GET your copy of Weekend Post on Saturday January 21 for these and other top stories:
Royal delight for Kings
Plett Italtile air crash scandal
‘Lady Godiva’ of Hogsback causes stir
Desperate pupils flee East for West Cape in droves
Shock new R1.3bn land claim find
Posted in Headlines
By Yolandé Stander
SPACE is so limited at some rural Eastern Cape schools that up to three teachers are simultaneously teaching different subjects in a single classroom. This is among the shock findings made by the provincial Education Department’s portfolio committee following an inspection of schools in Cofimvaba, Lady Frere and Queenstown in the Chris Hani District this week.
Education experts have reacted with outrage and dismay to the committee’s findings, calling the situation “insane” and “bizarre”.
Among the committee’s findings are that:
* A number of teachers share one classroom, teaching different subjects to different grades – as high as Grades 10, 11 and 12 – simultaneously.
* There is one textbook being shared among large groups of pupils at these schools.
* The Eastern Cape has numerous small schools with an enrolment of fewer than 135 pupils and fewer than five teachers who have to teach all subjects offered for grades 10 to 12. The majority of these schools have no teachers.
“Most of these small schools lack the necessary space, resulting in more than one grade sharing the same classroom. These multiple grades are taught by one teacher and this type of presentation is known as multi-grade teaching,” committee member Edmund van Vuuren said.
“This mode of teaching is confusing pupils, resulting in [their] being further disadvantaged by sometimes getting information that is not grade-appropriate. I have never experienced anything like this in my 30 years as a teacher.”
The situation was worst at the Sosebenza Senior Secondary School in the rural village of Umhlanga, in Lady Frere, which had only four classrooms. “We found three teachers in one class teaching three different subjects to three different groups of pupils, which implies that three classes are conducted at the same time in one venue. “This school was built in 2006 with only four classrooms to accommodate 167 pupils. There are only six teachers per the latest post provisioning, offering nine learning areas per grade for grades 10 to 12.”
Yet in spite of their shocking circumstances, matric pupils at Sosebenza obtained a 61.7% pass rate last year. “Although studying under difficult conditions, also having to share textbooks because of inadequate funding and walking long distances to school, they had performances above average when compared to other schools in a better position,” Van Vuuren said.
But he reiterated this “untenable situation” should never be condoned and it was inexplicable how a complete secondary school could consist of only four classrooms.
“The most obvious is that pupils are not 100% focused. They get distracted easily and there are high noise levels. Teachers are sometimes not audible and space is too cramped.”
East London education expert Ken Alston, who has 40 years’ experience in this field, said he had never heard of such a “bizarre” practice. “It is insane. It is criminal. I can’t believe this is happening,” Alston said. He added it was impossible to provide quality education under such circumstances.
“How do the teachers cope? How do the pupils cope? The district director should be held accountable.”
Veteran educationalist Graeme Bloch said: “According to the Department of Education a classroom is built for every 40 pupils, as per requirements for the building of schools. The department is unapologetic for the number of classrooms built and has been uncooperative in providing additional classrooms after numerous requests from the school.
“It goes beyond reason to expect schools in similar situations to compete and be measured against schools that do not have the same infrastructure shortages.”
Attempts to contact education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani for comment proved unsuccessful.
This is a shortened version of an article that was published in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday January 21.
Posted in Headlines
By Shaanaaz de Jager
A SHOCKED Port Elizabeth couple are still mystified after builders discovered a badly decomposed body in a brick flower bed at their Bluewater Bay home.
Now police are searching for two former tenants who lived at the house in 2008, in the hope they might shed some light on the bizarre case.
The body, clothed in denim shorts and a khaki jacket, was covered by a blanket.
Initial indications were that it was that of a white male.
Robert White and his wife Leni could not believe their eyes when builders doing construction work in their backyard at 50 Bluewater Drive pointed out the grisly discovery last Thursday [January 12].
“I was shocked. I thought it might be some ancient remains,” Leni told Weekend Post.
Prior to moving back into the house at the beginning of December last year, the couple were living on the “newer side” of Bluewater Bay but chose to return to their original property in Bluewater Drive because they were not pleased with a cycle path near the other house.
The Whites bought the house in 2001 and have let it to a number of tenants over the years.
Police are now interested in tracking down two of these tenants – Wynand Hibbers and Phillip Bakkes – who lived at the property in 2008. Police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge said on Friday [January 13] the two men might be able to provide “information that could be of use”. He appealed to them, or anyone who knew them, to contact the police.
Hibbers is about 45 years old while Bakkes’s age is unknown.
The Whites, who are British and German respectively and have lived in South Africa since 1983, had been renovating their backyard to build a carport. It was while workmen were knocking down a wall and its adjoining brick flower bed that they discovered the grisly remains.
Robert said he was “utterly shocked”.
“I got a call to come home early. The workers told me they had found something. I thought I had to supervise the modifications to the house or maybe there was a broken pipe. This [skeleton] I did not expect.”
They immediately called the Swartkops police and officers and forensics inspectors were deployed to the scene.
“It feels weird. This doesn’t happen. Who is this person? I’ll be happy if someone will now find their missing family member,” Leni said.
Her husband likened the discovery to “something you see on TV but never expect in your own garden”.
Beetge said police were working “around the clock” to discover the identity of the corpse. The cause of death was not yet known.
* Anyone with information may contact Warrant Officer Jacques Leonard on 082-442-1683.
This is a shortened version of an article that appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday January 21.
By Shaun Gillham
SOUTH African tennis legend Bob Hewitt has been questioned by police over the alleged abuse of underage girls in the 1970s and 1980s and it is expected the probe will be concluded “within weeks”.
