Queenstown – Page 3

Top Schoolgirls Gear up for FNB Youth Weeks

South Africa’s best junior female players will be in action at the FNB U16 and U18 Girls Weeks staged at Queens High School in Johannesburg from Monday, two important tournaments on the local rugby landscape.

The two tournaments form part of SA Rugby’s 2025 FNB Youth Weeks programme and will run from 30 June until 4 July.

Mr Mark Alexander, SA Rugby’s president, described the two girls’ weeks as “nothing short of nation-shifting”.

“They are instruments of progress, opening rugby’s gates wider than ever before,” said Mr Alexander.

“Girls now have structured, high-profile avenues to express and elevate their talent – platforms that were unimaginable not long ago. This isn’t just about athletic development; it’s about transforming perceptions and normalising girls’ rugby as a proud, powerful part of our national sporting fabric.

“By investing in these tournaments, SA Rugby is not just growing a sport – it’s rewriting a narrative. One that says rugby excellence knows no gender and that the next icon of the game could just as easily emerge from a girls’ scrum on a windswept pitch in Gqeberha as from any traditional stronghold.

“It’s a cultural shift that will echo into classrooms, homes, communities—and eventually, into packed stadiums both here and abroad.”

The first round of the U18 competition kicks off on Monday morning, with Eastern Province meeting the Leopards on the A Field at Queens High School.

Meanwhile, Border will face a Golden Lions Invitational team in the opening match of the U16 tournament.

U18 fixtures (Monday, 30 June):

09h00: Eastern Province v Leopards, A Field

09h00: Western Province v Valke, B Field

10h30: Sharks v Griffons, A Field

10h30: South Western Districts v Pumas, B Field

12h00: Zimbabwe v Griquas, A Field

12h00: Border v Blue Bulls, B Field

13h30: Opening Ceremony

14h00: Golden Lions v Free State, A Field

14h00: Limpopo Blue Bulls v Boland, B Field

U16 fixtures (Monday, 30 June):

08h45: Border v Golden Lions Invitational XV, C Field

10h00: Sharks v Limpopo Blue Bulls, C Field

10h00: Western Province v Leopards, D Field

11h15: Boland v Griquas, C Field

11h15: Eastern Province v Zimbabwe, D Field

12h30: Border Country Districts v Free State, C Field

12h30: Golden Lions v Valke, D Field

14h00: South Western Districts v Griffons, C Field

14h00: Pumas v Blue Bulls, D Field

Sourced With Compliments of MyZA

Instead of Going to School, These Children Have to Queue for Water

People in Komani, Eastern Cape, say they experience persistent water outages. As school opened this week, many learners did not attend as they were unable to bathe in the morning or had to go to queue for water for their families.

Water outages started in September last year and now last for weeks at a time.

Chris Hani District Municipality spokesperson Thobeka Mqamelo said 14 wards are affected. However, low-lying areas in some of these wards, as well as the centre of town, Westbourne, Sandringham, Ezibeleni and Queendustria, are gravity-fed and seldom experience outages.

Mqamelo said the Komani Water Treatment Works is supplied by two dams, but the level in Bonkolo Dam is now below abstraction point, and Waterdown Dam cannot meet the demand as it also supplies Whittlesea town.

The inflow rate to the treatment works dropped from 30 to 16 megalitres per day. After a major pipeline leak was fixed, it rose to 17.8 megalitres.

Ward committee member No-red Mndlangu said they have been without water for two weeks. There are two water tanks but they have not been filled for years. On Wednesday, people started queueing at 4am at a standpipe that supplies 400 families. There was water at about 6am for just 30 minutes.

Amile Mbengo, 16, said she had waited on Sunday for hours for the water truck. When it finally arrived, people had started fighting and the driver drove off.

Mavis Zila, 58, said, “I’m old and sick, but I’m forced to walk kilometres around these areas looking for water. We are struggling. Today, I got water from the stadium. I was lucky. I had to carry a 20-litre bucket on my head. Those who came after me didn’t get water. The truck came last week Friday. It’s almost a week now and we are still waiting.”

Sigingqini resident Sibulele Mnyenzi said elderly people who cannot queue have to use their social grants to pay R50 to get a 20-litre bucket of water.

In 2014, the district municipality budgeted R546-million for the Xonxa Dam bulk water project, meant to be completed in 2018. Mqamelo said work on pumps and pipeline is underway and is expected to be completed by March.

On Monday, residents marched to the municipal offices.

Mayor Lusanda Sizani told them that various processes were in place, including rationing, additional tankers and a dedicated truck for each ward, and drilling boreholes.

Residents of Khayelitsha in Komani have to wait for a truck to deliver water. Residents did not want to speak to GroundUp as they feared they would lose job opportunities in the municipality’s public works programme.

