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More than R700m is being invested by Opel Germany to cement the brand’s presence in the South African market.

In a statement released on Monday, Unitrans – which has the distributor rights for Opel in SA – announced that the German head office had set up a subsidiary, Opel South Africa.

The subsidiary has invested the R700m into parts, warranty and service plans for Opel customers in the Southern African region.

Beyond this, the brand’s dealership network also announced an investment of R20m in upgrades.

These upgrades were aimed at bringing the 35 dealerships in line with the brand’s international look and feel, the company said.

Unitrans Opel SA general manager Brian Hunter said Unitrans had decided to employ local signage contractors for these upgrades.

“Opel wants to stimulate additional local job creation and support local business, and our local suppliers met the German required standards,” Hunter said.

Though Unitrans indicated that more Opel dealerships were expected to open over the next five years due to the brand’s growth, Unitrans public relations manager Lise Holloway said no concrete plans existed for new dealerships in the immediate future.

“The current footprint of 35 dealers will satisfy customer requirements for the foreseeable future,” Holloway said.

Two of these dealerships are in the Eastern Cape – Williams Hunt in Port Elizabeth and Meyers in East London.

Service centres in Makhanda (previously Grahamstown), Mthatha and Cradock are also operating.

About 150 people are employed by Opel across these branches.

Nearly R1.5bn has been invested in the brand since General Motors SA (GMSA), which previously handled distribution for Opel , withdrew from the South African market.

Hunter said: “We are delighted that investment in the Opel brand in South Africa has now exceeded R1.5bn when one combines the investment of Opel International, the Unitrans Opel distributor and the group of Opel dealers.

“We estimate that this investment now employs over 1,000 people.”

Opel’s director of international sales operations in Germany, Bill Mott, indicated that Opel has its eye on further growth in Southern Africa.

“We view South Africa as a very important market,” Mott said.

“South Africa is a strategic investment for Opel and our aim is to take the brand from strength to strength in South Africa and other key markets.”

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“We can market a festival in Makhanda as easily as we can one in Grahamstown,” says National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester. A day after Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa’s approval of the change of Grahamstown’s name to Makhanda was announced in the Government Gazette on Friday 29 June, the Festival’s Facebook tag changed from ‘National Arts Festival Grahamstown’ to ‘National Arts Festival Makhanda’.

“Our view is that, from the Festival’s perspective, we’ll work with whatever name we have to work with,” Lankester told Grocott’s Mail. “South Africans tend to refer to us colloquially as the ‘Grahamstown Festival’. I’m sure that, in time, the name ‘Makhanda Festival’ will gain similar traction, and we will be part of the push to make the name recognisable to visitors and potential visitors.”

South African Geographical Names Council Chairperson Johnny Mohlala told Grocott’s Mail that the timing of the gazetting at the start of the National Arts Festival was coincidental and said people’s dignity and the forging of a national identity were at the heart of the name-change impetus.

However, anti-name change campaign Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown says the recommendation by the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographic Names Committee (ECPGNC) and SAGNC, and the Minister’s decision, ignore public opinion on the issue. In a statement issued last weekend, campaign co-ordinators Jock McConnachie and Sigudlo Ndumo, said the decision was in conflict with the Constitution, and indicated “a spirit of retribution rather than reconciliation”.

They have addressed a formal complaint to Mthethwa and have criticised him and the SAGNC for giving the impression, as widely reported, that by publication of the name change in the Government Gazette the name change was final.

“By law the Minister is required to consider all objections before making a final decision on the matter and must also provide reasons for accepting or rejecting the objections,” KGG said. “Until then the name of Grahamstown remains Grahamstown.”

KGG said they had pointed out to the Minister that the Notice was defective in that it contained no reference to Section 10 of the South African Geographic Names Act No.118 of 1998 in terms of which persons who are opposed to the name change have the right to object to the name change within a period of one month after the date of publication. The Notice also provided no address to which objections can be addressed, they said in a second statement issued this week.

Nowhere in South Africa had the process to change the name of a place been as intensive as in Grahamstown, Mohlala told Grocott’s Mail.

He presided at an emotionally charged objectors’ meeting at the Albany Museum earlier this year. Hearing arguments were members of the SAGNC from across the country. The Council is made up of 15-25 members and Mohlala said about 12 were present at the 15 February meeting.

Mohlala interacts with Mthethwa as a member of the Ministerial Task Team for Transformation of the Heritage Landscape. A day after the February meeting in Grahamstown, Mohlala vowed to speak in his personal capacity to the Minister to make a decision.

Colonel John Graham, after whom Grahamstown is named, commanded the forces of the British colonial project in the Eastern Cape that included a series of military campaigns to subjugate the amaXhosa. Makhanda was a Xhosa prophet and resistance leader who led an attack on the British garrison at Egazini, at the city’s south-western edge, in 1819.

One of the name change’s earliest proponents, historian Julie Wells, said she counted her participation in the name change debates of 10 years as one of the most interesting tasks she had ever observed as a historian.

“A series of roadshows… introduced audiences to what the whole idea was about and then presented a summary of the leading options,” Wells said. Names considered were Egume (the city’s earliest name), Rhini and Makhanda. “People felt [Makhanda] had value in its own right, underscoring one of the most important events that the city is famous for, the battle of Grahamstown,” Wells said.

The Grahamstown Residents Association said they had taken no position on name change other than that the process be defensible. “Our membership has the full range of views – from support through preferring to focus on service delivery to opposing,” said chairperson Philip Machanick.

In a statement issued on the day his approval was gazetted, Mthethwa spoke of symbolic reparation to address an unjust past, as promoted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

He said a South Africa town shouldn’t be named after a man “whose name is captured in history as being the most brutal and most vicious of the British commanders on that frontier”.

“In South Africa it has been standard practice to change names which are not in line with the letter and spirit of the Constitution,” Mthethwa said.

Matters of fact

Mthethwa in his 29 June statement, includes the often cited phrase ‘a proper degree of terror’ to emphasise the violence of the frontier wars. Like many, he attributes the phrase to Colonel John Graham “whose name is captured in history as being the most brutal and vicious of the British commanders on that frontier, whose campaigns were executed with – in his own words – ‘A proper degree of terror’.”

The phrase gained popular use among first cultural activists, then politicians, because it was the title of a book published in 1986, written by journalist and history researcher Ben Maclennan, A proper degree of terror: John Graham and the Cape’s Eastern Frontier.  The author, asked by Grocott’s Mail to comment on the use of the phrase in support of arguments for the name change, said, “A small correction: Graham conducted only one campaign on the frontier, not ‘campaigns’.

“A big correction: the ‘proper degree of terror’ quote comes not from Graham, but from Graham’s boss, the governor and military commander of the Cape, Sir John Cradock. Who, coincidentally, also has a South African town named after him.

“For brutality and viciousness among British commanders, I’d put my money not on Graham but on Harry Smith.”

GRAHAMSTOWN TO MAKHANDA
STATEMENTS ON THE 29 JUNE 2018 GAZETTING OF ARTS AND CULTURE MINISTER NATHI MTHETHWA’S APPROVAL FOR THE CHANGE

Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown Campaign (KGG)

Submit your objections to the Minister within 30 days

Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown (KGG) notes with astonishment the decision of the Minister of Arts Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa, to Gazette the name change of Grahamstown to Makhanda.

The Minister’s statement announcing the decision is riddled with factual errors as regards the process which led the South African Geographic Names Council (SAGNC) to recommend the name change to the Minister, and the notice is itself fatally defective.

The decision is also in conflict with the SA Constitution in that is motivated by a spirit of retribution rather than reconciliation.  It also contradicts one of the SAGNC’s own key guiding principles that existing names should not be changed but should rather be retained as part of the nation’s cultural fabric.

The latest process which culminated in the SAGNC’s decision to recommend the name change was not conducted in conjunction with the local municipality as the statement claims but was conducted independently of the local municipality by the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographic Names Committee (ECGPNC).

It was also not a proper process in that it comprised a single meeting in a single venue attended by fewer than 100 persons representing one small section of the community.

The statement also refers to “public engagements” conducted by the local municipality since 2012.  In fact three thorough public consultation processes were conducted by the Makana local authority in conjunction with the ECPGNC between 2007 and 2012 and the outcome of each of those processes was overwhelmingly not in favour of changing the name of Grahamstown.

This led the ECPGNC, in pursuit of its stated mission to change all colonial names throughout the Eastern Cape, to take matters into its own hands by conducting its own fast-track “process” from late 2015.

In doing so the ECPGNC acted completely independently of the local municipality contrary to what is claimed in the statement.

By so doing, the ECPGNC and the SAGNC ignored the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal on the issue of the renaming of Louis Trichardt to Makado which clearly defined what constitutes a proper consultation process.

The manner in which the latest “process” was conducted by the ECPGNC and the SAGNC does not nearly meet the requirements as set down the Supreme Court of Appeal and is unlawful.

The recommendation by the ECPGNC and SAGNC and the Minister’s decision to gazette the name change completely ignore public opinion on the issue and both the Minister’s statement and the government notice itself fail to mention that in terms of the relevant legislation, persons have 30 days to object to the proposed name change.  As such the notice is fatally defective and is of no force or effect as was the case with the announcement of the name change of Queenstown more than a year ago to which no one has paid any attention.

Those who are not in favour of the name change are nevertheless urged to address their objections to the Minister of Arts Culture within the 30 day period.  KGG will itself be doing so on behalf of the more than 6000 objectors whose opinions it represents.

Subject to the Minister’s final decision, a legal challenge against the name change will also be launched in due course and success is a foregone conclusion.

Issued by Jock McConnachie and Sigidla Ndumo, Joint Co-ordinators Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown (KGG).

ANC – Sarah Baartman Region

Sarah Baartman welcomes the return of Makhanda kaNxele

The ANC in the Sarah Baartman region of the Eastern Cape, which encompasses Makhanda, welcomes the long awaited renaming of the colonial Grahamstown into Makhanda. This decolonisation move follows 20 years of discussions by members of the public, academics and politicians.

We understand that the delay in the gazetting of the name-change was due to the vitriol spewed by many in the city who saw nothing wrong with an offensive colonial name. Even today, we still bear witness on anti-revolutionaries still fussing and lamenting nostalgic glorification over a notorious English army colonel John Graham – who Grahamstown was named after.

In the past during the public hearings on the name change, the matter divided the university town along racial lines. It was mostly people in the vanilla-side of town who unleashed all sorts of expletives towards the decolonisation of Grahamstown. Now the chorus has been joined by some others who conveniently act oblivious to our history and democracy.

It has been a standard practice in the country to change names which are not in line with the letter and spirit of the Constitution. In 1996, together with those in the vanilla-side of town, we all applauded the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was indicated then that it is better than the Nuremberg Trials-form of justice. Therefore, we should also accept that it was the same TRC that recommended the renaming of geographic features as a form of symbolic reparation to address an unjust past. Makhanda is such form of symbolic reparation.

Makhanda kaNxele is famous for leading 10 000 warriors of amaXhosa in a resistance against British annexation of Grahamstown in 1918. During the war he was captured and incarcerated at Robben Island – and he had always reassured that he would return. We understand that the famous ridicule of Ukuza kukaNxele has somewhat become an idiom for something that has promise of returning. But with the name-change, Nxele had returned as he had promised his people.

In previous and contemporary narratives, Makhanda kaNxele was characterised as mentally unstable, full of delusions and preached a lie that the English bullets would turn into water and that resulted in thousands of Xhosa warrior’s demise during the battle at Grahamstown.

But through unprejudiced research was actually a curious intellectual, upright, and returned stolen cattle and horses. Through his charisma, he had an ear of kings and chiefs – and had people come to listen to him during preaching. His clarity of thought propelled him into the position of a leading spiritual adviser to the powerful Chief Ndlambe of the amaRharhabe.

