TOTT 12 April 2018

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Talk of the Town 17
BEAUFORT STREET RECEIVES
ATTENTION . . .
So that’s why pothole-riddled Beaufort
Street has been left unattended while
many other streets in Grahamstown
have had their potholes filled by the
Jetpatcher teams. Bigger things were
planned for Beaufort Street and its
extensions – Grey Street and Jacob
Zuma Drive (ex-Raglan Road).
According to a statement issued by
Makana Municipality last week, m ay o r
Nomhle Gaga wrote to SA National
Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) to have
Beaufort Street revamped and the
project commenced last week. Work
started in lower Beaufort Street in the
vicinity of the police station.
Small, medium and micro enterprises
are being included in the project, and
the municipality has asked residents
and motorists to exercise patience while
the project is under way.
Meanwhile, a Grahamstown resident
posted this message on social media
last week: “I am so ashamed of our
potholed streets – how embarrassing
for all the graduating students.”
Aren’t we all ashamed?
THAT DAM WATER ISSUE .
Water, or rather the lack of it, is a big
issue these days and so I thought I’d
Google some of the dams around the
country to see what’s up water-wise.
The water position may be dire to the
west, but up north and to the east it’s
looking pretty healthy, according to
information I found.
Close to home, as it were, Settlers
Dam is at about 20% of its capacity and
times are tight as far as water is
concerned. Churchill Dam is one of Port
Elizabeth’s main supply dams and is
down to about 20%. The combined
capacity of Port Elizabeth’s supply
dams is between 25% and 30%.
Cape Town is in deep trouble –
excuse the pun – and the average level
of dams across the Western Cape
stands at 18%, compared with almost
25% this time last year.
By now, most of us are fully aware of
Cape Town’s water woes.
Then there’s Midmar Dam near
Pietermaritzburg and this is what
caught my eye on a Facebook post.
Midmar Dam, believe it or not, recorded
a capacity figure of 101% last week.
Not far behind is Gariep Dam in the
Colesburg-Venterstad district up there
in the Northern Cape – last week it was
99.97% full.
The Vaal Dam is the major supply
source for Gauteng and last week it
recorded a healthy-looking 94.7%.
Darlington Dam, this side of
Jansenville, was once known as Lake
Mentz and I occasionally visited family
on a farm very close to the dam wall.
On several occasions three or four
decades ago the dam overflowed, the
sluice gates were opened and the
farmers downstream smiled.
It was quite a sight seeing the water
gushing through the sluice gates.
Last week Darlington wasn’t
overflowing, but stood at 38%.
FLICK A SWITCH . . .
Thank you to the municipality for
switching on most of our street lights
after months of darkness in our
neighbourhoods. Could you now please
fiddle with the time switches so that the
lights go off at 6am and not 4am.
A WEEKEND OF GRADUATING . . .
Some interesting facts emanating from
last weekend’s Rhodes University
graduation ceremonies are:
Of the 2492 students who graduated,
no less than 63% were women and, of
the 395 students graduating from the
law faculty, 72% (286) were female.
There were a total of 14 57
undergraduate bachelor’s degrees, and
1037 postgraduate degrees and
diplomas. All of 229 graduates received
m a st e r ’s degrees and a record number
of 88 PhD degrees were conferred.
WILDLIFE ON AUCTION . .
Five breeders from the Signature
SPECIAL OCCASION: The Guy Butler Theatre in the 1820 Settlers National Monument was the venue for six Rhodes University
graduation ceremonies at the weekend. Seen above is a view of the auditorium’s stage during one of the ceremonies
Wildlife group will have a variety of
wildlife on sale at their third annual
auction at Kwandwe Private Game
Reserve from 12 noon to 5pm on
S at u r d ay.
Making up Signature Wildlife are
Kwandwe (Angus Sholto-Douglas),
Buffalo Kloof (Warne Rippon), Bedford
Wildlife Co, Woody Cape (Warrick
Barnard) and Murray Ranches (Mike
Murray). A spokesperson for the auction
said: “The five breeders will once again
have some of their best legendary
genetics on offer.”
These include buffalo, sable,
wildebeest, impala, nyala, bontebok,
gemsbok and springbok.
RURAL POTHOLES . . .
On a recent visit to the coast I noticed
there were quite a few potholes in the
road between Salem and
Kenton-on-Sea. Quite significantly, and
for whatever reason, the vast majority of
these potholes are on the Ndlambe side
of the signpost denoting the
Makana-Ndlambe boundaries.
