Police are investigating a case of house robbery after armed men attacked a home in Makhanda in the early hours of this morning, 28 August 2021.
“A couple was sleeping in the bedroom at about 12.40am, when they heard someone forcing the lounge door of their house in MacDonald Street, Makhanda,” said Sergeant Majola Nkohli.
A complainant later told the police that at least three men wearing balaclavas, all armed with firearms had stormed into the house and held the couple at gunpoint.
“The suspects stole an undisclosed amount of cash, cellphones and a necklace before fleeing the scene,” Nkohli said. A case of house robbery was opened for further investigation.
MacDonald Street is in the vicinity of the Queen Street taxi rank.
Anyone who might be able to assist with information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects, who are still at large is requested to contact the detectives standby number on 082 301 9427. The information may also be shared via Crime Stop 08600 10111. All information is strictly confidential and callers have the right to remain anonymous.
Two men appeared in the Magistrate’s Court in Makhanda on drug charges, after their arrest in the vicinity of Queen Street taxi rank last weekend.
South African Police Service spokesperson Sergeant Nkohli confirmed the men were arrested in the vicinity of the Queen Street taxi rank, on Friday, 20 August 2021
“Police found 38 mandrax tablets and 32 bankies of tik [in their possession],” Nkohli said. “The total value of the illicit drugs seized is estimated to be R 4 680.”
The two men briefly appeared in the Makhanda magistrate’s court on Monday, 23 August 2021 on charges of possession of illicit drugs, and were released on warning, pending a report from the laboratory. The case was postponed to Wednesday, 23 February 2022 for further investigation.
For Makhanda, the cold arrives Friday and stays through Saturday, warming up to 15C max on Sunday. Here, the South African Weather Service predicts 3mm rain on Friday (tomorrow) and 3mm on Tuesday, but otherwise just cold.
An intense cold front associated with a steep upper-air trough, currently moving in over the south-western Cape, is expected to spread eastwards to the central and eastern parts of the country during the course of this weekend. Cold to very cold temperatures are expected over the central, southern and western parts of the country from Friday into Saturday (27 to 28 August 2021). Atmospheric conditions will become ideal for widespread snowfall to occur over the high-lying areas of the Cape provinces during Friday. Snowy conditions will subsequently spread to KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho on Saturday.
Figure 1: Satellite image for Thursday 26 August 2021, indicating the approaching cold front, located over the western Atlantic Ocean. Source: Eumetsat (2021).
Disruptive snowfalls of 5 to 10 cm are expected from Friday onwards over the high-lying areas of the Western Cape as well as the western and southern high-lying areas of the Northern Cape. Heavier snowfall of 10 to 20 cm is also likely over the extreme south-western parts of the Northern Cape (including the Nuweveld and Roggeveld mountains) as well as the Cederberg and Hex River mountains of the Western Cape. Due to significant cooling within the atmosphere and corresponding lowering of freezing levels, snow can also be expected at lower altitudes and in the lower foothills of mountain ranges.
Snowy conditions are expected to reach the western and central high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape (Sneeuberge and Winterberge mountains) during Friday evening, while the south-western and western high- lying areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the Drakensberg region can anticipate snowfall by Saturday.
Figure 2: Snowfall accumulation (24 hour) in cm for Friday (left) and Saturday (right). Source: High Resolution Unified Model (South African Weather Service)
These conditions will persist until Saturday morning over the western and southern parts of the Northern Cape and the high-lying areas of the Western Cape, persisting well into the evening over the high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape and the western and southern high-lying areas of KwaZulu-Natal. The extreme north-eastern Drakensberg mountains of the Eastern Cape and the south-western mountains of KwaZulu-Natal may experience disruptive snowfall during the course of Saturday, which may result in the closure of mountain passes and associated disruption to traffic due to icy and slippery roads. Moreover, some communities at higher altitude (such as ski lodges) may become isolated due to deep snow drifts.
Figure 3: Predicted maximum temperatures (left) and 24-hour rainfall accumulation in mm (right) for Saturday (28 August 2021). Source: High Resolution Unified Model (South African Weather Service)
Cloudy, cold and wet weather will persist on Saturday, 28 August 2021 along the south-western, southern and south-eastern coastal regions of the country, extending across the eastern half of the Eastern Cape and most parts of KwaZulu-Natal. Significant rainfall, in the order of 20 to 40 mm may occur over parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the extreme eastern parts of the Eastern Cape on this day. Cold to very cold conditions will dominate the majority of the interior of the country on Saturday and Sunday, with the possible exception of the north-eastern Lowveld areas, where, by contrast, it will be warm to hot on Saturday.