The ANC in Sarah Baartman celebrates Makhanda kaNxele as key symbol of the wars of dispossession. His quest to return was evidenced by his attempt to escape from Robben Island, together with other men. Their boats capsized and Makana, while marshalling and urging his men to swim to shore, drowned. Since then, Makhanda became and is still a lasting symbol of resistance.

The next task now must be to rename all the offensive names that still engrave the street poles of Makhanda.

Issued by Regional Secretary Scara Njadayi

Grahamstown Residents Association Chairperson Philip Machanick: a personal perspective

GRA has full range of views

GRA has taken no position on name change other than that the process be defensible, as our membership has the full range of views – from support through preferring to focus on service delivery to opposing. What follows is a personal perspective on where we are now.

On 29 June 2018 I had the extraordinary privilege of hearing retired Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs speak during Festival on Expropriation Without Compensation. One of the key points he made is that a foundational principle of constitutionality is that any action by government must be subject to review by the courts. I note that the Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown (KGG) campaign plans to invoke that right, citing the name change of Louis Trichardt that was overturned for inadequate consultation. I also note the Concourt case of City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality v Afriforum and Another in 2016 that upheld leave to appeal against a case preventing changes of Pretoria street names. The Concourt in this case invoked an argument I summarize as “balance of hurt” – that the party more severely hurt should win if both parties would be hurt either way.

I will not review legal arguments but rather focus on South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) Chairperson Johnny Mohlala’s comments on “social cohesion”. I agree that this remains a serious problem with deep divisions throughout society, many of which are very apparent in small, compact community such as ours. Where I take issue with SAGNC procedures is that you cannot achieve social cohesion by an adversarial approach. SAGNC’s visit to establish the range of views on name change could not have been more adversarial – pro and anti groups were invited to separate meetings and the anti meeting was angry and no one attempted to narrowing the gap in views. Why should such a procedure be adversarial? Should an attempt at finding consensus and bringing the sides closer together fail, then you can turn to the courts to slug it out.

A constitutional democracy makes decisions with a mix of political and judicial processes. Both of these spheres are inherently adversarial. What we are very much missing in our society is another kind of nation-building process – healing the wounds of the past by finding each other. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) did that to a limited extent but we need a much bigger, more localized, more personal project than that. Name change couldform part of such a project but it is not, as currently configured. Since government has not initiated a broader TRC process, perhaps civil society should take it up.

Reply to Grocott’s Mail’s request to GRA for a statement by Philip Machanick in his personal capacity

National Arts Festival

‘Makhanda Festival’? We’ll work with whatever name we have

Our view is that, from the Festival’s perspective, we’ll work with whatever name we have to work with. We can market a festival in Makhanda as easily as we can one in Grahamstown.

South Africans tend to refer to us colloquially as the “Grahamstown Festival”.  I’m sure that, in time, the name “Makhanda Festival” will gain similar traction, and we will be part of the push to make the name recognisable to visitors and potential visitors.

Reply by Festival CEO Tony Lankester to Grocott’s Mail’s request for a statement.

Historian Julie Wells

Thoughts on changing the name of Grahamstown to Makhanda

I count my participation in the name change debates of ten years or so ago as one of the most interesting tasks I have ever observed as a historian. People really debated! A series of roadshows, going to all areas of Grahamstown, introduced audiences to what the whole idea was about and then presented a summary of the leading options – in the words of those who supported them, via video.

Several important questions arose from the discussions. First, the belief that changing a name was going to be so costly that it would erode basic service delivery had to be dispelled. People readily accepted that there would be no crippling financial burden once budgeting processes were explained. Secondly, people wanted to know what the original and oldest name for Grahamstown was. The answer: Egume surprised most. It was virtually unknown, so did not get much support. Thirdly, eRhini was widely acknowledged as the most commonly-known alternative name. Many people objected to this, as it was associated with the old apartheid policies, when eRhini was defined as a black town, separate from the white one.

With all these options in mind, people then debated the name Makhanda. The fact that the name stands for the staunch defence of African peoples’ rights to dignity and their former homes struck a chord. So, more often than not, it was supported more warmly than either the oldest name nor the most common name. People felt it had value in its own right, underscoring one of the most important events that the city is famous for, the battle of Grahamstown, led by Makhanda in 1819.

In none of the sessions outside of the one held in City Hall, did any one stand up and speak for the retention of the name of Grahamstown. This came as something of a surprise, as hot debates had been expected.

Sadly, the exercise showed the city to be very deeply divided along racial lines. Now that the name change is official, it can be hoped that all residents will honestly try to respect and appreciate the reasons behind this choice. With next year looming as the 200^th anniversary of Makhanda’s battle, opportunities to debate what it all means for us today should open up.

Issued by Julie Wells, early activist for the change of Grahamstown’s name, in response to a request for comment from Grocott’s Mail.

2018-07-06 07:10

Grahamstown’s water supply is clean, writes the Makana Municipality’s Acting Municipal Manager. Photo: Tim Giddings (public domain, via Wikimedia)

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Glenn Bownes

I spent some of my happiest and most formative years in the town previously known as Grahamstown, at the university currently known as Rhodes.

Much of what I still believe today was developed in the academic and political melting pot of Grahamstown and the greater Eastern Cape of the mid-1980s.

But I have no love for the name Grahamstown.

The decision to rename the town Makhanda should be welcomed by all. Rather than being seen as merely an act of politics (which it most certainly is), it should be seen as a long overdue act of common decency.

John Graham was the soldier/thug who enforced Cape Colony Governor John Cradock’s “proper degree of terror”, as they forced the Xhosa from their land and into wage slavery.

Graham ruthlessly carried out Cradock’s order to expel the Xhosa from the Zuurveld between 1811 and 1812. His soldiers burnt their homes, destroyed their crops and killed anyone who resisted.

This is what Cradock meant by “a proper degree of terror”.

Cradock was actually something of an expert in imposing “proper degrees of terror” on colonial subjects, having practiced in Ireland and India before getting his governor gig in Cape Town.

Makhanda (also known as Nxele) has been described as a Xhosa warrior, war doctor, philosopher and prophet. He led an attack against the British garrison at Grahamstown in April, 1819.

Makhanda and his Xhosa warriors were totally outnumbered and outgunned by the British soldiers and were defeated. Makhanda surrendered and was imprisoned on Robben Island. He drowned in an attempt to escape in December, 1820.

The journalist Ben Maclennan gives a gripping and very readable account of this history in his book A Proper Degree of Terror.

Another Cape Colony governor with blood on his hands is Harry Smith. One South African town has been named after him, and one after his wife.

Smith was responsible for the murder and dismembering of Xhosa King Hintsa in May, 1835.

Hintsa had been captured by Smith’s British forces and, when he attempted to escape, was gunned down and his ears were cut off as “trophies”. His head was also chopped off and taken back to Britain.

Perhaps we could rename Harrismith after Hintsa.

And let’s rename Cradock after the Calata family who sacrificed so much for our country to be free.

While we are at it, there is a well known school in Cape Town named after a Nazi sympathiser and first prime minister of the apartheid regime.

Oh yes, and that university currently known as…

– Bownes is the chief sub at News24

Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

Blame for the Sassa debacle does not lie with labour

Blame for the Sassa debacle does not lie with labour

Award-winning photojournalists, authors and indie publishers Julienne du Toit and Chris Marais have been living in the South African platteland for more than a decade, since their move from Johannesburg in 2007.

Freelancing for lifestyle and travel publications like SA Country Life, Sawubona (SAA), High Life (British Airways) and The Guardian (UK), combined with their regular production of Karoo-based books (Karoo Keepsakes I II and Road Tripper – Eastern Cape Karoo) has allowed them to build a vast network of former city slickers who made the brave and creative choice to move permanently to the countryside.

Free range kids.

Julienne began her working life as an environmental reporter, mentored by the legendary James Clarke at The Star newspaper in Johannesburg. She then founded and edited a ground-breaking ‘green’ magazine called Keeping Track.

Chris had a rollicking start to his career with words, deadlines and, later, images. He worked for the iconic Rand Daily Mail newspaper before a long engagement as the Jo’burg editor of Scope Magazine.

By 1995 he was the editor of Living Africa magazine when Julienne and Keeping Track joined his parent company. They met, sparked and hived off on a freelance career together that has spanned more than two decades.

The reason for their latest book, Moving to the Platteland – Life in Mmall Town South Africa

The buzzword for the growing trend of down-sizing to the platteland is ‘semigration’. For many, the process of moving from a long-established life in the city to the countryside can be tricky without a guide.

There’s a lot to consider, like:

• Has country life become more appealing than being in the city?
• What are the pros and cons of country living?
• How do I start looking for a suitable dorp to live in?
• How will I fit in with the locals?
• How do I relocate my business to the platteland?
• How do I build a new network?
• Is it time for a complete creative change in my life?
• How do I break into the hospitality industry (guesthouse or restaurant)?
• How will I educate my young children?
• How do I cope with bad municipal services?
• How do I get fit and healthy?
• Can I make a difference in my new world?

“This book was always going to happen,” says lead author Julienne du Toit. “Everyone’s talking about global urbanisation, but we have noticed another population movement, another trend: the trickle-back of downsizers.

“Chris and I have had the privilege of sharing time with and listening to the stories of hundreds of new plattelanders who exchanged the city for a life in the country. From sculptors to restaurateurs, painters to padstal owners, writers to small-crop farmers, teachers to bakers – they’re all out here, happy as larks, usually living simpler and more creative lives.”

In their book, Julienne and Chris also recount the failures that some of their subjects experienced, which provide valuable cautionary lessons for those keen to make the country move.

“It’s not a rose-tinted account of rural life,” says Chris, “although we do make a strong case for choosing the platteland. The book has been designed to answer a need, to provide guidance to small town incomers and, to a large degree, inspire them and cheer them up for the long winter months.”

Their latest book appeals to both younger families wanting a rural relocation and the 50+ group looking for a new direction in their lives.

Poultry – gateway drug to the platteland.

Local angle: South Coast Herald columnist, David Holt-Biddle and his wife, Sue.

(Extract from Moving to the Platteland)

When Johannesburg-based radio journalist David Holt-Biddle turned 60 in 2003, he and his wife Sue started to think about swopping their home in Westdene for something a little safer and quieter. They’d almost settled on a secure townhouse complex in Randburg when friends who had moved to southern KwaZulu-Natal a year before, invited them to visit.

The Holt-Biddles found their friends happy and fulfilled in their new home. It was inspiring.

“We went to see their estate agent and were shown sea-view stands still available at bargain basement prices. We loved the village and the area so we did some research, came back to the coast and bought a stand in Trafalgar, where we eventually had a log home built. We sold up in Jo’burg and moved down exactly a year after our first exposure to the idea. Gone were thoughts of living in a gated community in Randburg.”

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN: From my Hide: Anyone for tennis …. or a bit of bird-necking-watching?

It was not a decision Sue and David took lightly though.

“Estate agents talk of three criteria when it comes to property: location, location, location. When it comes to moving towns, three other criteria are also essential: homework, homework, homework.”

Make plans for getting older and less mobile

David Holt-Biddle says: “When you plan for this stage of your lives, you should think in terms of location and convenience for visits by family and friends. Very importantly, research the medical facilities available, including frail care.

“Think about what type of accommodation you’ll need, anything from a flat to a free-standing cottage.  Remember that whatever you choose, it is going to mean a serious downsizing exercise. Find out about other facilities, like entertainment, catering, clubs and activities, especially since you’ll probably have much more leisure time.

“What about transport to the shops, doctor and dentist since you may not have a car by then? Think security. Work out the finances. What does the levy include and what extras need to be paid for? Remember, this is probably where you are going to be staying for the rest of your life.

