Author: Sue Maclennan

Winds of up to 75km/h combined with overgrown vegetation wreaked havoc with power lines on Thursday 9 July with five teams from Makana’s Electricity Department expecting to be out well into the night restoring power across Makhanda. The South African Weather Service predicts less destructive 27km/h north-westerly winds for Makhanda Friday, with gale-force winds moving into other parts of the Eastern Cape interior. When Grocott’s Mail spoke to Makana Municipality’s electricity manager Mzomhle Radu after 7pm on Thursday night, he was still at work, co-ordinating five teams plus a cherrypicker and crane and didn’t expect to be home until well…

NOTE: The Department of Health has responded to questions about conditions in the Covid isolation unit at Settlers Hospital and this response is included below. As cases in Makhanda rapidly climb, private doctors, concerned about Settlers Hospital’s capacity to manage cases, have pleaded with the Department of Health to do whatever it takes to make the former Netcare section of Settlers Hospital available for all public and private Covid-19 cases. Their call comes amid claims that there is insufficient nursing care in the current isolation section, and doctors struggle to find beds for their patients in private hospitals in Port…

“’We would rather accompany you to a disciplinary inquiry than bury you in your grave.’ That’s what we are telling workers,” says Nehawu’s Provincial Secretary Miki Jaceni. Unions have vowed to stand by workers in Makhanda’s medical facilities, who say they haven’t been properly equipped. As case numbers rise rapidly among local health workers, so do their fears and concerns. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union has advised frontline workers in the province’s hospitals not to work where they don’t have appropriate personal protective equipment. Jaceni emphasised that his comments did not refer specifically to Settlers or Fort…

The South African Municipal Workers Union says Municipality staff will return to work only once they are satisfied that there are sufficient Covid-19 safety protocols in place. This comes as Makana announced today that its offices will re-open from 1 July. “We won’t allow any worker to return until a risk assessment plan is in place,” SAMWU Secretary for the Pinkie Ntsangana (Sarah Baartman) Region Wandile Duruwe told Grocott’s Mail. Duruwe said the plan should be as per the terms set out in the 4 June Government Gazette (see below) and entailed consultation with trade unions and the health and safety…

The Department of Agriculture will transfer the Fish River Sun land to the Prudhoe Community. This concludes a process that has taken 22 years and comes after the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by a rival land claim group, the Mazinini. In a statement explaining the significance of the appeal judgment, lawyers for the Prudhoe Community, the Legal Resources Centre, said the case dated back to December 1998 when the Prudhoe Community lodged their claim under the Restitution of Land Rights Act. They had claimed the restoration of farms between the Fish and Mpekweni rivers from which they…

Grey Dam at daybreak earlier this month. ‘ I am mostly a landscape photographer,’ says Tom Jeffery. ‘ I love to make images of urban and rural landscapes and seascapes, and I try to find ways to reconnect people with the city that we all love and which has suffered so in recent years. When the nation was placed on lockdown, I was forced to shift my focus from expansive landscapes to our garden and I hope the photos I shared brought some pleasure to the people who saw them. That said, I was ecstatic when Level 4 meant I…

Makana Mayor Mzukisi Mpahlwa has condemned the reported threats on Unemployed People’s leader Ayanda Kota’s life. This follows media reports that activists involved in the court case that led to January’s landmark ruling in the Grahamstown High Court had received threats, and that Kota and his family had been forced to leave town. On 14 January Judge Igna Stretch handed down a 117-page judgment that said Makana’s failure to ensure the provision of services to its community in a sustainable manner, to promote a safe and healthy environment, structure and manage its administration, budgeting and planning processes, prioritise the community’s needs and…

The Legal Resources Centre in Makhanda has urged residents to report sewerage spills to the municipality during the next few weeks. This follows a court order that requires Makana Municipality to urgently attend to ongoing sewerage spills, but also to submit a report to the court within 30 days, setting out all the active sewerage spills in Makhanda, together with a budget and a plan to fix them. Makana Municipality has less than two weeks to attend to ongoing sewage leaks affecting the homes of 10 Makhanda residents, according to an order handed down in the Grahamstown High Court on…

Staff from two quarantined shifts at the Makhanda ambulance base elected not to return to work this week. The emergency services workers are on the same shifts as two staff members who recently tested positive for Covid-19 and say they will return to work once they receive their own tests results, and their two colleagues test negative. The base, in Sunnyside, was closed on 15 May and two full shifts sent home to self isolate for a fortnight after the two employees received their results. The full staff complement of 69 had been tested for the coronavirus on 6 May…

It’s been difficult to decide what to include in this week’s Grocott’s Direct because there’s so much to share. Makana Municipality has lost its bid to appeal the 14 January judgment ordering that it be put under administration. Click here to read the full story. Key to the Unemployed People’s Movement’s campaigns was Gladys Mpepho, who passed away this week. Read the tributes here. Back to school – how do you feel? We look at local preparations for the imminent move back into classrooms. The National Arts Festival is well under way in its planning to stage a digital festival…