By Obakeng Maje

Mmabatho- North West police are investingating a case of rape and murder at Tloung village near Mmabatho after a 98 year-old granny murdered.

This gruesome event happened on saturday and no one has been arrested yet.

“A grandson was allegedly on his way to a funeral and decided to check on his grandmother. He was allegedly welcomed by this ordeal” colonel Emelda Setlhako said.

“He allegedly found her granny covered with a blanket and strangled” She said.

According to police the granny stays with her great grandson who stays in the back room.

When questioned,he explained that he heard some huge sound in the house and thought maybe something has fallen,but he did not check what is happening.

“Investigations continue and we would like to ask anyone with information that could lead to any arrest to come forward” Setlhako said.

By Obakeng Maje

A Namibian National man was arrested in Kopfontein Border Post  on friday after Police recovered illicit Cigarettes estimated at R585 000.00 North West police said. “According to information,the police were busy searching at the arrival side of the border when a white Nissan truck with registration number of Gauteng province approached  the searching point” Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.

“The Police allegedly requested the driver to produce his passport and to open the truck so that they can conducted the  search” Ngubane said. 

Upon opening of the truck  police realized that the length of the truck body from the inside is not the same as the truck body from outside. 

This was further confirmed by using the measuring tape and the outside was 70 meters and inside was 60 meters.

The driver was  directed to park the truck at the ramp for thorough  searching and  the truck body was suspected of having a possible false compartment from inside North West police said. 

The truck body was tapped and opened. 

Boxes with cigarettes were discovered at the  corner of the body truck.

The compartment was broken and 70 master cases of Shasha and 20 master cases  of Caspian blue cigarettes, each master case containing 50 cartons total value of R580,50.00 was discovered.

On questioning the driver he  alleged that he was going to load foil at  Alberton.

“A case of smuggling of illicit cigarettes was opened at Nietverdiend police station” police said. 

The suspect is expected to appear in court on Monday.

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By Obakeng Maje

Hosts South Africa played to a goalless draw against Cape Verde in the opening match of the 29th Edition of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 at the National Stadium on Saturday, 19 January.

The match was played in wet conditions after incessant rains throughout the day.

The second Group A clash between Morocco and Angola also ended in a stalemate with both sides failing to find the back of the net, leaving Group A evenly matched.

The tournament was declared open by the State President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. Dignitaries who attended the colourful opening ceremony included among others President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Issa Hayatou and the secretary general of FIFA, Jerome Valcke.

While Bafana Bafana enjoyed a lot of ball possession, they didn’t seem to trouble the opposing goalkeeper, leaving head coach Gordon Igesund a disappointed man.

He made three changes in the second half bringing on Lerato Chabangu, Thulani Serero and Katlego Mphela for Kagisho Dikgacoi, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Lehlohonolo Majoro respectively.

Bernard Parker and Mphela celebrated their 50th caps for Bafana Bafana who left thousands of their supporters disappointed on a vibrant night in which fans came in their thousands.

“We didn’t create any chances today and so for me the first half was very disappointing and a lot of players didn’t come to the party. After working so hard at training, I believe my players froze today and our midfield didn’t play at all today as we were trying to pump the balls forward. We needed a little bit of creativity, but the nerves got to the players and I have never seen them like this before. We looked very desperate for a goal,” said Igesund.

 “It looked liked the guys were panicking trying to play at a very high speed that we are not accustomed to. The first half was a complete waste of 45 minutes, but the second half was a little bit better. We are facing Angola and Morocco and these are games that we now need to win as we have put ourselves under pressure. Today I wanted to be very offensive, but it did not happen.”

Igesund thanked the fans who filled the National Stadium. He also believes all is not lost.

“We have to go for it against Angola, that is a match we have to win. In fact we have two games to play and I think five or six points might be enough to see us through. We got the point, it was important not to lose the game and on Wednesday we can’t draw that game. There are still six points to play for,” added Igesund.

Bafana Bafana captain Bongani Khumalo echoed the sentiments of the coach.

“Obviously we would have loved to get to a winning start so we could set the tone for the tournament, but nonetheless we have a point. We have another big game on Wednesday – and another one after that so there is a chance,” said Khumalo.

The draw in the other Group A match now means all the teams have one point each.

How South Africa and Cape Verde lined up:

South Africa:

Itumeleng Khune; Anele Ngcongca, Bongani Khumalo(c), Siyabonga Sangweni, Thabo Matlaba; Kagisho Dikgacoi (Lerato Chabangu), Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Thuso Phala, Siphiwe Tshabalala (Thulani Serero); Lehlohonolo Majoro (Katlego Mphela), Bernard Parker.

Cape Verde Islands:

Vozinha; Carlitos, Fernando Varela, Nando, Nivaldo; Babanco, Marco Soares, Platini, Toni Varela; Heldon, Ryan Mendes.

Johannesburg – No ANC member was elected to a position of leadership because of loyalty to President Jacob Zuma, secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Friday.

“This [notion] is a serious assault on the character of many capable individuals in the ANC,” Mantashe told reporters in Johannesburg.

