Eastern Cape

Unitra's head must go, says assessor
By Phakamisa Ngani UMTATA -- Independent assessor Louis Skweyiya has recommended the removal of University of Transkei vice-chancellor Alfred Moleah, it was reliably learnt yesterday. Mr Skweyiya is investigating maladministration charges agai...

DP's Williams victorious in Beacon Bay
EAST LONDON -- A month of heavy lobbying and canvassing for votes in the Beacon Bay area paid off for the Democratic Party when it scored a landslide win in Wednesday's Ward 11 by-election. DP candidate Quinton Williams easily beat independent Pi...

Emerging EC farmers to benefit from agriculture grants
By Matt Ramsden EAST LONDON -- Eastern Cape farmers battered by floods in 1996 are to receive an R11,1 million grant from the national Department of Agriculture. The money has been earmarked for farmers in the western part of the province, inclu...

B'worth UDM urges end to intimidation
By Matthew Hattingh EAST LONDON -- The United Democratic Movement in Butterworth presented a petition to police and the town's magistrate this week calling for an end to "widespread" intimidation of its members. On the face of it the petition se...

Public Works opens projects worth R11m
By Zama Mpondwana EAST LONDON -- The Public Works Department yesterday officially handed over five community-based projects valued at about R11million in Cala and in Mdantsane. The four projects opened in Cala were a R1,3m community hall; the up...

Delays in finalising cases of commercial crime probed
By Stan Mzimba UMTATA -- The delay in finalising commercial cases in court topped the agenda at a meeting convened by the Eastern Cape's provincial regional court president Moyisi Lugajo here yesterday. The meeting, attended by the deputy direc...

Daily Dispatch tops EC newspapers
MORE people read the Daily Dispatch than any other newspaper in the Eastern Cape, according to the latest All Media Product Survey (AMPS) figures for the first half of this year. AMPS found that the Daily Dispatch has 199 000 readers while its ne...

A DOG'S BEST FRIEND
Mr Setla Mejeni (top) and Mr Sonwabo Krwala were honoured at a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals awards evening at the East London City Hall last night. Mr Mejeni, a member of The Youth Academy, a community service and outreach or...

EC voters to register for 3 days next week
EAST LONDON -- Voter registration is to take place in the Eastern Cape on December 3, 4 and 5. To register, every potential voter must have a green bar-coded identity document (ID) or, if this is applied for too late for registration, the tempora...

EL to open season next week
EAST LONDON -- East London Tourism has invited residents and people visiting the city to the Opening of Season and switching on of the Christmas lights ceremony on December 1 at the beachfront. The ceremony, to be held near the Orient complex, w...

Umtata finds Chinese twin in Shenyang
By Simphiwe Xako UMTATA -- Umtata has finally found itself a twin sister in the city of Shenyang in China, promising good economic spin-offs. Umtata Mayor Edgar Maphekula welcomed the twinning of his town to Shenyang and predicted the event wou...

Shoe thief given suspended sentence
By Wimpie Heath Court Reporter EAST LONDON -- A 15-year-old was given a suspended R600 fine or three months' jail suspended for five years for stealing the shoes off a 13-year-old girl's feet while she was playing at her school. On August 29 thi...

Cellphone-snatcher turned into head banger
GRAHAMSTOWN -- Two Grahamstown street thugs got the fright of their lives when they chose to prey on the cellphone of well-known Grahamstown mime-and-dance satirist Bevan Cullinan. Cullinan, 22, who is well-rounded and sports a bizarre mane of b...

Young science boffins head for Hogsback
By Zama Mpondwana EAST LONDON -- About 72 promising science pupils from historically disadvantaged schools will converge on picturesque Hobbiton-on-Hogsback this weekend for the final stretch of the national 1998 Telkom Primary Science Olympiad....

