TOTT 31 January 2019

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2 Talk of the Town ADVERTISING / NEWSDESK: (046) 624 4356 Find us on Facebook January 31, 2019 A passion for making toys BOB FORD Most little girls would dearly love to have their very own doll’s house to play with. And Port Alfred pensioner, Lee Botma, is the man her parents should contact to provide the real thing. At the same time, Botma spends many hours in his workshop producing a variety of about 25 different handmade toys, ideal for both Christmas and birthday gifts. Born in Cape Town, but educated at Durban’s well-known Glenwood High School, Botma was a keen sportsman and took part in most of the sports the school catered for. But tennis was his greatest love and he played in Durban’s first league for several years after matriculating. Though not having played representative tennis, his biggest claim to fame was when he was invited to play in an exhibition match with famous Springboks Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan. This was during a spell in Bloemfontein when his club installed flood lights and this match was arranged at the official opening of these. Soon after leaving school, Botma took up the sport of ice hockey at the age of 18. In the rough and tumble of this sport he was badly cut on his chin in a particularly over robust session of play. He obviously needed medical attention, which left him with a bad scar and he decided to hide this by growing a beard. He has worn this ever since. After matriculating in 1951, Botma joined the well-known manufacturing company in Durban, Lever Brothers as a junior clerk. He explained that that was when his first name was changed. Being of French Huguenot descent, he was christened Lafras. This proved to be too difficult for his co-workers to pronounce and he was called Latest prolonged water outage affects entire town From page 1 Kenton-on-Sea has also been on severe water restrictions and in the past other areas like Alexandria also had to endure days and often weeks without water. Six years ago the Eastern Cape provincial government appointed Amatola Water to establish and enact plans to alleviate the situation, but since their appointment very little has been achieved Lee. And Lee it has been ever since. Besides working in Durban, Botma worked his way up in the ranks with sales being his speciality as he also had spells in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and Cape Town. His final appointment was with the FG Knight agency in Durban in 1976 when he took on the position of sales manager. He immediately made an impact and a year later became a despite several false starts and failed projects that have wasted millions of rands but have brought no relief to the area. Residents are angry about what they perceive as the inability of the municipality to fix the problem in a timely fashion, and some residents have now been without water for a week. The municipality has not sent water tankers into the areas worst affected, specifically to residents on the east and west bank, and many residents have had to rely on rainwater tanks – which quickly emptied – to wash themselves, do laundry or cook. Schools in the area have faced challenges as school toilets could not be used because there is no water to flush with. Kuyasa Combined School principal Xolani Mayana expressed his concerns on Tuesday. “We have been director of the company. He held this position until 1999 when he finally retired. With time on his hands he had to do something and turned his attention to woodwork. “This was something I was always interested in,” he said. He explained that he started slowly making bird feeders and when he had built up his stock to about 30 he would go out and sell them in a day. As his experience grew, he took on without water and may have to close the school early today if the water does not return,” he said. Asked what he envisioned if there was still no water, Mayana said they might not be able to open the school until water was restored. Laura Guest, Port Alfred High School’s manager of marketing, alumni and development, said the school was coping due to the efforts of Red Alert and its estate management team, but that the situation could not continue indefinitely. “We have asked our pupils to bring hand sanitiser to school,” she bigger projects and made most of the fine furniture that is still proudly displayed in his Becker Street home. After he and his wife, Jean, settled in Port Alfred in 2002, Botma concentrated on making children’s toys. These he sells to businesses in Port Alfred and Bathurst and they are particularly popular at Christmas time. However, the biggest challenge he undertook was to said. Tertiary institutions such as Stenden also rely heavily upon municipal water and Lindy Hulley from Stenden said students there were having to do without water, and that matters were becoming critical. Port Alfred Business Forum chairman Marius Claassens said his business, like almost all others, relied on water and that rainwater tanks were beginning to run dr y. “Hotels and guest houses are having to refuse bookings and other businesses are losing money as they are make a doll’s house. He rates this as the best item he has made and took him three months to complete after working on it continuously. He explained that it has 64 pieces of furniture in it all made by himself. It even has a toilet in the bathroom All the doors open and close and all the windows are curtained. The plates on the stove are old one cent pieces painted black. After successfully completing forced to turn customers away, ” said Claassens. Sunshine Coast Tourism manager Sandy Birch said she had received reports from Hotels and guest houses are having to refuse bookings and other businesses are losing money bed and breakfast establishments and hotels that might need to close if the situation remains unresolved. “Water tanks are now running low and accommodation outlets are unable to do laundry, a critical aspect of their business,” said Birch, who also confirmed on Tuesday that some areas on the East Bank had not had water for six days prior to this. Clinical services manager for Port Alfred Hospital, Marianne Stiglingh, said: “Por t Alfred Hospital is dependent on a reliable water supply by the municipality. However, the hospital maintains sufficient water reserves in on-site water tanks to ensure continuity of services during shortterm water outages, such CLASSIC CRAFT: Port Alfred resident Lee Botma with some of the colourful range of toys he makes. The beautiful doll’s house he took three months of continuous work to make can be clearly seen Picture: BOB FORD this it was proudly displayed in his home, but he is now contemplating selling it. Now at the age of 84, Botma spends six hours of most days working in his well-equipped workshop. His other love is playing bowls and he has been a member of the Kowie Bowls Club since 2003, having captained the club for three years. The couple have two children and two grandchildren. as in the current situation. With regard to water quality, Port Alfred Hospital frequently monitors the quality of its on-site water reserves and, should it be necessary, can treat the water on-site to improve the quality thereof to required standards.” Talk of the Town will continue to communicate with municipal officials as well as residents and other stakeholders and keep our readers informed of developments as they occur on our web page, w w w.t a l k o f t h e t o w n . c o . z a and on our Facebook page and group. ¿ 29 Miles St, Port Alfred PO Box 2871, Port Alfred, 6170 046 624 4356 / Fax: 046 624 2293 Mauneen Charter, mcharter@tisoblackstar.co.za Anneli Hanstein, hansteina@tisoblackstar.co.za Jon Houzet, houzetj@tisoblackstar.co.za ĂůŬŽŌŚĞŽŶĐŽĂ ΛĂůŬŽŌŚĞŽŶĞĐ ĂůŬŽĨŚĞŽŶ ĂůŬŽĨŚĞŽŶŶĚůĂŵďĞ DP ENGINEERING .......................................................... 75 Bathurst Street, Port Alfred Tel: 046 624 4957 Cell: 083 360 6949 www.dpengineering.co.za For all your steelwork requirements, including burglar bars, balustrades, fencing, security gates and wall spikes. We also offer a powder coating & galvanizing service and gate motors.
