SmilingSouth

10/04/2025

National Health and Allied Workers Unipn members at the South African Library for the Blind in Makhanda are picketing for salary increases.

23/03/2025

OBI ALERT! This arts festival takes place far from the Eastern Cape. But Obusitswe “Birdking” Seage whose work actively challenges the way we think (and act) about trash lives in Makhanda. Read about his performance here.

The My Body My Space festival celebrates ten years of free access to the arts

20/03/2025

Large-scale public art project to raise awareness about climate change

09/03/2025

“Look, we are suffering in Vergenoeg, Grahamstown. We have been without water for nine days. No one has brought us water. We have to guess if and when a water truck may come. There’s water lying everywhere here because the pipes in the valley keep leaking. But there’s nothing to drink.” It was in response to desperate pleas for help, like this that saw a group of Makhanda residents fill dozens of five-litre bottles with clean water and take them to Vergenoeg at midday on Friday March 7. The procession to Vergenoeg was dubbed as a “water funeral” to highlight the seriousness of the crisis.

02/03/2025

More photos from the march by hundreds in Makhanda on Wednesday February 26 under the banner of Concerned Makhanda Residents. The group handed over a petition to an official from the national Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, listing a litany of service delivery failueres, and demanding the removal by COGTA of Makana Municipality's Mayor, Speaker, Municipal Manager and CHief FInancial Officer.
PHOTOS: GREG WILMOT

26/02/2025

UPDATE 11am
The crowd outside the city hall fills Church Square.

Protesters gather for Makhanda march
SMILING SOUTH REPORTER
From early this morning, students gathered at the entrance to Rhodes University campus and residents gathered at Soccer City in FIngo Village. They will join hundreds of other Makhanda residents in a peaceful march to the city hall to protest against “maladministration, fraud and corruption and service delivery collapse”. The march is happening against the backdrop of a fifth consecutive disclaimer audit opinion for Makana Municipality from the Auditor General.
Under the banner of Concerned Makhanda Residents, the group will hand over a petition to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa.
In the petition, the group demands the Mayor and the Speaker be removed from office, “as it is these two who preside over and encourage the passing of unlawful resolutions and have ensured that the oversight structures are deliberately and intentionally weakened”.
The University yesterday agreed to suspend the academic programme for the morning and the SRC and Oppidan Union have thrown their weight behind a broad-based service delivery protest.
“We, the collective mass based organizations, faith based institutions, private businesses, various political formations, unions and general members of the public of the Makana Municipality, demand the immediate removal of the Mayor and the Speaker from our municipality,” a statement from the organising group, Concerned Makhanda Residents, says. “For too long Makana municipality has been experiencing political instability, maladministration, fraud and corruption and service delivery collapse… This is a municipality that cannot fulfil its constitutional and legislative obligations… Makana is a municipality that has been politically and administratively mismanaged by the Executive Mayor, Speaker and a cohort of conflicted officials.
“Straining under the effects of more than a decade of maladministration we have put aside our political differences in a desperate plea for intervention by the national government. Collapsing infrastructure, financial vulnerability and service delivery failures at the scale of disaster have made it increasingly difficult for residents, businesses, the town’s top education institutions and state services to function,” the group said in their statement.
Makana Municipality was put under administration in 2014 and several times subsequently and in 2020 the high court ordered the province to dissolve the council and put the municipality under full administration.
What should have been an opportunity to reboot the town and put it on a path to recovery was first stalled by the province, who (unsuccessfully) appealed the judgment and then made moot by the election of a new council in November 2021.
The subsequent fraudulent insertion of five illegitimate councillors weakened oversight during most of the council’s five-year term. The flouting of accountability was confirmed by the Auditor General’s disclaimer finding for the 2023/24 financial year. This is Makana Municipality’s fifth successive audit disclaimer.
Several hastily organised engagements by the municipality’s leadership inlcuded a media briefing and “finger lunch” on Monday. There, members of the media were informed about projects under way in Makhanda.
Reverend Nkosinathi Ngesi, who is a spokesperson for the group, said that the convening of an SMME briefing in Joza, coinciding with the start of the march in Fingo Village; a hastily called meeting for community work project (CWP) workers; a hastily called meeting for Ward 12 residents (Ward 12 includes the Rhodes University campus, which is likely to boost the number of marchers); and a call for residents of informal settlement eNkanini to stay at home to receive rubbish bins from the Mayor were attempts by the municipality to divert those groups of stakeholders from participating in or supporting the march.
“Bayangcangcazela (they are nervous),” he said, commenting on a post circulated on social media this morning, falsely claiming the march had been postponed.
PHOTOS: GREG WILMOT