Maize 'invoiced at higher weight'
By Eddie Botha, Business Editor UMTATA -- The former National Maize Producers' Organisation (Nampo) chairman and miller who claimed he had been asked by a Transkeian trader to pack underweight bags of maize meal invoiced the bags for a heavier w...

Lawyers congratulate Pillay
EAST LONDON -- The National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel) has congratulated advocate Deva Pillay on his promotion to the status of senior counsel by President Nelson Mandela. According to Nadel, Mr Pillay is the first real "home grow...

Tribute paid to Mogg for Berea Gardens idea
EAST LONDON -- In just over 25 years the original Berea Gardens concept of providing homes for older people has moved from a mere R400 in the bank to a property asset base of more than R54 million, Mr John Orpen said here. Mr Orpen, architect of ...

M'sane to hold Aids awareness campaign
By Boniswa November EAST LONDON -- The Youth Academy will launch a five-day Aids awareness campaign at the Rubusana College Great Hall in Mdantsane on December 1 . The organiser, Athi-Ngwanya Geleba, said activities to raise awareness about HIV ...

EL murder accused in court
By Wimpie Heath and Matt Ramsden EAST LONDON -- The 29-year-old man accused of killing a Beacon Bay supermarket cashier in September appeared briefly in the district court here yesterday. Mr Troy Welgemoed, of Haven Hills, was not asked to plead...

Newlands pre-school opens
By Eric Naki BISHO -- World IBF boxing champion Vuyani "The Beast" Bungu, legislature Speaker Gugile Nkwinti and Public Works MEC Thobile Mhlahlo will share a platform at the official opening of Elukhanyisweni Pre-School at Newlands Location outs...

'Mickey Mouse' opposition out to derail election -- ANC
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- The African National Congress has criticised some opposition political parties of doing their utmost to undermine the election process. ANC spokesman Thabo Masebe named the National Party, United Democratic Movement ...

PAC insists Maclear council must go
QUEENSTOWN -- The Pan Africanist Congress has vowed to continue demanding the disbandment of the Maclear council. The PAC general-secretary in the Maluti area, Mr Lungile David, said in a statement yesterday they wanted the Queenstown regional o...

Parents of mentally retarded boy sought
By Mthobeli Mxotwa EAST LONDON -- Social workers here are looking for the parents of an unidentified child picked up by the police indecent crime unit in May this year. A senior social worker, Mrs Notitana Nocanda, said the boy, who is about eig...

EC hospitals owed R46,4m by patients
By Eric Naki, Political Correspondent BISHO -- Up to March 1997 patients owed Eastern Cape hospitals R46,4million in outstanding hospital fees, the provincial auditor-general says in a report tabled in the legislature this week. The report also...

Cries for peace as Idutywa taxi deaths rise
By Sonja Raasch QUEENSTOWN -- Desperate appeals are being made for peace in the taxi industry in Idutywa as the death toll continues to mount following yet another fatal attack near the town. Public Works MEC Thobile Mhlahlo will meet concerned ...

Poll adverts to be shared equally by newspapers
Daily Dispatch Reporter EAST LONDON -- The voter registration and election advertisers for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) moved quickly yesterday to allay the fears of the country's fiercely competitive newspaper groups about distribu...

Plan to raise R450000 to boost Grahamstown
GRAHAMSTOWN -- Grahamstown Inc, a company formed to boost the city's local economy, has set its sights on raising R450000 to kick-start the firm. This emerged at a business breakfast at the Monument building yesterday attended by various stakehold...

Merry Christmas party includes painful reminders
By Phakamisa Ngani UMTATA -- The plight of many senior citizens of the country struggling for existence is a serious indictment to the society around them, a prominent civic leader said here this week. Joe Majija was addressing more than 500 ...

Revamped Umtata private hospital to be opened
By Phakamisa Ngani UMTATA -- A R6 million private hospital is to be officially opened here on Monday. The predominant feature of the St Mary's Hospital, which is now under new ownership, is its state-of-the-art medical equipment which is intende...

