Grocott’s Mail 6 MARCH 2015
NEWS
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Bread shortage hits supermarket shelves By SUE MACLENNAN @SusanMaclenan
A senior Sasko representative says the shortage of the company’s bread products in Grahamstown supermarkets is not the result of a strike. Readers turned to Grocott’s Mail in frustration when they found the bread shelves of Grahamstown supermarkets all but empty. “Am extremely frustrated at twice in one week not being able to purchase bread from Pick and Pay Pepper Grove,” wrote one. “Would love to hear why there was no bread on Sunday and today at our local store.” The city’s retailers say Sasko, their biggest supplier, have been unable to fill their full orders this week. “I can assure you that we don’t ‘forget’ to order enough,” Pick n Pay co-owner Jon Campbell told Grocott’s Mail on Thursday 5 March. “Our system won’t allow that. “But we’re only getting 82% of what we order.” He said although Pick n Pay has its own bakery, this couldn’t keep up with the overall demand for bread. “We’ve been sitting the whole morning without stock,” he told Grocott’s Mail yesterday. “And there’s no quick fix. It’s very frustrating.” Campbell said load-shedding was a major factor that affects the supermarket’s supplies and complained that Grahamstown is often last in the queue when it comes to supplies. “For example, four hours without power in Joburg shuts down the entry Energade factory and puts them way behind in their production. That means we can go for days without any stock at all.” But while Campbell said he’d heard rumours of industrial action as being behind the Sasko shortages, Pioneer Foods Marketing Executive Anton van Zyl said this was not the case. “I can confirm that we have no industrial action in the Eastern Cape and also not aware of any potential threats of this nature,” Van Zyl said in an emailed reply to Grocott’s Mail. Checkers Grahamstown Branch Manager Martin van der Walt said the retailer’s daily order from Sasko was usually 300-400 white and 200-300 brown loaves. “We’re only receiving about 250 white and 200 brown loaves,” Van der Walt said. “They’re really trying, though.” Shoprite Grahamstown refused to comment. Unit Manager at the Pioneer Foods factory in Port Elizabeth Hansie du Plessis had not replied to questions from Grocott’s Mail at the time of going to print. However, an insider who asked to remain anonymous said there had been difficulties with the factory’s plant. He said Sasko were still behind on their orders, but could be back up and running by Monday.
A despondent Lulama Bisheni shows Grocottʼs Mail whatʼs left of her house at Ethembeni informal settlement. Photo: Jane Berg
Blaze destroys home
By ANELE MJEKULA @Anele Mjekula
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family who lost theirs home to a raging blaze on the weekend has been forced to move into an abandoned tent near their gutted home. The family sat despondent in front of what remained of their home in Ethembeni informal settlement on Wednesday, as they pondered how they were going to move forward from the tragedy that destroyed the home they’d built through sweat and tears. A visibly emotional Lulama Bisheni, who lost everything in Saturday’s fire, said she was away from her house, near Benjamin Mahlasela High School, when the fire started. Standing beside the charred
remains of her house, Bisheni said she was the last person to leave the house on Saturday. Everything had looked normal before she went out with her three children. Bisheni shared the threeroomed house with her children and her father. Her brother lives in an outside room on the property. Bisheni says the fire started at around 6pm on Saturday while she was out with her children. “I locked the door from the outside and left,” she said. She says her father was home when the fire started. “He says he started smelling smoke while he was sleeping in his room, which is only separated by a wall from mine,” she said.
When her father went to check where the smoke was coming from, he saw flames coming out of her window and immediately kicked in the door, thinking she or her children might be trapped inside. "He was shouting my name," she said. The fire was already too big, though, and Bisheni's father couldn't enter the house. He called the neighbours for help. Soon after, the fire department was called. "I was already here when the fire department arrived. By that time, the fire had destroyed most of my things," she said. Bisheni says her father's room escaped damage, but her side of the house was destroyed completely. She said she didn't know
what had caused the fire. “I had cooked earlier in the day at about 3pm and I made sure that the stove was switched off,” Bisheni said. Assistance was quick to come from local councillor Mncedisi Gojela, who linked her up with several organisations that were only too happy to help. Bisheni said the Red Cross Society donated two blankets; Makana Municipality donated four mattresses; an unidentified person from Rhodes University donated food; Pick n Pay donated vegetables and South African Social Security Agency asked the family to go to their offices today (Friday), according to Bisheni. Chief of Makana Municipality's Fire Department William Welkom said they received a
call about the fire just after 11pm on Saturday. He said when fire fighters arrived at the scene the house was still on fire. “All the possessions inside the house were destroyed, but luckily nobody was hurt.” Welkom said the fire was extinguished just before midnight. “At about 12.35am we were just making sure that the fire was completely extinguished,” he said. Speaking to Grocott’s Mail yesterday, Bisheni said they are currently living in an abandoned tent near their damaged home. “The tent does not belong to us. It used to belong to a family which currently lives in a nearby farm,” she said.
NOTIFICATION OF BLASTING -WAAINEK WIND FARM-
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PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE HIGHLANDS ROAD (DR2012) WILL BE CLOSED DOWN ON MONDAY 09TH MARCH 2015 FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS BETWEEN 14h00 AND 16h00 DUE TO BLASTING ACTIVITIES AS PART OF THE WAAINEK WIND FARM PROJECT ANY ENQUIRIES PLEASE REFER MR YURI LEVENDAL AT 072 798 7472 PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED
4A Knight Street Grahamstown Tel 082 430 9855
WE BUILD IT BUILDINGS & ALTERATIONS ADDITIONS RESTORATIONS & RENOVATIONS Phone Niel: 082 771 0013 Fax: 046 636 1686 email:niel@webuildit.co.za
TRIAMIC CONSTRUCTION (PTY) Ltd
Sat 14 March 19:30 until 21:00 Settlers Monument
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Tickets available at IT Solutions, Frontier Brokers, Ryno (072 141 4911), Royden (0814625169) Lara (l.crous@cesnet.co.za)
MUNICIPAL NOTICE NOTICE OF ORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING The acting Municipal Manager, Ms. Busisiwe Khumalo, as duly instructed by the Speaker of the Makana Municipality (Clr R. Madinda-Isaac), hereby gives notice that, in terms of Section 19(a) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, Act No. 32 of 2000, an Ordinary Council meeting of the Makana Local Municipality will be held in the Council Chamber, City Hall, High Street, Grahamstown on Thursday, 12 March 2015 at 09h00. MS. BUSISIWE KHUMALO ACTING MUNICIPAL MANAGER Notice number: 07 of 02 March 2015