29/12/2024

MESSAGE FROM Gift of the Givers FOR MAKHANDA
Gift of the Givers to send in additional water tankers to Makhanda to avoid a humanitarian crisis. Our teams have been inundated with calls for assistance from old age homes,clinics and communities. Our water tankers have been working thru the festive period to see to the needs of the informal settlements and schemes as temperatures sour, our borehole at the Ntsika Secondary School in Joza has become a lifeline for the areas especially for the Khayelitsha Informal Settlement.
Monday 29 December
10am Makhanda TVSOurce: Ali Sablay, Gift of the Givers
The move is in response to the following message from Ward 8 councillor Cary Clark:
Hi Ali, I hope you are well. Once again we have a catastrophe in Grahamstown. People without water now for nearly a week , Brookshaw Frail Care has no drinking water and another area without water for 3 months. No response from Acting Director ! Are you guys able to assist at all? Sorry to keep asking but I don't know where else to turn anymore😢😢

21/11/2024

Who remembers watching Sizwe Banzi is Dead in a tiny community hall somewhere in the Eastern Cape?

Fifty-two years after its premiere, Sizwe Banzi is Dead by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona will be brought back to life.

24/10/2024

More amazing photos and great stories from our favourite local REAL adventurer!

A photographer's delight. There is no better place to watch large herds of elephants up close. They come so close to your car that it is sometimes hard to take photographs while your adrenaline is pumping. You know they could flip your car over without trying really hard.

24/10/2024

A new initiative giving local artists a platform ✨

23/06/2024

'From their roles in employers' homes, schools, and supermarkets to their unwavering dedication to creating nurturing environments for their own families, their contributions are central to the fabric of our society.’ Enjoy this snapshot that shows the finishing touches being put to Madam President Evelyn, showing at the National Arts Festival, this Thursday, Friday and Saturday (27, 28 and 29 June). Hear from Director Thumnana Sibhozo about this lively satirical piece being staged under the auspices of Rhodes University’s Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit. More about the play and how to book at https://bit.ly/TOTTMadamPresident

‘From their roles in employers' homes, schools, and supermarkets to their unwavering dedication to creating nurturing environments for their own families, th...

07/05/2024

18/04/2024

03/03/2024

I became aware of a sharp noisy sound coming from the dam’s banks. We knew immediately that there was a lapwing (or a kiewiet as we know it) in the vicinity. They have a very distinct call.

Might not be what you were thinking. I am convinced the the most courageous mammal in our country is not the most courageous animal. While the honey badger is incredibly intelligent and tough . . . the prize for the bravest of them all goes to?

16/01/2024

Tracey had a profound influence on the way traditional African music is regarded, locally and across the world, through his teaching, performance, mentorship and research.

Internationally renowned ethnomusicologist Andrew Tracey died on Friday at the age of 87.

08/01/2024

How do you deal with a mining application close to where you live? Or a building development that will impact on nature and biodiversity close to you?

Understanding Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) can be very challenging. They can seem overwhelming and laced with jargon. That’s why BotSoc called in the help of experts and conservation partners, to develop a course to understand EIAs, and to respond to them professionally.

This 8-part EIA online course aims to reduce the uncertainty in how to deal with development applications. And it’s available to you if you’re a BotSoc member. Find out more here: https://botanicalsociety.org.za/eia-course/

Image: Jenny Parsons

Enviro Insight