Eastern Cape

Brazil or Cameroon? EC fans divided
Report and pictures by Samkelo Ngwenya EAST LONDON -- Who will win the soccer World Cup? Assuming that every South African would like to see Bafana Bafana conquer the world, the Daily Dispatch asked the public yesterday who they fancied to win,...

Mpongo Park fetches R2,9m
EAST LONDON -- Tourist landmark Mpongo Park Game Reserve was auctioned off as a going concern for "a disappointing" R2,9million here yesterday, raising speculation that the offer might not be accepted. The reserve was provisionally sold to the hi...

Azapo: no reason to shut down Unitra
EAST LONDON -- The Azanian People's Organisation was opposed to the closure of the University of Transkei, Azapo's East London branch chairperson Zolani Mabusela said yesterday. Mabusela was responding to Education Minister Kader Asmal's proposal...

Holomisa backs UDM
EAST LONDON -- United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa told party supporters yesterday that he would remain the party's leader despite attempts by former president Nelson Mandela to woo him back to the ANC. UDM spokesman Mabandla Gogo sa...

Better planning needed for roads
By Lew Elias EAST LONDON -- Holistic planning for roads and their maintenance was hampered by different planning cycles by various levels of government and differing financial years for budgets, a roads indaba heard here yesterday. The two-day i...

Brokers to pay R500000 for bad advice
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- Absa Brokers and one of its financial advisers, Janus Byles, will have to pay Grahamstown resident Coleen Poultney over R500000 after giving her such poor financial advice that she sold her life insurance polic...

Africa canoe trip helps raise funds
By Zama Feni EAST LONDON -- For Gerhard Moolman victory is certain, come hell or high water. "Four months from now, this little canoe of mine will get me to Kipini in Kenya," Moolman told the Daily Dispatch yesterday afternoon at the Eastern Bea...

16 arrested over T'kei mob court
QUEENSTOWN -- Sixteen people, allegedly part of a kangaroo court in Msobomvu near Butterworth, have been arrested. Sergeant Namhla Mdleleni confirmed yesterday that the head of Operation Good Night, Captain Bongani Maqashalala, had identified the...

DA charges Williams with misconduct
By Eddie Botha EAST LONDON -- The provincial executive of the Democratic Alliance has charged its former caucus chairman in the Buffalo City Council, Quinton Williams, with misconduct. Williams will now face a disciplinary hearing. Williams, wh...

Power cut in King to black out Bafana
KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- If you live here and want to cheer on Bafana Bafana in their World Cup match tomorrow -- then leave town. The town's power will be interrupted between 5.30am and 6.30pm tomorrow. That means there will be a blackout during B...

Probe confirms sports day racism
PORT ELIZABETH -- An investigation by Framesby High School found that acts of racism did happen during the recent sport day between the school and Dale College. The investigation was launched by the school after reports that Framesby pupils and t...

Frere doctor wins award for recipe book
EAST LONDON -- Cavin Staff found a recipe for success -- and got a prestigious award from East London Rotary Club. Staff is an orthopaedic surgeon at Frere Hospital here, but is a spare-time artist and cartoonist. So when his thoughts turned to ...

EL needs Rhodes' presence -- Holbrook
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- Business in East London has invested heavily in the Rhodes University campus in the city and wants to see it retain a strong presence there, said Border-Kei Chamber of Commerce executive director Les Holbrook. ...

Macozoma: EC given viable education base
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- The Eastern Cape now has a viable higher educational platform from which it could later build an improved economy, says Saki Macozoma, who led the group that advised Education Minister Kader Asmal on the restru...

King fire-fighter excels nationally
Report & picture by Denver Donian KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- Local deputy fire chief Rod Mill is one of the country's top fire-fighters. Mill, 50, is a delighted man after he achieved three top awards at the South African Emergency Services Inst...

Bones found may belong to lost boys
QUEENSTOWN -- Police are investigating the possibility that bones seen on a mountain range in Ntabethemba near here may be those of two young boys who went missing while hunting in January. Siphe Vavane, 6, Ntobeko Mvula, 8, and Vusumzi Shushu, 9...

R1,2m boost for Ginsberg school
By Lulamile Feni KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- A R1,2million double-storey complex with eight new classrooms is to be built for a primary school in Ginsberg here. Ginsberg was the home of the late Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko. The project for...

EC govt to set up HTL draft
By Mayibongwe Maqhina Municipal Reporter EAST LONDON -- The provincial government is to embark on a consultative process aimed at formulating a draft White Paper on traditional affairs that will help set up legislation in the province. This eme...

Gun links suspect to attack
By Denver Donian Crime Reporter EAST LONDON -- Ballistic tests have linked an R4 rifle confiscated from alleged taxi hitman Ntsikelelo Klaas, 50, to spent cartridges found at the scene of a taxi shooting recently. A member of the Uncedo Taxi As...

2 guilty of murdering King farming couple
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- Two men from Nakani near King William's Town, Phumzile Khweqa, 51, and Vumile Ngcamlela, 21, were yesterday sentenced to life and 25 years' imprisonment respectively for the brutal murder of elderly King Willi...

Man wanted for killing
Crime Reporter EAST LONDON -- An identikit has been released by police of a man wanted on charges of murder and armed robbery. The man, Sandile Maseti, of Ncera near Mooiplaas, is believed to have been an accomplice in the murder of Blue Water b...

Seal steals meal from fishermen
EAST LONDON -- A Cape fur seal is adding a new twist to "the one that got away" by snapping off hooked shad from the lines of fishermen along the harbour breakwater wall here. The seal swims up and down the wall, metres off the fishermen's cast-l...

Police put lives at risk serving public
At least five Eastern Cape police officers have been killed this year. A national campaign against the killings was launched in Umtata this week. WENDY SA JOE reports on the risks South African Police Service members are faced with on a daily basi...

Court to rule on printouts
UMTATA -- The high court here will decide on Monday if computer printouts may be admitted as evidence in the fraud trial of Health MEC Bevan Goqwana and his co-accused, Dr Mkhuseli Mashiyi. Goqwana and Mashiyi have pleaded not guilty to charges o...

4 in court for killing of student leader
QUEENSTOWN -- Four Eastern Cape Technikon students, charged with the murder of South African Students' Congress (Sasco) provincial leader Xola Nene in Butterworth in October last year, will again appear in the Butterworth Magistrate's Court on Jul...