Makana Tourism’s Prudence Mini shares her must-do list
“We’re ready to rock and roll!” says Prudence Mini, Makana Tourism’s livewire marketing officer.
Starting from Thursday 24 February, the Monument in Makhanda serves as the hub for an action-packed weekend.
The small and dynamic teams from Makana Tourism and the National Arts Festival have pulled out all the stops for a three-day event this weekend that celebrates the resilience of this town’s entrepreneurs and creative people – as well as the good things we have to offer.
The popular dance production, We Are Still Marching will have its second performance at the Guy Butler Theatre on Friday 25 February at 6.30pm.
On Saturday, 26 February from 11am to 3pm and Sunday from 9am – 1pm, the Monument will be transformed into a vibrant street market.
More than 40 stalls and other activities include an art exhibition; thrift shopping; a food court and bar with diverse cuisine and drinks, live music, craft beer and gin and good wine, freshly brewed coffee and a variety of organic produce.
Live music and entertainment for children – and a mini-car show for the big kids – will provide a feast for ears and eyes.
SmilingSouth asked Mini to first tell us five things we shouldn’t miss – and five things she definitely won’t be missing.
Here’s what she says you shouldn’t miss:
1. Come through to Makhanda for a long weekend to catch an unmissable performance of We Are Still Marching. This dance production is a magnificent celebration of women, their lives and their commitment, and promises an exciting, unforgettable experience for all lovers of dance. Performance dates: Thursday, 24 February at 3pm and Friday, 25 February at 6.30pm. Please note there is no ticket fee but donations in support of the Siphumelele Youth Foundation are encouraged.
2. You can’t miss out on the Be Brave Mzansi Dance Challenge that will be taking place on Saturday, 26 February. Join us for this Be Brave Mansi Dance off from 11am to 2.30pm. It’s a fun activity that will help motivate us towards new growth, bring us together and explore new experiences in the historic and creative City of Makhanda.
3. Check out the art exhibition by N’lamwai Chithambo – a Scotland born, South Africa raised, Malawian who grew up in Makhanda.
4. For car enthusiasts, the Kelston Volkswagen Grahamstown will display the newest VW and Renault vehicles
5. Live music from the Makhanda Marimba Band and Ntsika Secondary School Choir.
Five things Prudence Mini definitely won’t be missing:
1. Getting down with the inspirational Be Brave Mzansi Dance Challenge
2. Craft beer with Featherstone Brewery before I head over to the art exhibition by N’lamwai Chithambo.
3. I’m a big kid, so I would love to try out the quad bike train rides;
4. I have my own unique fashion sense, often misunderstood. So, thrift shopping is the best way for me to look for buried treasure.
5. Ending the day off with Sip Beverage Solutions.
The event introduces Makana Tourism’s new look and services and comes after months of consultation and research, says Mini.
“It’s a way to re-write the narrative after the region has faced an intense period with several businesses struggling or closing down and a sharp drop in the number of inbound international travellers during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Against all odds, and with practically no budget, Mini has been bringing the town’s photographers, craftspeople, artists, homestay owners and other entrepreneurs out into the light for the past three years.
Behind the scenes and a driving force for this weekend’s event was the late local economic development director Riana Meiring. Makana Tourism, local entrepreneurs and the National Arts Festival team are carrying that flame.
Classes will resume at public schools in Makana and Ndlambe from Wednesday 23 February. This comes after around 180 parents, Education Assistants (EAs), General School Assistants (GSAs) and teachers met at the Department of Education’s Grahamstown Cluster Management Centre in Makhanda, under the umbrella of the SGB Forum.
The SGB Forum is the group that called for the shutdown on 16 February after the Department of Education’s failure to correctly and timeously pay EAs and GSAs and to provide stationery, among other grievances. The stationery shortages and payment failures were a province-wide situation.
A shutdown of urban centres across the Eastern Cape by taxi associations would have added momentum to the initiative. Associations under Santaco – the South African National Taxi Association – were set to strike because of the Province’s failure to fully pay scholar transport providers; however, a meeting with Premier Oscar Mabuyane last weekend saw the action suspended for seven days, pending payment.
