Ag, shame

Being chained to Plett’s famous dolphin statue in the centre of the main drag can’t be fun -  but then, neither is giving up your single status! Turn to the Social page and find out how young Waldo Olivier got himself into this one...

IN THIS EDITION:

‘Meet the new me’ – People & Places page

In need of a laugh? – Jokes page

Spring events for all – Entertainment page

Free-falling into her 70s! – People & Places page

Statutory rape accused says girl’s claims ‘fabricated’

SALACIOUS details about a 50-year-old man’s alleged relationship with a girl of 15 were revealed in the Knysna Regional Court last week. 
The girl, now 18, testified in camera in June last year, but details of her evidence have been revealed during the cross-examination of statutory rape accused Rory McKenna, now 52, of Knysna.
McKenna has pleaded not guilty. He took to the witness stand in his own defence for the first time last week, claiming the girl fabricated the allegations against him after he told her that he no longer wished to give her lifts or tutor her because his lessons were not doing anything to improve her marks at school.
McKenna was arrested and charged in 2007 after the girl claimed she had been involved in a sexual relationship with him since 2006.
The girl’s mother earlier said her daughter met McKenna through a schoolmate and he became a trusted family friend over a period of about a year. He sometimes helped pay the bills ...

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Author: Neil Oelofse

Day-long disentanglement efforts aborted

SA Whale Disentanglement Network (Sawdn) volunteers recently attempted to unravel netting around the body, tail and dorsal fin of a 13m humpback whale cow. The unit was activated following eyewitness reports of the cow and her calf in the vicinity of Robberg during the morning of August 27. Sawdn member Henk Nieuwoudt of CapeNature in Plett said that about 20-feet² of netting was entangled around the adult whale, accompanied by her ± one-month-old calf. 'We responded aboard the Ocean Blue vessel, Damara II, carrying specialised disentangling equipment. But our efforts were made more difficult as the cow appeared agitated, probably due to her paternal instincts to protect her calf. While the whale was freed of some of the netting, the operation eventually became too dangerous and was suspended at 3pm in the vicinity of Nature’s Valley,' says Nieuwoudt. Sawdn members in St Francis and in Port Elizabeth have been placed on high alert and boaters in the area are being ...

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New Mayco for George Municipality

THE new Mayoral Executive Committee (Mayco) for George was announced by mayor Bazil Petrus at a council meeting August 25 - the first council meeting since the DA and ID joined forces on August 19 and toppled the ANC from power.
Petrus heads the committee which includes fellow ID councillors Belrina Cornelius (Environmental Services) and former mayor Mercia Draghoender (Social Services & Human Resources).
The remaining members are Independent councillor Iona Kritzinger (Community Safety), deputy mayor Lionel Esau (Corporate Services), with DA councillors Jacoba Muller (Planning & Development), Jurie Bezuidenhout (Civil Engineering), Henry Jones (Electro-Technical) and Alderman Flip de Swardt (Financial Services).
After welcoming his new committee Petrus urged the new ID/DA regime to make an impression during its short term of office leading up to next year’s municipal elections.
Petrus then called upon council to put forward nominations for Section ...

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Author: Kelvin Dippnall

Minister allays Plett mining fears

MINERALS and Energy Minister Susan Shabangu has finally put to bed fears that a large portion of the Keurbooms River plantation forest reserve around Plettenberg Bay could be turned into a massive mining quarry.
Shabangu has upheld a decision by her department not to grant Kwela Quarry the right to take 5.7-hectares of the reserve to mine industrial mineral and sandstone aggregate, saying Kwela’s environmental management programme had failed to properly address the protection of the environment, or how to take remedial action if required.
The minister was responding to Kwela’s appeal against the rejection of two applications to mine the reserve in 2006 and 2007 - both opposed by Mountain to Ocean (MTO) Forestry, which leases the land from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry for its pine plantations.
She said Kwela had failed “to prove that the mining operations will not result in unacceptable pollution or damage to the environment”. ...

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Author: Neil Oelofse