Three journalists who started their careers in Makhanda offer a snapshot of different eras in the life of Rhodes University, the town and SA through the rise of Black Consciousness in the 1970s, worker solidarity in the first decade of the millennium and #Feesmustfall in the second.
Former Makana mayor Mzukisi Mpahlwa has broken his silence on three frustrating years in which he says he was thwarted at every turn in his efforts to put the institution back on track. This comes as a dossier in the Dispatch’s possession documents what comes across as an industrial-scale campaign of official inaction and ineptitude, leading to the institution’s third successive disclaimer.
A schoolboy conflict over water that escalated into a series of neighbourhood brawls was resolved after a two-hour meeting between police, education officials, parents and pupils on Monday. Tension between communities whose children attend Mary Waters Secondary School in Makhanda escalated after social media agitators characterised an incident at the school’s water tank last Wednesday as racially motivated.
Six armed and masked men stormed an Eastern Cape game lodge on Saturday night and held a family and guests at gunpoint while robbing them of cash and firearms. Police spokesperson Sergeant Majola Nkohli said the incident had taken place close to the N2 outside Committees Drift, about 30km from Makhanda, at 8.