Chairperson of the SGB Forum, Nosigqibo Soxujwa, said last week that the newly formed body intended to join the National Association of School Governing Bodies. The SGB Forum comprises some parents, teachers, EAs and GSAs from at least 20 schools in the Makana and Ndlambe municipal areas that fall under the Department of Education’s Grahamstown Cluster Management Centre.
Following a four-hour meeting of the SGB Forum, Soxujwa told SmilingSouth, “Today we evaluated progress since we embarked on the shutdown. After reportbacks from various areas, we discovered that many of the issues that led to the shutdown are in the process of being resolved.
“Most schools received stationery, most schools received payment for the EAs – and those were top of our demands,” Soxujwa said. “We had a long list of grievances, but the two major ones were stationery, and the EAs. I think that by the 25th, all the EAs will be paid.”
Public schools in Makana and Ndlambe have been affected to varying extents by the SGB Forum’s shutdown, with principals, particularly at no-fee township schools, reporting poor or no attendance up to Tuesday.
Soxujwa confirmed that normal schooling would resume on Wednesday 23 February.
The SGB Forum’s Secretary, Wandile Ngcobo, from Port Alfred, said, “We wanted to make sure our children were in a safe environment and were getting enough school books for learning and teaching. We are happy that at least now the Department has responded to us.
“Tomorrow they are going back to school and teaching and learning will continue. We’re excited to be having our children back at school and for teachers to be doing their jobs again.”
Some of the participants in a newly formed group called the SGB Forum meet at the Department of Education’s Makhanda offices on Tuesday 22 February. The group, which initiated a shutdown of public schools in Makana and Ndlambe last week, has called for a return to teaching and learning on Wednesday 23 February. Photo: Sue Maclennan
Call Goes Out to Fringe Artists as National Arts Festival Returns to Live Stages this Winter
After two years of hosting the National Arts Festival online, the organisation has announced that it’s returning to live format for 2022. This year’s National Arts Festival is happening in its home town of Makhanda in the Eastern Cape from 23 June-3 July and a call has gone out to artists to register their works on the Fringe.
The Fringe is that part of the Festival programme that is not curated by the Festival’s artistic committee. It is open to all artists from anywhere in the world who want to bring a show or piece of work to perform or exhibit at the Festival. This is done at their own cost but ticket revenue is also largely their own (90/10 in favour of the artists).
The Festival is also hosting an online programme so will welcome applications to present works made for the online environment.
Says Fringe Manager, Zikhona Monaheng, ‘As artists are slowly recovering from two devastating years of the pandemic, we would like to offer a 50% reduction of the normal R1000 registration fee which this year will be R500. In addition, the venue fees have been reduced to accommodate artists’ tighter budgets. Online productions will pay a flat R150 registration fee.’
The Festival will once again present a curated programme featuring highlights that include the original new works of the 2021 Standard Bank Young Artists, theatre, dance and music elements, comedy, visual art, illusion, artists in residence, workshops and experiences such as the Village Green and free Sundowner Concerts. Artists will also gain from several professional workshops and network opportunities at the Festival.
The Fringe programme plays an important role in launching artists and their works into the spotlight. It is here that countless South African artists have tested their range, experimented with form and debuted new work. A free space to express, play and create, it’s an essential element of the Festival’s character.
Says Monaheng, ‘Aside from the importance of coming together again to collaborate, network and talk late into the night, this year’s Festival is an essential component in the reboot of the live arts ecosystem and we hope it will offer some healing and hope after this very hard time we’ve all had. We are looking forward to being together in Makhanda.’
The closing date for application for the Fringe programme is 18 March 2022.
Acapella streetcorner ecorded at the National Arts Festival 2021. The Festival wikll feature live performances again for the first time since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Photo: Mark Wessels
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation conducted a site inspection at Makhanda’s James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works (JKWTW) on Tuesday 25 January 2022. DWS spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said the visit to the Department of Water and Sanitation-funded upgrade project was to assess progress. Following numerous delays since the project started 10 years ago, the most recent revised anticipated completion date was March 2022. The upgrade is set to double the facility’s production to 20 megalitres a day.
