Author: Lindani Donyeli

While this week’s rains have been a relief for most residents, as the city’s water supply fills up, they’ve been a nightmare for Gladys Speelman. With water seeping up into the house from underneath the floor, she’s had to make a hole in the wall for the water to drain out and has used her own clothes to try and soak up the damp on the floor. ”When I reported the matter to my ward councilor he told me to buy cement. But how am I going to buy it because I have nothing at all,” Speelman said. ”I have accounts…

Education, and opportunities mean everything to Vukani based actor and writer Ayanda Mthwalo, who was named best actor at the Makana Drama Development Festival hosted by Ubom! Eastern Cape Drama Company at the Rhodes Theatre on Saturday 11 November. The annual festival showcases community drama productions. Junior and Senior Community drama groups performed and winners of the Senior group will be invited to apply for the National Arts Festival Fringe programme and assisted to develop their production. Mthwalo’s group, Vukani Kusile, was formed in August last year – and it means more to him than most people can imagine. Mthwalo was released on parole from…

Teachers of the Sibanye Day Care Centre gathered at Assumption Clinic on Friday 3 of November to give love to the disabled children and hear a prayer by Father Simon Tibbs a member of the board of Sibanye from College of Transfiguration. Some of the people who visited are Amanda Mata from Child Welfare, Jane Morgan a writer,  radio producer, fundraiser as well a Board member, and Nosipho Nkwinti  from Rhodes University Community Engagement. The guests were were welcomed by one of the parent Luvuyo Gcule. Nomalungisa Maloni, a teacher at the School said its is not just South Africa children who…

It’s obvious Mpumelelo Mkhosini is a garden lover when you enter his yard. Here, he planted flowers; and at the back he has a vegetable garden. Mkhosini said one doesn’t need a large space to start a garden. “[The] size of a door is enough to start a garden, he said. “People don’t want to use small spaces.”  Mkhosini has planted, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes and pumpkin and herbs in pots and dis-used car tyres, which he says is enough for him but not for the community.”  Most of Mkhosini’s plants can survive without water he has collected them from the…

Zukisani Lamani stays in Ext 6 where he rents a house on West Street. He started his business as a street vendor selling face cloths and other small items for four years. He was eventually joined by girlfriend Bulelwa Nzondo and together, they have a small stall at the taxi rank just behind Shoprite.  Lamani’s aim is to make a living for himself and not look at government handouts (except perhaps for education). Lumani and Zondo (who have a Grade 4 child together), sell hot dogs, potato chips, chicken stew, ‘fat cooks’, tripe, several varieties of liver, chicken wings, cool…

Preventing crime starts at home, believes Lieutenant-Colonel Martins Memani, head of Operational Support at the Grahamstown Police Station. Memani and two colleagues were addressing residents in Vukani recently, at a meeting organised by Ward 13 Councillor Thembakazi Seyisi. “People are abusing alcohol and there are assaults and stabbing,” Memani said. “We come after the damage has been done.” He said instead, the community itself should stop the crime at its source. “We must start sweeping at our homes first before we go outside. The people who make crime are staying in the community with us,” Memani said. “The people who sell drugs are…

Father of two Mabhuti Galantshana has his own little garden where here has sown peas, onions, spinach, lettuce and cabbages. Some of his veggies he begin life as pot plants (and a big basin) before he transplants them in the garden. Galantshana grows these plants for chow, because, the food is too expensive these days. He uses the saved money to buy other things for the children. Community members buy from Galantshana too, and from the proceeds he buys mealie meal to mix with the veggies. He protects his garden from ants and insects by it with soapy water. Galantshana also puts…

A case of murder has been opened after injuries were found on the body of a man found floating in the Matyana River in Belmont Valley last week. Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said, Grahamstown police had received the report of a body at 1.45pm on Wednesday 23 October. “On their arrival at the scene, the members met four persons standing next to the road,” Govender said. “Among them were two men who told the police members that they were friends of the deceased.” Police retrieved the body. “Initially, the members opened an inquest docket for a suspected drowning,” Govender…

Grahamstown’s head of police stepped in when around 30 unpaid contractors gathered in protest outside the Makana Finance Department in High Street on Thursday 9 November. On 31 October the three community work project (CWP) 10-person crews had completed two-thirds of a three-month contract on the Riverbed Project – a programme run by Makana’s Parks Department. “Last month we were meant to get paid by 20 October and we weren’t,” said one of the protesters, Akhona Ngcungca. “It is the same even now: we still haven’t been paid.” Ngcungca said they’d come to demand payment and had been told by…

On Saturday, 28 October  was meant to be the big day for local groups of Youth Gospel Singers taking part in a Talent Show leading up to Mvuselelo Gospel Extravaganza to be held in East London in December. But that event which was to showcase the talent of 22 local groups, has been postponed indefinitely, according to Samora Ngxala, one of the event organisers. Further, Mphumezi Mesani, from the Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture (DSRAC), cancelled auditions that should have been held last week (15 October) at Dakawa Community Art Centre, in an email sent to organisers four…