Fri, 3 Feb, 2012
A letter to Grocott’s from “Sleepless” asks if poultry may be kept in Grahamstown West. I had the same problem some years ago, in a leafy suburb. It was really stressful, this cock crowing at dawn and onwards.
When the owners were eventually persuaded to consider the neighbours, they took the bird elsewhere. Then a contingent of adults, i.e the parents and grown children came to tell me that their pet had died in the new situation. I just looked at them.
Is Grocott’s going to find out what steps Sleepless can lawfully take?
Chicken Soup
Fri, 3 Feb, 2012
Newcomers to town might be interested to know that there are quite a few feeding schemes in our area, and the GFA (Grahamstown Feeding Association) is one of them. It’s an NGO which runs three soup kitchens each weekday where soup/ milk and bread, at times with peanut butter, are distributed.
Last year GFA was able to feed 55 982 adults and 5 873 children – making a total of 61 854 meals – in addition to which over 570 food parcels were given out.
Each year local businesses, and other benefactors, (listed below), give generously, in cash and kind.
We are grateful to Grocott’s Mail for the opportunity to acknowledge the marvellous support that GFA received last year, from the following:
Rhodes University staff – our primary funder, without whose help we couldn’t carry on; The Community of the Resurrection – for all kinds of crucial support; The Municipality – for the use of the City Hall kitchen; Wylie’s Dairy – for thousands of litres of milk; Phoenix Roller Mills – for help with food parcels; Pick n Pay – for bread at reduced cost; Oatlands Bakery – for free bread; His Majesty’s Fruit & Veg – for free vegetables; Prof & Mrs Midgeley – for large consignments of soup powder, Videotronic, the Mustard Seed, and the library – for stocking/ selling food vouchers.
Thank you, too, to all Grahamstonians not mentioned here, who have contributed to helping those who suffer from hunger in our community.
Joan Kaye, Chairperson
(Please phone 046 622 9717 for more information).
Fri, 3 Feb, 2012
Keep those tyres rolling
Christina Scott’s Thursday 9pm English radio programme was called Science Matters. Since Christina’s death, the name has changed.
On 26 January 2012 Janne spoke of recycling tyres. The first step is to salvage the steel threads, which constitute about 16% of the tyre. The rubber then gets cut into small pieces... then I lost the details... I thought they were burnt to make electricity.
I scribbled down Janne's phone number 083 251 4325 to fill in the necessary dots.
I checked the phone number of Janne, who had been on radio. Yes, I had it right, but Janne told me very pleasantly to check out the website of Redisa. Then I saw an article about this in Grocott’s on Friday 27 Jan 2012, on Page 22.
How’s that for timing?
No Car
Fri, 3 Feb, 2012
Bird killings – pellet guns in the Kingswood area
Within just a few days I found six dead birds of different species in my garden. I asked Martin Villet, Professor of Zoology and Entomology at Rhodes University, to examine them. Prof Villet could identify when they had been killed and confirmed that they were all shot with a pellet gun.
Two baby birds in my neighbour’s garden were stranded, as their parents had been shot, and last year a domestic cat in the Kingswood area was also shot with a pellet gun.
Why would any decent human being enjoy such senseless killing just for sport?
While one does not need a license for a pellet gun, owners can still be charged for firing such a weapon in a built-up area or a public place without good reason. Further, it is illegal to use a pellet gun to damage property or abuse an animal. The senseless shooting of a domestic cat and birds in a suburb is animal abuse and illegal. This should be stopped.
Prof Ruth Simbao
Tue, 31 Jan, 2012
It was with great consternation that I heard this story recently. There are a couple of home owners having cottages built at Somerset Place since early last year. What I find appalling is the shoddy, rude and disrespectful manner in which the owners are treated by the contractors. There have been numerable
delays and excuses, but nobody takes the time or effort to inform the owners as to why.
There’s builder’s rubble littering the gardens and there has been no attempt to remove it. Some people are living on a building dump site. I might tell you these very same contractors are in church every week – how hypocritical! I wonder which God they are praying to, because the God I know would not treat people in such a despicable manner.
It all boils down to the way men treat women. They have no shame, but they (contractors) must remember they have wives, mothers and daughters and some day someone will hand out the same treatment to them.
Catch a wake-up guys. Do the ethical thing.
It’s the same with the Bishop of Grahamstown – embarking on a multi-million Rand building project that will only ever be used maybe three times a year. The fact that the building will need maintenance and care at a cost has not been considered?
Men and their egos. They need to ask themselves “What would Jesus do?”
Concerned citizen
Tue, 31 Jan, 2012
A rather serious accident occurred on Monday 16 January 2012 at the intersection of Bathurst and Beaufort Streets. I had heard about it in Grocott’s, but I found the article in edition 20/1/2012 very quiet. Were there no bystanders, eye witnesses to interview?