Double murder: reward
QUEENSTOWN -- The murder and robbery unit here is offering a R15 000 reward for information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the killer of two Lady Frere women in February last year. Mrs Noluzile Nomaseko Mapona, 60, and Mrs Noshub...

Women's rights campaign under way
EAST LONDON -- Representatives of various government departments, non-governmental and service delivery organisations yesterday urged the public to participate in the "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign" -- which started on Wedne...

Road accidents cost SA R10m a day, says Neer
By Simphiwe Xako UMTATA -- Road safety records reflect that South Africa spends more than R10 million a day on road accidents, Safety and Security MEC Dennis Neer said here yesterday. Mr Neer said at a function held in commemoration of road acc...

Road Safety Action looks back
EAST LONDON -- The East London Road Safety Action Group has had a busy year and have completed a number of successful campaigns, group secretary Elaine Bowen said. The group was formed by Ms Bowen about two years ago after she became concerned ab...

Sactu to hold EL workshop
GRAHAMSTOWN -- About 70 South African Clothing and Textile Union shop stewards from around the Border region will attend a two-day workshop and report-back session in East London next Tuesday and Wednesday, Sactu East London branch chairman Sipho...

Bank, unions agree on salary increases
EAST LONDON -- The Land Bank and trade unions Sasbo and SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) have agreed on a salary increase after three months of intense negotiations and industrial action, which included a three day strike...

Formerly dilapidated Beacon Bay school celebrates
By Simpiwe Piliso EAST LONDON -- A three-year-old dilapidated school in the poor and disadvantaged Nompumelelo area near Beacon Bay held its first prize giving ceremony yesterday. The special function was attended by several Beacon Bay and Gonub...

'Red hot' sex worker in trouble again
By Wimpie Heath Court Reporter EAST LONDON -- East London sex worker "Red Hot" Sandy van der Toorn is in trouble again -- a warrant of arrest was authorised after she failed to appear last week in a debtors' court where a financial inquiry was to...

Mogoba to honour PAC stalwart
QUEENSTOWN -- PAC president Bishop Stanley Mogoba is scheduled to address hundreds of mourners at Cofimvaba tomorrow. He will be the main speaker at the funeral of Dr Douglas Dumile Dominic Mantshontsho, a former PAC chief representative in Dar-e...

Stofile to speak in Australia
BISHO -- Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile has said his invitation to address an international conference on minorities and rights of indigenous people in Australia this weekend signifies the recognition of the province's role in promoting h...

Umtata court told garages commonly sell stolen vehicles
By Stan Mzimba UMTATA -- A Cape Town policeman told the regional court here yesterday that it was common to find garages selling stolen vehicles. Inspector Herman Beckmaan, of the Cape Town murder and robbery unit, was testifying at the trial o...

Cricket board warns wannabe Test streakers
PORT ELIZABETH -- Eastern Province Cricket Board president Flip Potgieter said yesterday that Monday's streaking incident at St George's Park during the EP-Griquas Supersport Series clash "was unacceptable". The already famous flash had the city ...

IEC to 'supplement' volunteer shortfall
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) provincial electoral officer Bongani Finca said the commission was making contingency plans to deal with a shortfall in case the government failed to get the 12360 civil servants...

Director-general in labour case tangle
EAST LONDON -- Eastern Cape director-general Dr Mvuyo Tom this week faced the very real possibility of being led from his office by the sheriff and spending a few nights in prison before appearing in the Labour Court on a contempt charge stemming ...

Trustee 'resigns, demands R750000'
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- Daily Bread trustee Edward Batty, who is facing allegations of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds and is fighting two high court applications to remove him from the beleaguered trust, has resigned but ...

Agency workers stage protests
By Matthew Hattingh EAST LONDON -- Workers picketed outside the Eastern Cape Development Agencies (Ecda) offices here yesterday in protest against plans to retrench staff. At 3 pm yesterday about 30 protesters, many sheltering under umbrellas an...