For the past month, it’s been the town’s water reticulation rather than supply issues that has caused prolonged outages. But there have been questions about supply as well.
With too little rainfall in its catchment, Makhanda’s main reservoir, Settlers Dam, remains depleted. The R10 million refurbishment of Jameson and Milner Dam has yet to add to the water supply west of the town. However, recent photographs show Howisons Poort Dam to be full.
For a brief period in 2021, with Howisons at 75% and feeding the Waainek Water Treatment Works, the town received water every day. So residents have been puzzled to see in communication from the municipality that the reservoirs that are filled by Waainek (via Howisons Poort) are low.
In response to questions from SmilingSouth, Makana said, “Howisons Poort is currently utilised for Waainek; however it is currently operating at 60% capacity, in order to manage turbidity levels to be always below 1NTU [the unit used to measure the concentration of suspended solids in water].
“Also, the water on the western side of town is usually a mix from both Waainek and JKWTW,” the municipality’s infrastructure directorate said via Makana spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo.
This was because while the combined water storage capacity for west Makhanda is 13.52ML a day, Waainek’s design capacity (how much water a day it can treat) is 8ML.
The month-long outage in several parts of town was caused by problems with reticulation. A project to replace sections of this very old, mostly asbestos pipe system began last year and is still under way. MANCO, the contractors for that project, were the ones called to assist the municipal team to fix the long-running Worcester Street saga.
Burst pipes
The crucial Worcester Street pipe junction in Makhanda that repeatedly defied repair was finally fixed on 26 January. The conclusion to the engineering nightmare came after four weeks of repeated pipe bursts there and across the town left many residents with dry taps and short tempers. Makana Municipality was able to reinstate the town’s normal one-day-on, one-day-off regime, a day after Parliament arrived in town to inspect its main water treatment works and a day before councillors heard that water losses had amounted to R7.9 million in the previous financial year.
Responding to questions about multiple repeated burst pipes across Makhanda during the past month, Makana said the aged and dilapidated infrastructure; excessive pressure, when sections are isolated; and damage to the reticulation system during construction because the as-built drawings are often not accurate, were the main contributing factors.
Hard-to-get parts, rain filling up the repair trench, a TLB (“digger”) breaking down, further leaks filling up the repair trench with water and the repair team having to urgently attend to new serious pipe breaks across the town were some of the challenges the Makana team faced.
It wasn’t the first time that the combination of rain, clay ground and the ageing water system caused chaos at the Worcester Street site. In April 2018, local newspaper Grocott’s Mail reported on an operation to rescue a cow that fell in the water-filled trench after protracted repairs there.
Professional service provider
But questions have been asked about the qualifications and experience of those tasked with contracts and repairs, and those overseeing the town’s water systems.
Not knowing the [reticulation] system properly and not opening and closing valves in the correct sequence when turning the water on and off, may have contributed to the repeated breaks, a person familiar with the town’s decades-old water systems said. “Also failure to properly compress the pipe after fixing it. There is a lot of pressure in the pipes when you switch the water back on and if sand has just been thrown on top and not compressed, it will burst in the same place,” they offered.
Asked about the competence of those tasked with maintaining and repairing the town’s water systems, Makana responded, “The plumbing team and supervisors have the necessary qualifications, skills and expertise, at various levels, based on their job description. There is also a Professional Service Provider and a contractor with relevant CIDB grading, who is contracted for the replacement of the old asbestos pipes.”
Director of the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) at Rhodes University, Jay Kruuse, called on the Mayor and Municipal Manager to publicly release the approved organogram of Makana Local Municipality.
“This should include a breakdown of which posts are filled by whom and which posts remain vacant,” Kruuse said. “The public has a right to know the extent of vacancies and who in fact occupies which posts in the municipality, so that accountability mechanisms can be strengthened.”
