Latest news with #Makhanda
The Herald
27-05-2025
- General
- The Herald
Bail lifeline for Gqeberha firearms dealer Karen Webb
Beleaguered firearms dealer Karen Webb was shown a glimmer of hope on Tuesday when an application to prevent the joinder of the cases against her was granted. This means the matter against the 41-year-old will go to trial only once her third shot at bail in the Makhanda high court has been finalised. Webb, who faces a laundry list of charges, including murder, theft, fraud, illegal transportation of firearms and selling firearms to people not permitted to possess them, has been in custody since her arrest in February 2024, and has been refused bail twice. Her lawyers are now awaiting a court date from the Makhanda high court to hear her appeal against the refusal of bail. Subsequent to her bail being refused, more charges were brought against her. She decided to abandon a formal bail application in those cases as it would be moot in light of her previous failed bail applications. The state wanted to join all the cases against her, but defence attorney Peter Daubermann brought an urgent application to keep the matters separate. This is as a successful appeal could reopen the door for her to bring bail applications in respect of the latest charges. The application, in the Gqeberha magistrate's court, was not opposed by state advocate Liezel Landman. Landman previously indicated that the state was ready to proceed with the trial, but that will now commence only once the bail appeal has been concluded. The matter will return to court on July 14. Webb will return to court on another matter on June 5, when she is scheduled to stand trial for possession of contraband after she was allegedly found in possession of a cellphone on two separate occasions while in custody at the North End Prison. The Herald
The Herald
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald
Eastern Cape's proud tradition in the performing arts
The performing arts have always a played vital role in the Eastern Cape — not least of all because the National Arts Festival has been hosted in Makhanda for the past 51 years. It has been covered extensively with news and reviews by The Herald which has showcased the cream of national stage talent, musicians and artists along with international names who annually make their way to the City of Saints. But few may be aware that 45 years before The Herald was established, a performance of William Shakespeare's iconic Hamlet was staged at Ford Frederick by British soldiers who were stationed there. And having the perfect setting to do so, they created their very own Elsinore on the hill where the fort still stands. To mark the 200th anniversary of this performance, the Port Elizabeth Shakespearean Festival staged a critically-acclaimed production of the play in the fort itself in 2000 with the audience seated within its walls. And true to its theme of a ghostly character, Hamlet's slain father, stalking the ramparts of his domain — there was an incident just prior to a performance during which a chair suddenly flew up into the air and hit the actor playing Polonius, the late Bob Law, on the head and injuring him, despite it being a relatively windless night. Appropriate then, that coincidentally coinciding with another milestone event, The Herald's 180th anniversary, an interactive and shortened version of Hamlet is being staged by Pearson High School in Summerstrand with headboy Liyabona Malgas in the title role. The play runs at the school until Thursday (May 8).
