Eastern Cape

EL to share in R45bn rail boost
By Ayanda Salayedwa Business Reporter EAST LONDON -- Public Enterprise Minister Jeff Radebe yesterday committed a portion of Transnet's budget for the next 10 years to upgrade rail links between the Eastern Cape and Gauteng to ensure the success...

Kowie flying school set to expand
EAST LONDON -- The future looks bright for one of the world's finest pilot academies, the 43 Air School based in Port Alfred. The National Airways and Finance Corporation (NAC) yesterday announced it had concluded negotiations to buy the school a...

Things looking up on beachfront
Business Reporter EAST LONDON -- The long-awaited Buffalo City beachfront development is starting to look positive. A strip of land on Seaview Terrace is now up for sale for any would-be developers. To add to this, the old King's Hotel site is ...

Full Aids strategy is city's 3-year goal
By Justine Gerardy EAST LONDON -- The Buffalo City Municipality plans to have a comprehensive HIV-Aids strategy, including treatment management, up and running within three years. This was confirmed by Dr Bongani Noruka, member of the city's HIV...

HIV child deaths in BC 'can be halved'
By Justine Gerardy EAST LONDON -- Fifteen hundred child deaths in Buffalo City could be halved if HIV-Aids mother-to-child-transmission prevention got off the ground properly and breastmilk was substituted, an intersectoral HIV-Aids conference he...

Huge turnout for funeral of crash victims
Report and pictures by Sonja Raasch QUEENSTOWN -- About 10 000 mourners attended the funeral service yesterday for 23 choristers whose flower-laden coffins bore testimony to the loss of young lives in the Nico Malan bus crash tragedy last month. ...

Stofile's new house pleases Fort Hare
GRAHAMSTOWN -- The University of Fort Hare said yesterday it applauded the fact that Premier Makhenkesi Stofile was building his new R600000 house in Alice. Fort Hare spokesperson Luthando Bara said the university viewed the move as "a symbol of ...

Omar vows to curb negligence on the road
QUEENSTOWN -- Transport Minister Dullah Omar yesterday vowed to take strict action in preventing further bus crashes -- including ensuring that drivers were qualified and obeyed the rules of the road. Omar's message was read out by Safety and Tra...

5 defect to NNP in PE metro
PORT ELIZABETH -- The Democratic Alliance in the metro council here was dealt a blow yesterday with the defection of five of its councillors to the New National Party. All five -- Anne-Marie van Jaarsveld, Shirley Frolich, Adam Goliath, Andre Smi...

VIPs held register children for grants
By Ncedo Kumbaca UMTATA -- More than 2000 people gathered at Mvoti Clinic in Nazareth village near Umzimkulu for Imbizo and child support grant registration by the Department of Social Development yesterday. The department team was led by MEC Nc...

Postage stamp honours Steve Biko
Picture and report by Lulamile Feni KING WILLIAM'S TOWN -- A Steve Biko postage stamp to commemorate the life of the black consciousness activist was launched by Communication Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri here yesterday. The introduction of th...

ANC councillors walk out of KSD meeting
By Ncedo Kumbaca UMTATA -- Tension worsened in the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Municipality on Tuesday when ANC councillors walked out of a council meeting complaining about intimidation from UDM members and the party's provincial leadership. T...

ANC warns 'disruptive' T'kei members
By Lucas Mati EAST LONDON -- The ANC has vowed to deal with some of its members involved in "rowdy and disruptive" behaviour in the OR Tambo region in Transkei. Their actions had nothing to do with the political work being done by the party in t...

EC schools need R4,2bn
QUEENSTOWN -- An estimated R4,2 billion was needed to upgrade all school buildings in the Eastern Cape to meet the requirements of a basic school, Education MEC Stone Sizani said at the opening of the Hlobo Junior Secondary School in Nqamakwe rece...

Schools may directly run feeding schemes
By Adrienne Carlisle GRAHAMSTOWN -- The Health Department might consider diverting the millions it spends on the Primary School Nutrition Programme directly to schools themselves if they showed they had the capacity and commitment to feed the chi...

Shooting baffles police
Crime Reporter EAST LONDON -- An Umtata man, Bulelani Tutshana, 25, was shot dead near Mbuqe extension in Umtata on Tuesday night, police said. Tutshana was apparently a passenger in a Toyota Corolla travelling to Tyumbu when armed men forced th...

Stolen cellphones recovered
By Denver Donian Crime Reporter EAST LONDON -- Members of the Cambridge detective services arrested a courier company employee recently and recovered 18 stolen cellphones in Mdantsane. Inspector Stephen Marais said the value of the cellphones h...

Mayor defends council
QUEENSTOWN -- Sakhisizwe mayor Mlamli Tyaliti has denied allegations by the Cala Residents' Association that his council is not transparent. He was reacting to claims by a member of the association, Mzwandile Kasana, that the municipality refused...

'Money alone can't solve poverty'
By Mkhululi Titi QUEENSTOWN -- International experience has shown that providing money alone to solve the problems of poverty and under-development has failed to deliver the desired results. This was said by Public Service Commissioner (PSC) Mzw...

Poverty is govt's top priority
By Mphumzi Zuzile EAST LONDON -- Poverty is the single greatest burden in South Africa and therefore it is the government's first priority, the Deputy Minister for Provincial and local Government, Ntombazana Botha, said yesterday. Botha was spea...

Man held for armed robbery
EAST LONDON -- A 25-year-old man was arrested after an armed robbery in Sprigg Street in Umtata on Tuesday, police said yesterday. R6045 in cash and an unlicensed gun were recovered.The suspect is due in court today. *A 14-year-old girl was rape...