The Eastern Cape government and Butterworth residents have agreed that the two-week long water protest must come to an end while they continue to discuss ways to restore order and retain stability in the area. The Daily Dispatch reported that the economy of Butterworth had taken a knock in the past two weeks due to the protest action.
While it takes young black men months or even years to save for lobola the price traditionally paid in cattle for a bride in African culture some couples in the Eastern Cape are getting married without lobola and risking family alienation.
There are many recorded incidents of people doing extraordinary things in the name of love and Graaff-Reinet businessman Sirdley Smith is one of those people. The self-employed businessman, aged 40, has undergone the Xhosa ritual of traditional circumcision in order to be considered a man and so be able to marry his girlfriend of two years.
A social media post asking for R10 donations to help an Eastern Cape teenager prepare for his traditional circumcision ceremony has prompted social media users to rally together to raise more than R80,000 in two days. On Wednesday, media practitioner Lonalinamdandla Bawuti, 26, used her social media pages to share the story of a grade 12 boy whose family does not have the means to finance the event.