Moving to the Platteland – Publishing Details

Genre: Non-fiction Lifestyle

Authors: Julienne du Toit Chris Marais

Size: 316 Pages

Photographs: 138 Full-page monochrome images

ISBN: 978-0-9922351-6-1

Release Date: July 16, 2018

Sales Points: Various selected stores nationwide and order direct from www.karoospace.co.za (free postage within South Africa)

Publishers: MLM Publishers, Cradock

Printers: Cadar, Port Elizabeth

Suggested Retail Price: R260

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2018-07-03 15:43

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Siphokuhle Mkancu

It has been a few weeks since it was reported that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) would work on possible prosecutions of the perpetrators behind the murders of anti-apartheid activists. A process that will involve cases arising from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and should counter failures within the TRC, and the fallacy of a ‘democratic’ South Africa.    

The cases range from graphic information on the assassinations of individuals that had to be ‘permanently removed’ from society, as the apartheid government commanded, to the vague details of violence and tampered evidence. Cases that made South Africans shed tears reliving the trauma and brutality of the apartheid regime through the hearings. 

There was amnesty granted to the perpetrators considered to have been truthful and shown remorse but some were denied amnesty for the lack thereof.  The TRC recommended about 300 cases to the NPA for further investigation and prosecution but up to this very moment, less than a handful of prosecutions have been made.  

Prosecutions, in the functioning of the TRC, were also to some extent considered to be about revenge rather than justice as the commission was centred on social reconciliation and forgiveness.  This, as part of its effects, humanised the perpetrator, normalised violence and in this case, in particular, it provided the perpetrator with an image, that of legitimacy and immunity.

Oppressed groups continued to be violated, whether it is through exploitation, marginalisation, victimisation, aggressive, or covert racism. Such violence has been innate in the South African society, apparent from Afriforum’s recent comment on ‘apartheid not being a crime against humanity’, to the white farmers who forced a black worker into a coffin and threatened to burn him alive and in the domestic workers being called ‘kaffir’ and paid a barely minimum wage. 

There is still a lack of accountability for apartheid-era crimes, even with the TRC’s attempt for creating a culture of accountability. Think of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli, all of whom we have come to know as the Cradock Four and whose cases are set to be re-opened by the NPA. They were abducted, murdered, their bodies burnt and deserted in a dump at Port Elizabeth in 1985.

The case was brought to the TRC, the perpetrators admitted their involvement and detailed how the assassination occurred.  As the process unfolded, the perpetrators disclosed that they had also murdered two black police officers who were present on the day, as the black officers would have spoken out.

It was revealed that there was an order issued by the office of Justice that said Calata and Goniwe posed a significant threat to the regime, similar to countless other activists who were murdered, for the same reason.  

The perpetrators’ application for amnesty was declined, the TRC made recommendations and suggested ‘rehabilitative’ measures as to how to prevent the atrocities from happening again. That was as far as the TRC was concerned. 

Since then, it has been the affected families that have been largely pushing the NPA to seek more truth, expressing their need for closure and prosecution of the perpetrators. There has been reluctance on the part of the NPA to act, of which the former head of NPA, Vusi Pikoli linked to the power structures who had imposed their will on the NPA processes. 

This prosecution process is one that was reduced to being a ‘witch hunt’ by apartheid leaders. It forms part of a lot of other TRC recommendations that have been disregarded by the government, such as that on reparations. Allocated funds for reparations in the President’s Fund are still not distributed, and victims who received financial reparations payment felt it was as an ‘insult’.

The recommendations also touched on land reform and suggested that an audit is ought to be taken on ‘unused and under-utilised land with a view of making it available to landless people’. Audits taken following the recommendations have come out unclear, inaccurate and incomplete on land ownership patterns prior to 1994 and this has hindered the expropriation of land. The recommendations from the TRC were rich and addressed many of the issues that we are still seeing today. 

Apartheid-era crimes remain punishable by law, and prosecution of the perpetrators offers a chance to obtain justice, and some closure for the affected families. A lot more lies ahead such as the economic crimes of apartheid and its systematic violations that still disenfranchise the black majority.

– Siphokuhle Mkancu is a Communications and Advocacy Intern for the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR). The IJR, over the course of this year will review the TRC recommendations and the failures in taking them up – a process made public through a series of Op-eds. 

Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

John Carlin: Contrary to widespread belief, Mandela was not God

John Carlin: Contrary to widespread belief, Mandela was not God

Johannesburg – Legendary photographer David Goldblatt, who died on Monday, was there to document the onset of apartheid and to take a portrait of a free Nelson Mandela. In this 2013 interview, Charl Blignaut tries to find the key to what made his work so great.

The first time David Goldblatt photographed Nelson Mandela was in 1952 at a meeting of the ANC at the Trades Hall in Johannesburg. The leadership was on stage to discuss the new defiance campaign against unjust apartheid laws.

“I was the only person there with a camera, except possibly the security police … I think [Albert] Luthuli was there, Mandela, [Walter] Sisulu, Lillian Ngoyi, many of them … and it was a very impassioned meeting. In those days, there was no toyi-toying, but there was a lot of singing,” he says.

Those images should be world famous today. “I had my first Leica camera and I photographed for about two hours, and then I thought it was very strange, it was a very long piece of film. I opened the back of the camera and it had not engaged the film. I had nothing.”

I tell him he must have been devastated, but he chuckles. “It was an abject lesson in telling me that I was not destined to be a news photographer.”

David Goldblatt is “a slow photographer in a fast food world”, says academic John Edwin Mason.

We meet the grand old man of South African photography – part social documenter, part artist, seldom photojournalist – at his home in a leafy suburb in central Johannesburg. He has lived here with his wife, Lily, for more than 45 years. It was the first house they bought and they are renovating it for the first time.

“When I told you to meet me at home, they were supposed to be finished, but, of course, they aren’t. I suppose in my head I was wishing they were,” he says, annoyed.

There is something to be admired about this renovating. At 82, many are considering an old age home. Instead, the spry man with electric grey eyes and scruffy hair climbs into his camper van and asks me to join him.

We’ll go to a coffee shop instead. This is the vehicle in which he travels the country, on a mission to document post-apartheid public art while working on a side project documenting criminals at the scenes of their crimes.

Goldblatt says he has no strong views on portraiture: “It’s all just photography.”

But he has been known to quote Bill Brandt’s view that a great portrait will give a sense of where a person has been and also where they are going.

Looking at Goldblatt’s portrait of the Nelson Mandela who was about to become president in 1994, there is a sense of hardship etched in wrinkles and human failing in the form of a visible hearing aid, which neatly demythologises the icon.

Yet here is also a man looking ahead to a new dawn. It’s a serious, workmanlike image of a man normally depicted in the tone of his presidency – smiling and dancing. It’s one of the great presidential portraits.

“We had an appointment with Mandela in Houghton at 5am,” says Goldblatt. “We came in there, and I looked around the living room, or rooms, and they were filled with what I call Gomma Gomma furniture. Soft, ‘plungeable’ stuff.”

A good example of the photographer’s dry, ready wit is that he has been known to depict people he is not fond of seated in such furniture. “I remember putting [apartheid minister] Chris Heunis into one of those …”

(Nelson Mandela, Houghton, Johannesburg, April 1994, 1994. Photo: David Goldblatt, Supplied courtesy of Goodman Gallery)

When he asked for a straight-back kitchen chair to photograph Mandela, it displeased press officer Carl Niehaus.

“I said: ‘I’ve come here to photograph Mr Mandela, not the furniture. May I please have a kitchen chair.’ It went to and fro a little bit, with me insisting, because I’d been through that movie before with the president of Mozambique, with PW Botha, all these various people … But that was the thing to do. I wanted the essential Mandela, and not Mandela in a suburban context. It was a very straightforward picture.”

Portraiture, however, is not what Goldblatt is known for. Growing up Jewish in Randfontein, he experienced relentless anti-Semitism, which helped forge his hatred of apartheid.

With two brothers going off to war, the reality of Nazism was real to him – and he saw its appeal among the Afrikaners who would go on to create apartheid.

Goldblatt became known for his everyday, black-and-white images of those who colluded with apartheid.

However, he doesn’t hit his audience over the head with a message. You can draw your own conclusions about white women parading in a beauty pageant in a Boksburg shopping centre while black girls watch them from the audience.

(Saturday morning at the Hypermarket: Semifinal of the Miss Lovely Legs Competition, Boksburg, 1980. Photo: David Goldblatt, Supplied courtesy of Goodman Gallery) 

“I had a deep sense of wanting to penetrate to the core of things here, and to somehow grasp the fundamentals of Afrikaner nationalism, its underlying spirit.”

He recalls the shock of apartheid being legislated and implemented, the “whites only” signs going up. One of his great images is of a black man climbing the stairs of the Joburg station with a policeman standing at the top. You need to work to draw meaning from it.

“Joburg station was a mixed place, but suddenly it became separated. The policeman told the man to go back. This area was now for whites,” he explains.

Goldblatt is a man who orders rye toast with olive oil and green tea for breakfast. A man of simple needs and complex images. An “anti-sensationalist”, as one critic put it.

If apartheid had never happened, he says, he may never have become a photographer. It was only when his father died, though, and he could sell the family shop, that he was free to take up the camera full time.

Today, he has honorary doctorates bestowed on him and has won every major award in photography. He has had more than a dozen books of photographs published. The first was about mining in South Africa, an issue so relevant today that the book was recently republished.

(Team leader and mine captain on a pedal car, Rustenburg platinum mine, Rustenburg, 1971. Photo: David Goldblatt, Supplied courtesy of Goodman Gallery)

But fame was not on the cards when he first visited the US as a young man.

“These publishers in New York would ask me: ‘But where’s the apartheid, man? We want to see the apartheid.’ And, of course, it was endemic in almost all of the photographs. But then it becomes like explaining a joke and it ceases to be funny. It was a painful realisation. When I came back, I realised that if I belonged anywhere in the world, it was here, and if I was speaking to anybody outside of my own inside, it was to my compatriots. And so the rest followed.

“When I got some recognition overseas, it was very nice. But to me it’s not an essential; it’s not what it’s about …”

Goldblatt is still speaking to South Africans – now about the legacy of our complicated democracy.

Whether it’s an image of the inaccessible and untended monument to the Cradock Four or of the terrible beauty of the hopeful new sculpture on the campus of the race-torn Free State University, he is trying to capture the ethos of our times.

“Even though there is hardly a person in any of those photographs, I never felt for a moment that this was devoid of humanity. It was about us.

“So, in reverse, as it were, I feel the same about these portraits. They’re about us. I don’t have any strong feelings about portraiture. To me, it’s really just a photograph.”

We take a walk in the park, the legendary photographer and I. We talk about the colour of the sky – how in black and white its tourist-brochure blue goes dark and sinister.

“I didn’t use colour at all for my personal work during apartheid. I think that if you want to express anger and fear and disgust, and want to penetrate to the core of things, black and white is the medium.”

But he’s been working in colour more often nowadays, still developing at 82.

“After liberation, as it were, I felt that I needed to move into a new area, and so colour was the obvious one.”

(Anna Boois, Kamiesberge near Garies, Namaqualand, Northern Cape, 2003. Photo: David Goldblatt, Supplied courtesy of Goodman Gallery)

As a farmer himself, President Cyril Ramaphosa knows as well as I do that fertile farmland with access to irrigation water is like a gold mine.

The government-owned farms near the Fish River in Cradock are such gold mines, which is why it is tragic that they are so underutilised after the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform paid in excess of R350m for them.

The farms were then leased for 30 years to a small group of black farmers to grow sugar beet to supply an ethanol plant the Industrial Development Corporation was planning to build.

But the plan never got off the ground.

In the spirit of Ramaphosa’s Thuma Mina campaign, I would like to raise my hand and request his support to lease 1,000ha to farm commercially. I am an African South African.

I am highly educated. I am passionate about farming and empowering young people. I know what I want to produce and have markets for it.