Kruuse said the repeated and widespread water outages across Makana Municipality continued to violate the constitutional right of access to sufficient water.
“PSAM also calls on municipal councillors elected recently to interrogate the organogram and to take oversight action to address deficiencies that continue to impact negatively on the operations of the municipality.”
Critical upgrade
Parliament’s action-oriented visit to James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works last week was not in response to the month-long water outage in parts of Makhanda, but in order to do oversight on the critical upgrade to the facility that will ultimately ease the city’s supply problems.
DWS spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said MPs accompanying chairperson of the water and sanitation portfolio committee Robert Mashego were the committee’s Whip, Grace Tseke, Nancy Sihlwayi and Mogamad Hendricks. The DWS Eastern Cape team was led by the Provincial Head Portia Makhanya, Amatola Water chairperson Dr Mosidi Makgae and acting CEO Sazile Qweleka.
“This was an oversight visit by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation on DWS funded projects to assess progress made,” Ratau said. Other Eastern Cape projects they visited were Ngqamakhwe Bulk Water Supply; Xhora Bulk Water Supply; Mzimvubu Water Project at Maclear’s Siqhuqwini village (oversight visit for the access road to the dam wall); King Sabata Dalindyebo Presidential Intervention Bulk Water Supply Project; Ndlambe Emergency Bulk Supply Project and the Nooitgedagt Phase 3 Bulk Water Supply.
It was too early to comment on the Committee’s findings.
“The Committee will convene and discuss their observations and make recommendations and can release these as the Committee sees fit,” Ratau said. “The report will be compiled and processed according to the rules of Parliament.”
Meanwhile, in local government, Makana’s internal audit committee report tabled at last week’s council meeting revealed that water losses amounted to R7.9 million in the previous financial year.
“There is a high percentage of losses and revenue collection is slow,” said audit committee chairperson Professor Wesley Plaatjies.
“The cost of not implementing controls to reduce these losses versus the cost of repair and implementing controls over the long term need to be considered,” Plaatjies said. “The committee requested a fully costed report implementing loss controls for the next audit committee meeting.”
Settlers Dam from the waterfront area of the campsite at the end of November 2021. Rainfall in the catchment up to the end of January 2022 has failed to bring Makhanda’s main reservoir anywhere close to the level required before it;’s possible to extract water. Photo: Sue Maclennan
When an inter-town passenger bus drove into and snapped a low-hanging electric cable in George Street early on 23 January, residents asked why it seemed to have been ignored, more than three hours after it was reported. Makana Municipality said their electricians had been there, but a changed padlock meant they weren’t able to access a substation so they could safely work on the fault.
A little after 5.30am on Sunday 23 January, Sunnyside resident Cathy Gorham (who gave permission for these posts by her to be used) put a warning on the Sunnyside neighbourhood WhatsApp group.
“Wire quite possibly live hanging very low across George Street. Wire runs along Lawrence so crosses the intersection there. [Local security company] has reported it. Looks low enough for a truck or bus to run into. Be careful.”
Seconds later, she posted: “Anyone else without electricity??”
Then almost immediately: “Intercape bus drove into this wire hanging over George Street.”
Gorham said she’d been leaving home to take her dogs for a walk. When she reached a tree on the corner, she looked up and noticed the low-hanging wire. Worried that it could hurt someone, she quickly went inside to report it to a local security company and warn her neighbours.
When Gorham went back outside, she was shocked to see that exactly what she’d predicted had just happened: an Intercape bus had come to a halt after driving into the cable and snapping it.
The force of the rebound had cracked a left side window of the bus and the driver was walking around the vehicle checking for further damage.
Gorham was horrified to see that the other end of the now broken cable had ended up exactly where she’d been standing with her dogs a few minutes earlier.
“If I’d left my house two minutes later with my dogs, one of the cables that snapped… would have hit me,” Gorham said. “It wrapped itself around the tree on the corner [i.e. the one she’d been standing next to].”
Another resident said the low-hanging cable had been reported to the municipality much earlier, to no avail.