The Herald
07-05-2025
- General
- The Herald
How newspapers and the media have evolved over the years
Online news — already commonplace in our daily lives and taken for granted. But in a relatively short period of our history, delivering and obtaining news was by means of other lines completely. Telegraph, primitive handset telephone landlines, even railway lines. And instead of instantly appearing on your smartphone screen, there was a time when a massive piece of heavy machinery had to be set in motion, so that you could get your news. The metamorphosis of newspapers in SA in the last two centuries has been one of great change — but also, ironically, a mission of news gathering that has remained consistent in what it set out from humble beginnings to achieve: to garner public opinion and relay what was happening on the ground for the particular community it served. The often tricky-to-negotiate road of good, accurate journalism — whether it be in 1845 or 2025 — remains a rocky one, with modern technology, distribution methods and presentation providing as many, albeit very different challenges, to those of many decades ago. That has certainly been the case with a publication like The Herald — continuously published since 1845 — which has throughout generations remained true to those fundamental ideals. This is what emerges when you chat to a media analyst like lecturer Dr Taryn De Vega of the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies in Makhanda. In the early days, stretching back to the 19th century, newspaper production and the collection of information was essentially a process of 'bring and share', De Vega said. Today, the transformation of that process has changed radically in its evolution — but not so much its key objective. 'I don't know if it [news gathering and processing] is easier or harder — but it's definitely changed,' De Vega said. 'The focus of newspapers has fundamentally shifted. The first newspapers in the country were government gazettes. So the industry in that era in the 1800s was essentially government driven. 'This, of course, evolved dramatically when public sentiment and opinion on the ground which reflected opposition to government leadership or simply a different stance made its way onto newspaper pages. 'The concept of holding truth to power was born on the pages of those forerunners. 'There was also commentary, poetry, prose and short stories. But t he newspapers as we know them today are completely different from those early newspapers.' De Vega said the motivation therefore for early publishers was to include the government gazette into a newspaper filled with other information for the reader to consume. ' This included, for example, what was coming into the country via cargo from ships for purchase and this was a way for the government to be visible. 'But early newspapers did not represent the reality on the ground so there was a need for press freedom. 'B y 1824 we already had this opposition to the government and leaders like Lord Charles Somerset, who was governor at the time. 'People wanted papers to reflect what the reality and experiences of those on the ground were. ' While newspaper production gathered momentum in the mid-1800s, the Eastern Cape was in fact at the forefront of this early media growth.' De Vega said. Umshumayeli Wendaba was the first African language newspaper on the African continent, first published in 1837 — founded by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society and published from Makhanda as a missionary-style paper. That was essentially the preacher of the good news which spoke to the mission work being done. A few more newsletters were published across the region, yet none of them remain in circulation today. By 1845, followed the Eastern Province Herald — the newspaper which you hold in your hands today — and then subsequently other newspapers around the country appeared. 'The contributions and newspaper gathering techniques at the time were made up of country correspondents. The newspaper itself would have only one or two writers,' De Vega said. 'But it was the correspondents from all over the Eastern Cape who were able to add to those newspapers. 'It was a kind of bring and share of news items which were brought to one particular newspaper house — reviewed, edited and printed. 'They were looking for what experiences were on the ground and the reality of what was happening in the country.' De Vega also pointed to how newspapers were physically produced from an iron and steel printing press — 'machinery which had to be moved to put it all together by hand' — compared to today's advanced printing techniques, technology and innovation — and naturally, access to online offerings of newspapers. 'One thing that has become clear in an age of modern media which is saddled with the problem of disinformation and inaccurate information being posted online, is the importance of establishing reliable media sources where such information and news items can be cross-checked,' De Vega pointed out. 'What is so interesting today is the extension of the newsroom to wherever we are — be it via a cellphone or laptop. 'And the thing is, while it is fast, I don't know if it is better. And that is the challenge.' De Vega said there was huge pressure to produce breaking stories online as quickly as possible as opposed to assignments which required a more investigative approach and obtaining multiple sources to verify the facts. This posed the problem of ensuring that the quality and accuracy of what was printed was what it should be. This was in direct contrast to what she calls 'slow journalism' where a journalist had the time to undertake thorough fact-checking. 'On the flip side of the coin, breaking news stories online and having digital platforms allowed for enhanced interaction with your audience. 'Breaking news online and with the technology available, allowed for eyewitnesses to immediately come forward or to be interviewed and say: 'I was there', and then give a first-hand account, allowing the story to expand.' De Vega said that compared to other countries, public trust in the media was still relatively high in SA — in 2023, it was sitting at 57%. 'For journalism to survive as an institution, it's going to have to adapt for younger audiences who do not want the old style of journalism that is filled with depressing news of mass deaths, rape and murders and the like. 'We're looking at a TikTok generation — that's where they're getting their news, and I'm not sure how we are going to meet them where they are. 'We must adapt. We have to figure out how we are going to reach them in a way that's accessible and interesting to them.' The Herald