If news analysis of the African National Congress was done properly, these kind of assertions would not happen.

Mantashe said the ANC had been meeting with intellectuals and analysts.

Analysis of the party in newspaper columns was often worrying.

“Analysts and communicators must come [and talk to the ANC] and not do analysis from small corners,” he said.

This was “arrogance at its best”.

Mantashe’s remarks followed reports after the ANC’s national conference in Mangaung last month where members seeking new leadership were snubbed and excluded from positions of leadership.

The issue was discussed at the ANC’s one-day national executive committee (NEC) meeting held in Irene, south of Pretoria on Thursday.

The meeting was a continuation of the one held in Durban earlier this month.

Mantashe said during the meeting the NEC acknowledged its primary task of implementing the mandate of last month’s national conference.

This included focusing on ethics and political education as part of the “decade of the cadre” and delivering socio-economic freedom.

Problems

He said it was decided that youth unemployment should be tackled urgently.

The party also agreed that there was a need for the private sector to be monitored to ensure it was committing itself to the national programme outlined in the national development plan.

“High unemployment, deepening poverty and growing inequality remain the most pre-eminent problems facing society,” Mantashe said.

“As we deal with the situation in the mining industry, the challenges facing the agricultural sector, the reality of these three pre-eminent problems must inform the approach.”

The 20-member national working committee (NWC) was elected at the meeting. Half of them were women.

They are Jeff Radebe, Naledi Pandor, Lindiwe Zulu, Bathabile Dlamini, Nomvula Mokonyane, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Jackson Mthembu, Nathi Mthethwa, Malusi Gigaba, Derek Hanekom, Susan Shabangu, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Collins Chabane, Aaron Motsoaledi, Nomaindia Mfeketo, Blade Nzimande, Fikile Xhasa, Tina Joemat-Pettersson and Sisa Mabe.

This was the first time the ANC was enforcing a provision of its constitution, which stated there had to be 50% representation of women in leadership.

However, the women elected to the NWC were elected on merit, Mantashe said.

The NWC is responsible for the day-to-day running of the ANC.

Kimberley – A 14-year-old Kimberley girl is 28 weeks’ pregnant after she was allegedly raped on several occasions by her primary schoolteacher.

The girl’s parents confirmed that they had opened a case of statutory rape against the Grade 7 teacher from a Colville primary school.

Sydney Stander, spokesman for the Northern Cape Department of Education, on Thursday said that the department was aware of the incident and has placed the teacher on suspension to allow for a full investigation to establish the extent of the problem.

He added that the department viewed this type of conduct in a very serious light as it not only amounted to the abuse of authority and the trust children have in teachers, but also undermined the integrity of the teaching profession.

“We are happy that the parents have registered a criminal case and we hope the law will take its course. We also want to apologise to the parents of the learner for the unethical conduct of the practitioner.

“Our schools are supposed to be centres of excellence that harness and protect every child and offer hope for a better future,” Stander concluded.

The principal of the school also confirmed that the teacher had been suspended.

The distraught parents of the child on Thursday told the DFA how their (then) 13-year-old daughter was a victim of intimidation, physical and psychological abuse as well as sexual assault by the teacher since March 2012.

They said they only found out their daughter was expecting in November last year, when she was already 18 weeks’ pregnant.

It was only then that the child told her parents of the months of abuse she allegedly had to endure while in the teacher’s register class.

In a statement to the police, the child recalled how the teacher took a special interest in her and singled her out to stay after class and do favours for him.

When they approached the school to report the matter, the accused apparently admitted to having sexual intercourse with the child and suggested that she go for an abortion. He apparently offered to cover the costs involved.

It also emerged that he reportedly tried to bribe the child, saying he would give her money if she did not tell anyone that he was involved, after he found out she was pregnant. The child also had to endure threats of failing her grade if she reported him.

The parents of the learner, who this week started grade 8, said their child’s innocence had been stolen and her whole life ruined.

“She was a good student and we had lots of hope that she would make a success of her future, but now that future looks bleak. She has been extremely traumatised by these events and even tried to commit suicide. Community members have started to turn their backs on us and we don’t know how we will take care of the baby financially.

“We have lost faith in the Department of Education, an institution that we entrust our children to on a daily basis. How is it possible that children in classrooms get exposed to sexual predators like this,” her parents asked.

While they praised the principal of the school for her quick and decisive action once the matter was brought to her attention, they added that they believed that other teachers knew what was happening and did nothing.

Naomi Dube, from Kimberley Childline, on Thursday lashed out at the Department of Education, saying that they were supposed to be the custodians of children but were failing learners who were entrusted in their care.

She said the department had become an embarrassment, especially in situations where fellow teachers knew about sexual abuse but chose to look the other way or took the side of offenders.

Dube also said that allowing teachers accused of rape to continue teaching was an absolute violation of the rights of children.

Dube was referring to Tebogo Vernon Steward, a teacher from Sol Plaatje Primary School, who stands accused of raping a 16-year-old learner in April last year but still continues to teach at the school.