South Africans can expect a gradual clearing in weather conditions, combined with a consistent recovery in daily daytime temperatures from Monday onwards. Given that overnight minimum temperatures may take several days to recover in the wake of this cold spell, there is a distinct possibility of overnight frost occurring over parts of the interior early next week.
The South African Weather Service will continue to monitor any further developments relating to this weather system and will issue subsequent updates as required. Furthermore, the public are urged and encouraged to regularly follow weather forecasts on television and radio. Updated information in this regard will regularly be available at www.weathersa.co.za as well as via the SA Weather Service Twitter account @SAWeatherServic
Compiled by Wayne Venter and edited by Kevin Rae.
Media release from the South African Weather Service.
Police recovered a truck and groceries worth millions of rands after a horse and trailer travelling from Makhanda to East London was hijacked on the N2 near Ntabozuko (Berlin ) around 9.30pm on Monday, 23 August.
South African Police Service spokesperson Segreant Majola Nkohli said a bakkie with six armed men opened fire on the truck forcing the driver to stop.
“They then pulled him out and tied him in the bushes before driving off with the truck,” Nkohli said. “The driver managed to free himself and looked for help from the nearby location where he was taken to the Berlin police station for assistance.”
A search was activated with the assistance of King William’s Town flying squad and, with the help of a tracker, a signal was picked at Hogsback.
“On recovery of the truck, information led the police to a warehouse in Balfour, where more of the goods were hidden,” Nkohli said. “The BCM District Commander, Major General Henry Vos, commended the outstanding work of the King William’s Town flying squad.”
No arrests had been made at this stage, Nkohli said.
This is an edited media release from SAPS (Eastern Cape).
‘The lengths to which parties and independent candidates have gone to ensure compliance with obviously tight timeframes is remarkable’ – Electoral Commission
STATEMENT FROM THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
First and foremost, we wish to thank political parties and independent candidates for their continued interest in electoral democracy. Such interest tells us that the electoral democratic project is well and alive in the country. It is not lost to the Commission that the unfolding nomination process had to be undertaken against the backdrop of a pernicious pandemic which is threatening our collective existence.
The lengths to which parties and independent candidates have gone to ensure compliance with obviously tight timeframes is remarkable and indicative of agility within our political system.
In line with the Electoral Timetable, the first stage of the candidate nomination process concluded last night. The deadline for the submissions was 21h00. There is currently work in progress to collate all the nomination information. The preliminary figures indicate the total number of candidates standing at 59 272, including those captured through the online candidate nomination system as well manually in the local office of the Commission. 74 per cent of preliminary candidates were captured through the online system, whereas 26 per cent came through manual submissions. This innovative ICT solution continues to offer operational efficiencies whilst at the same time giving political parties and independent candidates greater control over the capturing process.
Local offices of the Commission are still currently busy capturing manual submissions that were received by the cut of time of 21h00 yesterday. The plan is to conclude this capturing by the end of today.
The total number of municipal council seats being contested in this year election is 10 285. There are 276 unique political parties that submitted candidates of which two are contesting in all the 257 municipalities in the country. The total number of independents currently captured is 944. In 2016 there were 855 independent candidates.
The compliance verification processes is already under way. This is to ensure that candidates on the system are compliant with the electoral prescripts.
As at this morning the total election deposits paid amount to just over R 7 million. Some payments were made late last night through electronic funds transfer and these may take up to 48 hours to reflect in the bank account of the Commission.
We confirm that the online system closed at 21h34. The reason for this was to enable the data transfer from the public website where the online candidate nomination system is hosted into the internal business application. In the interests of sound election management practice, candidates whose details were entered after the deadline of 21h00 cannot and will not be accepted but candidates captured before and up to 21h00 will be taken as duly submitted. This is facilitated through the date and time stamp which is a component of the online candidate nomination system.
The affected candidates who were captured during the 34 minutes before the online system actually closed are 74.
