Eastern Cape

One dead, 3 injured as rival taxis clash
Crime Reporter EAST LONDON -- A 53-year-old hawker died and three people were injured at the Mdantsane Highway taxi rank yesterday during a shoot-out between two rival taxi organisations, police said. Noyeye Nqeni of Mdantsane was hit in the nec...

Youths give clothes, food to fire victims
By Madoda Dyonana EAST LONDON -- The Eastern Cape Pathfinders Club paraded through the streets here yesterday before handing over food parcels and clothes to the latest Duncan Village fire victims. The club decided to help after hearing about th...

DV fire leaves more homeless
By Madoda Dyonana EAST LONDON -- Many Duncan Village families found themselves without shelter when their shacks were gutted by fire on Tuesday and yesterday Police disaster management head Inspector John Fobian said it was suspected Tuesday's f...

Govt warns warring taxi associations
By Mthobeli Mxotwa EAST LONDON -- The Safety and Security Department has issued a strong warning to warring Mdantsane taxi associations whose conflict yesterday left a hawker dead. A spokesman for the Safety and Security Department, Andile Yawa,...

Self-help scheme blossoms
Picture and report by Justine Gerardy STUTTERHEIM -- The Stutterheim Development Foundation (SDF) waiting room offers a simple philosophy to visitors and staff: "Even if you're on the right track you'll get run over if you just sit there." It is...

Cleric slates 2004 schools act
By Zama Feni EAST LONDON -- Government's planned introduction of a multi-religious education programme at South African schools would generate confusion among learners said Eastern Cape Council of Churches chairperson Reverend Lulama Ntshingwa ye...

Exploitation of Eastern Cape workers is 'rife'
GRAHAMSTOWN-- The exploitation of workers is rife in the Eastern Cape, especially in the security and textile industries, provincial Labour Department deputy director of inspections and enforcements Mlungisi Matiwane said yesterday. Working condi...

Arrive Alive rest stops for EC motorists
QUEENSTOWN -- Roadblocks, rest stops and words of encouragement will greet motorists travelling through the Eastern Cape 's northern region this festive season. It's all part of the region's Arrive Alive campaign which aims to make the roads safe...

Police in R500m drug bust
PORT ELIZABETH -- Police here rewrote the history books when they netted over R500 million worth of methaqualone powder -- the main ingredient in mandrax -- in South Africa's largest ever drug bust. National detective services spokesman Director ...

Reeston residents learn skills for jobs
Report and picture by Ncedo Kumbaca EAST LONDON -- A group of Reeston residents yesterday finished a short construction skills course aimed at helping them build 2000 houses at the village next year. The 36 residents did a 45-day training course...

Nkonkobe water contract nullified by high court
By Mthobeli Mxotwa EAST LONDON -- The mayor of Nkonkobe, Mandisile Mdleleni, yesterday expressed joy and relief after the Grahamstown High Court nullified a water and sanitation contract that had been entered into by the former Fort Beaufort tran...

SA short of 40 000 officers says George
UMTATA -- If this country wants to cope with crime it will have to employ close to 10 000 police officers a year for the next three years, said the chairperson of the safety and security standing committee, MP Mluleki George, this week. Speaking ...

Q'town dams filled to brim
QUEENSTOWN -- The town's main and secondary water supply dams, the Bongolo and Waterdown dams, are both 100percent full. The Bongolo Dam overflowed on Thursday night. Queenstown recorded 106mm of rain in November and 81,5mm in the first two week...

Aids ruling 'a small victory'
By Sonja Raasch QUEENSTOWN -- Aid Babies Battling Aids (Abba) director Dr Costa Gazi said yesterday's Pretoria High Court judgment -- that the State must provide the anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine to all pregnant women -- was a small victory in ...

Search intensifies for girl
QUEENSTOWN -- Ntabethemba police and local dog unit members yesterday continued the search for a 17-year-old girl who was swept away by the Kei River on Thursday. Funeka Gqibisa, of Tendergate village, and two friends were crossing the river at ...

Sting nets R2m betting machines
PORT ELIZABETH -- Operation Lungisa this week netted over R2 million worth of gambling machines here, with seven related arrests. The police, the traffic department and the defence force have been conducting the crime blitz in the Nelson Mandela ...

EC blood service desperate for stock
GRAHAMSTOWN -- Blood supplies for the coming festive break are running low in the Eastern Cape, said the Port Elizabeth branch of the SA National Blood Service yesterday. Branch manager Ian Simpson said he was "concerned" that there would not be ...

Two suspects shot dead
GRAHAMSTOWN -- Two men died after a shootout with police in Alice on Thursday, police said. Captain Nomazwi Nkombisa said the shootout followed an armed robbery at the Trade Zone Cash & Carry at about 10am. Four men armed with handguns enter...

Donald Woods honoured at memorial service
By Lew Elias EAST LONDON -- If former Daily Dispatch editor Donald Woods was still alive it would be interesting to see how he would deal with the problems facing the present government, Bishop Michael Coleman said here yesterday. Delivering the...

EL site to immortalise struggle heroes in clay
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- Renowned leaders of South Africa's struggle for liberation -- former president Nelson Mandela, President Thabo Mbeki and ANC stalwart Walter Sisulu -- are among those whose names will be cast in clay tablets at the ne...