January 31, 2019 ADVERTISING / NEWSDESK: (046) 624 4356 Find us on Facebook Talk of the Town 3 Arrests after Alex farm robbery JON HOUZET Afarm robbery in Alexandria on Tuesday morning resulted in a positive outcome for police and security response personnel when two suspects were arrested and a third died in a shootout with police in M ot h e r w e l l . An elderly resident of Ouplaas farm, Hettie Mostert, 72, was with a friend who was visiting, Mayrene Pienaar, 76, when they were awoken by Mostert’s barking dogs. According to the police report, Mostert got up and was about to enter the lounge, when she was confronted by three men who had already gained entry to the house. They spoke to her in English and wanted to know where her husband was. She told them her husband had passed away, but they repeated the question. They also asked when her son was coming to the farm. The intruders went to the spare bedroom where Pienaar was and demanded money and firearms. Mostert opened a safe for them and they took R2,000 in cash. They tied up the two women with cable ties and packaging tape and proceeded to ransack the house, finding a .38 revolver which was under a pillow. After spending about two hours there the robbers fled with Moster t’s car, an Isuzu LDV, also taking the women’s wallets, the safe keys and a cellphone. The vehicle was tracked by cameras forming part of the areawide Rural Surveillance Network and the suspects were apprehended in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth, by members of the Port Elizabeth SAPS Flying Squad. One suspect was shot and died at the scene and two other suspects were a r r e st e d . Agri Eastern Cape issued a statement on the incident saying: “[We] would like to commend all the role-players who played a part in the successful outcome of this operation. The local fa r m e r s ’ a s s o c i at i o n security groups, Multi Security, Atlas Security Ops Room, Panther Farm Security, the SAPS at local and cluster level and especially the dedicated members of the PE Flying Squad who confronted the suspects, all worked effectively together as a team. “This co-ordination and co-operation among role-players as well as the crucial real time intelligence the areawide Rural Camera Surveillance Network provided, ultimately resulted in this success.” Agri EC said they hoped the successful and speedy apprehension of the suspects would serve as a deterrent to other criminals planning attacks against farming communities. SUBSTANTIAL IT UPGRADE: Grant van der Merwe, an IT manager who does work for the department of education, hands over computers, a server, a printer and Wi-fi equipment to Port Alfred High School headmaster Clive Pearson at the end of 2018. Also pictured are Dominicue Averbuch and Stuart McDougal of SereneIT who are on retainer to the school and installed the equipment during the December holidays. ‘This upgrade has alleviated the pressure on the IT Lab where Computer Applied Technologies is taught from grade 8 to Mat ric,’ said Averbuch. Van der Merwe said that Port Alfred High was now one of the best-resourced and functioning IT schools in the Sarah Baartman dist rict Valentine’s Ball at the Halyards Hotel DATE: 14 th February 2019 at 19:00 DRESS: Smart (not Casual) COST: R450 per couple MUSIC: Lionel Hunt BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL 046 604 3300 ROSEHILL NEMATO Trading Hours Superspar: Mon– Sat: 8am – 7pm Sun 8am - 5pm Valid: 31 - 3 February 2019 | E&OE | Tel: 046 624 3542 | www.rosehillsuperspar.co.za | While stocks last. WE DELIVER - Place orders telephonically or via email rosehill1@retail.spar.co.za Trading Hours Nemato Spar: Mon– Sat: 7am – 7pm Sun: 7:30am - 6pm Valid: 31 - 3 February 2019 | E&OE | Tel: 046 940 0383 | While stocks last WE DELIVER - Place orders telephonically or via email nemato1@retail.spar.co.za Potatoes 4kg and Onions 2kg R49.99 P/combo Bulk Pork Packs R39.99 Per kg Cooked Gammon R109.99 Per kg Bulk Pork Packs R39.99 Per kg Chicken Leg Quarters R29.99 Per kg Fresh Mangoes R5.99 Each “Oupa” Boerewors R59.99 Per kg Speciality Breads R19.99 Each French Breads R7.99 Each Fresh White Bread R5.99 Each Spar Maas 2kg R16.99 Each Southern Comfort 750ml R139.99 Each
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