On Friday, 27 August 2021, the Chief Electoral Officer will notify political parties of any non-compliance that may have arisen. In this regard, contestants will have until Monday, 30 August 2021, to correct the non-compliance.
Furthermore, on 31 August 2021 parties will be notified of candidates who may be appearing on multiple party lists. Parties may choose to remove such candidates and re-order lists by 2 September 2021. 3 | P a g e
The final lists of candidates will be certified and published on 7 September 2021. This date will mark the conclusion point of the candidate nomination process and the ballot paper production process will then be able to commence. Certified candidates will be issued with certificates on 13 September 2021.
Lastly, we experienced protests by members of a political party here at Election House yesterday. We wish to indicate that the Commission is not entrusted responsibility to mediate internal party disputes. Parties are urged to set processes to manage internal disputes. The Commission thus condemn protests action direct at it in circumstances where it has no lawful role it can play in internecine party disputes.
This is an unedited media release from the Electoral Commission issued on 24 August 2021.
Strong winds followed by snow in high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape from Friday, predicts the SOUTH AFRICAN WEATHER SERVICE
An intense cold front associated with a steep upper-air trough, currently developing over the western Atlantic Ocean, will affect the western parts of the country on Thursday and Friday, spreading to the southern and central parts on Saturday. Rainy and very cold conditions with snow on the high-lying areas will set in over the western parts of the Western Cape from Thursday afternoon, 26 August 2021, spreading to the western and southern parts of the Northern Cape and the remainder of the Western Cape overnight into Friday, 27 August 2021.
Figure 1: Satellite image for Tuesday, 24 August 2021, indicating the approaching cold front, located over the western Atlantic Ocean. Source: Eumetsat (2021).
Following a fairly settled week for the western parts of the country, a cold front together with an associated upper-air trough is expected to affect the Western Cape and Northern Cape, mainly from Thursday afternoon through to Saturday. At the same time, this weather system will encroach eastwards into the Eastern Cape province from Friday afternoon as well as the central interior of South Africa, including KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday, 28 August 2021.
Widespread rainfall will set in over the western parts of the Western Cape on Thursday afternoon, spreading to the western and southern parts of the Northern Cape overnight. Rainfall accumulations of 20 to 30 mm can be expected, with heavier falls, of the order of 40 to 50 mm expected over the south-western Cape (refer Figure 2). This rainfall may lead to localised flooding of informal settlements. Moreover, such flooding may also pose a distinct risk to safe driving on major roads. Motorists driving under such conditions are advised to reduce speed (especially under conditions of reduced or impaired visibility) and to observe safe following distances.
Figure 2: 24-hour rainfall accumulation in mm for Thursday (left) and Friday (right). Source: GFS model provided by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Figure 3: Predicted maximum temperatures for Friday (left) and Saturday (right). Source: GFS model provided by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Very cold conditions are expected from Friday (refer Figure 3) over the south-western quadrant of the country, spreading to include much of the southern and central interior regions of South Africa by Saturday, 28 August 2021.
Snowfall is expected over the high-lying areas of the Western Cape and the southern and western high- lying areas of the Northern Cape, mainly from Friday spreading to the high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape and the Drakensberg region of KwaZulu-Natal during Saturday. Significant lowering of local atmospheric freezing levels is anticipated over the aforementioned areas, allowing for disruptive snowfall in some places. This may result in the closure of some mountain passes and cause traffic disruptions. Small stock farmers are advised to move their smaller livestock to shelter at an early stage to mitigate losses, ahead of the arrival of the winter weather.
Prior to landfall of the approaching cold front, strong winds (40 to 60 km/h) are likely to occur over parts of the interior of South Africa. Such strong, gusty winds may cause difficulties for high-sided vehicles along major routes, especially over the interior of the Western Cape, the interior of the Eastern Cape, the Northern Cape, western Free State and the western parts of the North West province from Thursday into Friday. In addition, the public are urged to exercise caution and to refrain from lighting fires in the open and/ or discarding lit cigarettes or matches. The combination of strong, gusty winds and abundant fuel (in the form of dry, frost-affected grass and brush) is likely to promote conditions conducive to the rapid ignition and spreading of veld fires, ahead of the cold front.
