The Rep 9 February 2018.compressed

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THE REPRESENTATIVE 9 Februar y 2018
LOCAL IS LEKKER
Do you live in Dordrecht – or call Cacadu
home? Is Cofimvaba your place of residence
or does Stutterheim have a special place in
your heart? Send us your news
C O U N T RYWAT C H
KOMANI NEWS
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Our country correspondents are active in
their respective areas and will gather your
news. Contact sonjar@tisoblackstar.co.za for
details of the correspondent in your area.
Country news deadline: 10am on a Tuesday.
STUT TERHEIM – On Sunday, the B and C divisions of
the Stutterheim open golf Championships were
p l ay e d .
In the B division the morning Stableford was won
by Colbert Quina with 40 points. The afternoon bonus
bogey was won by Reece Daniel on +3. The best nett
was won by Bev Esterhuizen on 104 (the competition
was played over 27 holes). The best gross was also
Bev Esterhuizen, 121, on a count out from Colbert
Quina.
In the C division (also over 18 holes), the morning
Stableford was won by Sean Richter on 39 points. The
afternoon bonus bogey was won by Michael Daniel on
+5. Eric Wylde won the best nett on 107 and the best
gross was won by Fikile Mlinda on 133 with Francios
Sparks as runner-up on 135.
Parkrun: 67 athletes completed Event #171 in drizzly
conditions on Saturday. Len Norman completed his
100th parkrun (all done at Stutt) in the company of
his daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters. Len
has been a staunch supporter of this parkrun since its
inception and has also volunteered on more than 100
events.
Daniel Coetzee did his 25th stint of volunteering,
earning him the 25 purple milestone shirt.
A group of parkrun tourists from Gauteng and the
Western Cape have issued a challenge to try and
break Stutt’s inaugural attendance record of 162 on
Saturday, April 14. If you are planning on visiting Stutt
parkun then make this the day to do so and go down
in their history.
WOW! Len Norman completed his 100th parkrun
in Stutterheim over the weekend. Cheering him
on are, back, his wife, Jenny, his son-in-law,
Gavin Ramsay, and his grandaughters Erin and
Leah Ramsay in front
Roslyn Strydom (nee Muir) of
Dordrecht met the last living
Royal Bloodline of Pakistan,
Prince Atta Khan recently
Isivivane school challenges tabled at outreach
SIMTEMBILE MGIDI
THE challenges of the
Isivivane Senior
Secondary School, which
obtained a 0% pass rate
in the 2017 matric exams,
were the focus of a visit
by the DA to the
Cacadu-based school last
week.
Included in the
delegation was DA
shadow minister of basic
education Ian Ollis,
member of the National
Council of Provinces
Vusumzi Magwebu and
Komani-born and
-educated MPL Jane
Cowley (nee Metcalf).
Ollis asked parents
and teachers to speak on
challenges at the school
which had a 52% pass
rate in 2015 and 25% in
2016. He said the school
had four teachers for the
DORDRECHT – Roslyn
Strydom (nee Muir) of
Dordrecht recently met the
last living Royal Bloodline of
Pakistan, Prince Malik Atta
Khan, when competing in the
World Women’s Tent Pegging
Championships held in
Oman.
DORDRECHT and the district
had up to 40mm of rain last
week but the dam levels
remain low.
The town still has many
water problems and the
community is not always
aware when water is
pumping or not. The town is
supposed to have two hours
of pumped water every
morning. Sometimes only the
lower end of town gets a bit
106 pupils last year
(there are 82 pupils this
year).
Headman Mzwakhekile
Kamnteni, of Rwadana
Village said the problem
started before 2015 when
the government gave
them a disabled principal
who allegedly could not
walk and had to be
carried to the school.
Kamnteni said, “We
fought with the
department and
managed to get a new
principal. We did not
have a maths teacher
and there were no
teachers to teach specific
subjects. The principal
teaches maths, but last
week he was gone for
three days. He is not here
for this meeting because
he has to go for
departmental meetings.
“Pupils have been
asking for transfers. The
school was a Grade 10 to
Grade 12 school, but in
2016 the government
said the school would
Five months without water
SIMTEMBILE MGIDI
CLEAR water has been
running unattended from
a water system plant
outside Dordrecht for the past
five months in Sterkstroom
while the communities of Zola,
Sonwabile, Phumla Mqeshi and
Delta have been without
running tap water for the same
period.
At the same time, sewage
spillages have the Lokishi
Endala community in a
c h o ke h o l d .
Water has allegedly been
running day and night without
repairs by the Chris Hani
District Municipality (CHDM)
attempting to fix the problem
since the start allegedly
between September and
October last year.
The Rep visited the site of
the leak this week.
Monelisi Gantolo from
Sonwabile village said residents
had to get up early to get water
from a tap about 3km away.
Reverend Gilbert Peteni, who
lives in the Delta residential
area, said they had experienced
water problems which had them
waking up at 4am to pour water
since November last year.