Curious non-bystander
Ed: I spoke to several bystanders in the immediate vicinity of the accident, but they gave conflicting accounts of what had taken place. At the end of the interviews, I did not know what had really taken place.
Police and traffic officials could not, or would not say anything about the accident.
Tue, 31 Jan, 2012
On the front page of Grocott’s 17 January 2012 the shoulders of Ayanda Kota’s shirt seem clean. On Page 2, a greater part of the front of the shirt is shown, looking clean.
Did Desiree Schirlinger take a photograph of the bloodstained shirt she writes of, saying Ayanda appeared in court in?
Enquirer
Ed: There is a bloodstain, but it is not clearly visible in the picture that was published.
Tue, 31 Jan, 2012
I know a number of excellent police officers of outstandingly good character.
I see and hear their friendly ways at the station. I marvel at them.
Fan of the Force
Tue, 31 Jan, 2012
My family and I lived in the Sabie Area for almost 30 years, the final few years in Sabie itself. Sabie, a small town in the Drakensburg foothills, in the Sabie River Valley! An area of supreme scenic beauty and tourism, hiking and mountain biking etc., that draws many people to the area.
The municipality cared for the town on a daily basis. No rubbish in sight in the early 90s. In the town centre the Anglican church designed by Sir Herbert Baker was built in 1904.
The whole church was surrounded by a large garden! It was well designed and restored in 1995-9.
Unfortunately by 2000 the scene of tranquillity changed. Instead, there was an air of neglect. Rubbish was clearly evident.
There was little or no interest on the part of the municipality to redress the decay and dirt.
The local timber mill closed, throwing hundreds of, mainly Sabie residents, out of work. I was recently told by a friend, who had lived in Sabie for around 35 years, that things had started to improve. If you are thinking the municipality had at long last shouldered its responsibilities, then you are very wrong.
Five unemployed local men – off their own bat – decided to clean up the town centre. Unasked, unpaid, they took up the daily task of cleaning the area.
Some weeks into their task they were approached by a stranger who asked who employed them. They told him their story of their voluntary decision to clean up Sabie centre and the stranger then asked if they would like to work for Eskom.
I’ll bet they couldn’t believe their ears! These men are now employed by Eskom.
The moral of the tale is clear: honest endeavour, determination and a desire to help the community was justly and handsomely rewarded! I like to think there are a number of unemployed people in Grahamstown who may be similarly motivated, but it’s a long shot.
Will a few “unemployed” in Grahamstown step forward and take the same path? I hope so.
Storyteller
Tue, 31 Jan, 2012
“Hijacker of the Gravy Train” is quite correct to protest vociferously about the choice of venue for the Municipal Strategic Planning Session. (Shame on Muni for luxury spending, Grocott’s 24 January 2012). The Democratic Alliance is not going to defend that choice as we protested equally vociferously when the decision was first announced. We trust that Mr Matebese as municipal spokesperson will note that in a press release.
However, “Mr Hijacker” asked “What boggles the mind is how Makana councillors can (including Opposition Councillors – Councillor Les Reynolds seems to have given his blessing, judging from his quoted statement in a separate article on Page 9 of your 20 January edition) honestly participate in this shindig and ‘freebie’ when they interact with under-development, unemployment and poverty in their constituencies and wards on a daily basis?”
That is a good question and Mr Hijacker and all the other members of the public deserve an explanation. Obviously we cannot speak for the ANC, Mind and Cope who were all present.
The Democratic Alliance has always had a constructive approach to opposition, and we do not stay away for the sake of staying away. We attend as many municipal meetings and committees as we possibly can, be they in or out of the Council Chamber, as a means of influencing events and gathering as much information as we can. We have an unblemished record in that regard. It is a pity that the other parties cannot make
the same boast. The event which has to be held, needs the full compliment of councillors and officials to make it worthwhile.
The first attempt to have this session was in Grahamstown, but the organisers could not proceed because the DA caucus was there and hardly anybody else. Understandably, the officials rescheduled the workshop. Perhaps the municipal spokesperson could explain why it had to be held elsewhere.
At the mayoral end of year function for municipal staff we noticed that once again the DA caucus was there, but apart from the mayor and the speaker, only three or four of the other 20 elected politicians were present.
Regarding the Municipal Strategic Planning Session, as much as we would like the DA voice to be the only at these events we can understand that this could lead to the Makana Executive having to answer embarrassing questions with the upper echelons of their own political organisation. The fact that the event was held elsewhere was therefore not a surprise.
True to our track record we were determined that our voice would be heard, in decibels greater than our numbers would suggest. Perhaps if the other parties had the same track record the event could have been held in Makana as originally planned.