The Cradock farms are ideal for what I want to grow. Because I believe Ramaphosa is a principled man, he will agree that I too deserve an opportunity to lend a hand to SA’s quest for food security, prosperity and social equity.

Mpumelelo Ncwadi
Cape Town

According to a website dedicated to their memory, late at night on June 27 1985, the four men who would become known as the Cradock Four were intercepted by the apartheid security forces at a roadblock near Port Elizabeth. Two had been targeted for assignation.

Matthew Goniwe, a teacher, Fort Calata, also a teacher, Sparrow Mkonto, a railway union activist, and Sicelo Mhlauli, a school headmaster, went missing that night. They were never seen alive again.

Their burnt bodies were later found in Port Elizabeth. On the day of their funeral, then-president PW Botha declared a State of Emergency.

Nelson Mandela said their deaths “marked a turning point in the history of our struggle”.

“No longer could the regime govern in the old way. They were the true heroes of our struggle.”

Wednesday was the 33^rd anniversary of their disappearance. Here are nine things you should know about the Cradock Four:

– According to the South African History Archives (Saha), the security aparatus’ involvement in their murders was denied for years, until a copy of the message with their death warrant was anonymously leaked to the then-Transkei minister of defence, none other than Major-General Bantu Holomisa. The message was proof of the state security forces’ direct sanctioning of the murder of anti-apartheid activists at the highest levels.

– According to SABC TRC records, the four were on their way back from a United Democratic Front meeting. An inquest into their deaths was held in 1987, which did not determine the identity of the killers. But the inquest was reopened in 1998, and with the introduction of the document discovered by Holomisa, the security forces were formally identified as being responsible.

– A claim for damages filed by the families of the Cradock Four was settled by the former South African Defence Force (SADF) and the police. But the families still maintain that the truth about their deaths has never been properly ventilated.

– The families also wanted the bodies of the Cradock Four returned to them. Specifically, Mhlauli’s wife wanted his hand returned to her. It was reportedly kept by the security police at Louis le Grange Square in Port Elizabeth, where it was kept in a jar.

– Six security policemen said to have been involved in the murders were denied amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1999, according to a report in The Star. Eric Alexander Taylor, Gerhardus Johannes Lotz, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Johan van Zyl and Hermanus Barend du Plessis were denied amnesty because they did not give full disclosures to the commission.

– The seventh member of the killing squad, the infamous former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock, by then already serving a life sentence for murder, was granted amnesty in relation to his involvement in these murders.

– Van Zyl was the alleged mastermind behind the murders, according to a 1998 report by the South African Press Association. He reportedly admitted to planning and carrying out the police operation, and told the commission that the four were shot and stabbed to death by the security police. Representing the families of the Cradock Four, George Bizos reportedly suggested that Van Zyl was specifically sent to what is now Eastern Cape to “deal with” unrest in the area. Van Zyl denied this.

– Later in 1999, Bizos asked for the case to be reopened because new evidence had emerged — the minutes of a state security council meeting the year before the Cradock Four were killed. The TRC was undecided on the issue.

– In March 2016, Lotz, 56 at the time, killed himself. He left no clue as to why he committed suicide, but Goniwe’s elder brother, Alex, told Business Day, “I suspect he could no longer live with what he did all those years ago. Committing such evil crimes will haunt you.”

The state of the district address speech by Chris Hani District Municipality executive mayor Kholiswa Vimbayo.

Bhotani ngale ntsasa, good morning, goeie more, dumelang and special a warm welcome to our Youth on this significant month.

We are holding this State of the District Address within compelling global and local contexts such as:

• The senseless killing of people in Palestine and the welcomed South African government response by reducing embassy status of Israel,

• Threats by Americans against North Koreans,

• FIFA World Cup and most unfortunately our country is not represented,

• Our excitement as our country has just been voted to serve in the United Nations Security Council,

• Wherein Mama Albertina Sisulu and tata Nelson Mandela will be turning 100 years,

• A rise in the cost of living as a result of high fuel prices and illuminating paraffin,

• An outcry on the recent VAT increase due to its impact to our communities and wherein there are service delivery protests across the country and in our corridors. All the above have a direct bearing on the lives of the people of this district.

• Sidibana kwinyanga yeSilimela, inyanga ebalulekileyo kakhulu esintwini kuba yinyanga yokubala ubudoda kumaXhosa.

• We are mourning the tragic loss of a member of the South African Youth Council, serving in Intsika Yethu Local Municipality – Abongile Tsengiwe

• 5 family members also lost their lives in a tragic car accident between Engcobo and Cofimvaba towns – Let us observe a moment of silence.

Somlomo,

We meet here today on a month dedicated to honour the young lions of 1976 who sacrificed their lives through torture and through barrel of a gun to free our country fighting against an unjust system that failed to recognise black South Africans. We would not be commemorating this month had it not been for the gallant struggles for liberation waged by our Youth during those difficult times.

Some of the conditions that necessitated June 16 Uprisings were that:

• The main political parties and trade union movements were banned, that is the African National Congress, Communist Party of South Africa, Pan Africanist Congress and the Azania People’s Organisation.

• Added to this, the then municipalities were undemocratic,

• People in Soweto and the country at large could not afford the municipal high rents,

• There were bus boycotts in Soweto, PUTCO buses in particular,

• In nearby Mozambique, FRELIMO, won elections in 1975 which had an impact in influencing the momentum of uprisings in the country,

• Afrikaans was also forced as a Medium of Instruction in our schools which was the last straw that ignited the Soweto Uprisings.

Ladies and gentlemen,

June 16 must always be a constant reminder of a meaningful impact that young people can make when united with a common purpose. As we continue to commemorate the Youth Month, I am reminded of the Italian Revolutionary, Giuseppe Garibaldi who once said, “the tree of liberty grows stronger when watered with the blood of the martyr”. The youth of 1976 are the martyrs whose blood nourished the tree of liberty whose fruit we are still enjoying even today.

• Let us therefore be reminded of those martyrs who lost their lives during the Soweto uprisings 42 years ago,

• Let us be reminded of the fact that the youth of 1976 had a particular mandate to fulfil and did so without fear or fail,

• Let us be reminded of the current struggles that the youth of today are confronted with and

• Let us also be reminded that the youth of today has a role and mandate to fulfil, find your niche.

Mzwakhe Mbuli, the People’s Poet in one of his stanzas once said : “ when you vote and get elected remember those who died”. So these are the people who we must always remember as we lead and celebrate. South Africa is politically liberated as a result of their contributions.

Somlomo,

Africa and the rest of the world acknowledged the brazenness of the apartheid South Africa and as such our country became isolated. Today we honour young lives like:

• Bathandwa Ndondo and Vuyani Namba from Sakhisiwe Local Municipality,

• Gwaza Mpiyakhe, Bonani Diamond and Papa Fekisi from Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality and many unsung heroes and heroines.

Somlomo,

It is important for all of us to take tune from the State of the Nation address and the State of the Province address, as in doing so, will demonstrate unity and coherence as we are working together to move our country forward. We have therefore been obligated by the country’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, in his January 8^th Statement, to put the economy at the centre where he also declared the year 2018 as “100 Years of Nelson Mandela: The year of unity, renewal and jobs”.

This was also echoed by the Premier of the Province, Phumulo Masualle, during his State of the Province Address where he emphasised economic growth, job creation, road infrastructure, education and health as key focus areas for the Eastern Cape Government.

As the district, we owe an immeasurable gratitude to our struggle icons for their indelible role and outstanding contribution to the struggle for liberation, ootata Nelson Mandela, Mama Albertina Sisulu, whose centenary we are celebrating this year, and many other giants including Chris Hani, Cannon Calata, Walter Sisulu, Vuyisile Mini, Mathew Goniwe, Alfred Xhuma, Enoch Mgijima, Mawonga September, Abel Ntwana on whose shoulders we are standing and this is confirmed by Sir Isaac Newton, a British Astronomist, who said in one of his famous quotes “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants”, and indeed we are standing in the shoulders of those giants.

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guest

We assemble here today to define in concise terms how we will continue to tackle the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality in our district under the theme: Unity, Renewal and Delivery of Services towards Sustainable Economic Growth – For a Legacy that lives. We will of cause without any reservations state upfront that this year we will be biased to youth in all that we do, as they are the future.

Ours is to serve, and we once more pledge to put the people at the centre as we move our district forward hence we boldly say “THUMA MINA”. We are all aware that the greatest legacy we can leave for our people is the provision of quality services and a better life for all which will benefit generations and generations to come.

Ndivumele ke Somlomo, ukuba ndithathe eli thuba ndibulele ukufumana le nyhweba ingaka yokuba ndiphinde ndizokuthi thaca le ntetho ingobume yomasipala weSithili sethu. Le ntetho izakuthi igxile kwizicwangciso zonyaka-mali ebesiwusonga kwanezalo nyaka-mali sikuwo, enjongo yazo ikukwenza ngcono ubomi boluntu lwesi Sithili.

Ndibulise ngokukhethekeliyo kubantu bakuthi abasiphula-phule kumaziko osasazo akweli leMpuma Kapa ngokubanzi ingakumbi abo bamamele kwizikhululo zosasazo i-Vukani FM, Lukhanji FM kwakunye ne KNR FM. La maziko ezeendaba, ahlala ethe gqolo ukusinikeza iqonga lokunxibelelana noluntu ngokubanzi.

Somlomo,

Asinakukwazi ukuthi cwaka emva kokufumana ingxelo engentle yomphicothi zincwadi engobume boomasipala beli, zonyaka-mali ka2016/17. The report by the Auditor-General, Kimi Makwetu, is a key indicator of the state of Local Government in general and poor performance will be accompanied by serious consequence management. However, as the district we have been getting Qualified Audit reports for the past five years and this is no longer acceptable. A Qualified Audit Opinion is a statement issued after an audit is done by a professional Auditor that suggests the information provided was limited in scope and/or the company being audited has not maintained GAAP accounting principles.

Silibhunga lowulo, siyayamkela le ngxelo sikwanengqiniseko yokuba, the report can greatly assist us in responding to some of the issues and challenges that we encounter as we trace our footprints in an effort move our district forward.

The municipality will therefore strengthen its oversight role on performance management and expect no less from its administration as its communities do to its leadership. We also commit ourselves to work in partnership with the office of the Auditor General to improve our audit outcomes.

In the next Financial Year, which is 2018/19, the district will be striving to achieve an Unqualified Audit Opinion, also known as a Clean Audit Report.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This address marks the end of our fiscal year, and it gives us an opportunity to account on the district performance for the 2017/18 financial year, highlight challenges as well as service delivery milestones of the current Council and to map a way forward to the realization of our commitments.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa mandates local government to ensure access to basic services such as water and sanitation amongst others. As the district, we have made a commitment to provide sustainable services in an effective and efficient manner to all the people within our jurisdiction, especially the rural poor and those who had no access to basic services before 1994.

• Water Services Provision

To this end, we have been hard at work allocating resources and putting more effort towards the fulfilment of this mandate. Despite these efforts we, however, continue to experience serious challenges regarding Water Services Provision due to a severe drought that our district is still battling with. We must also highlight that some of the problems associated with Komani, regarding water shortages, are directly caused by global warming and climate change characterised by very hot summer and dry winters wherein we experience the spell of drought.

As a Water Services Authority, our service is linked to electricity provision. Once we experience power outages, the water services become interrupted negatively, affecting normal operations in hospitals, mortuaries, businesses and our communities at large. To improve our service we have ensured that our contingency plans include procuring heavy duty generators that will be able to support our water and waste treatment works. So far, we have invested over R4,3 million on these generators. This is the equipment that assisted us to counter electrical outages in Komani this week.