CHDM only communicated
two weeks back in January
of water, but top town does
not receive much and the
water is not drinkable.
Reasons for the irregular
pumping are not forthcoming
from the Chris Hani District
Municipalit y.
The Concerned Community
Forum (CCF) meets on a
regular basis. They report the
problems that the community
experiences to the CHDM.
L AST week the sewerage
system was blocked, with
sewage running into the
streets as well as in to
properties. This occurs at all
four pump stations. The
stations are blocked with
“non sewerage” items and
they are not maintained or
cleaned. A “t rench” was dug
LET’S TALK: DA representatives listen to the
challenges of Isivivane Senior Secondary School
Picture: SIMTEMBILE MGIDI
merge with other feeder
schools and they made
the school expand to a
Grade 8 to Grade 12
school without additional
teaching staff being
a l l o c at e d . ”
Kamnteni said pupils
had to walk up to 15km
to school and the
depar tment’s promises of
scholar transport were
not materialising. Some
children had since
dropped out of school.
School governing body
(SGB) chairwoman
WATER WOES: Residents queue up for the water from CHDM
trucks
Picture: SIMTEMBILE MGIDI
about the water problem with
the community.
“We were never given a
reason why the water was cut
or when it would be back. They
only announced using hailers
two weeks ago,” Peteni said.
“We were told a pipe burst
that had to be fixed, but they
did not tell us how it would be
fixed.”
Peteni said that they had no
water trucks in November and
December but that the trucks
started to come at the end of
last month because it was
alleged that ANC provincial
chairman Oscar Mabuyane was
Lindiwe Mkebe said they
did not want the school
closed as the
surrounding area could
provide many pupils.
Mkebe said, “We are
poor, we live on social
grants, we do not have
resources like computers
or libraries. We tried to
ask parents in 2016 and
last year to contribute
R100 per child in order
for us to hire SGB
teachers. We managed to
get three, but this year
only one returned.”
from some of the sewerage
leakages to the “vlei” below
the town where stock are
grazing. The CCF has
reported this problem.
Community members are
asked to donate toward this
very worthy cause in our
community. The Emalahleni
On the delegation’s
arrival, there was only
one teacher at the
school. The principal was
at a departmental
meeting, a teacher had
gone to an expo with the
matrics and the head of
department (HOD) was
absent without a reason
given.
Ollis said he was
concerned about the pass
rate and the ability of
pupils to focus in class
and at home after walking
to and from school.
“One of the things that
contributed to the low
pass rate was the
addition of Grade 8 and 9
without specialist
teachers and the
teaching staff, the
principal being the only
specialist maths teacher.
Pupils can not read and
write in English. The
department is failing this
school just like the other
rural schools.”
“You can kill a school if
coming to Sterkstroom.
Peteni said the elderly who
lived alone, especially battled
to fetch water from the water
t rucks.
Senior citizen Tyontoso
Willie, 70, who lives alone in
Zola, is one of the owners of
the four homes in Zola that get
water every day at 6am with
community members queuing
up for water.
Willie said, “The water will
come out for about an hour,
then it stops.”
He said he used rainwater
from his roof instead, using
buckets to catch it.
H E A LT H
RISK:
S e wa g e
running
through
proper ties
in the town
of
Dordrecht
Picture:
SUPPLIED
Municipality has put new
refuse bins in the streets of
the town. They hope this will
assist to prevent the
dumping of refuse.
The municipality has been
more vigilant in collecting
refuse from the bins on a
regular basis.
you do not provide
resources.”
Magwebu said the
parents had shown
commitment and
questions would be sent
to the department with
the DA using “va r i o u s
p l at fo r m s ” to raise the
plight of the school.
Cowley said the
department made false
statements about
transport and textbook
provision and the school
was an integral part of
the community.
“I have been a teacher
and before a school is
closed, the school and its
role in the community
should be considered.
This school is vibrant and
the community is
supportive. We will be
more aggressive with
government concerning
infrastructure and the
shortage of teachers.”
The Chris Hani West
department of education
had not responded at the
time of going to print.
Residents also have no
access to water to flush toilets.
Chocolate Dyokolo, who also
lives in Zola, said they always
battle with water every year
around November and
December, but had not
previously had this problem.
Residents were carrying up
to 20 litres of water at a time
over a period of several
kilomet res.
“There were people who
were in the hall last week who
said we have to sign up to pay
‘rent’ for the water with CHDM,
then we will get water again.”
Sophia Visagie, who lives in
Lokishini Endala, said she had
a sewage leakage in front of
her home that she reported on
M o n d ay.
The municipality came to fix
it, but the leak resurfaced on
M o n d ay.
“I told the municipality that it
was still leaking on Monday,
but they did not come back to
fix it. Sewage leakages are a
common problem.
“The municipality takes its
time to attend to it and we are
afraid for our health. There are
flies here and the smell affects
us.”
CHDM had not responded to
questions at the time of going
to print.