BLISS AT BOKNES . . .
There comes a time when many of us, if
not most of us, feel we need a break.
And so it was I spent Easter weekend
at Boknesstrand chilling out, as it were.
What a super place to chill out, it
turned out. No traffic jams, no traffic
lights, no crowded hypermarkets and no
car guards – the list is endless.
This was not the first time I had spent
a few days at Boknes and it was not the
first time I stood in the parking lot next
to Lekker Bekkie refreshment kiosk
looking out to sea. Then I would close
my eyes, slowly turn my head to the left
and open my eyes. I would be a little
disappointed, time after time, at not
seeing Table Mountain to my left.
Over the years I have often written in
this column about my childhood and
teenage years in the Cape Town suburb
of Milnerton and the Penney home that
was just 300m from the colder (they
say) Atlantic Ocean. Down at the beach,
which I visited often, as in almost every
day, Table Mountain was huge in stature
to your left and a few kilometres (miles
in those days) out to sea you could
make out Robben Island.
Oh, memories of Milnerton!
But back to reality and Easter
weekend at Boknes. The seaside village
does not have a hypermarket (thank
goodness), nor does it have traffic jams
(ditto). But Boknes does have
magnificent beaches, a beautiful and
safe lagoon, and peace-of-mind patrols
by Hi-Tec Security. And the weather over
Easter weekend was superb.
I have visited Boknes on several
occasions over the past six or seven
years, and each time I find myself in the
car park I’m reminded of the very first
time I visited Boknes. That was way
back in 1967, when I was working at the
post office in Alexandria, and one
summer weekday evening I drove on
the gravel road to Boknes to chill out.
There were very few houses in
Boknes then, but the beach was there
and so too was the lagoon.
Boknes – a really l e k ke r place to chill
out!
TOURING THE PENINSULA ON FOOT. . .
Between them, three Grahamstown
athletes have completed all of 53 Two
Oceans ultra-marathons and all three
were back in Cape Town a fortnight ago
for the 2018 race. But, first of all,
congratulations to Chade Bowles, of
Albany Saints & Sinners Multi-Sport
Club, on entering and completing her
first Two Oceans ultra over 56km – she
finished the “Tour of the Cape
Pe n i n s u l a ” in six hours 51 minutes.
At the age of 43, Stephen Penney has
clocked one hour 25 minutes for the
21km race.
Now 52 years of age and slowing
down just a little, Bonaparte, a member
of Albany Saints & Sinners Multi-Sport
Club, has a personal best time for the
Two Oceans half-marathon of one hour
12 minutes. In fact, eight of his 11 Two
Oceans half-marathons have been
under one hour 20 minutes.
Other Albany members’ times:
Lubabalo Bokuva – one hour 21
minutes; Richard Alexander – one hour
35 minutes; Sally Price-Smith – t wo
hours nine minutes; Karen Meyer – t wo
hours 24 minutes; Colin Price-Smith –
two hours 36 seconds.
WEEKLY JAUNT IN THE GARDENS . . .
Congratulations to Sydney Moyo on
completing his 100th parkrun in Makana
botanical gardens on Saturday, and to
Allison Holleman and John Haydock on
LIBRARY SMILES: Rhodes University Library staff visited PJ Olivier Primary
School to tell pupils about the South African Library Week theme, Libraries –
Heart of the Community. With the pupils are Larshan Naicker, head of user and
research support services, Ujala Satgoor, director, and Wynand van der Walt,
head of technical services. The school also received colourful library posters.
now completed 26 consecutive Two
Oceans ultra-marathons, having started
his “Oceans” journey while in matric at
Graeme College. He recently joined Port
Alfred-based Kowie Striders and
finished Two Oceans in six hours 16
minutes. Terri-Lynn Penney is another
athlete with multiple Two Oceans
medals to her credit – she completed
her 14th in the colours of Nedbank
Athletics Club in five hours seven
minutes.
Taking part in Albany colours, Richard
Foss, the “Running Professor”,
completed his 13th Two Oceans ultra in
six hours 35 minutes. Rose-Marie
Hurford, also of Albany, finished Two
Oceans in seven hours seven minutes.
GREAT RUN IN THE CAPE . . .
Running his 11th Old Mutual Two
Oceans half-marathon in Cape Town’s
southern suburbs on Easter Saturday,
Grahamstown athlete Basie Bonaparte
their 50th parkruns. Meanwhile, Philip
Mostert has one parkrun to go to his
100th, and Candice Serfontein, Bevan
Hitchcock and Priyanka Harjeven each
have one to go to their 50th.