Just over an hour later, Gorham reported that municipal electricians had arrived to work on the fallen lines.
Intercape Communication Officer Shaun Smeda confirmed that the incident did take place around 5.50am on the morning of 23 January 2022.
“No passengers or crew were injured,” said Smeda, who declined to comment further.
Makana Municipality said their standby electrician had received a call from the fire station at 2.10am about a power outage in George Street.
“He went to pick up the standby team, and arrived at 03:10,” spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo said. “The team noticed a low-hanging aluminium conductor [at the intersection of] George and Lawrence streets.
Gusts of wind were blowing it towards the branches of a tree.
“When tested, it was discovered that the conductors were not live,” said Ramokolo.
The electrician organised a standby cherry picker team, who arrived at 4.30am.
“Both teams went to the Market [Square Centre] substation (at the back of Shoprite) where George and Lawrence streets are powered [from]; however, they could not get access to the substation, as the padlock [had been] changed…”.
“While still waiting for security, who arrived at 06:00, to open the substation for full isolation, the team received a call from the fire station, notifying them about the incident that involved the bus, which snapped off the low-hanging conductor,” said Ramokolo. “So, the main delay was a result of inaccessibility to the substation.”
Market Square Centre is managed by Broll Property and SmilingSouth spoke to the company’s asset manager for the Eastern Cape, Izak Kriel.
Kriel said, “There has been no instruction from me to provide or change a lock for that substation.”
Asked what the response protocol is for faults involving electrical infrastructure, Ramokolo said, “Faults are reported at the electricity department during the day and at the Fire Department after hours and then a standby electrician will be contacted.”
We asked: what does the maintenance programme for electrical infrastructure in Makhanda entail and how is the infrastructure checked for safety and integrity?
Makana responded: “The departmental maintenance programme entails substation inspections and overhead line inspections. These are checked through relevant testing equipment and captured on the relevant inspection sheets.”
Council’s portfolio committee for infrastructure has oversight of maintenance programmes through the inclusion of inspection records in its meeting agendas.
Have a say
Residents can play an effective role in highlighting neighbourhood issues through ward committees and Makana’s ward committee elections are coming up so ask your ward councillor for nomination forms. Think about people in your community who you think will make sure your concerns are heard and who can provide your ward councillor with the detailed information they need to fully represent your interests and help solve neighbourhood issues.
The side window of an inter-city passenger bus was broken when it drove into a low-hanging electric cable as it entered Makhanda early on Sunday 23 January 2022. Photo: Cathy Gorham
Staff at Joza Post Office in Makhanda arrived at work on Monday morning 24 January to discover that the facility’s safe was damaged and cash had been stolen – right under the nose of a security guard. The town’s CBD Post Office was hit by armed robbers in November 2021.
Spokesperson for the Post Office Eastern Cape Nombulelo Ngubane said, “We can confirm that there was a silent robbery via our back door. The loss amount was very small and the branch is now on the SAPS priority list for constant patrol. This includes our main branch in town.
“A guard was on duty but somehow didn’t pick that there was a robbery in progress,” said Ngubane.
Staff has discovered the theft when they reported for duty on Monday 24 January.
The South African Police Service’s Organised Crime Unit was investigating the incident, said SAPS spokesperson Sergeant Majola Nkohli.
“Police can confirm that they are investigating a case of housebreaking and theft, following a break-in at a Post Office in Joza over the weekend,” Nkohli said.
“It is alleged that on Saturday afternoon, 22 January 2022, the post office closed for business, and on Monday morning, 24 January 2022, at about 7am, the Post Office employees when reporting for duty noticed that there was a burglary and a safe was also damaged.
“An undisclosed amount of cash was missing. A case was opened for further investigation,” Nkohli said.
Police have urged anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the suspect (s) to contact the nearest police station. The information may also be shared anonymously via Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
Thieves stole cash from Joza Post Office last weekend, with no break-in and a guard on duty on the premises. Photo: Sue Maclennan
In early December, streams in the catchment started to flow and water began trickling back in to the western reservoirs. Aerial photographs taken on 6 December showed both dams beginning to fill up. The main supply, Settlers Dam, remained too low for extraction, but the smaller Howisons Poort dam quickly filled to 75%. That allowed the municipality to ease on the one-day-on, one-day-off water regime that’s been in place for over a year.
