case, was alerted by detectives that they held a rape suspect, who is believed to be connected to Fufu’s murder.

The man was arrested in Kamve-lihle last week and is currently being held in St Albans Prison. The Moth-erwell Police Station warrant officer Dumile Gwavu stated that the sus-pect would appear in the Mother-well court today. He confirmed that “in a preliminary hearing... the sus-pect will be charged with the mur-der of Lelona Fufu.”

Rhodes graduate murder, rape suspect arrested

Allen Street pipe burst damages businesses

A Makana Municipality truck pumps leaked water from a burst pipe on Allen Street on Friday morning. The leak caused extensive damage to shops in Pepper Grove Mall. Photo: Desiree Schirlinger

Overburdened infrastructure fails, damages property and restricts traffic


Flooding on Allen Street on Thursday morning caused havoc for shop owners and

commuters. A burst water pipe and blocked storm drain covered a great part of Allen Street and parts of Pepper Grove Mall with munici-pal water.

A security guard reported the prob-lem to one of the affected businesses, Insight Technology, at about 6.30am. The water main to the immediate area was shut off at 7.45am to stop the flow and allow repair work.

One of Makana Municipality’s honey-suckers was brought to pump water out of the flooded area.

The truck removed water for 12 1/2 hours before the level was low enough to allow a steady flow of traffic.

Insight technology co-owner, Craig Foord said he could not even imagine how much this disaster will cost them in damages but it will

be thousands of thousands of rands. Their Pepper Grove Mall premises was flooded, destroying computer servers, furniture and records.

Dr Oosthuizen’s offices, next door to Insight Technology, were similar-ly affected.

Thandy Matebese, Makana Mu-nicipality spokesperson, said the night flow pressure caused the old asbestos pipe section to burst. Re-pairs are under way.

“The infrastructure in Grahams-town is very old, we’re slowly replac-ing as much of it as we can,” said Matebese, however, “the new pipes we are laying are technically far su-perior to the old ones and are coping much better with the demands.”

According to Matebese, Ma-kana Municipality has increased the maintenance budget allowance over the past two financial years but at this stage pipes can only be replaces once they have failed.

Matebese added that Makana was replacing the damaged pipes with technically superior ones.

Cacadu rename push from district ANCYLLoyiso [email protected]

The ANC Youth League in Cacadu district is strongly pushing for its renaming and say they mean busi-ness.

The youth league wants to change Cacadu to the “Sarah Baartman dis-trict municipality”. Mabhuti Maty-umza, chairperson of Cacadu district ANCYL and Makana Municipal-ity councillor, said discussions have been on-going for years now and the youth league had decided it was time to revive the move.

They said support for the Sarah Baartman name had come from the notion that it truly acknowledged the demographics of the region.

“It unites the people of Cacadu, as well as acknowledging the role played by the Khoi-San people in the liberation struggle of South Af-rica” said Matyumza.

“This Cacadu name change is not something that has just come up. We looked at history – what role she played and where she came from,” Matyumza said.

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SportArchers take on Grahamstown2

Fishaways’ heist accusedseek bail 4

RDP house “worse than a shack”

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