The South African Weather Service will issue a further media release later this week, to provide greater detail regarding this rapidly developing weather system (such as when and where the more significant snowfalls can be anticipated). The accuracy of predictions provided by numeric weather prediction (NWP) models typically improves significantly as the lead-time shortens. SAWS therefore urge the public to be circumspect when considering long lead-time weather predictions from unproven and irregular sources. Such products are typically designed to cause panic, rather than to advise and inform.
The South African Weather Service will continue to monitor any further developments relating to this weather system and will issue subsequent updates as required. Furthermore, the public are urged and encouraged to regularly follow weather forecasts on television and radio. Updated information in this regard will regularly be available at www.weathersa.co.za as well as via the SA Weather Service Twitter account @SAWeatherServic
Compiled by Wayne Venter and edited by Kevin Rae.
This is an unedited media release from the South African Weather Service on 24 August 2021.
Three men were arrested in possession of a suspected stolen vehicle in Makhanda on Sunday 22 August, two hours after the vehicle was allegedly hijacked in Kariega.
South African Police Service spoksperson Sergeant Majola Nkohli said that around 7pm on Sunday, 22 August the Grahamstown K9 unit were conducting patrols, when they received a signal and the location of a vehicle allegedly hijacked in KwaNobuhle, Kariega about two hours earlier.
Moments later, a blue Chevrolet bakkie was spotted in Beaufort Street, Makhanda, and they pulled it off the road.
The three occupants were arrested and detained in the Grahamstown Police Station for possession of suspected stolen property, and the vehicle was seized for further investigation. The three men, ranging in age from 19 to 43, are due to appear in the Kwanobuhle magistrate’s court on Wednesday, 25 August 2021 on charges of hijacking and possession of stolen property.
This is an edited media release from the South African Police Service’s provincial media liaison office.
Members of Uncedo and BATA taxi associations will on Tuesday 24 August participate in a candlelight vigil in Church Square, Makhanda. The event, coordinated by Eastcape Midlands College (EMC) student liaison officer Lithemba Busakwe is in protest against the horrific killing of University of Fort Hare student Nosicelo Mtebeni. It will be the first of two events planned in Makhanda this week.
“As members of a fellow Higher Education institution, we stand in solidarity with the University of Fort Hare community as they try to come to terms with the terrible violent death of a young student,” Busakwe said.
The DispatchLive reported that Mtebeni’s mutilated body parts were discovered in a suitcase and a plastic bag on Thursday morning in a house in Quigney, East London. Students, school learners and residents have participated in protests and vigils there in the past few days.
In Makhanda, local members of the BATA and Uncedo taxi associations are partnering with EMC staff and students in a candlelight vigil to honour Mtebeni’s memory and take a stand against gender based violence. Participants in the event, from 6pm to 7pm on Tuesday 24 August, will wear black. Busakwe said the number of participants would be limited to 100 or fewer in compliance with current Disaster Management Act regulations, along with masks and social distancing.
Uncedo Transport Manager Lungisa Sixaba told SmilingSouth that drivers from Uncedo and BATA would wear black on Tuesday 24 August and would drive with their headlights on all day. BATA official Sibongile Waka confirmed that the association would participate, as did a post on the Border Alliance Taxi Association’s Facebook page http://bit.ly/southBATA_UNCEDOvsGBV
#CodeRed march for social justice
A separate event on Friday 27 August is being organised by the local (Makhanda) chapter of #CodeRed with the Unemployed People’s Movement.
In a Daily Maverick op-ed, #CodeRed describe themselves as “a collective of feminists who urgently convened to respond to the social unrest of July 2021… aware that those who were poor would be criminalised while the big looters of our country’s resources would once again get away with acting with impunity without any serious consequences”.
The UPM is an early signatory to their founding document, alongside Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP), The Right2Know Campaign, Sonke Gender Justice, Soul City Institute for Social Justice, The Teddy Bear Foundation for Abused Children and Women’s Legal Centre, among others.
In media for Friday’s event, organisers describe it as a peaceful march in Makhanda, starting at Fingo Square (‘KwaJackie’) scheduled for 10am. Partipants plan to wear red and alongside the implementation of funding to end GBV, their demands include vaccine equity and immediate implementation of a Universal Basic Income Grant.
The march is billed as Covid compliant, with masks, sanitising and social distancing. Local convenor Esther Ramani said they were not encouraging members of the public to participate because they don’t want to have to turn people away to remain compliant; however, people could show their support in other ways, such as via social media. Simultaneous #CodeRed events are planned in other centres including Joburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.