Steward will appear in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court next week.

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Durban – Education MEC Senzo Mchunu told two schoolboys on Thursday that they had better quit smoking whoonga and dagga or they could forget about ever attending a public school in the province.

Mchunu read the riot act to the two pupils, aged 15 and 19, during a visit to a school in Mlazi on Thursday, and said regular blood tests would be done on the teenagers for six months and they would be expelled if traces of drugs were found.

Swelihle Secondary had refused to enrol the two pupils because of behavioural problems, and they had come to the school with their desperate parents on Thursday when the MEC intervened.

The teenagers had admitted to using the drugs.

Mchunu’s visit was part of a three-day programme which has involved officials and other MECs paying surprise visits to schools across the province to see how they were functioning at the start of the new school year.

Mchunu said the pupils, who have absconded three times during exams, must be given a final chance and allowed to enrol.

He said the department’s special needs education service, which deals with social ills, would work to get the pupils back on track with the help of school principal Dumisile Bulose.

“I am putting them under monitoring and they will be tested for drugs on a regular basis. Whether you smoke at night, if it is in your blood, we will be able to detect it. This is your last chance… If we find it in your blood, you will be expelled and you will never be enrolled at another school in KZN,” said Mchunu.

“You boys are still very young and you can still pass and contribute to the country. If the department, the school and your parents give up on you, you will be nothing. You are going nowhere because drugs are taking you two nowhere,” he told them.

He urged the school to provisionally accept the pupils on condition they agree to be helped to stop taking drugs.

“These provisional acceptance forms must be signed by the parents for the process of helping these pupils to begin,” said Mchunu.

Psychologists were expected to visit the school on Friday to counsel the pupils.

Mchunu was not pleased with the school’s matric pass rate of 51 percent.

“This is a fail. I am not insulting you, but it’s a fact,” he told the principal.

Turning to the school’s new Grade 12 pupils, he said: “You must study hard because there is no miracle in matric that will help you pass. Forget about whoonga.”

At Lindelani Senior Primary, also in Mlazi, Mchunu was not satisfied with the maintenance of the school.

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

By Obakeng Maje

Gaborone-“The North West Provincial Government and Afcon Local Organising Committee’s drive to rally support in Botswana for Rustenburg games has been met with enthusiasm by the people and the media of Gaborone” Vusi Kama said. 

In partnership with the Botswana Post Office, the Local Organising Committee team has seen queues stretching during the Thursday and Friday campaign in the capital city.  

Local electronic media houses such as Botswana TV, Duma FM, Yarona Fm and Gabs FM have all been on board in the promotions, with the local newspaper, Weekend Post, also taking a keen interest. 

“Most of the ticket sales are happening at the city’s Rail Park Mall, with two sales stations set up. Plans are afoot to run a similar campaign after the first games in Rustenburg, from January 23” he adds. 

Further ticket sales will be done through the Post Offices in Gaborone. 

The Department’s MEC, Ms Tebogo Modise, says her department seeks to intensify the campaign in Botswana, and make the tournament a truly African extravaganza. 

The contact person for ticket sales in Botswana is Jerry Mooketsane. He is on (0267) 71 660490.

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Cape Town – Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman has put forward an ambitious plan to win back the province from the DA next year, but he has admitted it won’t be easy.

“It will be a very difficult exercise, but very possible,” Fransman told the Cape Argus this week.

He said the party was “ready to take on the DA” and “preparing to govern in 2014”.

Over the next few months, the party will up its membership in the province by at least 12 000, Fransman said.

“We will be opening up the ANC in the province. We have 38 000 members in the Western Cape currently. We want to up that to at least 50 000 this year,” he said.

“No one in leadership positions in the ANC in this province must feel comfortable. All MPs, members of the legislature and councillors will have to show how they are recruiting new members.”

ANC membership in the Western Cape fell from 43 000 in 2011 to 38 000 before the Mangaung conference in December.

Fransman said the ANC’s plan to reclaim the Western Cape was explained in a party document titled “The Peoples Path to Power”.

He said the strategy was based on five key pillars:

– Organisational renewal.

– Re-connecting with communities and civil society.

– Offering alternative governance.

– Ensuring economic transformation.

– Strengthening local governance.

Fransman said the party in the Western Cape was “more united than ever” post Mangaung.

“Yes, there were divisions before Mangaung about leadership preferences. But that’s behind us and we’re working as a united front to win back this province in 2014,” he said.

Fransman said he was convinced that the DA would lose next year’s election “purely on the way they are governing” the Western Cape.

“The DA is engaged in politics of deception,” he said.

“They have a brilliant PR machine and are governing this province using spin-doctor tactics.

“With the ‘Save our Schools’ campaign we’ve demystified their politics of deception and have exposed the DA and the Education MEC (Donald Grant) for who and what they actually are.

“They don’t care about the poorest of the poor, which make up the biggest voting block in this province.

“We’ve worked with those communities. The school campaign has been the most visible example of our commitment to the poor.”

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

Fransman said economic transformation would be one of the ANC’s key focus areas “when we take over”.