Somlomo,

In the last financial year we reported that processes were on advanced stage regarding the absorption of WSSA staff as part of CHDM. Today we can proudly confirm that this has been achieved in an effort to ensure optimal provision of this scarce resource. We must however acknowledge that there has been some challenges that are associated with transition which we are managing. The district does acknowledge that there are areas that are severely affected while some are deprived of a sustainable supply of quality drinking water. These include:

• Enoch Mgijima: Komani , Ezibeleni, Mlungisi, Molteno, Hofmeyer,Takastad, and Ilinge.

• Emalahleni Municipality Dodrecht and

• Sakhisizwe Municipality Khowa, Old Location and surrounding areas

Somlomo,

As you might be aware, the Department of Water and Sanitation has recently proclaimed that South Africa is an arid country, and is one of the 30 driest countries in the world, with Western Cape and Eastern Cape Province declared as drought stricken areas that need intervention. Our district is also counted among those municipalities that have not yet recovered from the 2014 drought. Having realised that easy access to clean running water was fast becoming a challenge, Council resolved to:

• Continue with water restrictions until the situation improves,

• Embark on a series of campaigns raising awareness on water shortages and sharing water saving tips as our dams reached critically low levels.

• Implement interventions to expand the existing water resources, drill additional boreholes, provide water carts and distribute Jojo Tanks in various areas

• Engage in various platforms with relevant stakeholders namely, Our Local Municipalities, The Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, Community Service Providers,

• Convene a Bosberaad on Water Provision Services where we acknowledged the fact that additional resources (in the form of financial and personnel, electromechanical specifically) are needed to ensure that the service operate fully. Critical resolutions taken will be processed by Council for a resolution.

We have also been hard at work regarding Xonxa Dam project which we have been experience shifting of goal posts to the detriment of our communities. A responsible action was taken by the municipality to suspend the services of the contractor on site in order to expedite the process. This was challenged by the service provider and the matter now is handled by the courts of law for resolution. We are however currently busy with testing and commissioning hoping to switch on the pumps in no time abstracting water from Xonxa to Barry Dam.

Dam levels:

At this moment, Xonxa Dam is sitting at about 98% and it will bring a huge relief on Waterdown dam while Bonkolo Dam is currently sitting at approximately between 15% – 20%.

We therefore have budgeted for the construction of a Treatment Works which will feed areas around Xonxa namely; Xonxa Village and surrounding areas, and in the meantime we have planned community engagements aimed at identifying a suitable spot for this construction. This will alleviate the logistical glitches in managing boreholes.

Ladies and gentlemen,

• Water leaks

While we are making giant strides regarding water provision, we are still not pleased with the amount of water losses within our district. We have therefore taken note of the high number of indigent households with leaking toilets and taps in Cradock as water leaks is one area that still needs our focus. To this end:

• In Ngcobo, we piloted Msawawa and are in the process of installing water meters in the area.

• In Sakhisizwe municipality at eKhowa (Elliot) and

• In Emalahleni at Dordrecht, assessments have been done and we are currently busy procuring material to address water leaks.

• Community Service Providers (CSPs)

We acknowledge the contribution made by Community Service Providers (CSPs) in rendering efficient water services closer to communities and the challenges they are facing. Their role is in line with 2003 State of the Nation Address which talked to bringing services closer to the people. Following discussions with our communities across the district and having noted their challenges, Council resolved to increase their stipends. However, communities have got to play an oversight to this effect by identifying inefficiencies within their areas and ensure none abandon their duties.

Somlomo,

• Cable theft / Criminal Activities

Cable theft vandalism continues to affect water supply and delivery in the following areas:

• In Enoch Mgijima in Molteno and Komani Waste Water Treatment Works.

• Metal manhole leads are perpetually stolen in some areas in particular Silvertown in Komani area

These criminal activities rob our communities of their constitutional rights and we condemn them in the strongest terms. Communities have got a responsibility of strengthening street committees, community police fora to protect what rightfully belongs to them as communities. We however have deployed security personnel in some of these sites to protect Chris Hani district municipal resources.

Ladies and gentlemen,

• Bulk water supply

There has been some good strides in providing Bulk Water Supply in the following areas:

• In Dodrecht under Emalahleni local Municipality, we have made an impact in terms of additional water supply, upgrade of treatment works and boreholes,

• The Dordrecht intermediate water supply which was budgeted at R9,442,271 is also complete. The project made provision of 2 new boreholes, supply lines and a booster pump station was also replaced. The existing supply lines from the dam were also replaced to improve water supply in the area.

• The Zingquthu phase 2 under Emalahleni local Municipality, Bulk supply which was allocated R3,747,603 is now complete,

• The Machibini Treatment works which is currently supplying water to Lady Frere will now be diverted to areas around Machibini and Umhlanga and

• We are now busy with the pipeline that goes to Lady Frere to supply Bulkwater to the area.

• In Hofmeyer under Enoch Mgijima, we made provision of R1,739,772 for an additional source with the Bulk pipeline although we are still experiencing operational challenges which we are addressing.

• While Phase 6 Pipe line to Ilinge under Enoch Mgijima, has gone to tender and this will assist a great deal to alleviate their challenges in terms of water shortages.

• At Intsika Yethu Local Municipality, the water treatment works pipeline in Lubisi which was funded with R20,252,128 has been completed.

Water treatment works pipeline in Lubisi

• Vananda water supply project where primary bulk lines, pumpstation, reservoirs supplying Tenza B and Zolo were constructed for the amount of R10,410,957 is also complete

• A manageable borehole has been identified in the Middleburg area under Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality, which has a problem of water sources. This borehole will augment the supply of water to the area, however we have to dig deeper into the soil to abstract water, an intense exercise which we will continue undertaking until the construction of a treatment works to improve the water quality. That project is also in the pipeline.

Somlomo,

• Sanitation Services

There has been an outcry in terms of spilling sewerage around Molteno (in Enoch Mgijima local municipality) due to system overload. As the district we have resolved to attend to this matter and today we can proudly confirm that there is a contractor on site whose scope of work includes reducing the number of pump stations to improve its efficiency. The project completion date is July this year. Thus far we are trying to find a permanent solution in this area regarding the storage capacity of the reservoir and this financial year we have set aside funds to address this.

In Rosemead under Inxuba Yethemba local Municipality, we have always had challenges ploughing money into the area as the land was privately owned. Rosemead is a parcel of land that used to be owned by Transnet outside Inxuba Yethemba urban edge and it has the properties and assets have now been transferred to the municipality. We are now going all out with bucket eradication since the hand over.

• The Cala Bulk Sanitation Services Phase 2, Cala Bulk gravity collector sewer in Sakhisizwe Local Municipality which was funded with R2,644,385 is also complete

• Cofimvaba EU sanitation project in Ward 1,2,5 under Intsika Yethu Local Municipality where VIP toilets serving 1297 Villages were contructed is also complete. These villages include: Sudubi poort, Zigudu mission, Komkhulu, Deckerts Hill and Bholokodlela.

As we celebrate the centenary of tata Nelson Mandela, we are reminded of his wisdom when he once said “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up”, this goes well with the vision of the Chris Hani District Municipality which is “Leaders in sustainable economic growth and improved quality of life”. We therefore commit to improve the quality of life through the following planned capital projects for 2018/19 financial year:

Sesithathe imitsi emikhulu ukuqinsekisa ukusiwa kweenkonzo eluntwini ngoba sele siqeshe unokontraka ukwakha iziseko ezingundoqo -septic tanks- nangona umba wee septic tanks uzisa olunye uxanduva olukhulu. Noxa kunjalo sithi sizimisele ukususa uluntu lwase Rosemead kwimeko eluphila phantsi kwayo.

We are also mindful of the villages that were under Amathole District Municipality which have now been moved to us due to the new demarcation. There is a budget that has been set aside and we will also rely on Tsomo treatment works that is currently being built which connects these villages.

Ladies and gentlemen,

• Local Economic Development

The ANC has a strong commitment of ensuring increased economic participation by black people in the commanding heights of the economy and further states that radical economic transformation must have a mass character. It also says “a clear objective of radical economic transformation must be to reduce racial, gender and class inequalities in South Africa through ensuring more equity with regards to incomes, ownership of assets and access to economic opportunities.” To live according to the ANC dictates, the district supported small scale projects during the year under review. As part of our decisive intervention in the economy, the following were undertaken:

• Poverty alleviation programmes focusing in Poultry and Piggery were provided with feed and 1000 chicks in some of our municipalities,

• In Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, a piggery project named Fairfield farm in Tarkastard was funded with R200 000,

• Engcobo Local Municipality poultry project called Gubenxa Grain Producers in Gubenxa village was also funded with R200 000. Both these projects are up and running and have provided a great relief from the feed-financial strain.

• Over R4 million was made available for Livestock Improvement Programme with a specific focus on Inoculation and dosing of animals, where a shearing shed was constructed in Tshatshu village under Emalahleni Local Municipality. We are currently awaiting the completion of smallstock dipping tank and hand-over in the area.

• With regards to Custom Feeding Facilities, the district transferred a total of R900 000 to Inxuba Yethemba Local municipality for the construction of a new Custom Feed-lot, while feed amounting to R500 000 was purchased and delivered to Ikhephu Feedlot and custom feedlots in Engcobo, Intsika Yethu, Sakhisizwe, Enoch Mgijima local municipalities.

Allow me therefore to further highlight that we have made a noticeable dent in the farming industry as our support to Irrigation schemes rooted out joblessness in many parts of the district.

• An amount of R3 million was set aside for irrigation schemes in Intsika Yethu Local Municipality (Qamata), Ncorha/Qhumanco, Bilatye and the one in Enoch Mgima Local Municipality – (Shiloh) where a total of 12 ha of land was planted grapes while 17 has was harvested. All the produce has been sent to the Western Cape for processing into wine.

A unique development within CHDM, INKOSI winery, a home grown product produced in Shiloh

• While through our Development Agency we invested a further R350 000 for the schemes for facilitation of investments.

• The Shiloh Winery project was funded with R350 000 which was aimed at crop maintenance, that is fertilizer and weeding.

• DRDAR has invested R9 million to improve irrigation infrastructure, converting furrow irrigation system to centre pivot system

A Piggery infrastructure has also been established in Bilatye Irrigation Scheme, while an Infrastructure was refurbished in Qamata Mechanization Centre.

The pomegranate plantation situated at Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality in between Midford and Rocklands villages has 25ha of land has planted 2ha of fig trees and 3ha of vegetable plot with its allocation of R150 000.

A further R4 Million was directed towards Dry Land Cropping where 271 hectors of yellow maize have been planted at Intsika Yethu Local Municipality. Two cooperatives were supported with production inputs at Engcobo Local Municipality and Ibuyambo secondary cooperative were supported with production inputs in support of the current milling plant at Emalahleni Local Municipality.

We further invested on the facilitation and Coordination of Agri-parks across the district. To boost and exploit the tourism potential of the Chris Hani District municipality, we have initiated and invested in an array of projects and programmes that include Jazz Summit, Chris Hani Month, Choral Music Association Support, Local Jazz Artists’ Development Support Programme, Sabalele Multi-Purpose Centre, Tourism and Heritage Month Events, Institutional Support for Tourism Development, Tourism SMME Support and destination marketing.

We have also invested R400 000 on Tourism SMME support which has been on BB’s through providing equipment in Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality focusing on former Inkwanca and Tsolwana, Sakhisizwe and Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipalities.

These initiatives have been undertaken in conjunction with the development of a programme that supports the development of Choral Music Association. Although R560 000 has already been used in such initiatives throughout the district, CHDM has also committed about R700 000 towards the development of local Jazz artists.

We have also hosted our flagship project Chris Hani Marathon as part of our annual celebrations for Chris Hani Month where local runners both young and old participated in the marathon as R4,500 000 was set aside for this project.

• In addition to our continuous support to Sabalele Development Centre in Intsika Yethu Local Municipality where we have already spent R800 000, CHDM has also been spending about R1200 000 on tourism and heritage month events every year.

