The Rep 27 April 2018

4
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THE REPRESENTATIVE 27 April 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
SEND YOUR NEWS
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.
Ilinge man in need of help
HELP, PLEASE: The sickly Monde Ndlanga was found doing his laundry
when The Rep visited the home
Picture: ANDISA BONANI
ANDISA BONANI
AN ILINGE family is seeking help for an
ailing family member who was recently
discharged from Frontier Hospital.
Information about the family was
brought to the attention of The Rep by a
concerned neighbour, Ncumisa Gqalane,
who has tried to help the family and the
sickly Monde Ndlanga.
Gqalane said Ndlanga had been sick
for years and that this year his body had
started developing sores which had
become infested with maggots.
“I accompanied Ndlanga with his
19-year-old brother to hospital last week
and he was released two days later. He
does not take his medication because he
says it makes him sick when he takes it
without having eaten. Ndlanga lives with
his younger brother, Andile and sister,
Vuyokazi. Vuyokazi is mentally
challenged and therefore is not much
help. All of them are unemployed and
therefore food and clothing are big
problems.
“Earlier this year I tried to get social
workers involved but they only came to
visit the family once and never returned.
Andile, who is the only healthy person in
the family, spends his days looking for
odd jobs so he can get food so that
Ndlanga can take his medication.”
Andile said both their parents had died
and the siblings have been living
together. He said the situation got bad
when his older brother got sick and he
had to take care of him.
“I used to work in Johannesburg, but I
had to return because of my brother’s
sickness. It is difficult for me because I
can not look for a stable job because
there is no one to take care of my family.
I am asking anyone who can help us with
our brother to please come forward. The
sores on his body are getting worse, he
can not walk properly and sometimes he
can not go to the bathroom by himself.”
He said last time they visited the
hospital, they were told that there was
nothing more that could be done unless
his brother drank his medicine.
“He sometimes gets cheeky with me
when I remind him about medication and
he is older than me so I can not force
him.”
Anyone who can assist the Ndlanga
family with medical information, food
and clothing can contact Ncumisa
Gqalane on 078-919-8039.
STUTTERHEIM - On Saturday, 13 members of
the Historical Society met their taxi at
Amatola Haven.
The driver, Anton Kolisi, arrived on time
and the group boarded the taxi for Adelaide
via Cathcart. The first pitstop was at
Baddaford farm stall near Fort Beaufort then
it was on to Adelaide to enjoy lunch at
Midgely’s Hotel (built in the mid 1800s).
Lunch was followed by a tour of the
Adelaide Museum. Apart from artefacts from
the 19th century, there are two Springbok
rugby blazers belonging to Gary Pagel and
Os du Randt, both of whom attended
Adelaide Gymnasium.
In the afternoon the group visited the
town square opposite Midgely’s and studied
the War Memorial listing the names of those
from Adelaide who lost their lives in the
World Wars I and II.
On Sunday they were invited to the
Presbyterian Church and were surprised to
see a photo of the Rev Ian Hawkridge
among the former ministers. Ian is now the
Stutterheim Presbyterian minister.
Then it was on to the Dutch Reformed
Church. The architecture of this church is
magnificent. During the Anglo-Boer War
(1899-1902) it was commandeered by the
English and used as barracks. After a
splendid lunch at The Stoep hosted by our
tour guide, Nelene Klopper, they travelled to
The Mill cricket ground. Here Lochart Ainslie
explained that the mill had been in his
family for seven generations and how the
cricket ground came about. Then they went
to Bedford to the Rosarium and had
afternoon tea at the Duke of Bedford Inn.
On Monday morning, they headed back to
Stutterheim via Fort Beaufort, Alice and King
William’s Town. Those who enjoyed the trip
were Brian and Linda Lanz, Tom and Jenny
Cole, Mario and Louise Ferreira, Roy and
Jenny Potter, Lyn King, Hazel Mundell, Sylvia
Steinmetz, Yvonne Love and Margaret Wood.
B OT H the men’s and women’s hockey teams
were in action on Sunday in East London.
The men beat Duncan Village 2-0 with goals
from Rohan Lombard and Michael Dugmore.
The women lost 1-4 to Old Boys. Stutt’s goal
was scored by Tarryn Sparks.
A TOTAL of 62 athletes completed parkrun
event #182 in chilly but sunny conditions.
Congratulations to Charisse Grenfell on
completing her 150th parkrun, Tristan
Nepgen on his 10th and earning his Junior
10 Club certificate and Daniel and Jess
Coetzee who were handed their Purple 25
Volunteer shirts. Bart Wantenaar also
notched up his 25th stint as a volunteer.