Anyone 18 and over may be vaccinated at any vaccination site and walk-ins are allowed. Bookings are preferred and pre-registration on the EVDS is encouraged, but not compulsory.
SETTLERS HOSPITAL Monday to Friday, 7.30am-4pm
CLICKS HIGH STREET Monday to Friday 9-5 nationally. Saturdays till 1pm. It’s best to make an appointment (call 046 636 1264) to avoid the long wait in a queue.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH COMMUNITY VACCINATION PROGRAMME (note, the Department of Health Makana Subdistrict includes Ndlambe and Makana municipalities). Community venues change from week to week – updates on SmilingSouth Facebook page. 24 Aug – Kenton Town Hall 25 Aug – BB Zondani Hall 25 Aug – Wentzel Park Hall 26 Aug – TT Jonas Hall 27 Aug – Home Visit
RHODES UNIVERSITY OUTREACH VACCINATION SITE at the Gavin Relly Postgraduate Village (PGV) is operational during the week. Book for a vaccination slot as follows:
1. Email vaccine@ru.ac.za and include: Name and surname ID number Cellphone number Dates when you will not be available for vaccination If you have had your first Pfizer shot, please indicate when the second one is due
2. Wait for a response, which will include the booking date and times.
3. Show up at PGV at your allocated time slot. Please take note of the following:
You must attend your allocated slot. If you cannot honour your appointment/ allocated time, for whatever reason, please email vaccine@ru.ac.za to reschedule.
Please bring your ID with you.
Although the vaccination site will not turn away walk-ins, we would like to encourage you to use our booking system. Not only will bookings be given priority, but they will help reduce overcrowding at the vaccination site.
Bulk bookings For employers and organisations, it would greatly assist if group bookings are made and the details of each employee are sent in a single email to vaccine@ru.ac.za.
Who is eligible? Currently, anyone aged 18 years and older is eligible to be vaccinated.
The closing time for parties to submit their candidate lists and election deposits for the upcoming local government elections has been extended by four hours, to 9pm today. However, the Electoral Commission (IEC) emphasises that deadline day – 23 August 2021 – remains the same. Here is their statement issued today 23 August 2021:
Political parties and independent candidates intending to contest the Local Government Elections scheduled for 27 October 2021 have until 21H00 today to submit their nominations and prescribed election deposits.
In terms of the election timetable, the cut-off date is Monday, 23 August 2021. The Electoral Commission has extended the time to 21h00.
Prescribed election deposits which are also due on 23 August 2021 are as follows:
(a) R3 500 (three thousand five hundred rand) in respect of an election in a metropolitan municipality; (b) R2 000 (two thousand rand) in respect of an election in a local municipality with wards; (c) R1 000 (one thousand rand) in respect of an election in a district municipality; and (d) R1 000 (one thousand rand) in respect of an election in a single ward for independent candidates and political parties not contesting for PR election in that municipality.
Failure to make payment for election deposits on 23 August 2021 will result in automatic disqualification of the party or independent candidate affected. Failure to pay deposits on due date is incapable of being remedied through a non-compliance procedure.
The Commission will refund to a party any deposit paid, if the party is allocated at least a seat in the municipal council it is contesting. Similarly, an independent candidate who receives at least 10% of the total number of votes cast in the ward election will have the deposit refunded.
Only registered political parties may contest elections of municipal councils by way of party lists. Currently, there are 480 registered parties of which 298 registered on a national level which entitles the affected parties to contest any municipal council in the country. The balance of 182 parties are registered at a district or metropolitan level. This level of registration allows the affected parties to contest any local council within the district, whilst the metropolitan level allows for contestation within the relevant metropolitan municipality of registration.
To date, 97 political parties and 353 independent candidates have either captured their nominations or have submitted nominations.
Parties and independent candidates may submit their documents online at http://www.elections.org.za or visit a designated local office of the Commission. The list of the designated offices is available on the website.
The Electoral Commission will have until Friday, 27 August to notify political parties and independent candidates of any non-compliance in respect of outstanding documents.
Thereafter, the Electoral Commission will have until 31 August to notify parties of any candidates appearing on multiple party lists. The affected parties will have until 17h00 on 2 September decide whether to remove such candidate and order their lists.
The final list of candidates will be certified and published on 7 September 2021.
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