Yearly Archives: 2012

R600m for vacant building

NEWS Leave a comment

iol nws july 8 si building (26754273)

Independent Newspapers

A Gauteng property developer has turned to the courts to force the North West Department of Health to move into a R600 million white elephant office park.

Peolwane Properties director Reginald Kukama is asking the Mafikeng High Court to compel the provincial government to pay the company R30m in arrear rental.

His company won a R600m tender to lease the building, but the department never moved into the building. The state-of-the-art office park remains vacant. But the department is arguing that the tender and lease are invalid.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Municipality responsible for water woes – Modise

NEWS Leave a comment

IOL pic nov17 tshwane water restrictions

Pic:Reuters

Johannesburg – The Moretele municipality is responsible for the disruption of water supply in the Ngobi village, North West premier Thandi Modise said on Sunday.

“Though the two-day disruption of water supply should have been reported sooner and escalated for prompt intervention, someone within the municipality’s technical section should take responsibility for dereliction of duty,” she said in a statement.

A team from the department of performance monitoring and evaluation and Modise’s office would visit the village and municipality on Monday to ensure the disruption would not reoccur.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za/

‘Jub Jub’ accused innocent: lawyer

NEWS Leave a comment

Themba Tshabalala

Photo: Dumisani Sibeko

Protea, Pretoria – Musician Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye’s co-accused in their murder trial should be acquitted, the Protea Magistrate’s Court heard on Wednesday. Themba Tshabalala’s lawyer Mlungiseleli Sovithi said the court had failed to prove his client was guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

“I call for the acquittal of my client Themba Tshabalala. If the evidence presented before a court cannot beyond reasonable doubt show that an accused is guilty, that person should be acquitted.”

Sovithi said his client had shown remorse after the accident.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

US tycoon promises R15m to school

NEWS Leave a comment

Mandela Day good deeds (6)

Picture: Mujahid Safodien

Durban – An uMhlanga primary school has been promised a donation worth millions from an American property developer to help fund the development of a high school campus.

 

Officially opened in 2003, uMhlanga College was built to accommodate pre-school and primary school boys and girls.

Robert Muir would donate about R15 million to the school for the building of the first phase of the five-year project, said headmaster Greg Brooks.

The first phase is due to be completed in time for the 2013 academic year, with classrooms to accommodate Grade 8s, a science laboratory and a cricket oval as part of the project.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za/

 

ANC factionalism rears its ugly head

NEWS Leave a comment

murderer mayor

Pic: Independent Newspapers

ANC factionalism reared its head in Rustenburg on Tuesday after a North West party leader was jailed for paying his bodyguard to kill a fellow politician and whistle-blower.

There was a stand-off between two groups – one supporting convicted killer and former Rustenburg mayor Matthew Wolmarans, 43, and the other for the slain party member, Moss Phakoe. The groups attacked each other in songs, with the one in support of the killers trashing the streets after court proceedings.

Inside the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court, Wolmarans, a member of the provincial executive committee (PEC) of the ANC in the province, listened as Judge Rodney Hendricks sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment for the murder of councillor Phakoe three years ago.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Judge orders drink for shaky witness

NEWS Leave a comment

gavel_may 14

Hanover – A judge in Germany ordered a drink for an alcoholic whose withdrawal symptoms were affecting his testimony in a murder trial, a report said.

According to a MailOnline report, Judge Frank Rosenow, 53, told the witness: “I think you need a drink.” to which homeless man Miroslav Waldchek, 50, replied: “I think I do, too, your honour.”

The judge then reportedly sent a court official to buy two small bottles of Weinbrand – a strong German brandy. The courtroom assistant returned and put the bottle into the shaking hands of Waldchek.

He was allowed to go into a sideroom adjacent to the State Court in Hanover to guzzle his potion under the eyes of a doctor.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Marcus gets green light to cut rates

NEWS Leave a comment

BR Gill Marcus 1101

Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus.

Inflation expectations dropped to the lowest level since the Reserve Bank cut borrowing costs almost two years ago as the bond market gives legislators the all-clear to lower the benchmark interest rate

.

Inflation will average 5.53 percent a year for the next five years, according to the gap between yields on fixed-rate debt due in 2017 and similar-maturity inflation-linked bonds.

The so-called breakeven rate, which fell 59 basis points in the past month, is at the lowest level since November 2010, when central bank governor Gill Marcus reduced the repurchase rate to 5.5 percent.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

TUT lecturer ‘axed’ as sex scandal rage

NEWS Leave a comment

IOL news aug 29 facebook aug 22

News of a Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) lecturers alleged dismissal hit social networking site Facebook.

The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) is embroiled in a sex scandal that has allegedly resulted in the dismissal of one of the lecturers.

This followed a woman student in the department of journalism accusing the lecturer of demanding sex in exchange for favourable marks in his subject.

The university has refused to comment, but news of the lecturer’s alleged dismissal hit social networking site Facebook on Tuesday.

TUT dismissed questions by the Pretoria News, saying the issue was an internal disciplinary matter and under investigation.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Murder suspect tries to steal plane

NEWS Leave a comment

IOL news july 18 Utah Airport Investigation~1

A SkyWest Airlines employee wanted in a murder case attempted to steal a passenger plane, then shot himself in the head after crashing the aircraft in a nearby parking lot, officials said.

Salt Lake City –

A SkyWest Airlines pilot suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend stole an empty 50-passenger jet from a small Utah airport, crashed it as he drove near a terminal, then killed himself with a gunshot to the head, officials said on Tuesday.

Brian Hedglin, 40, used a rug to scale the razor wire-topped security fence at the St George Municipal Airport overnight on Tuesday and drove off with the SkyWest jet, St George city spokesman Marc Mortenson said.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Entry to Mandela Day marathon now open

NEWS Leave a comment

A 42.2 km marathon in honor of Mandela will be held in Pietermaritzburg in August.

A 42.2 km marathon in honor of Mandela will be held in Pietermaritzburg in August.(SABC)

Entries for the Mandela Day Marathon to be held on the 26th of August from Pietermaritzburg to Howick, in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, are now open. A 42.2 km marathon reflects, in a symbolic way, the gruelling marathon that Nelson Mandela had to run to lay the foundation for today’s democratic and free South Africa.

Mandela was captured in 1962 near Howick and was jailed the following year and sent to Robben Island, where he began a “marathon” 27 years behind bars. Today the world icon celebrates his 94th birthday.

Meanwhile, a South African-based charity, Breadlines Africa, will spend today day equipping less fortunate schools around the country with mobile libraries. The organisation has identified education as a cause close to Madiba’s heart, and adds that, by giving schools a library, they can preserve his legacy.

For more details go to http://www.sabc.co.za