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News in brief
Attempted murder
Last Thursday, a man witnessed
an assault outside the Rat & Parrot
pub on New Street. Yet when
he attempted to help the victim,
he was also attacked. The complainant
says he was walking out
of the pub when he saw a male assaulting
a homeless person. While
assisting the victim, the suspect
turned to him and stabbed him.
He was stabbed in the left side of
his chest and was taken to Greenacres
Hospital in Elizabeth. Police
spokesperson, Ndishavhelafhi
Mamuthubi says no arrests have
been made in connection with the
case. – MARIA SIBIYA
Stabbed by ex-boyfreind
A 20-year-old woman says she was
on her way to Zolani on Sunday
when she met her ex-boyfreind on
the way. She says he demanded to
speak to her but she refused. The
suspect then grabbed her and
forced her to walk with him. She
says she then picked up a stone
and threw it at him. While they
were both fighting the suspect
stabbed the woman behind the
ear with a knife. No arrests have
been made. – MS
Did Sadtu join the strike
The South African Democratic
Teachers Union (Sadtu) has denied
that schooling was disrupted
during the strike. According to rumours
Sadtu was joining the national
municipal workers strike.
Sadtu chairperson, Xolile Yili said
that the union only met to elect
new leaders. Teachers say the
only thing that might have caused
the misunderstanding was that
some classes were cancelled as a
number of teachers were attending
the meeting. – ZIMKHITHA MBUNGE
Correction
In an article covering the sentencing
of the paedophile, Herbert
Doyle, we incorrectly reported
the name of the magistrate. His
correct name and title is Senior
Regional Court Magistrate, Maziwonke
Dunywa. We also incorrectly
reported that the defence
attorney had “openly disagreed
with the magistrate”. He was in
fact summarising his argument
in regards to the appeal.
EMERGENCY NUMBERS
Ambulance:............................ 10177
Aids Helpline:............ 0800 012322
AA Rescue: ................ 0800 111997
Medical Rescue: ........ 0800 033007
Grahamstown Child
and Family Welfare: .. 046 636 1355
Electricity: ................ 046 603 6036
a/h 046 603 6000
Eskom:...................... 086 014 0014
Fire Brigade: ............ 046 622 4444
Police: ...................... 046 603 9152
Hi-Tec........................ 046 636 1660
Raphael Centre: ........ 046 622 8831
SPCA: ........................ 046 622 3233
Traffic Services: ......... 046 603 6067
Water: ........................ 046 603 6136
Hospice: .................... 046 622 9661
Settlers Hospital: ...... 046 622 2215
Day Hospital: ............. 046 622 3033
Fort England Hospital: 046 622 7003
Legal Aid Board: ....... 046 622 9350
Locksmith: ................ 082 556 9975
or 046 622 4592
UNHEALTHY... The medical waste discovered on Constitution Street near
Settler’s Hospital consisted mainly of used drips. It was left in a
garden-refuse-only dumpster. Photo: Guy Martin
Cloudy with 30% showers.
Wind strong south
westerly.
Temperature:
Min 6 ◦ C, Max 13 ◦ C
Tides:
Low tide: 7.14am and
7.30pm
High tide: 12.25am and
1.32pm
Partly cloudy. Wind light
north westerly.
Temperature:
Min 6 ◦ C, Max 17 ◦ C
Tides:
Low tide: 8.03am and
8.13pm
High tide: 1.35am and
2.17pm
ZIKHONA MASALA
Partly cloudy. Wind light
north westerly.
Temperature:
Min 7°C, Max 20°C
Tides:
Low tide: 8.38am and
8.47pm
High tide: 2:20am and
2.50pm
More bags of medical waste were
found at a garden refuse dumpsite
on the Monday morning of 27 July.
The medical waste was discovered
by Ayanda Ranuga, a gardener who
was offloading refuse at the dump on
Constitution Street.
Six bags of used medical drip
needles, bags and tubes were lying
open on the ground next to the refuse
container. The medical waste was
found despite a clearly marked sign
stating that only garden refuse may
be dumped at the site. “There are often
informal collectors who seek for
reyclable goods and this could be a
danger to them,” said Ranuga.
It is not known where the medi-
Sunny. Wind moderate
north westerly.
Temperature:
Min 10°C, Max 21 ◦ C
Tides:
Low tide: 9.07am and
9.17pm
High tide: 2.55am and
3:19pm
Source: www.weathersa.co.za and www.satides.co.za
Grocott’s Mail Friday, 31 July 2009
Who’s cleaning up their act
KWANELE BUTANA AND MATEDI MOTHIBE
The South African Municipal
Workers Union (Samwu) is
calling for its members to stop
buying from a local supermarket following
allegations that the store’s
management hired people to clean
the streets. Since Monday, the irate
municipal workers have been upturning
rubbish bins and tearing
open uncollected bags of rubbish
and strewing its contents all over
town.