Farmers were optimistic that at least in that climate subzone, the drought might be easing off.
But while photographs taken on Thursday 20 January show more water in Settlers and Howisons, farmers said this month’s rainfall so far had been low.
Past and present chairpersons of the Central Albany Agricultural Association, Dale Howarth and Richard Moss, keep records of rainfall and river and dam levels in the catchment west of Makhanda. Howarth says according to his records, this is the driest January in 120 years.
Howarth said the area had excellent rainfall of 146mm for December which had resulted in some runoff filling smaller dams.
“All dams did benefit from localised runoff; however the rains were not sufficient to get rivers flowing and the bigger dams filled,” Howarth said.
While the veld had recovered extremely well with good grazing and browse available, the water table remained low and rivers dry.
By 20 January there had been only 13 mm to date and some good follow-up rainfall would be required in January to maintain the veld condition, Howarth said.
“The rivers all still need good downpours to get them flowing to fill dams and raise the water table.”
Rainfall in 2021 was 524mm against an average of 625mm and the area’s rainfall had now been below average for the past six years.
“Rivers last flowed in March 2015,” Howarth said.
The past week’s rain hadn’t changed the situation.
“We have had 4mm since 20 Jan for a total of 17 mm for the month,” Howarth said early on 27 January. “It’s the driest January in 120 years. The veld is still good and the small dams have water but the rivers are still dry.”
Moss said by 20 January, Mosslands had seen only 15mm of rain this month.
“The 280mm we had from the end of October to the end of December was magic,” Moss said. “Even though we had all that rain, the river didn’t come down.
“Near the end of December the water table was right up and all the springs in the catchment started running; however they stopped running last week,” he said on 20 January.
Asked about the past week’s rain, Moss said on 27 January, “Maybe 2 mm since Jan 20, just enough to settle the dust.”
Mosslands had 111mm in November and 126mm in December.
Below are Lynda Brotherton’s aerial photographs taken on 6 December and 20 January of Howisons Poort and Settlers dams.
Aerial view of Howisons Poort Dam on Monday 6 December 2021 (left) and Thursday 20 January 2022. Photos: Lynda Brotherton
Aerial view of Settlers Dam on Monday 6 December 2021 (left) and Thursday 20 January 2022. Photos: Lynda Brotherton
Psychologist’s advice for coping with festive triggers
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the pressures and emotions that the festive season bring, you can get help at SADAG’s emergency help line: 0800 567 567
The festive season, particularly during another Covid-19 wave, can present triggering situations for many people. A counselling psychologist offers advice for building tolerance and coping mechanisms for the interpersonal conflicts, distressing or uncomfortable situations that may arise at this time of year, and which could be compounded by the pandemic.
“Many of us may find it difficult to regulate our emotions when faced with distressing situations, such as family tensions, financial pressures, dealing with loss or worry about the future,” explains Zain Julies, a psychologist practising at Netcare Akeso Milnerton.
“Looking for ways to deal with distress, we may find ourselves reaching for the old familiar ‘crutches’ such as alcohol, food, over-the-counter medication, reliance on social media and technology, or unhealthy relationships with certain people, when facing uncomfortable situations,” she says.
“At this time of year, which is so often associated with indulgence, it may be easier to fall into unhealthy patterns with short-term fixes. It can be helpful to remember that such choices often don’t make us feel better in the long run and can frequently make things worse than before.”
Don’t waste precious time on things beyond your control
Zain suggests taking a moment to reflect on ‘What is in my control, and what is not?’ in times of stress, to provide a reality check on what falls within one’s circle of influence.
“The things that I have direct control over include my thoughts, my words, my actions, my decisions, my attitude and my mood. Secondly, there are aspects of life that we may be able to influence, such as other people’s actions, where we work, and who follows us on social media,” she adds.
