Eastern Cape

EC resorts booked up as holidays approach
By Simpiwe Piliso Staff Reporter EAST LONDON -- Vigorous marketing of the Eastern Cape appears to be paying off as most coastal resorts this week reported a 100 percent occupancy for the December holidays, still several months away. Yesterday Ea...

Masked EL stalker strikes again
By Graeson Haw EAST LONDON -- A 27-year-old Devereux Avenue woman was attacked in her parent's home last night by a masked man believed to be responsible for terrorising other women in the area. Ms Belinda Meyer was still too upset to talk to th...

Money scam suspects arrested
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- Three Congolese nationals were arrested in the Quigney here yesterday in a police undercover operation involving R50 000. The suspects were allegedly operating a money scam enticing potential victims by promising to...

New casino bids seen as premature
GRAHAMSTOWN -- The Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Board has promised to make an announcement soon about reopening the bidding process for casinos for East London and Queenstown. In a shock move late last month, the board announced that it had ...

Summons issued over Q'town office block
By Eddie Botha Business Editor EAST LONDON -- First National Bank has served summons of R27 million on Bisho government, after both parties failed to settle a dispute regarding a Queenstown office rental contract. The bank had financed the devel...

Businesswoman's assets seized
Report and Pictures by Stan Mzimba IDUTYWA -- The Asset Forfeiture Unit accompanied by the Umtata Commercial Branch police continued their seizure of moveable and immovable property on Thursday of a local businesswoman implicated in a R700000 pen...

Law Society to probe Nkanunu
GRAHAMSTOWN -- The Cape Law Society has requested a report from SA Rugby Football Union president Silas Nkanunu on each of the Road Accident Fund compensation claims handled by his Port Elizabeth law firm which have been queried. Cape Law Societ...

CCMA confirms Dunywa's dismissal
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- The dismissal of Department of Econo-mic Affair's director of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises Ms Thembeka Dunywa last year has been confirmed by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (C...

Crime Watch
* QUEENSTOWN -- Two Cofimvaba men died when their vehicles collided about seven kilometres outside Elliot on the road to Indwe at 5pm on Thursday. Police said both drivers died at the scene. They have been identified as Mr K Ban, 42, and Mr Son...

Good crowds, top livestock at BAS
QUEENSTOWN -- Organisers of the 139th Border Agricultural Show (BAS) yesterday boasted increased attendance figures and said the livestock on show was of top quality. Border Agricultural Society president Dirk Odendaal said ticket sales this week...

Rhodes denies HIV rife on SA campuses
GRAHAMSTOWN -- Rhodes University has denied rumours that HIV/Aids rates on university campuses is as high as 75 percent, but confirms that town clinic figures here suggest that an increasing number of students and staff are testing HIV positive. ...

Queenstown has spate of dog thefts
QUEENSTOWN -- The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (SPCA) has warned yesterday that several dogs have been stolen here from private homes. SPCA manageress Martha Weinmann said several reports of dogs which had gone missing had bee...

Prominent Indwe farmer buried today
QUEENSTOWN -- Prominent Indwe farmer Eugene Cloete will be buried at his farm Blauwkrantz at 11am today. Cloete, 74, died on Monday after a long illness. Well known as an active member of the Farmers' Association and Soil Conservation committee ...

FOR THE RECORD
IN a report on October 6 the King William's Town Mayor Sithembiso Tyilo was quoted as saying the issue of taxi violence was a provincial problem not dealt with in council. However, he says the town council takes the problem "very seriously" and ...

'Supermom' helps destitute Buffalo Flats youngsters
How does the daughter of a Lady Grey school principal end up caring for over 100 destitute youngsters in and around the Buffalo Flats area? MATTHEW RAMSDEN speaks to "supermom" Elize Wade. WADE appears in the open door of her Fynbos home with ...

Scorpions have solved high-profile crimes
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- Leading members of the elite crime-busting Directorate of Special Investigations (DSI) unit, better known as the Scorpions -- recently deployed in the Eastern Cape -- were among a team of investigators who cracked a n...

It's double exposure for EL's Marlene
By Lew Elias LOCAL artist Marlene Neumann will have her works on show at two exhibitions running in Pretoria at the same time this month. Neumann, who is head of the graphic design department at East London College and is a former Daily Dispat...

Bus driver retells his night of screaming terror
A bus driver accused of drunkenly ferrying 19 churchgoers to their deaths in the Eastern Cape's treacherous "Killer Cuttings" spoke to Graeson Haw from his hospital bed. EAST LONDON -- Eastern Cape chieftains say it's the anger of the ancestors...

UDM slams Bisho reaction to accidents
BISHO -- Eastern Cape United Democratic Movement leader Chief Dumisani Gwadiso has slammed Bisho's ''panic reaction'' to the recent spate of road accidents. In a statement, Gwadiso said Premier Makhenkesi Stofile and Safety, Liaison and Transport...

Trott Moloto told to pay R4500 maintenance
Daily Dispatch Correspondent JOHANNESBURG -- Bafana Bafana coach Trott Moloto was this week ordered by the high court here to pay maintenance of R4500 a month for his two children. Moloto's estranged wife, Tiro, had taken him to court after real...

Daily Dispatch team visits treacherous Kei Cuttings Poignant reminder of EC bus tragedy
By Simpiwi Philiso WHILE travelling along the Kei Cuttings, motorists and passengers often forget about the beautiful untamed surroundings, and instead focus 100 percent of their attention on the treacherous road that has claimed hundreds of live...

Apla 6 apply for blanket amnesty
By Denver Donian KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- Six former Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) members serving prison sentences at the Middledrift Central prison for crimes committed during the liberation struggle have made a special request to State...

SPCA award for dogged determination
By Graeson Haw EAST LONDON -- A local fireman, Luton Grobbelaar, has been awarded the National SPCA's bravery citation for diving head-first into a muddy hole after an angry dog whose taste for rabbit landed it in a sticky mess. SPCA superintend...

Taxi violence suspects held, firearms found
By Denver Donian KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- An early morning swoop in Dimbaza yesterday by members of the illegal firearms unit of East London resulted in the arrest of four suspects believed to be members of a local taxi association and the recovery...

Phakisa win boosts Team Petronas' hopes for EL circuit race
EAST LONDON -- Following their victorious outing at the new Phakisa Freeway circuit last time out, Team Petronas Syntium Opel head for the Grand Prix circuit here brimful of confidence for a repeat victory on October 16. Both Shaun Watson-Smith a...

Jacob Zuma endorses Rarabe trust
EAST LONDON -- A delegation headed by King Maxhoba Sandile, ruler of the Rarabe tribe, returned here yesterday after meeting deputy president Jacob Zuma who endorsed a trust scheme set up to assist development in the king's domain. The king's spo...