Local

The Eastern Cape Education Department is investigating reports of a school in the province where pupils allegedly only receive four hours of schooling per day. This follows an oversight visit by the official opposition to the Alheit van der Merwe primary school in Maletswai.

A 36-year-old Eastern Cape policeman, Ntshatsheli Nogcantsi, has been jailed for 15 years for raping a 24-year-old woman back in 2013.

A 50-year-old teacher from Erika Primary School in Mossel Bay was granted bail of R2 500 following his arrest on charges of sexual assault.

A Gqeberha dog owner whose five Pitbulls attacked three people in Sherwood last week has been served with a notice instructing him to euthanize the animals. Mamela Ndamase of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality says a follow-up investigation will be done at his property within five working days to see if he has complied.

Final preparations are underway to resume limited train services in the Eastern Cape between East London and Gqeberha. The announcement was made by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) this week.

An alleged hijacker is in critical condition in hospital after sustaining several gunshot wounds during a shoot-out with police on Monday. Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu says the 36-year-old and his accomplice, who is still on the run, hijacked a 45-year-old driver and his shop employee who were travelling from Ntabunkulu en route to Durban.

The South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) in Fort Beaufort is calling for Eastern Cape Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth and Premier Oscar Mabuyane to intervene and end an ongoing work stoppage by ambulance workers.

Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile Gade, has welcomed the decision by a Ntabankulu magistrate to recuse himself from a rape case involving a grade 12 learner and the school principal of a Senior Secondary School in the area.

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is racing against time to plug the more than 3000 identified water leaks around the metro that are putting massive pressure on the region’s rapidly declining dam levels.