AND OFF THEY GO! Members of the Stutterheim Historical Society during
their trip to Adelaide
Picture: SUPPLIED
OF
ANCIENT
TIMES: The
team
digging for
dinosaur
remains
near
Dordrecht
Picture:
BEN
MACLENNAN
DORDRECHT - A TEAM of dinosaur
hunters from the University of the
Witwatersrand is in the area this
week, scouting for new fossils and
revisiting known sites, indicates Ben
Maclennan, chairperson of the
Dordrecht Anderson Museum.
Among their tasks is to finish the
excavation of a set of bones
exposed in a dam spillway in the
Swempoort area.
Last year they dug around the
bones and coated the upper
surfaces with a jacket of plaster.
This week they plan to hammer
away the shale around the bottom
edge of the jacket so that they can
use chisels to prise the specimens
loose from the rock they are sitting
on.
Then they will coat the exposed
underside with plaster of paris as
well, to protect the fossils on their
journey back to Johannesburg,
where they will be expertly freed
from the matrix.
The team was at work at the site
on Wednesday after having dug
away a layer of sand and mud which
the rains had deposited over the
fo s s i l s .
After Dordrecht, the team heads
for Barkly East, to revisit the sites
where the remains of two
crocodylomorphs - ancestors of
t o d ay ’s crocodiles - were discovered
by legendary fossil hunter James
Kitching in the 1980s.
ST E R KST R O O M - The farmers’ a s s o c i at i o n
AGM was held at Sterkstroom Club on
Tuesday afternoon. Outgoing chairman
Petrus de Wet thanked the committee
and members for their commitment to the
association during his term in the chair.
A new committee was elected,
comprising chairman Sid Moorcroft, vice
chairman Kevin Webster, secretary
Megan Moorcroft and additional
members John Richardson, Tony
McDougall, Attie Oelofse, Debbie de Klerk
and Chris Neser. The deputy secretary is
Kevin Webster and auditor Marthinus
Jordaan.
Maimane visits Gwatyu
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ANDISA BONANI
GWATYU village residents near Komani have
sought federal intervention from DA leader
Mmusi Maimane to help them obtain title
deeds for the land on which they and their
forefathers lived.
The village consists of 88 farms,
equivalent to 40 000ha and senior dwellers
of the area are worried government will
move them to alternative land and
nationalise the land as per the EFF’s request
to parliament.
Resident Sdodo Matsheke, 88, of Maties
farm said he had lived on the farm all his
life and had never seen any form of
development in the village since the
“proclaimed” democracy. “There is nothing
happening in this village. People are poor
and schools are dilapidated, yet government
is doing nothing. We cannot farm the land
because it is not ours officially. Life during
the apartheid era was much better than it is
today because we could grow vegetables
and farm stock for our families. The
government has neglected the people of
Gwatyu yet they are the first to visit us when
they need us to vote.”
Nowezile Tom, 92, of Sofu farm indicated
she was born and bred in the village. She
LISTENING EAR : DA leader Mmusi
Maimane talks to Gwatyu Village’s
Nowitness Madyungu on a recent visit
Picture: ANDISA BONANI
said living conditions had become worse
and that she feared for her great
grandchildren’s future in the country.
“There are many old people like me here.
Most are sickly and have to travel long
distances to get to the clinic in Cathcart and
that costs money. We have lost everything
since the democratic government and no
form of service delivery gets to the people
on these farms. We have no water and
electricity and now the government wants to
take away the one thing that would ensure a
brighter future for our families. We need this
land so our children can farm it.”
Maimane promised the villagers that he
would take up the matter with government
officials in parliament so the land belonging
to families on the farms would remain
theirs. “This is exactly what we mean when
we say the EFF’s expropriation of land
without compensation is utterly wrong.
“Black people of South Africa need to be
given what is due to them and decide for
themselves how they want to use the land. If
the land is nationalised all of you will get
nothing from it. Your suffering and resilience
will have been for nothing. We need to be
firm as a people and ask that land be given
to the rightful owners.”
Resident Thembakazi Matsheke has since
established the Gwatyu Community Property
Association (CPA) which seeks to assist the
villagers in claiming the land. “Our major
issue is to have the CPA registered. I have
knocked on every door I know to seek
assistance. Our parents will die without
knowing what will happen to the land,
hence we decided to seek political
intervention. Government once threatened to
move everyone living on the land to a
township nearby, but we refused. There is so
much that could be happening on this farm
but we cannot do anything because we do
not have title deeds.”