The North West Executive Council and stakeholders in the province are to make inputs on the implementation of the National Development Plan(NPA) and Vision 2030 during the National Planning Commission’s provincial outreach programme to be held at the Mmabatho Convention Centre on Tuesday next week.

The objective of the engagement to be led by the Minister of National Planning in the Presidency, Trevor Manuel and six members of the commission is to popularise the NDP so that it is translated into targets to be incorporated into future performance and delivery agreements and ensure that its aspects are incorporated into their own long- term planning exercises and implementation plans.

“Though the National Development Plan is a product of consultative process, the provincial engagement affords us broad stakeholder and citizen ownership towards the implementation process,” says Premier Thandi Modise.

The first session to commence at 8:00 am will be with the Provincial Executive Council (Exco) while the second session to commence at 10:00 am will involve invited representatives of the business sector, labour, traditional leadership, civil society, political parties, chairpersons of portfolio committees of the legislature, youth formations, etc.

Premier Modise has following on the establiishment of the National Planning Commission established a Provincial Planning Commission and appointed former MEC Darkey Africa as fulltime Commissioner. Additional commissioners were advertised in the print media and appointments are to be made in due course. 

A Khayelitsha traditional dance teacher will effectively serve three life terms for raping seven young girls after dance classes about two years ago.

Western Cape High Court Judge Nonkosi Saba sentenced Lawrence Gagu, 49, to life in prison for each of the seven counts of rape.

A further four and five years respectively were imposed for charges of sexual grooming and showing pornography to children.

Judge Saba ordered that some of the life terms run concurrently, as she grouped the counts according to the number of times the girls were raped.

Some of the girls, aged between seven and 12, were raped once, twice and thrice. One of Gagu’s victims was raped 12 times.

Between June 2009 and March 2010, the girls were lured to his Makhaza shack in pairs after dance practice under the guise of helping him with household chores. While one of the girls fetched water, the other would stay behind, and Gagu would rape her. He had washed the girls after the rapes and threatened them at knife-point that they must keep quiet or he would kill their parents.

“Rape is one of the most serious crimes… the exacerbating factors are that these crimes were committed repeatedly on young, vulnerable and unsuspecting children. The accused planned these crimes very well. The children obeyed him because they trusted him,” Judge Saba said.

He said the fact the case was heard in the Khayelitsha Regional Court – so the community could attend – was a “blessing in disguise”.

“This case was heard in Khayelitsha so they (the community) can have insight into what transpired and it will serve as a wake-up call for them to be more vigilant, particularly regarding the supervision of children,” he said.

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

Johannesburg –

The hunt was on Wednesday for a small aircraft that was last heard of over Mozambique’s remote northwest, with fears growing about the fate of its occupants.

“The aircraft went missing on Sunday and a search and rescue operation was launched immediately,” said Jonny Smith, spokesman for the Johannesburg-based Aeronautical Search and Rescue.

The craft – a Beechcraft 58 – had two people on board, and was travelling from Malawi en route to Lanseria airport, north of Johannesburg. It was last heard of around Mozambique’s vast province of Tete.

“The Mozambicans requested our help in the search and a joint operation has been set up in Beira,” said Smith.

“At this stage it very difficult to predict what might have happened to it. Our search continues,” he added.

According to Mozambique Civil Aviation Agency, the plane did not send out a distress signal. The agency earlier said the aircraft was last heard of on Tuesday. – Sapa-AFP

BY Obakeng Maje

Banyana Banyana striker Andisiwe Mgcoyi scored the only goal of the match against Senegal to keep her team’s CAF African Women Championship 2012 title hopes alive in Group A action at the Malabo stadium on Wednesday, 31 October 2012.

 The tall Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies (Sasol League Gauteng) player finished off a good move after a period of extensive Banyana Banyana pressure in the 70th minute, to give the South Africans a hard-fought and much-needed win after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to hosts Equatorial Guinea at the same venue.

The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana will leave the island for the mainland on Thursday, 1 November 2012, to prepare for their final Group A, fixture, against the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Bata on Saturday, 3 November 2012.

This was Senegal’s second defeat in the tournament, having gone down 1-0 to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday.

Fielding an attack-minded formation, the South Africans had too much pace on the flanks for Senegal, with Nothando Vilakazi – moved from left back defender to left wing for the match – causing lot of trouble among the Senegalese defenders.

Against Senegal, Banyana Banyana’s midfield dominated possession and the South Africans could have had a healthy advantage by half-time. In the seventh minute, the livewire Mgcoyi latched on to a superb through-ball to beat the Senegalese offside but saw her attempted lob going narrowly wide with the advancing goalkeeper Mariane Fall well beaten.

Portia Modise, playing her 100th international game, was in attacking mood, but was also thwarted by some good goalkeeping by Fall.

