Eastern Cape

Gambling Board suspends its CEO
By Zama Mpondwana EAST LONDON -- In a shock move yesterday the Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Board announced it had suspended chief executive officer Malixole Gantsho for alleged financial mismanagement. Chairman Joseph Lukwago-Mugerwa told ...

Agritourism a new drawcard for SA visitors
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- Agritourism in South Africa could be the product to encourage more tourists to the country and particularly the Eastern Cape, Tourism 2000 Network director Peter Myles said here yesterday. Speaking at the MTN...

Gantsho confident he'll be cleared of charges
By Eddie Botha EAST LONDON -- Suspended Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Board chief executive Malixole Gantsho says the board followed the appropriate route when it acted against him after it had received a report in which he had been accused o...

UDM asks Stofile to act on cancelled meetings
BISHO -- The United Democratic Movement has slammed the cancellation of a transport standing committee meeting here yesterday and called on Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile to intervene to make government departments accountable to the leg...

NE Cape farmers welcome light rains
By Sonja Raasch QUEENSTOWN -- North East Cape farmers, battling against an extended drought and veld fires which have devastated several districts in the region, yesterday welcomed light rains which have fallen over the interior. Good news is th...

CMH CT scanner breaks down
By Matthew Ramsden EAST LONDON -- Patients requiring CT scans have been dealt a double blow after it was revealed yesterday that Cecilia Makiwane Hospital's (CMH) scanner had broken down -- six weeks after Frere Hospital's machine was switched of...

Scorned boyfriend kills lover, commits suicide
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- A 22-year-old East London College student was shot dead by her former boyfriend who also killed himself in a St James Road house here on Monday night. Ms Lulama Dandala, of Umtata, was in her bedroom with two friends...

Crime Watch
* QUEENSTOWN -- The Indwe police have called on the owners of goods believed to have been stolen in housebreakings in the town to claim their property. Last week police followed up information received from the public which led to the arrest of ...

Umtata cuts govt, Telkom power
By Phakamisa Ngani UMTATA -- Computers in several state offices were shut down here yesterday when the city council cut electricity to buildings in a bid to recover debts totalling R1,4 million from the Bisho government. Council spokesman Sonwab...

3 extra daily flights link EL, Reef
By Lew Elias News Editor EAST LONDON -- South African Express airways (SAX) is to operate three more flights a day between here and Johannesburg from the end of the month, the airline's manager of marketing and sales, Colleen Kennaugh, said here ...

Schools in dark as dept fails to pay accounts
By Kerry Engelbrecht UMTATA -- Nine schools here were left in the dark yesterday, the second day of the matric exams, following the non-payment of July accounts by the Department of Education of almost R260000. At an emergency meeting between th...

Umtata lawyer declines investigation by SIU
By Phakamisa Ngani UMTATA -- The Heath Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has suffered what it considers a "temporary" setback in its investigations into possible irregularities in the billing formula a local lawyer used for legal work he has done ...

Faith, exercise, diet 'slow ageing'
By Graeson Haw EAST LONDON -- An expert on anti-ageing and stress was in East London last night to speak about four basic steps people can take to boost their prospects of living longer, healthier lives. Leaning back in an armchair in the foyer...

Driver shot dead, 5 hurt at taxi rank
UMTATA -- A 38-year-old taxi driver died and five people were seriously injured when gunmen opened fire on a taxi rank in Libode on Monday night. Police said armed men, travelling in a white Citi Golf, opened fire on two taxis in a drive-by shoot...

EC won't act on White findings until appeal
By Eric Naki Political Correspondent EAST LONDON -- The Eastern Cape government is to suspend implementation of the White Commission recommendations until after an appeal against the recent decision by the Umtata High Court to set the commission'...

Education bill discussed hastily
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- Local educators and organisations from here yesterday gave their support to proposed amendments to four education acts contained in the Education Laws Amendment Bill. At a public hearing hastily convened here ...

British aid set to build capacity for transformation Tyutyu Primary first to benefit from R75m
By Lulamile Feni and Denver Donian BISHO -- Tyutyu Primary School here became the first disadvantaged school in the province to benefit from the R75 million Imbewu Delivery Project when it received resources yesterday to improve the quality of ed...

Course for epileptics soon
By Geoff Bird EAST LONDON -- The newly-formed Epilepsy Support Group (ESG) here has secured the services of the Jenny Buckle Reach Clinic to conduct a four-day therapy course for parents of children suffering from various forms of epilepsy and au...

Ndungane calls for 'humane' prisons
UMTATA -- Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, the Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, yesterday asked the government to reassure him that the new maximum prison to be built near Kokstad would apply principles of rehabilitation. He said the church recogn...

For the record
ITwas incorrectly reported on Monday that Prince Zwelenkosi Matanzima criticised bus owners for not attending either the memorial service or the mass funeral of the Kei Cuttings bus-crash victims and said they were not remorseful about the crash. ...

ANC whip leaves today for Uganda
BISHO -- Eastern Cape African National Congress chief whip Sicelo Gqobana leaves for Uganda today on a fact- finding mission to examine how that country handles its relationship with traditional leaders. Gqobana said that given tensions between e...