“Thirdly, there are things we may be concerned about that are simply not within our control, such as lockdown restrictions, the weather, media, a sports match, traffic, or our past decisions, choices and behaviour.
“While we may not be able to control these factors, what we can control is our reactions to them. Accept that worrying will not change the situation and will not make you feel any better. Instead, one can choose to refocus on being mindfully present, making the most of this time of year and our loved ones.”
Building tolerance and coping skills
Zain points out there are techniques one can learn to manage unpleasant situations without losing control and acting destructively. “One of the approaches that has proved effective for many people in dealing with interpersonal conflict is dialectical behaviour therapy [DBT], which is an evidence based form of therapy that can also be helpful in treating personality disorders and certain mental health conditions,” she says.
A particularly useful tool within the DBT framework is distress tolerance, defined as ‘the ability to tolerate distress without acting on it’. “These skills empower you to survive an immediate crisis without making it worse, as it can be tempting to react impulsively in times when we may be overwhelmed by emotions,” Zain says.
Five things you can see, and a partridge in a pear tree
“Distress tolerance equips the person with the skills to temporarily distract and distance themselves from emotional pain, creating a pause that enables them to act more effectively in the situation.”
“One of the easiest ways to deal with distressing situations or emotions is to focus on your five senses to ground yourself. If you are feeling overwhelmed, find five things that you can see, four things that you can hear, three things that you can touch, two things that you can smell and one thing that you can taste. This simple exercise in mindfulness can help prevent you doing or saying something you may later regret.”
Another skill that Julies suggests may prove helpful in times of frustration or when festive cheer wears thin is known as the STOP skill, which stands for:
S is for Stop, don’t say or do anything.
T is for Take a step back.
O is for Observe and evaluate what is happening, both inside yourself and in the external situation.
P is for Proceed mindfully.
“This puts a pause between your feelings and the urge to do anything. In addition to these skills, self-care is important to get through the year-end break, whatever challenges it may present,” Julies says.
Get enough good quality sleep
Eat a well-balanced diet
Exercise on a regular basis
Take brief rest periods during the day to relax
Take vacations away from home and work
Engage in pleasurable or fun activities such as yoga, prayer, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation
Avoid overindulging in caffeine and alcohol
“Take care of yourself and your mental health all year round. For information about mental health issues and services, accessing care, and for professional help in a mental health crisis, Netcare Akeso can be reached on 0861 435 787 for emergency support. Psychiatrist consultations can be made through Netcare appointmed™, online at www.netcareappointmed.co.za or by calling 0861 555 565.
MORE WAYS TO GET HELP IF YOU’RE DISTRESSED OR DEPRESSED
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group has excellent resources – helpful articles as well as numbers to call for emergency counselling (someone to talk to).
Visit their website here: SADAG or call 0800 567 567
If you don’t feel like speaking, you can get live counselling online HERE (you can type instead of talk).
Members of the Department of Health’s Makana Subdistrict team with the VW Vaxxers (front row from left) Mnikezeli Fatman; Khanya Soci, Nontozinhle Hewana, Colleen Maqoko; (back row from left) Hayley Davids, Nonkqubela Monakali, Elize Williams and Nomawethu Ndukwana. Behind Ndukwana is Subdistrict head, Mohamed Docrat. Note: masks removed briefly for the photograph only. Photo: Steven Lang
It’s going to be easier than ever for residents and holidaymakers in and around Port Alfred and Makhanda to get up to date with their Covid vaccinations this festive season. The Department of Health’s VW Vaxxers are about to hit town at pop-up sites from Bushmans to Bathurst, Alexandria to Alicedale as they push this corner of the Eastern Cape closer to the 70% vaccination rate scientists say we need to get the better of the pandemic.
Four additional vaccinators and a data capturer have been brought in to boost the Department of Health’s Makana Subdistrict vaccinators over the next three months. The team will be setting up and operating pop-up vaccination sites throughout this period. Three VW Vaxxers will be based in Makana Municipality and one will work with a team in Ndlambe.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get vaccinated,” said Subdistrict head of health, Mohamed Docrat. “The plan is to go to where people are, so they don’t have to interrupt what they’re doing, or make complicated plans to get to a vaccination site.”