• The district further provided financial support for the purchase of equipment for the enterprises valued at R 3 077 313.00 with beneficiaries in Enoch Mgijima, Emalahleni, Inxuba Yethemba and Sakhisizwe Local Municipalities.

• A total of R383 400.00 was used for the incubation of enterprises in the chemical sector as well as the training of youths in solar water geyser installation and maintenance across the district.

• Two enterprises within our district in the manufacturing sector were assisted with R383 400.00 to expand their production capacity.

• Financial support of R10 Million was rendered for the Engcobo Small Town Revitalisation (Engcobo Taxi Rank) for Paving Beautification of the Business Area along R61and Taxi Rank to ease Traffic Congestion in town. Hawker Stalls, High Mast and Taxi Office are also part of the project which is a joint partnership between CHDM, SANRAL and Engcobo Municipality.

We further set aside over R2 million for Paving and Beautification which are still in progress in the following towns:

• Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality: Cradock (Fort Calata Str), Middleburg (Lusaka),

• Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality : Molteno, Hofmeyer,

• Sakhisizwe Local Municipality: Cala Taxi Rank Beautification

• Intsika Yethu Local Municipality: Cofimvaba Smalltown Revitalization and

• Emalahleni Local Municipality: Dordrecht Paving

Another R500 000.00 was made available for Rosemead in Cradock R500 000.00 in Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality for formalization/Precinct Plan.

Futhermore, an amount of R1 000 000 was spent in Engcobo and Sakhizwe Local Municipalities on Charcoal projects and the project currently has 16 beneficiaries with two securities.

The AgriBEE Beef Linkage Project, a partnership between Ikhephu Secondary Co-op, Berlin Beef, Jobs Fund and Famous Brand which provides placement of weaners to members of Ikhephu Co-op in Khowa under Sakhisizwe Local Municipality was funded with R60 million. DRDAR has singed MOU with the programme to assist more farmers with livestock handling infrastructure which will see more farmers benefiting. DRDAR committed R10 million for 5 years for infrastructure provision.

Maya Angelou, once said, “I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life”. Mama Albertina Sisulu was a woman who as Chris Hani District we are grateful that she is coming from within our district. As we celebrate her centenary as well, in the new financial year 2018/2019 we commit the programmes below as these are some of the projects that will significantly impact on the lives of women:

Lukhanji Masisebenzisane Co-operative in Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (Braakloof)

• The district has budgeted R100 000 for Ballard Farm piggery project under Sakhisizwe Local Municipality.

• A further R3 500 000 has been allocated for livestock improvement programme in all municipalities across the district.

• Charcoal projects in Engcobo, Sakhisizwe and Intsika Yethu Local Municipalities have been funded with R600 000.

• An amount of R 3 500 000 has been allocated for enterprise support, while R1,5 000.000 has been set aside for industrial support, incubation support and capacity building across the district.

• R3 million has been set aside for irrigation schemes in Intsika Yethu Local Municipality (Qamata), Ncorha/Qhumanco, Bilatye and Enoch Mgima Local Municipality – (Shiloh)

• A deliberate and conscious policy intervention in the form of contractor development programme is under consideration for implementation to allow participation in the mainstream economy by local contractors

• Through our development agency we will continue supporting the AgriBEE Beef Linkage Project in Khowa under Sakhisizwe Local Municipality, Shiloh Winery, Artificial Insemination Programme (AI) in Khowa under Sakhisizwe Local Municipality, Pomegranate Project in Mitford under Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, Mechanization Centre in all local municipalities and various other projects.

Somlomo,

The district through its Co-operative Development Centre has been implementing an incubation programme focusing on agriculture agri-business as well as the Rural Agro-Industries and Financial Initiative (RAFI).

We currently have an active relationship with the Province of Cordoba in Argentina and a number of projects are being implemented in that regard.

The implications of this programme is for the district to have available land for agricultural production. That is why the ANC in its 54^th conference resolved on Expropriation of Land without compensation. Land is key to economic development hence the National Parliament will embark on Public hearings next month for public comments towards amending Section 25 of the Constitution.

In the 2018/19 financial year therefore, we have set aside a budget of R6,4 million for RAFI which is intended to benefit local and rural-cooperatives within the our district. We have further commenced with the commercial pilot which will see the cultivation of 500 hectares of arable land spread between the Intsika Yethu Engcobo Local Municipalities. Our district is expected to urgently make available about 40 000 hectares of land for the programme. Technical feasibility is almost complete for grain production and processing, dairy, chicken, beef, meat processing, mechanization, transport and logistics and Seed Production.

For the district to be able to roll-out this programme and ensure food security there must be enough available land in this regard. Bilateral relations between the Eastern Cape Province and the Province of Cordoba in the Republic of Argentina will be formalized next month, through the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

The Incubation Centre For Entrepreneurship, a youth incubation programme, that was commenced to capacitate young people to establish their own sustainable agricultural enterprise was funded with R 3 million secured from the Department of Small Business Development. An additional amount of R1,2 million was also secured from the Agri-SETA to benefit Ezibeleni Industrial Area under Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality. The programme has managed to sell its first batch of pilot seedlings to the primary production site in Braakloof.

The Department of Small Business Development committed a further R 1.6 million towards strengthening the efficiency of the nursery to ensure that young people incubated in the site are sustainable in business. Added to this, a total of R 3 million was also allocated to operate the Entrepreneurial aspect within the programme through SEDA. AGRI-SETA has agreed to support the programme with an amount of R270 000.00.

The Vegetable Cluster Braakloof Site has a total of 1 hectare greenhouse under production currently produces as follows:

• Tomatoes – 9600 plants

• Green pepper – 9600 plants

• Lettuce – 2880 plants

• Spinach – 10 000 plants

Produce sold at local retailers such as Spar, Pick Pay, Royal Fruit Veg, Chinese Vegetable shops to name but a few.

The Indalo Site in Lower Lufutha under Sakhisizwe Local Municipality experienced major challenges in the year under review with wind destroying the already erected greenhouses. The project will this year be funded with an amount of R 950 000.00. The district has also supported in the reconstruction of the site through financial commitment and stipends for 15 pupils under EPWP.

In Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality at Ezibeleni we initiated a Queensdale Manufacturing Programme and a training programme with MERSETA, for 28 learnership leaners and 28 short-skills leaners that started earlier in 2017. The learnership programme finished in May 2018 and learners are received stipends, whilst the short-skills is due to start once sizeable production takes place.

Honourable Speaker,

Schedule 4 part B of the SA Constitution and relevant legislative requirements clearly outlines some of the functions of the district related to the Municipal Health Services. These functions vary from Water Quality monitoring, Food Control Monitoring, Waste Management and General Hygiene Management, Health Surveillance of Premises, Environmental Pollution Control to Disposal of the Dead in respect to funeral parlour inspections, pauper burials and exhumations.

In executing our responsibility in this regard, we made all strides in ensuring that water provided to communities is safe for human consumption and adequate for domestic use as well as recreational, industrial, food production and any other human or animal use. Since the beginning of the past financial year, 1650 drinking water samples have been taken across the district of these 45 (3%) failed to meet the standards due to the severe drought experienced in our district which had an impact on quality of water due to low levels of water.

We tirelessly conducted monitoring to ensure that we are able to detect chemical/bacteriological contamination and advice on control measures for prevention of any diseases that may be water related.

In relation to waste water monitoring, 147 waste water samples were taken during the period under review, of these 71 (48%) failed with General and Special Standards Regulation 991, some due to infrastructural and operational problems in our waste water treatment works.

Water Week Commemoration 2018

The month of March every year is set aside for the National Water Week awareness campaign by the Department of Water and Sanitation. During this period it is expected that all spheres of government must play a meaningful role in campaigning and re-iterating the value of water, the need for sustainable management of this scarce resource and the role water plays in eradicating poverty and under-development in South Africa.

This year’s campaign came at a very difficult time wherein the entire country is facing a prolonged drought situation. Coupled with that, the country as a whole has not recovered from the 2014 drought. The Chris Hani District Municipality is one of the district experiencing the worst drought situation in the province of the Eastern Cape. In order to curb the impact of the drought; CHDM must implement various interventions including conducting educational awareness campaigns to manage the demand and conserving water.

The drought situation in the CHDM also presents a major challenge relating to health and hygiene to the communities as a result of water restrictions and constant rationing. In a drive to promote health and hygiene, the district conducted several campaigns and donated Jojo water tanks to drought stricken rural schools in need of water tanks due to water storage. The initiative was motivated by potential risks identified and an effort to eliminate exposure to diseases that could have prevailed due to water shortages particularly in Phakamisa Public School in eNgcobo.

We expanded this initiative throughout the district to non-profit organisations who cater for the fragile and vulnerable groups who need special care and required such intervention. Today we can safely report that 11 beneficiaries were provided with water tanks during the year under review, namely:

• Siseko Pre School in Sakhisizwe Local Municipality,

• Lanti Port and Nobantu Day care centres in Emalahleni Local Municipality,

• White Door Centre – Tarkastad, at Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality

• Nompumelelo Edu Care Centre – Lessyton and Jack Jill pre-school- Linge in Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality.

• Thembelihle pre-school – Xolobe in Intsika Yethu Local Municipality,

• Phakamisani pre-school – Xonya in Ngcobo Local Municipality

• Huis Silwejare Old Age Home – Middelburg at Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality

• Mzamomhle pre-school- Lingelihle at Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality

• Mzamomhle Pre School in Cradock under Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality

In ensuring compliance with related legislation for the prevention and abatement of any condition on any food premises which are likely to constitute a health hazard, 1650 food premises were evaluated, 1131 (69%) complied and 519 (31%) failed to meet the required standard.

A total of 447 food samples were taken and analysed throughout this period to ensure quality of all food for human consumption and optimal hygiene control throughout the food supply chain. Of these 89 failed to meet the acceptable Standards Regulation 962 and Regulation 1555 under Foodstuffs, Cosmetics Disinfectants Act (Act 54 of 1972) due to poor hygiene practices by Food Handlers.

Training, Health and hygiene awareness campaigns were conducted to the affected food premises in an attempt to raise the levels of awareness and also promote good health and hygiene practices especially under the recent outbreak of Listeriosis in our country which has claimed 180 lives nationally. The outbreak necessitated the food sampling campaigns on our food outlets within the district, these are ongoing in our efforts to reduce the number of cases reported on food poisoning.

206 funeral parlours were inspected, of these, 147 complied and 59 did not comply. Intervention measures were put in place to address non-compliance and are ongoing through a number of Funeral Parlour stakeholder engagements conducted for capacitation purposes. An amount of R 2.1 million has been committed in the 2017/18 financial year to assist local municipalities in clearing and rehabilitating illegal dumping sites within our communities as management practices in most of our local municipalities are not conducive to a healthy environment

In terms of Landfill / waste sites monitoring, 42 waste site inspections were conducted and only 3 waste sites have complied and we continue to advise local municipalities on proper waste management practices and to ensure alignment with the Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) as detailed in the Waste Management Act.

Our district with the support from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and Department of Economic Development Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT), established a fully functional District Environment and Climate Change Forum. The Forum intends to ensure an ongoing dialog within the District on matters pertaining to environmental management and Climate change. It further seeks to raise environmental consciousness and facilitate environmental capacity building within the District where workshops are conducted to capacitate relevant stakeholders on particular matters concerning the environment.

Our attempts towards addressing climate change related issues yielding positive gains for our district as we got support through our partnership with the United States Agency and International Development (USAID) which is heading South Africa Low Emissions Development Program (SA-LED). The project through USAID has appointed a Technical Advisor whose contract ends in 2019. The Advisor provides technical support and advice on how the district can effectively roll out projects relating to climate change.

Our district in collaboration with the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT) applied for funding from National Treasury – European Union General Budget Support Programme to implement the Rural Sustainability Villages, and a total budget of R10.4 million was made available. The project will be implemented over a duration of two financial years (2017/ 18 and 2018/19) with an amount of R6.2 Million having been transferred to the district.