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Patients to Be Moved From Cofimvaba Hospital as Nurses Down Tools

On Monday nurses at Cofimvaba Hospital, near Queenstown, downed tools, demanding the acting CEO Ntombesithathu Qotoyi be removed.

The Eastern Cape Department of Health is planning to move patients from Cofimvaba Hospital to other facilities, after nurses went on an unprotected strike.

On Monday nurses at Cofimvaba Hospital, near Queenstown, downed tools, demanding that acting CEO Ntombesithathu Qotoyi be removed. They accuse her of disrespecting and insulting them and playing favourites.

The nurses also downed tools two weeks ago over similar issues.

Provincial health spokesperson Mkhululi Ndamase said a previous independent investigation found no reason to remove Qotoyi. The department had made several attempts to explain the situation to the nurses. District health management is now looking at moving some patients to nearby facilities.

On Monday morning, we found nurses singing in the corridors. A guard at the entrance said most patients had left. There were people waiting at reception, some sleeping on chairs. Reception was active, but working very slowly.

Trouble between Qotoyi and the staff started a year ago, when about 160 workers signed a memorandum demanding her removal. They said she refused to approve leave and share budget information. She was suspended until an independent investigation cleared her.

“I spent R120 to come here. I live far away and there’s no guarantee that when I come back on Monday things will be back to normal,” said Lumka Bambatha, who had arrived at the hospital around 6am. “I’m not working. I rely on the child support grant. This is not fair.”

She said she had an appointment to have her son’s plaster cast on his arm removed. “The doctor told us that he can only take new patients; we must come back next week.,” she said.

Nomalizo Msongelwa said she found her husband who had been in hospital since last week left unattended.

“I thank God that I’m here to at least feed him because there are no nurses in his ward. But what frustrates me mostly is to hear that they are now planning to move him to Queenstown. I won’t be able to visit him due to lack of money,” she said.

Ndamase said the department has issued an ultimatum to the nurses to stop the strike as they are deemed essential workers.

Denosa Eastern Cape secretary Mveli Sinqana said workers are not happy with the return of their manager. He said as the union they are still trying to engage with the department to find a solution to the matter.

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Two Die After Continued Electricity Outages at Frontier Hospital

Dear Editor.

Two patients at Frontier Hospital have tragically lost their lives due to continued electricity outages that have severely disrupted operations and compromised patient safety. Over the past weekend, a generator malfunction forced critical patients on life support systems to be moved, with some placed on oxygen cylinders.

Despite the best efforts of medical staff, two patients did not survive. Elective surgeries have also been indefinitely postponed due to the inability to conduct them on backup power alone.

The Enoch Mgijima Municipality has consistently struggled with service delivery. When these failures lead to the loss of lives, immediate intervention is necessary to prevent further tragedies.

Last year, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria underscored the constitutional obligation to ensure consistent access to essential services at healthcare facilities. The court found that interruptions in power supply fundamentally compromise the right to life and access to healthcare services enshrined in the South African Constitution.

This ruling asserts that the state, through its entities and service providers, bears a duty to uphold these rights by providing reliable power to public health establishments, reinforcing that access to life-sustaining healthcare cannot be jeopardised by service disruptions.

The ongoing crisis at Frontier Hospital mirrors the very concerns addressed by the court. With the hospital reliant on an unstable power supply, the resulting disruptions have tragically led to preventable loss of life, underscoring the urgent need for stable infrastructure to protect patients.

This case highlights the constitutional implications when critical healthcare facilities are deprived of reliable power, whether due to national load-shedding or local infrastructure failures. It underscores the importance of proactive and urgent measures to safeguard these institutions, ensuring they can operate continuously to meet the public’s constitutional right to healthcare and safety.

I have written to the MEC of Health, Ntandokazi Capa, and the Leader of Government Business in the Eastern Cape, Mlungisi Mvoko, urgently requesting that emergency funding be made available through Provincial Treasury.

This funding is essential to either provide Frontier Hospital with sufficient solar energy for an uninterrupted power supply or to connect the hospital directly to ESKOM to ensure reliable electricity.

This intervention must be viewed as an absolute priority, especially as the festive season approaches, a period that typically sees a significant rise in emergencies. Frontier Hospital, a major regional facility serving a vast catchment area, must be fully operational to handle the increased demand.

It is unacceptable that such a crucial healthcare institution depends on an unreliable municipal infrastructure for power, placing patients’ lives at risk.

The Democratic Alliance will continue to monitor the situation at Frontier Hospital closely. Healthcare services must not be compromised due to municipal failures. Our people deserve reliable, quality care.

Regards

Jane Cowley MPL
DA Shadow MEC for Health