Shopping centres, taverns and other popular spots are where you can expect to see them and while it’s helpful if you pre-register on the EVDS (electronic vaccination data system), you can also register at the pop-up.
While anyone eligible to be vaccinated is welcome at the pop-up sites (as well as the permanent sites), the team will particularly be targeting younger people. Latest available vaccination stats for the area show that the lowest vaccination rate is among the 18-34 age group. Just over half of 23 874 people targeted in that age group are fully vaccinated.
In order to stabilize infections and serious illness, the national Department of Health is aiming for a 70% vaccination rate. In September 2021, Deputy President David Mabuza said the country was on track to vaccinate 70% of South Africans before the end of the year. However, the covidvaxlive vaccination tracker reports that on 8 December 2021, 25.46% of the country’s population is fully vaccinated.
The Makana municipal area has somewhat bucked the national trend.
Vaccination targets refer to 70% of the population within an age group. For Makana, the 50-59 and 60-plus age groups reflect a 105% fully vaccinated population – an anomaly caused partly by the fact that vaccinations are recorded according to where a vaccine comes from. In other words, if a team from Makana conducts a community outreach campaign in Alexandria using vaccines from the Settlers Hospital supply, the vaccinations will be recorded for Makana.
The 34-49 age groups reflects a respectable 84% fully vaccinated rate in Makana.
The 18-34 group is at 54% and so it’s this group that will be the main focus of the campaign.
Meanwhile, while many are yet to receive their first shot, the South African Health Products Authority (SAHPRA) on Wednesday approved the distribution of the third dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for adults. This means all adults in South Africa are now eligible for a booster shot six months after the second dose. SAPHRA says Pfizer booster shots will available from January 2022.
According to Pfizer and BioNtech, three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine neutralise the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529 lineage). Omicron is a fast-spreading variant first identified by South African scientists.
Members of the Department of Health’s Makana Subdistrict team with the VW Vaxxers (front row from left) Khanya Soci, Elize Williams, Colleen Maqoko, Nomawethu Ndukwana, Nontozinhle Hewana; (behind, left to right) Mohamed Docrat, Mnikezeli Fatman, Nonkqubela Monakali, Magdalene Assumption, Pumla Hermans, Marilyn Haywood, Hayley Davids, Gudrun Langford, Noel Isaacs. Photo: Steven Lang
Farmers Thinus and *Nelma Jurgens cleared a landslide from Hell’s Poort pass with their front-end-loader just before sunset on Tuesday 7 December. The mountain of mud and rocks slid down the hill above the pass and spread across half the road on Sunday 5 December during a torrential downpour.
A frantic message circulated on local WhatsApp groups from a driver who had been driving from Bedford to Makhanda when they suddenly found themselves unable to go any further.
No one was harmed and the driver and vehicle eventually got through, but the road has remained dangerous.
“We just had to do something as we were very close to a huge accident with a truck this morning,” said Nelma.
Late yesterday afternoon, Makana Traffic Officer Solomzi Jacobs kept watch while Jurgens drove his front-end-loader on to the narrow pass and shoved the mud off the road.
The mudslide was one of several incidents on Sunday when 50mm rain torrented down in just over 35 minutes in and around Makhanda.
DispatchLive reported on disaster in and around the city, with CBD businesses flooded as masses of litter washing down the town’s streams and gutters plugged stormwater drains and toppled trees blocked roads. Undertaker Ernie Cassels came to the rescue with his TLB as the flood threatened to destroy homes at Sun City informal settlement.
* Name corrected from Thelma to Nelma (sorry!)
Farmer Thinus Jurgens, with his front-end-loader, and Makana Traffic’s Solomzi Jacobs teamed up to clear a mudslide off the Hell’s Poort Pass on the Bedford Road. Photo: Thelma Jurgens
SmilingSouth 