Three schools within the district, namely; Daliwonga S.S.S from Intsika Yethu LM, Three Crowns Primary School from Emalahleni LM and Mbewula Primary School in Sakhisizwe LM have been identified as beneficiaries.

We resuscitated our Land Care Management Programme, an EPWP to rehabilitate dongas/ravines and eradicate invasive alien plants (Lapesi) which came to a halt due financial constraints. An amount of R1, 639.000 was allocated to implement the project at Zingquthu village within Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality for a period of 07 months starting on 01 August 2017 this ended in February 2018. A total of 104 beneficiaries were appointed as the project is intended to alleviate poverty through job creation and promote sustainable rural livelihood.

In the 2017/2018 financial year, an amount of R600 000.00 was set aside to assist Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality and Sakhisizwe Local Municipality to review their Integrated Waste Management Plans (IWMP’s).

We have also managed to provide support to partially damaged households in five municipalities which were affected by heavy storms that occurred in the past few months. We opened a newly built fire station at Sakhisizwe Local Municiaplity in eKhowa.

Somlomo,

In line with all the relevant prescript seventy three [73] employees have been appointed from July 2017 to date. In reducing youth unemployment of an amount of R3,240 000 was set aside for the implementation of Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) Internship Programme where fifty four unemployed Graduates were appointed as interns. Currently forty nine EPWP interns are on our payroll to empower them with on the job training and will remain with us for a period of two years.

Twenty five employees from the Engineering directorate in Inxuba Yethemba Satellite office were sent to a Water Process controller Leanership programme to equip them further in our efforts to ensure quality provision of services to our people. Over R12 Million was made available for the purchase of 33 Vehicles as part of our continued efforts to prioritise water services provision. More funding will be allocated in this regard as we have identified a great need to prioritise this function.

A fleet of 17 vehicles procured to enhance water service provision operations.

The district continues to provide support to the various LM’s across the district through our Municipal Support Unit. The support ranges on capacity building, technical support and financial support and to date, we developed a Municipal Support Plan. We commend those departments and stakeholders who remain committed in serving the people in working together, as there is so much we can attain when we uphold the spirit of intergovernmental relations.

Through Extended Public Works Programme, we created and sustained 65 job opportunities. 11 War room facilitators responsible for functionality of War rooms and 54 care givers working in Non Profit organizations benefited from the programme.

We have also adopted best performing schools within our district focusing on 2017 Matriculation pass rate. We provided cleaning material and garden implements such as gardening tools, seeds, seedlings and fertilizers to six high schools, one from each Local Municipality.

150 learners from schools around our district and Mbashe Local Municipality received training on Air force skills, interpersonal skills, discipline and also assisted in Math and Science through our partnership with Harambe and the Office of the Premier provided.

Somlomo,

The subject of financial and revenue management in the district presents critical challenges under the current difficult socio-economic environment and is it receiving our utmost attention. It is a known fact that our district is grant dependent despite the shrinking national fiscal due to slow economic growth, rising unemployment, increasing debt owed to the municipality by (Government, Businesses and Residents), low revenue base and increasing demand for maintenance, bulk water provision demands, increasing surcharges for basic services and drought.

Our district operates a budget of R1,206 billion with R1,072 billion appropriated through government grants and subsidies. The municipal budget for capital expenditure is sitting at R551 million which is a meagre amount compared to what is required to dent service delivery challenges before us.

To augment this amount, we would like therefore to encourage our communities to pay their water and sanitation financial commitments in order for us to maintain operations. As a means to substitute our shrinking fiscus Council approved a 6% tariff increase in an attempt to ensure sustainable delivery of services. On the same token, the district has committed to speed capital projects to stimulate the local economy in order create jobs in the affected areas. This seeks to ensure our commitment to fiscal prudence and the district shall closely monitor all its programmers for us to deliver on our mandate.

Honourable Speaker,

We have been getting Qualified Audit reports for the past five years and this is no longer acceptable. The municipality will strengthen its oversight role on performance management and expect no less from its administration as its communities do to its leadership. We are working in partnership with the office of the Auditor General and improve its audit outcomes.

The district once again commit to ensure that 30% of our total budget is benefiting our local suppliers (SMMEs) in order to improve their competitive edge, economic growth and job creation. We further commit to commit with the provisions of MFMA in paying our service providers within the required period.

We must acknowledge upfront that billing is one other area that the district faces challenges on. However, despite these challenges billing is taking place and accounts are printed and distributed by the appointed service provider on a monthly basis. Data integrity challenges still remains and causes the printing and distributing of multiple accounts for some properties.

Allow me therefore to also report that the data cleansing process has already commenced, albeit on a slow start, with the meter audit on which the district sourced financial support from GIZ (German Government) for intervention in this critical area. Added to this, the electronic meter reading system has also been implemented, however it took some time for the users to be proficient with the system, resulting in slow progress to the targeted reading levels. It is envisaged that the data cleansing will be completed by mid-year of 2020. The next stage of the meter reading system, which will be rolled out during the first quarter of 2018/19, this will enable customers to obtain their own readings through the internet.

Somlomo,

Network connectivity between the Head Office and satellite offices is still a challenge. With regards to indigent support, we are concerned that our people are not taking up the opportunity of receiving the subsidy offered at the levels that are expected by the municipality. Although we have already populated our indigent register for the three coming financial years, walk ins would still be accepted, and we encourage communities to seize this opportunity.

We transacting on mSCOA and the project is in progress with manageable errors that are corrected along the way on a monthly basis, as a result all municipalities are expected to be transacting on mSCOA version 6.2 come 1 July 2018. CHDM has done all the necessary steps in making sure that it achieves this target. Once the budget is approved, SDBIP is approved by Council on 27 June 2018, Systems unit will continue with the planning in making sure that come 1 July 2018 CHDM is operating on mSCOA version 6.2. The municipality is confident and at ease that the District municipality will be compliant come 1 July 2018.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Uxanduva lwethu oluphambili kukusa iinkonzo eluntwini kwa nokumilisela intatho-nxaxheba yoluntu lonke kwiinkqubo zeSithili sethu. Oku singakwenza ngcono xa sinonxibelelwano oluluqilima noluntu lwesi Sithili. Kungoko ke sizimisele ukwenza unako-nako ukuvala umda phakathi kwethu noluntu ukuze sibe nakho ukufezekisa izidingo neenfuno zabo. Oku kwenziwa ngokuqina amaqonga onxibelelwano nothatho-nxaxheba kwimiba echaphazela uluntu.

Chris Hani District Municipality has a centralised 24/7 Customer Call Centre – 0800 100 100 – which is the first point of access for all residents and customers in the municipality. In addition to that there are 8 customer satellite offices situated in our local municipalities. These customer satellite offices are ready to deal with all types of requests and/or complaints from our customers as we remain resolute in the delivering sustainable Services for a Legacy that lives.

From time-to-time the institution conducts a customer satisfaction survey to determine if our services are delivered in the manner acceptable to our customers. This has assisted the municipality in implementing the Back-to-Basics Approach to service delivery and the Principles of Batho Pele. 

Council adopted its District Integrated Communication and Media Strategy, with its plan, and in doing so, we were mindful of our core business as the district which needs to be timely communicated.   Implementation of the plan, therefore had to enhance, amongst others, understanding of prevailing drought conditions throughout the district.  In this regard key messages augmented by dramatization of the status quo, have been implemented to ensure message penetration.   

As much as the visibility of the CHDM brand in all corners of the district has prompted association to some extent, however, challenges linked to water service provision have sparked negativity in terms of how the municipality is perceived.  This created an undesirable gap between the municipality and the communities.   We are deeply concerned by the information leaks, fake messages that continue to trend causing great panic to our communities at times.

In the next financial year the district municipality will embark on a process to review its identity (its logo) aligning it with the vision, mission and values of the district.  We implore the CHDM community to walk with the district towards coming up with an identity that all will take ownership of and believe in as their symbol of hope.  We will also intensify our stakeholder engagements in an effort to create more platforms thus deepening democracy.

Last year, Somlomo, we encouraged the Chris Hani community to make use of our Corruption Hotline, 0800 553 558. Today we can proudly confirm that we followed up on all cases that were reported by conducting investigation. We are closely monitoring the implementation of the recommendations in our attempts to combat fraud and corruption.

As I conclude, Honourable Speaker,

Inyanga yolwaluko kudala iqalile, sinethemba ke njengokuba beniqhube kakuhle Somlomo kulonyaka uphelileyo, nakulo unyaka nakwenza njalo. Sifuna baye bephila, babuye bephila, siyabadinga.

Allow me therefore to thank all councillors, traditional leaders, Chris Hani District Municipality employees led by the Acting Municipal Manager, Mr Bhekisisa Mthembu for the sterling job. Your good work continues to be reflected on the lives of the people we serve. We assure you that the 2018/2019 Budget and IDP priorities will be implemented as strive to build a legacy that lives.

We also extend a word of gratitude to our communities and all stakeholders for their influence and contribution in developing the document and guiding our budget allocation for this financial year. Frantz Fanon once said in one of his quotes, “Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.”I thank you,

Cllr Kholiswa Vimbayo,

Executive Mayor – CHDM

Image Credits: Supplied

The Shell Scholarship Programme gives recipients the opportunity to access good quality education, and in this way empower themselves for later life.

Siphosethu, who matriculated in 2016, is one of 40 children to benefit from the Shell Scholarship Programme annually. She first heard of the programme during 2014 from her former headmaster, who encouraged her to apply. She was in Grade 9 at the time.

Transformation is a business imperative for Shell which is seen as key to addressing the social inequality that exists in South Africa and for this reason, it sits at the heart of its business with an intent to achieve the true spirit of Transformation.

Siphosethu says, “I come from a small town, with a high unemployment rate and also a high rate of early, unplanned pregnancies. But I wanted to dream big, and I believed that education is the only way to improve one’s life. My application to the Shell Scholarship Programme was successful, and it gave me the opportunity to study in one of the country’s best learning institutions, the Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) in Grahamstown.”

Ntobeko Mogadime, Social Investment Manager at Shell South Africa explains more about the Programme.

“The Shell Scholarship Programme is one of Shell’s transformation initiatives aimed at powering South Africa’s progress. For Shell, transformation is all about empowering the individual so that communities can thrive and build a prosperous nation for us all. Through recognising Siphosethu’s talent and giving her the tools she needs to achieve her full potential, we help fuel a nation of equal opportunity. This is why individuals like Siphosethu are central to Shell’s transformation vision, not only for our company but for our communities and our country.”

The Shell Scholarship Programme sponsored Siphosethu’s studies for three years, based on merit, until she completed Grade 12 in December 2016. The move from a school in a very small town to DSG was a huge adjustment for her.

She says, “I came from a disadvantaged family compared to most of my schoolmates and there were times when I felt very insecure, especially at the beginning of my studies there. But, because of my hunger to learn, and my academic resilience, I managed to defy the odds and I was accepted into the University of Cape Town, to study commerce. I have been fortunate in that Shell is continuing to support my education at a tertiary level.”

“After completing my studies, the first thing I would like to do is to make positive changes at home. This would be beneficial to everyone in my community. It would enable them to see my progress, and that I have used academic opportunities to improve myself. It would show in a practical way that, through education, nothing is impossible,” maintains Siphosethu.

Shell’s progressive transformation initiatives have been instrumental in the group achieving its level 1 BEE score but more importantly demonstrates true commitment to powering the progress of South Africans through investment in education, skills development and by creating opportunities for previously disadvantaged individuals throughout the group’s value chain.

Ntobeko Mogadime concludes, “Shell South Africa is committed to transformation through educational support, partnerships and development. We wish Siphosethu all the best with her tertiary studies and we are thrilled that in the future she will be truly empowered to pass on the torch of learning, ultimately making a practical difference to her family, community and country.”