Wandisile Bikitsha, local Samwu
chairperson told the striking workers
yesterday to stop buying from
Pick n Pay and accused the store’s
management of taking the workers’
problems into their own hands.
“We have been told the managers at
Pick n Pay hired casuals to clean the
streets,” he said.
However, Pick n Pay manager
Jon Campbell, denied that the store
hired anyone to clean up. “We [the
management] did it ourselves and
some members of our staff joined in,
we did not hire anybody,” he said.
Campbell emphasised that his
store was not involved in the strike
in any way and that the store’s managers
merely responded to a call
from other businesses to help with
the cleaning. He added that the
managers acted out of concern for
the community regarding the health
hazards posed by rotting rubbish lying
around everywhere.
Bikitsha has accused local members
of Independent Municipal Allied
Trade Union (Imatu) who work for
Makana Municipality of “just sitting
in their offices” while Samwu workers
go on strike. This was made even
more obvious when Imatu’s provincial
leadership marched alongside
the workers at the march in Port
Elizabeth on Monday. He assured
the workers that contrary to rumours
that Imatu is likely to accept
the offer tabled by the South African
Local Government Association (Salga),
Samwu is insisting on a 15% increase
in salaries across the board.
“We want to make sure that Imatu
doesn’t survive in Makana Municipality,”
he added.
According to Lindelwa Faltein,
Makana Samwu secretary, Salga had
upped their offer to 13%, with 11.5%
effected immediately (which means
the minimum wage would be R3 850
per month) and the other 1.5% next
January – which would up the minimum
wage to R4 000 per month. “We
want the whole 13% to come into effect
immediately,” she said.
For the major part of the week
scores of chanting Samwu members
gathered and danced in front of municipal
departments where some of
their colleagues were still at work.
Faltein explained to Grocott’s Mail
that the union temporarily removed
some of their members from their
duties so that only “skeletal staff”
was left to run the municipality’s essential
services.
She argued that this was in line
with the minimum service agreement
the union signed with the
municipality which provides for the
union to leave the municipality with
50% of the staff complement to run
its essential services such as water
STRIKING... Local South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) leader
Luvuyo Sizani (in a suit) leads a protest behind the Makana City Hall as
part of the national Samwu strike. Photo: Steven Lang
and primary health clinics.
Curtis Sahd, a Computer Science
masters student at Rhodes University,
said: “It sends shivers down
my spine if the action were to be
prolonged, let the workers be given
what they deserve as long as it is not
ridiculous and let there be no further
delay.”
A Hillsview resident, Luthando
Heshu says “As long as there is no
disruptions to electricity or water
supply, I will sympathise with the
worker’s strike for better salaries,
but not their disruptive actions.”
Faltein added that the union was
satisfied that the implementation of
the job evaluation system known as
wage curves was no longer part of
the negotiations.
This follows after the workers
demanded that the matter be handled
separately from the ongoing
negotiations.
Imatu representative Phillip
Gordons refused to comment but
promised to get back to Grocott’s
Mail after consulting with the union’s
regional spokesperson.
While police spokesperson Milanda
Coetzer conceded that the
strike has been characterised by
“excessive littering” of the streets,
she said the local police have contained
the situation so well that no
serious crimes such as damage to
property have taken place.
“The SAPS has focused on containing
this situation and focused policing
on serious crimes for example
damage to property,” she explained.
“We remain committed to ensure the
safety and security of all citizens of
Grahamstown.”
More medical waste found at dumpster
cal waste comes as there are many
medical institutions in Grahamstown
which it may be traced back to.
Ranuga said, “I might know very
little about medicine but I do know
that this could be dangerous.” The
drips are smelly, they should have
been disposed of properly.”
A resident (who wishes to remain
anonymous) expressed his concern,
“It is sad to see the state that Grahamstown
has turned into, very few
people care about the environment
we live in.”
Earlier this month medical waste
was found near a dump in Extension
6 in Grahamstown East. The used
medical equipment included drips,
syringes and respiratory equipment.
No charges have been made and it
is still not known where the medical
waste came from.
The assistant director of Primary
Health Care, Lungiswa Somyalo said,
“The improper disposal of medical
waste is not taken lightly because it is
an important function in medical institutions.
The Department of Health
has gone to lengths to make sure that
legal precautions of the disposal of
medical waste is properly followed.”
This raises a major concern for
the effectiveness of enviromental
awareness in the community. Local
GP, Dr Rudi Marx says, “Dumping
of medical waste is absolutely illegal,
there is a special medical waste sharp
system that all medical waste should
be disposed in as well as companies
that deal strictly with medical waste.”
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