The planning session involved forward planning for the next five years and for once a full compliment of officials and politicians, bar one who appeared for the commencement and closure sessions, were present.
Brian Jackson
DA Councillor Ward 8
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Wed, 2 Feb, 2011
A word on DJs
These days everyone and their grandmother is a DJ. It’s very empowering. DJs don’t just play music. We liberate it. We perform it. We live it and we breath it.
Western culture has alienated the masses from music. In most “primitive” cultures music is participatory and inclusive. The tribe would gather and everyone would sing, dance and celebrate. Modern western culture has elevated the musician onto a false pedestal. The common conception among those ensnared in Western thought-patterns is that you are either a one-in-a-million gifted prodigy, or a passive listener devoid of creativity and imagination. The electronic music revolution is slowly eroding these boundaries. With modern music skills and techniques tend to be transferred freely through passion, affinity and camaraderie, rather than through years of expensive (and exclusive) formal tuition. Much of the snobbery of classical, formal music is entirely absent from today’s musical culture.
Thu, 20 Jan, 2011
Numerous angles and views have emerged around this pertinent and controversial topic. Some say that there is a tipping point, a point of no return when the ecological crisis becomes irreversible. Some say we have reached that point already. Some espouse the view that human ingenuity and innovation will prove unconquerable and that green science and eco-friendly technology will be our panacea. Others believe in the Gaia hypothesis; that the earth is a living organism, able to regulate itself and inherently capable of maintaining the equilibrium necessary to support life. Some insist that there is no ecological crisis at all and that it is simply a tool used by the powers that be to exert control though fear and hysteria. I can stomach all of these views (some with a spoon of salt), but what vexes me to no end are those who are aware of the imminent crisis, but quietly ignore it, and persist with their unsustainable ways. Make no mistake: many are in denial!
Tue, 8 Jun, 2010
We spotted the Google Street View car in Grahamstown on 28 October last year, and are happy to note that Google Street View launched in South Africa today, including coverage of Grahamstown. This means that you can now take a virtual tour of the streets of Grahamstown.
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Hello Thelma
Do you know that Schonland's home/birthplace is in Frances St? There's a plaque on the wall commemorating the fact, or there was up until a few years ago. Thought you'd be interested.
Regards,
J.
McC.
In 2010 my boyfriend and his two digsmates was run over outside the rat, there are many areas in grahamstown which are heavily trafficked by pedestrians and there should be areas such as outside bars which should be free of vehicles for the safety of the pedestrians.
I'm not surprised by the attacks on this man - police can be so brutal. I can attest to that because I've been a victim myself. When they arrest you (for no legit reason in most instances), they seem to take pleasure in first battering you before and en route to the police station. Fortunately, Ayanda seems keen to take action against these cops and appears to have the support of the people. I tried taking action on one of the two occasions they assaulted me but as we've come to expect, nothing came of that case - insufficient evidence.
Good luck to you, Ayanda.
James Lech who markets himself as:
"Africa's no1 Dog Rehabilitator"
"The Dog Shaman"
and as a "Dog Whisperer"
...is yet again responsible for a dangerous dog attacking an innocent child in a public place. It seems this man considers himself above public bylaws that require dogs be leashed in designated areas.
The First Attack: 4 year old Sadie Kukkuk
His first attack occurred on 11 July 2011 when he took an unleashed Rottweiler into a busy restaurant in the Hyde Park Mall in Johannesburg. The dog targeted in on the 4 year old daughter of a good friend of mine before mauling her.
The prelude to the attack and the attack itself can be seen here: http://youtu.be/XiL524_KiLs
The news report can be seen here: http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/2011/07/17/dog-mauls-girl-4-in-mall
He claimed the dog was a "service dog" (ie. a trained dog as used by the blind) when clearly it was not the case.
The Second Attack: 2 year old Meeka Riley Lackay
The second attack occurred on 11 January 2012 on Clifton Beach. The exact same scenario. Rotweiller, public space with small children and no leash on the dogs. This time the child was smaller and the attack far more brutal resulting in her having to undergo 4 hours of surgery.
http://www.pretorianews.co.za/owner-probed-after-dogs-bite-two-toddlers-...
I suspect Mr Lech is actually using public spaces and the unsuspecting citizens using these spaces as a laboratory/training simulation environment without the consent of the persons he is placing at risk.
He apparently advertises himself as someone who can rehabilitate aggressive dogs and boasts a 100% success rate. He has appeared on "Expresso" TV show on SABC3 and on radio advertizing his services which cost over R1,000 an hour. A Google search of his name will reveal that he is a highly controversial person with a Cape Town vet even reporting him to the SPCA for cruelty to animals: http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/vet-reported-lech-in-2011-1.1212774
Please spread the word about this reckless charlatan to everyone you know.