In the second half, Banyana Banyana head coach Joseph Mkhonza continued his offensive approach with Bloemfontein Celtics Ladies (Sasol League Free State) striker Sanah Mollo and Durban Ladies (Sasol League KwaZulu Natal) goal-hungry Silindile Ngubane – on for Noko Matlou and Nocawe Skiti respectively – playing key roles in forcing the Senegalese side back into their own half for long periods of play.

Spurs WFC (Sasol League Western Cape) speedster Jermaine Seoposenwe – on for Mgcoyi in the final minutes of the match – also looked dangerous on the attack.

Johannesburg – An aluminium and steel recycling factory in Industria was on fire in the early hours of Thursday morning, Johannesburg emergency services personnel said.

“There have been no injuries reported and the fire is contained and stopped,” said spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi at 3.30am.

“Firefighters are monitoring the factory… The damage is not that much because the fire was stopped and contained before it spread through the factory.”

Mulaudzi said one of the storage facilities where aluminium and steel is stored caught fire at around 1.30am on Thursday morning.

The cause of the fire was not known and would be investigated, he added. – Sapa

Cape Town – Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi would not say on Wednesday whether the underground bunker reportedly planned for President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla private residence was designed to handle a long siege.

“With due respect, I don’t understand the… question,” he told the Inkatha Freedom Party’s Mario Oriani-Ambrosini in the National Assembly.

The IFP MP had asked him: “Is the design of the complex to enable the president… to survive a long siege? Because it doesn’t seem the complex is designed specifically to withstand a terrorist attack.”

Oriani-Ambrosini also asked, to laughter from opposition MPs, if the bunker was to ensure the “long-term sustainability” of the president should he ever find himself under siege “and unwilling to surrender himself to somebody wanting to get him there”.

Earlier, Nxesi dodged questions about the reported R200-million-plus upgrades to Zuma’s private residence at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal, acknowledging only that his department met “on a continuous basis” with the Department of Defence and the South African Police Service to discuss the “implementation of security measures at… state facilities”.

Such discussion included the private and the official accommodation of members of the executive, and whether “various projects were executed in accordance with risk assessments done by the SAPS and the Defence Department”.

Asked whether an underground bunker was warranted at a private residence, Nxesi again repeated he could not discuss such security matters, which were a matter for the Department of Defence.

However, he did suggest the reported cost of the project was not correct.

Asked by Democratic Alliance MP Anchen Dreyer whether the R230-million spent on the safety of one person was worth more than the education, health and safety of millions of poor South Africans, he responded: “I do not know where you get this figure.” – Sapa

Durban – Three robbers, who beat a Westville couple and held them captive for two hours, were forced to flee almost empty-handed after inadvertently pressing the panic button on Tuesday morning.

But that wasn’t the extent of their troubles – they also managed to botch their getaway, by wrecking the clutch of the couple’s car, which they had loaded up with their loot, including three TV sets and a sound system. They abandoned the stalled car and fled, taking with them only the small items they could carry.

The Dawncliffe couple – aged 57 and 61 – asked not to be named, because they feared for their lives after being assaulted, tied up and locked in their bathroom while the suspects ransacked their home after midnight.

Recalling the ordeal, they described it as “horrendous”, saying the robbers threatened to kill them while demanding money, cellphones, bank cards with pin codes, as well as guns and jewellery.

It is believed that they entered the home through a window while the couple was asleep.

“My wife saw a face looking into hers and she screamed,” the man said. “Soon after, I woke up and they started assaulting us with sticks while they tied us up with Sellotape and made us lie on the floor at the edge of the bed. That’s when they made demands and threatened to kill us.

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

Senior police officers met to discuss their operations on the day 34 miners were killed in Marikana, the Farlam Commission heard on Wednesday.

“The briefing was about the duties of the day,” crime scene expert Captain Apollo Mohlaki told the commission, sitting in Rustenburg.

They were told to be on standby so they could photograph traditional weapons at a hill near the Nkaneng informal settlement, near Wonderkop.

“We were told there was an agreement that people will leave their weapons at a hill,” he said.

Under cross-examination by advocate George Bizos SC, representing the families of mineworkers killed by police on August 16, Mohlaki said the officers were not told there might be violence.

“Did you hear that the business of people gathering on a hill will be ended today? (August 16),” Bizos asked.

“Not at all,” he responded.

Mohlaki said he was called to the scene around 4pm. On arrival he saw police, paramedics, and dead bodies.

“Did you ask what happened?” Bizos asked him.

He said he did not. Instead, he asked the whereabouts of a senior police officer named Naidoo, whom he found about 500 metres away. He said Naidoo told him there was a crime scene and that he (Mohlaki) knew what to do.

He then asked a Constable Molefe to take videos of the scene while he started collecting evidence. – Sapa