Eastern Cape

Big cash boost for Rehab thanks to EL service clubs
EAST LONDON -- The Association for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disability (Rehab) yesterday received a big financial boost to the value of thousands of rands. Round Table and Rotary clubs have donated R179000 to the orgainsation which works...

Spending spree with stolen cheque book
GRAHAMSTOWN -- An East London woman who went on a spending spree at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival with a stolen cheque book pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and one of theft here yesterday. Appearing in the magistrate's court her...

Accreditation of govt consultants to be formalised
By Eddie Botha Business Editor EAST LONDON -- As part of its affirmative action and empowerment initiatives, the Department of Public Works has issued accreditation procedures to all consultants wanting to tender for department contracts. For th...

MEC calls for co-operation in transforming EC education
By Phakamisa Ngani UMTATA -- New Eastern Cape Education MEC Stone Sizani yesterday vowed to turn education around in the province. He was on his first official visit here and addressed a group of top education officials, including school princip...

It's not size of brain that counts but the way we use it, says prof
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- It's not the size of the brain that makes us human, says controversial palaeoanthropologist Ron Clarke, but rather the "way we use it". The internationally acclaimed scientist made last year's discovery of the...

Bisho pays electricity bills but schools still in dark
BISHO -- Ten schools in the Fort Beaufort area which had their power cut because of non-payment of electricity are still in the dark even though the money owed has been paid by the government. Education MEC Stone Sizani said the money had been p...

Saturday Dispatch New-look newspaper to entertain, inform
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- In a move to give its readership entertaining weekends during their leisure time, Dispatch Media is launching a new edition to be called Saturday Dispatch. The first issue will be produced this Saturday. Outlining r...

Pre-paid cards plan for EL parking
Municipal Reporter EAST LONDON -- East London motorists may soon experience possible cash-free parking in the central business district. The move is being considered because alleged theft by car guards has led to a loss of income. Instead of i...

Committee prepares for EL's Y2K safety
EAST LONDON -- Preparations for the festive season and looming millennium are well under way with "security forces" here assured of valuable assistance from a recently formed safety committee. At a public Safety and Security standing committee me...

TML may end SAUJ recognition
PORT ELIZABETH -- A major clash is looming between the SA Union of Journalists and Times Media Limited after the union was notified that it did not enjoy recognition with the company, the SAUJ said yesterday. TML informed the SAUJ it only represe...

Escaped rapist may have struck again
By Matt Ramsden and Sonja Raasch EAST LONDON -- A Fort Beaufort woman was raped late on Tuesday allegedly by a convicted rapist who escaped in one of a series of prisoner escapes and attempted escapes in the province this week. The rapist, who w...

DRUMS and DONKEYS
A group of about nine guys and a girl known as Cool Drummings pound bongo drums and blow through kudu horns as they make their way around Grahamstown's streets on the back of donkey carts. They are among thousands of entertainers, buskers artist...

Wines aplenty for the sampling
By Nick Wilson EAST LONDON -- The fourth annual Daily Dispatch-Spargs Wine Fair opened in Beacon Bay last night offering the public an opportunity to sample and select some of South Africa's best wines. Winemakers and representatives from 30 of ...

'Satanic art' of Gaika's Kop at festival
GRAHAMSTOWN -- Artist Elaine Matthews is exhibiting five site-specific sculptures that she was forced to remove from Gaika's Kop two months ago when Hogsback residents claimed her sculptures were satanic art. The penis of one of the sculptured an...

3 in court for Hogsback murder
QUEENSTOWN -- Three suspects in the murder of Hogsback doctor and Anglican priest Bride Elizabeth Dickson appeared briefly in the Cathcart Magistrate's Court yesterday. Mr John Sinty Mbeko, 33, Mr Sydwell Mjekula, 28, and Mr Ndika Botile, 35, all...

Judge says law favours accused
BISHO -- The law was heavily tilted in favour of an accused person, a judge said yesterday when acquitting an accused in a murder trial in which two others were convicted. Judge Collin White convicted Luyanda Mqayi and Simphiwe Gxavu in the high ...

Now there's a surprise
CRIME BUSTERS by Matt Ramsden SO THREE police court orderlies have been arrested and charged with aiding three Mdantsane prisoners to escape from the back of a prison van last month. The original story was that a fight had broken out and a polic...

Paraffin-like substance in soil a mystery
Daily Dispatch Reporters QUEENSTOWN -- The source of what appears to be paraffin seeping up through the ground in a donga in Majuba administrative area near Sterkspruit has some residents agog and others annoyed. The pools of a paraffin-like sub...

Sergeant turns himself in
EAST LONDON -- An Mdantsane police sergeant and a Duncan Village postal worker have been arrested in connection with two robberies at the Pefferville post office in which R85000 was stolen. Superintendent Eddie Watson said the sergeant had handed...

Peddie police patrol homes
GRAHAMSTOWN -- To cut down on the crime rate, Peddie police have appealed to residents intending to go away during the school holidays to report their departure at the local station. Detective branch chief Captain Thembisile Ndita said police wou...

R42000 ride for hospital
EAST LONDON -- A courageous Cape Town radiographer and cyclist, Kobus Botha, and his enthusiastic back-up team have raised R42000 during an 11-week tour around the country to raise funds for cancer equipment at Groote Schuur Hospital. The team, w...

School asks for sports field
QUEENSTOWN -- Staff and parents at St James Senior Secondary School in Cofimvaba have appealed to the Sport, Arts and Culture Department in Bisho to donate funds to build a sports field. The school principal, Sister Agnes Biberauer, said the scho...

Officers walk out of meeting
GRAHAMSTOWN -- White police officers walked out of a meeting of senior officers on Tuesday because they did not want their black colleagues present, local area commissioner Director Wilson Thoba said. The officers had called the meeting to discu...

Workers protest outside stores
By Bongani Siqoko EAST LONDON -- Members of the Entertainment Commercial Catering and Allied Workers' Union of South Africa from Brands stores chain in King William's Town and here protested outside stores yesterday. They are protesting against...

Whittlesea police learn how to work with community
WHITTLESEA -- In an attempt to empower and train police in community policing, Partnerships in Policing, a non-governmental organisation in consultation with the police, presented training workshops at Masibulele College near here. The workshops ...

Homes project ready to roll
By Simpiwe Piliso EAST LONDON -- The bricks have been stacked, show houses built and plans for a new residential area in Haven Hills here are almost complete. City councillors and officials, guests from various organisations and companies, and r...

Q'town forum chairman calls Slabber a dictator
By Mkhululi Titi QUEENSTOWN -- The chairman of the area community policing forum here, Mr Ndoda Cithi, has accused police provincial commissioner Nic Slabber of being a dictator, claiming he has no interest in working for the province. Cithi was...