Of the women taking part last
Saturday, Candice Serfontein was first
(25 minutes 58 seconds), Carolyn Grant
was second (27:41) and Caitlin Mostert
was third (30:15). First among the men
was Enock Makwekwe (20:49), second
was Sbonsipho Manqele (21:49) and
third was teenager Cee-Jay Porthen
(22:26). A total of 154 runners, joggers
and walkers took part on Saturday.
Parkruns are held each Saturday at
8am from the entrance to Makana
botanical gardens.
RUGBY ON GREAT . . .
The Great Field on the Rhodes
University campus plays host to the
inter-provincial rugby match between
Border Bulldogs and EP Kings from 3pm
on Saturday.
DSG TEAMS IMPRESS UP NORTH . . .
Diocesan School for Girls’ first hockey,
netball and squash teams were up
against some of the strongest
opposition in the country at the annual
St Stithian’s Easter sports festival in
Johannesburg, an event hosting 58
schools competing in seven sporting
codes.
It was the squash team that flew the
DSG colours the highest, winning all
five of its matches – against St
Andrew’s School for Girls,
Johannesburg (3-3 and 152-141 in
games), Egoli High (18-3), Northcliff
High (12-6), St Stithian’s (12-10) and a
Festival team (18-2).
On the hockey field, DSG showed why
it is rated as one of the strongest teams
in the Eastern Cape – playing teams
from Johannesburg, Pretoria and
Bethlehem they won two and drew two
of their five matches. They beat
Waterkloof High 3-2 and St Andrew’s
School for Girls 3-0, drew with St
Stithian’s 2-2 and Voortrekker High
(Bethlehem) 3-3, but lost to the
highly-rated Menlo Park High (Pretoria)
2-4.
Up against quality opposition, the
DSG first netball side found the going
tough, losing all five matches played on
the first day, albeit by narrow margins.
However, DSG bounced back on the
final day to draw with Fourways High
before beating St Peter’s High to end
the festival on a high note.
GRAEME’S APRIL RUGBY . . .
The Graeme College senior rugby teams
are due to travel to Somerset East this
S at u r d ay to play corresponding teams
of Gill College. Then, a week later on
April 21, Graeme’s senior teams meet
Cambridge High from East London on
the Graeme campus.
Graeme will be taking four teams –
the first XV, under-16A, under-15A and
under-14A – to the Grey High School
rugby festival in Port Elizabeth from
April 28 to May 1.
FORUM MEETS . . .
The Grahamstown Business Forum’s
annual meeting takes place in the
Graham Hotel at 5.30pm today
(Thursday April 12).
MOST VALUABLE . . .
Congratulations to Old Graemian and
former Grahamstonian Jon-Jon Smuts
on being named South African
C r i c ke t e r s ’ A s s o c i at i o n ’s Most Valuable
Player in domestic franchise cricket in
the past season. He has also been
awarded the Most Valuable Player title
in the Momentum One-Day Cup.
He is the son of Neil and Di Smuts, of
G r a h a m st o w n .
AROUND THE DAM . . .
Oatlands Prep School’s 5km fun run on
the slopes of Mountain Drive and in the
area of Grey Dam on Saturday promises
some good exercise and pleasing
scenery. The event begins at Grey Dam
at 9am and the entry fee is R10 per
person. Food and refreshment stalls will
be set up at the venue.
SHORTCUT SAVES SECONDS . . .
I realise life is fast-paced and just about
everybody is in a darn hurry these days.
To this end I’ve noticed that some
motorists will, to save a few seconds,
drive across the forecourts of two fuel
filling stations to avoid the red traffic
lights. These filling stations are at the
corners of Beaufort and Bathurst
streets, and Beaufort and Hill streets.
OLD RHODIAN SINGS . . .
Rhodes University graduate Golda
Schultz, who has established herself as
an international opera star, sings in
Grahamstown tomorrow. The soprano,
who will be accompanied by Kurt
Haupt, will perform in the Rhodes
Theatre from 7.30pm. Tickets at the
door are R100 (adults) and R60
(concessions).
ON VALLEY FAIRWAYS . . .
Two big events coming up at Belmont
Golf Club in April are the 110th
Grahamstown men’s championships on
April 21 and 22, and the Round Table
charity golf day on April 27.