Ft Beaufort rank reopened
EAST LONDON -- The Fort Beaufort council has opened the local taxi rank after warring Uncedo Taxi Association factions agreed to work together. The rank was closed by the municipality after a shooting last week between the two Uncedo factions in ...

Matric going smoothly says EC exams chief
By Bongani Siqoko, Education Reporter EAST LONDON -- Provincial examinations chief Malcom Andrew said yesterday he was impressed with the quality of invigilation and the way the examination process was unfolding in the Eastern Cape. He said he ...

Council salaries 'set by govt'
Municipal Reporter EAST LONDON -- The city council here has no control over salaries and wages as they are determined nationally by the Bargaining Council for Local Authorities, acting human resources director Denver Williams said yesterday. He ...

Court told how man raped his granny, 114
PORT ELIZABETH -- A Humansdorp man had to be beaten and physically dragged from his 114-year-old grandmother after he was caught raping her on March 2, the high court here was told yesterday. Nomvula Dina Busakwe, who is believed to be the oldest...

Six prisoners escape from Mt Ayliff cells
UMTATA -- Six dangerous prisoners, awaiting trial on charges including murder and rape, escaped from police holding cells in Mount Ayliff early yesterday, police said.. Captain Mzukisi Fatyela said the six made their break after sawing through th...

Worker for deaf honoured
By Nick Wilson EAST LONDON -- Society for the Deaf chairman Theodore Blumberg, 81, has been awarded a certificate of appreciation by the Deaf Federation of South Africa for his dedicated service to the deaf community over several decades. He was...

100 ways to improve SA health and wealth -- in less than 80 days
By Matthew Ramsden EAST LONDON -- With a mere 73 days to go until the end of the present and beginning of the next millennium, the official opposition Democratic Party has released a list of 100 things it thinks the government must do. Health fe...

Call for inquiry into reregistration claims
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- East London pension campaigner Karin Claydon has asked Eastern Cape Legislature Speaker Makhangeli Matomela for an investigation and public hearing into recent statements by national Welfare Minister Zola Skwey...

Man jailed for watch death
UMTATA -- A 19-year-old man from Sidwadweni near Tsolo who shot and killed another man following a quarrel over a wristwatch was sentenced to 17 years' jail in the high court here. He will serve 15 years as two years were conditionally suspended ...

Maduna expected to visit T'kei
By Stan Mzimba UMTATA -- Justice Minister Penwell Maduna is expected to arrive here on Friday to address lawyers and advocates after an outcry by local law practitioners about the proposed closure of the government attorney's office here. The M...

Dept warns against keeping wild animals
By Sonja Raasch QUEENSTOWN -- The directorate of nature conservation of the Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism Department here has warned people holding wild animals captive illegally that strict action will be taken from March next year. ...

Stock raiders accused of killings
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- The Madlangala Development Association (MDA) in Matatiele has claimed that villagers in the area are being killed by stock thieves crossing the Lesotho border into South Africa. MDA chairman Makhubalo Ndaba said perp...

Dead tourists' kin sought
PORT ELIZABETH -- The German Consulate in Cape Town is still trying to trace the relatives of three German tourists who were killed in a head-on collision on the Addo road on Monday. Two women, both aged 68, and a 73-year-old man were killed when...

Scorpions biased, says lawyer
EAST LONDON -- The attorney representing two alleged taxi hitmen yesterday accused the Directorate of Special Operations, or Scorpions, and members of the national Directorate of Public Prosecutions of being on friendly terms with the rivals of M...

UDM, DP question need for new drive
BISHO -- The United Democratic Movement and the Democratic Party have questioned proposals by the Welfare Department to reregister grant beneficiaries in the Eastern Cape. While both parties support the motive to rid the department's database of ...

Holomisa: govt taking needs of chiefs to heart
By Phumlani Mdolomba KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) leader, Chief Phathekile Holomisa, believes the government is taking the needs of traditional leaders to heart. Holomisa was speaking at...

Roaming livestock angers Xhosa council
By Mkhululi Titi QUEENSTOWN -- The Xhosa royal council, in a bid to curb road accidents, has appealed to the government to get tough on owners of livestock found wandering along Eastern Cape roads The royal council executive co-ordinator, Prince...

Latter Day Saints to build chapel
QUEENSTOWN -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is to build a chapel here to seat more than 200 people. The church, which operates worldwide with about 10 million members, has been operating from premises in the town for the past fe...

UDM accuses ANC of lacking in sympathy
BISHO -- Eastern Cape United Democratic Movement leader Dumisane Gwadiso has accused the African National Congress of showing ''little sympathy'' for disabled and pension grant beneficiaries by supporting the Welfare Department's proposed reregist...

Down syndrome awareness workshop
By Matthew Ramsden EAST LONDON -- National Down Syndrome Awareness Day will be marked in East London today with a workshop in Fynbos. Down syndrome is the largest single genetic cause of intellectual disability in South Africa, affecting one in ...