The latest development in the decades-long controversy comes after one of Hewitt’s alleged victims finally laid a complaint with Gauteng police, who this month launched an official investigation into the 71-year-old’s alleged sexual abuse of young tennis players during his heyday as a renowned tennis coach.
But as Boksburg police wrap up their current investigation – based on a formal complaint laid by Suellen Sheehan of Johannesburg who was allegedly abused by Hewitt when she was 12, another of his alleged victims is now preparing to lay a formal complaint against Hewitt in Cape Town.
New Zealand-based Twiggy Tolken, who is visiting family and friends in South Africa, is in consultation with an organisation which fights rape and says she expects to lay a formal charge against Hewitt when she visits Cape Town later this month.
Investigating officer Lieutenant Paul Ngake confirmed [on Friday January 13] that a statement has been taken from Hewitt.
“We have taken a statement from him. I think the investigation will be completed soon, in a few weeks, after which the docket will be handed to the public prosecutor for a decision on whether he will prosecuted.”
Tolken was the first alleged victim whose parents laid a formal complaint against Hewitt in 1981, but these charges – relating to alleged sexual abuse by Hewitt at Sun City – were later withdrawn by her father who was afraid of what his 13-year-old daughter would have to endure.
“My father laid a charge against Hewitt when I was 13, at the beginning of 1981. My lessons and the nonsense started with Hewitt when I was 12,” said Tolken.
She said the incident at Sun City happened in December 1980. “My parents were advised by the attorney general and our lawyer to consider withdrawing the charges as I was only 13 and it was my word against Hewitt’s. They were afraid his lawyer would make mincemeat of me in court.
“We were not afraid we could not win [as has been stated in international media reports] but my father was afraid of what they might put me through,” Tolken said.
Weekend Post reported on [January 14] that a docket had been compiled and handed to the then attorney general over Hewitt’s alleged sexual abuse of Tolken.
Tolken also blasted the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the South African Sport and Art Hall of Fame as “totally pathetic and without any credibility” because they have still not removed Hewitt’s name from their rolls. “There are many accusations against him [Hewitt] and there has been a huge amount of publicity around what he has done. Yet these two organisations continue to defend him.”
After a long and successful career built around tennis, Hewitt retired to Addo outside Port Elizabeth where he initially became involved in citrus farming. He could not be reached for comment although last year in Weekend Post he issued an apology to anyone he had “offended” during his career.
This is a shortened version of an article that appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday January 21.
By Shaun Gillham
A GROUP of Nelson Mandela Bay residents, businesses and a church are rallying in a bid to halt the erection of a cellphone company tower and base station in upmarket Walmer.
Cell C intends putting up the tower in Water Road, on a parcel of land to be rented from the Walmer Bowling Club, situated directly behind the Walmer town hall and library and directly opposite St John the Baptist Anglican Church’s retirement complex.
Cell C, which could not be reached for comment this week, has already sold off 960 of its existing towers to American Tower Corp, which purchased them for $140-million (R1.1-billion) through its South African subsidiary, and plans to purchase up to an additional 1800 towers that are either currently under construction or will be constructed in the next two to three years.
Brian Meyer, president of the Walmer Bowling Club, said the decision to lease out the land was made unanimously at a special general meeting of club members.
He said with the average age of its membership being 69, revenue was important to the club.
“A presentation was made to the club and we were shown environmental studies which indicated there was no harm to people from the tower. And a full environmental impact study has been done for the area,” he said.
Although he could not reveal the value of the deal, he said the initial lease period for land would be 10 years, with an option to renew.
Meyer could not say when the tower would be erected. “This is not in our hands right now and we have not yet signed a lease agreement. But I do think it is imminent.”
DA ward councillor David Hayselden said he objected “in principle” to the erection of the tower, while nutrition and lifestyle coach Tanya Wyatt, who has children who go to school in the area, said she was concerned over the public participation process followed.
Liza Hill of the Chiropractic Health Centre in Walmer was also not in favour due to the risks that cellphone towers could pose to health. “There are many schools and after-care centres in the vicinity of the proposed site,” she said, adding the public notification process had been inadequate.
Rev Robert Penrith, rector of the St John the Baptist Anglican Church, has forwarded an objection to the tower on behalf of his parish.
In a letter on behalf of the church executive, Penrith said the masts were “aesthetically very unpleasant”. He added “disguising the mast as a tree is an insult to the intelligence of local residents and just makes the structure look that much bigger”.
“Secondly, whereas you have given us a plan of the suburb, you have not indicated where on that erf the mast will be erected. There is, therefore, every possibility it could be directly outside of our main gate.”
He also raised health concerns about the tower.
But Geoff Beeton of ZTE, a company contracted to acquire tower sites on behalf of Cell C, said an environmental impact study conducted at the site had been approved and the process was now at the permits process stage which involved the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
He said the application for the tower was also being processed by civil aviation authorities and this process would take four to six weeks.
“The tower will be about 30 metres high and will be accompanied by a base station, which will be green in colour, which was a requirement put forward by the bowling club. The tower will be camouflaged and look similar to a yellow-wood tree,” he said.
This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday December 31. A community meeting to discuss the issue was held at Clarendon Park Primary on Monday night January 16.
Posted in News
Tagged Brian Meyer, Cell C, cellphone, cellphone tower, David Hayselden, Geoff Beeton, Liza Hill, mast, Nelson Mandela Bay, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Port Elizabeth, Rev Robert Penrith, Shaun Gillham, St John the Baptist Anglican Church, Tanya Wyatt, Walmer, Walmer Bowling Club, ZTE
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