For more information, visit: www.shell.co.za/stationtonation

2018-06-18 11:36

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I was born with the sand of the Namib Desert between my toes and grew up in Upington, where the mighty Orange River flows a stone’s throw away from the town centre.

I remember as a teenager how excited my cousins and I would get when our neighbours across the street had family visiting. The reason for our enthusiasm would often be because the visitors were from Cape Town. They spoke a dialect we found cool and they used different words to describe things. Like stoffies for when it rains lightly, or kapalangs, referring to flip-flops and then the different meaning of the word koeksister and koesiste depending which province you’re in.

The family that I married into is from the Eastern Cape – Cradock, Ugie and East London and often their sentences and expressions are punctuated with words derived from isiXhosa. Unlike many coloureds living in Cape Town, some of my in-laws are proficient in conversational isiXhosa. I learnt the word umngqusho from my husband.

Despite this richness of experience and practice, coloured people are still portrayed as homogenous and often defined only in terms of what they “lack”; of what they are not.    

Recent racial tensions in the Western Cape – fuelled by dissatisfaction over housing, poor service delivery, and inhumane living conditions – have again thrust coloureds into the national spotlight and elicited enthusiastic debate online and in other media, about the nature and form of this category of South Africans. Centring this issue however, is not a case of coloured exceptionalism but rather an acknowledgement of a group of people who have expressed feelings of being marginalised by dominant groups in South Africa.

Experiences of white racism have shaped coloured identities but so too has anti-black prejudice and racism and if these racialised tensions are not effectively addressed it will have dire consequences for reconciliation and other nation building projects.

Whenever questions around coloured identities emerge, a common response has been to fiercely debate and try to define what coloured identity is. It is significant that 24 years into democracy, these debates often still draw on an understanding of coloured identity as somehow problematic. The argument goes that it is a bureaucratic construct – a racist apartheid hangover – and that in order for it to change, coloured people must undergo a sort of mental emancipation so as to reject the identity; or secondly, that coloureds are nothing more than products of miscegenation and racial “mixing”.

This narrative of racial “mixing” is especially harmful as it shrouds coloured identities in shame and renders coloureds cultureless within popular narratives.

These definitions are silencing. Not only is it obtuse, but it is a deeply problematic construction that denies the actual, lived, real experience of coloured identities based on a rich and nuanced history that has been denied even to its own. It also closes off any attempt at talking about coloured identity in a way that recognises that it is located within the larger South African context and its complicated past.

This silencing then, leaves little space to ask the difficult questions like: who do we speak of when we refer to coloureds, how is the identity formed, by whom and what are the social, political and cultural power relations at play? Interrogating these questions allows us to understand coloured identity, not in isolation to, but in relation to others. It also allows for a deeper reflection on, and a recognition of, the ways in which other identities shape coloured expression and how it has informed the expression of many other South African identities.

As with all other ethnic groups, coloured identities too are socially constructed. They are rich in complexity and are diverse, grounded in a violent history of genocide, slavery, rape and perceived miscegenation and a history immersed in the struggle against oppression and for liberation.

Much of this history has been erased and names like Ashley Kriel, Anton Fransch, Robert Waterwitch and Coline Williams remain relegated to the fringes of the story of our national struggle for freedom.

My experience of coloured identities is that coloureds are not a homogenous group, not in terms of personal politics and political thought, or even a primary language. And yet, despite this, there is a definite group ethnic consciousness. 

Complicated history must be retold

As emotionally draining as these conversations can sometimes be, particularly when it is so close to home, we must incessantly interrogate and engage with memories of the past. If we don’t courageously dialogue with sustained remembrance and with care, it will be impossible to co-create a new South African consciousness that draws from the countless strands of our collective story.

It is only through an opening up and re-telling of this complicated history of being coloured in South Africa, that we’ll be able to challenge the disconcerting and disturbing narrative of feelings of non-belonging that has become a marker of this identity group.

We tell stories about who we are and often our stories include perceptions of what it means to come from particular communities. These stories of who we are, are passed on from generation to generation and each generation chooses which parts of the story to tell.

This selection can be influenced by any of the various economic, social or political forces of the time. Stories can therefore change and shift and are regularly contested as is demonstrated by the issue of coloured identities.

Often our stories speak of a past – whether imagined or real; or the stories we tell try to make sense of the complex present and much of the time these stories are aspirational and speak of an imagined future. But these stories aren’t merely empty transcripts that are passed on. We are emotionally invested in them and they reflect our desire for belonging and inform our identities.

Coloured identities located within larger African identity

Isn’t this also what those who had gone before us a fought for? The right to, within a democratic dispensation, grapple with the messy complexities of our human experience and to re-imagine identities. This is something that colonialism and apartheid denied us.

We must allow ourselves the space to sit with the discomfort that comes with confronting the ways in which our brutal, fractured past has come to shape our understanding of ourselves and others. In this way, we’re able to, without denying its specificity, locate coloured identities within the larger African identity – validating it as an important part of the story of black and African experiences.

It is encouraging then that in recent years, there has been a resurgence of a movement to craft new coloured identities in a democratic South Africa and to tell the stories that shape and inform coloured identities in interesting ways.

Through the poetry of poets like Nathan Trantraal and Khadija Heeger, web series like Coloured Mentality, documentaries by filmmakers Nadine Cloete and Kurt Orderson, the art of Laura LadySkollie Windvogel, Khoi revivalists, theatre productions like Afrikaaps, and the general assertion of coloured, black and African identities as occurring at once, the unsettling meanings that have grown around coloured identities are challenged.

We need more spaces for the telling of our stories and for the articulation of memory. More museums telling old and new stories, monuments in interesting spaces, memorials that mourn and celebrate our past and other symbols that speak to our common humanity.

If we do this, we could be on a path where, when we as South Africans are confronted with the memory of the atrocities of our past and as we grapple with its material, social and psychological legacies, don’t shrink in shame or burn down with righteous anger. We will rather be moved with conviction to never allow those atrocities to be repeated and to restore through re-telling of our own stories and listening with care to the stories of others, parts of our identity that had been taken.    

– Eleanor du Plooy runs the Ashley Kriel Youth Desk at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

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Youth have major bargaining power, but do they know it?

Youth have major bargaining power, but do they know it?

THE South African Writers’ Circle held its annual awards luncheon at the White House in Hillcrest recently to honour and congratulate its members who qualified for the group’s numerous trophies.

“We were honoured to host Darryl Earl David as our speaker for the afternoon. Darryl has an impressive CV, he is the head of English at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pietermaritzburg campus,” said the club’s chairman, Patrick Coyne.

Darryl is also working towards his PhD on Literary Tourism in the Karoo.

He has founded and curated many literary festivals, including the Schreiner Literary Festival in Cradock, the JM Coetzee Literary Festival, the Midlands Meander Literary Festival in Howick and the Breyten Breytenbach Boekefees in Montagu.

ALSO READ: From the book to the stage, Nothing But the Truth

He was instrumental in getting Durban recognised as the first Unesco City of Literature in Africa, where he holds the title of interim executive director.

“We thank Darryl most sincerely for his forthright and enlightening talk and we wish him every success in helping move the initiative forward,” said Patrick.

The group meets on the third Saturday of the month at the Westville Library, Room G4.

Meetings begin at 11am and there is an invited speaker, followed by a light lunch on a bring and share basis.

SAWC Members pay R10 per meeting and non-members, R20 per meeting.

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A smart solution has been created to help retailers in South Africa safeguard their high-value goods against armed robbery

A group of innovative thinkers have developed a smart solution to help retailers in South Africa safeguard their high-value goods against armed robbery.

The Intelligent Safe incorporates the very latest security tech and is fully engineered to offer an all-round solution that’s both protective and reactive.

Crime continues to be one of the country’s biggest concerns and statistics released in the latter part of 2017 show that a record-high of 20,680 armed robberies were recorded for the 2016/2017 period, equating to a staggering 57 attacks a day.

The Intelligent Safe is used in the day-to-day retail environment as the primary dispensing system for high value stock. Only authorised personnel can access the safety compartments through the touchscreen display using a PIN code and biometric authentication and the intelligent system records when they were opened, for how long and by whom.

The store owner has live back-end access to the computer controller via a secure web portal on the internet and can monitor sales activity and all data logs, change security settings and instantly remove users or manually activate alarms.

Another smart feature of the Intelligent Safe is its RFID (radio frequency identification) stock management system option. It monitors stock movement in and out and also allows real-time stock counts from anywhere on the planet via the internet at the press of a button.

One of the Intelligent Safe’s standout features is that it comprises multiple electronically controlled and monitored safety compartments with adjustable time delay locks, which dramatically stalls any robbery attempt. Storing stock in separate compartments reduces the retailers’ risk and exposure to potential losses.

While the Intelligent Safe provides rock-solid fortification for retailers’ most valuable stock, it will also fend off and even help catch robbers trying to access it.

In overnight lock-down mode, it automatically activates a cloak of multiple built-in protective sensors, including human presence radar detection, door sensors, internal vibration sensor and an HD camera which records a sequence of HD images of any perpetrator approaching the safe.

Should any one of these sensors detect a breach of the safe’s security envelope, the computer controller immediately activates a sequence of defensive measures which include email and phone alerts sent to any designated security or user/owner phone numbers, internal siren activation, activation of a military-grade pepper-spray deterrent or optional blinding smoke screen, as well as activation of the store premises alarm.

Although it may sound like something from a James Bond movie, the Intelligent Safe is a practical solution to an everyday problem.

“We realise how much pressure rising crime rates are putting on local retailers – particularly those who trade in high-value goods, for whom a robbery could mean a devastating financial blow,” said company’s managing director David Park-Ross.

Co-founder Giancarlo Bruno added: “We believe the Intelligent Safe is going to help business owners sleep better at night and make robbers’ job much, much harder.”

In addition, the company’s insurers are so confident of the Intelligent Safe product to the effect that they offer a bespoke Intelligent Insurance Package underwritten by Lloyd’s of London to any retailer with an Intelligent Safe installed, which affords a massive savings of typically 40% to 60% over other mainstream insurance packages currently available on the SA market.

Not only is the Intelligent Safe set to fight back against perpetrators, but it’s also going to play a vital role in looking after retail staff safety and protecting their livelihoods.

In the preceding eight months the company has sold 22 units which have been installed across South Africa in Brits, Welkom, East London, Port Alfred, Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, Humansdorp, Jeffrey’s Bay, Cradock, East London, Strand, Hout Bay, Constantia, Rondebosch, Paddocks, Gardens, Cape Gate and Montague Gardens.

“At the end of the day, we want to make the country a better place to live in and do business without the continuous fear of violent crime,” added Park-Ross.

“We encourage all South Africans to join us in the fight against crime.”

A captivating, habitable “tree house” is among four award-winning architectural designs in Nelson Mandela Bay which have been recognised nationally for striking concepts and accomplished restoration.

The architects behind them were honoured at the Corobrik South African Institute of Architects Architectural Awards held in Pretoria earlier this month.

Built on a firm foundation but creating a tree-house effect, Whitfield House, which overlooks the Baakens Valley in Walmer, won one of six commendation awards.

Director architects Dal Venables and Neal Fisher, of DMV Architecture, who designed the noteworthy structure, said their aim was always excellence and being recognised for their work was a good measure of their ability.

“As an architect it is great to be recognised for putting that together in a way that is appreciated in the architectural community,” Venables said.

“And it is a nice gift to the client that the work that we put in for their project paid off.

“This recognition for a young practice is very rewarding.

“While we are appreciative of the award, it is something we accept in a humble manner,” Venables said.

Their clients, John and Fiona Whitfield, gave them an open brief to design the house, which they wanted to be elevated in nature, in and among the trees, he said.

The lightweight elements used for the structure also encompassed the use of a suspended structure as the house is built on a sloping site.

Cradock (Wikimedia Commons)