Eastern Cape

'Progress in EC education'
By Sonja Raasch QUEENSTOWN -- Substantial progress is being made in addressing infrastructural needs, including overcrowding and a lack of electricity supply to schools in the Eastern Cape, said Education MEC Stone Sizani. Sizani was responding ...

EL responds warmly to Red Nose Day
EAST LONDON -- The national Child Welfare Society's 13th Red Nose Day celebrations at Vincent Park Centre here yesterday were warmly embraced with public support, area manager Nomfanelo Maxham said yesterday. A variety of different coloured noses...

Cooler weather expected
EAST LONDON -- Partly cloudy skies can be expected throughout the day today and tomorrow, the weather office in Port Elizabeth predicted yesterday. Conditions are expected to be somewhat cooler as a cold front, associated with a well developed ai...

Fort Hare celebrates as 400 graduate
ALICE -- The University of Fort Hare honoured 400 graduates yesterday at a ceremony addressed by Deputy President Jacob Zuma. The famous black university's sports centre was ablaze with brightly coloured academic gowns. The excited, stylishly dr...

Training centre to be probed
By Eddie Botha Business Editor EAST LONDON -- The Border Training Centre (BTC) has allegedly double-billed the Department of Labour and Portnet for a Portnet employee who received carpentry training at the BTC. As a result of this latest develop...

Quiet but deadly MacGyver 'very skilful'
By Stan Mzimba UMTATA -- He is soft-spoken -- but deadly. That's how Detective-Inspector Michael Maseti of the East London serious and violent crimes unit described gang leader Mzimasi "MacGyver" Tungulu, 29. Maseti had vowed to his seniors that...

Team finishes probe into Bisho dispute
By Political Reporter BISHO -- A four-member team consisting of the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and ANC members of the Provincial Legislature yesterday concluded its probe into the dispute between union shopsteward...

Stepping stone for reservists
Report and picture by Mkhululi Titi QUEENSTOWN -- Staff working at the local office of the area police commissioner were all smiles yesterday as members of the Sterkstroom police reservists branch brought a surprise in the form of a granite block...

Jannie walking tall for Big Walk
Report and picture by Rob Mellin EAST LONDON -- Border's evergreen sportsman, Jannie Breedt, an indefatigable opponent not easily beaten, will be among the contestants lining up for the Daily Dispatch-Rotary Club of Arcadia Big Walk on June 16. ...

Drowned lifeguard still not found
PORT ST JOHNS -- The search for the body of a young trainee lifeguard who drowned on Wednesday afternoon during a training exercise at the mouth of the Umzimvubu River here resumed yesterday. Efforts to retrieve the missing body on Wednesday pro...

Sanco questions free services plan
By Mthobeli Mxotwa EAST LONDON -- The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) yesterday dismissed as "confusing'' the Buffalo City council's announcement that it was studying ways of supplying free water and electricity to poor families...

Quigney restaurant sold by auction
By Toni Muller EAST LONDON -- It was goodbye to Bellami's here yesterday when the restaurant was auctioned off after being liquidated. The popular dining establishment's aubergine exterior has become a familiar sight on the Quigney for the past ...

E ducation trust will benefit EC
By Eddie Botha Business Editor JOHANNESBURG -- Education in poverty-stricken provinces like the Eastern Cape will greatly benefit from the establishment of an educational trust which will be providing bursaries to previously disadvantaged South A...

Engine fails on SAA flight to PE
PORT ELIZABETH -- Panic-stricken passengers cried and prayed when an engine of an SAA aircraft on a flight from Johannesburg to here failed yesterday. Several passengers who were traumatised after the mid-air drama complained of ''inconsideration...

Dube flexes muscles for record pull
By Mkhululi Titi QUEENSTOWN -- About 1 000 disbelieving people swarmed Robinson Road here yesterday as local strongman Themba Dube flexed his muscles and pulled three police vehicles in preparation to make the Guinness Book of Records next month....

King teenager aims for the top
KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- Local powerboat ace and current South African junior hydroplane champion Warren Schneider, 13, will compete for the biggest prize of his life this weekend -- a chance to represent South Africa in an international event next ...

Bengu installed as chancellor of Fort Hare
By Denver Donian ALICE -- The former vice chancellor of Fort Hare University and the first black Minister of Education in the country, Professor Sibusiso Bengu, was yesterday inaugurated as chancellor of the institution after receiving an honorar...

Köpke urges UFH to excel
KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- DaimlerChryser CEO Christoph Köpke yesterday challenged the University of Fort Hare to become the first South African university to gain the Excellence Award from the South Africa Excellence Foundation (SAEF). Kopke sa...

Asmal expects improved pass rate
By Patrick Cull CAPE TOWN -- Education Minister Kader Asmal said this week he was expecting a minimum of a further five percent increase in the pass rate at the end of this year for matriculation students. "Our pass rate for 2000 increased by ni...

Fort Hare launches R5m IT centre
ALICE -- A R5million Thintana Technology Centre Project (TTCP) was launched by the University of Fort Hare here yesterday as part of its graduation ceremony. Thintana is a consortium of Telkom's foreign strategic equity partners -- SBC Internatio...

School reclaims stolen property from nearby residents
Story and picture by Mthobeli Mxotwa EAST LONDON -- Nyameko High School in Mdantsane this week retrieved stolen school property during a search of nearby homes. Principal Max Fulani said more than 50 desks and chairs were retrieved from homes in...

Suspected poachers caught in Gulu area
EAST LONDON -- Members of the Marine and Coastal Management this week arrested two men near the Gulu area for allegedly being in possession of undersized perlemoen and for allegedly being in possession of perlemoen during the closed season. Accor...

DV man guilty of killing policeman
By Samkelo Ngwenya EAST LONDON -- A convicted Duncan Village man's defence counsel yesterday conceded that killing a policeman in the line of duty was a serious crime that deserved a long sentence. Advocate Ben Jakavula was addressing the high c...

Radio G'town comes on air after years of frustration
GRAHAMSTOWN -- After a decade of frustration, Radio Grahamstown finally came on air loud and clear yesterday. The station was granted a four-year licence last year following demonstrations over five years against then-IBA councillors for incompet...

Stofile to unveil Bulhoek site
PORT ELIZABETH -- Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile will unveil a memorial site tomorrow at Ntabelanga, near Queenstown, to commemorate the Bulhoek massacre which left 163 members of a religious sect dead 80 years ago. A monument honouring ...

Herd of cattle stolen, but found next day
EAST LONDON -- A herd of cattle was stolen from a farm near Kidds Beach on Wednesday night, but recovered within 24 hours. The 41 cattle were stolen from Delton farm owned by Elred and Cynthia Nelson. The Nelsons' neighbours rallied together wit...