NWest commits to employment and empowerment of more people with disabilities 

 North West Premier Thandi Modise has committed to push all provincial government departments towards meeting the 2% targets for employment of people with disabilities. This follows a meeting that Premier Modise had with the North West Provincial Disability Forum (PDF) in Mahikeng on Wednesday afternoon.The Premier also committed that her administration will review funding of organisations of/for people with Disabilities, resourcing of programmes for people with disabilities and closely monitor their implementation across all spheres of government in the province.“We will not do or think for people with disabilities but work with closely with you to mainstream disability across government work in the province because the dignity of all citizens including those of vulnerable groups is paramount,” Modise assured 20 members of the forum she met with.The PDF commented the Provincial department of Human Settlements, Public Safety & Liaison for its effort to meet its employment equity targets in relation to people with disabilities. The department recently recruited 15 people with disabilities some of whom are expected to assume duty at the end of this month.

 At the conclusion of the meeting, Chairperson of the Provincial Disability Forum, Moagi Kodisang expressed optimism that representation of people with disabilities in Boards and Governance Structures and their economic empowerment would improve given assurances that the Premier gave to members of his structure.

“We are encouraged by the Premier’s commitment that her office’s Bursary scheme will as part of its contribution towards skills development ring fence some bursaries for people with disabilities,” added Kodisang.

Modise also committed to look at interventions to reduce the backlog of assistive devices needed by 5132 people with disabilities across the province. Two thousand three hundred and eighty-three of the people identified as those in need of the devices are resident in Ngaka Modiri Molema District.

A follow up meetings with the MECs for Education & Training 

 and Economic Development, Environment, Conservation & Tourism to look into implementation of inclusive education policy and concretise on economic empowerment of people with disabilities-enterprises and businesses in all sectors is to be held in due course.

The 14-year-old Oaklands High School pupil who allegedly shot and injured two other pupils in a taxi took the gun to school on the day of the shooting, a report to the provincial education ministry has indicated.

“It is not clear at this stage whether other learners were aware that the learner had a gun in his possession,” said Bronagh Casey, spokeswoman for Education MEC Donald Grant. The principal was not aware that the boy had a pistol.

“Had he known, he would have taken the necessary steps to remove it.”

In a case where a principal had been made aware that a pupil was carrying a dangerous object, or alcohol or illegal drugs, he could conduct “a search-and-seizure exercise”.

The teenager was expected to appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday but did not do so.

Provincial police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said the docket had been sent to court on Wednesday. But National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman Eric Ntabazalila told the Cape Argus that the NPA had not yet received the docket from the police. “The case is still with the police,” he said.

The teenager will appear in court only once he is charged. He is not in police custody but police would not disclose his whereabouts.

The incident happened at about 3pm on Tuesday while all three pupils were in a taxi, about to leave school.

Both the injured pupils, who are in Grade 8 and Grade 10, were hit in the leg.

Casey said the Grade 10 pupil had surgery on Tuesday night and the Grade 8 pupil would receive further medical attention.

She said the school was “understandably shaken” by the incident and counsellors had provided support to teachers and pupils.

At the beginning of the school year metro police officers started doing duty at six Peninsula schools, but Oaklands High was not one of them.

JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, said indications were that the pilot project had been able to help stabilise violence on school grounds, and was helping with issues like drugs in schools and criminal elements coming on to school grounds.

“Ideally, we would like to have the officers in more schools.”

Some of the recent incidents of violence at schools include:

– In February last year 16-year-old Raylinn Fortuin died after being stabbed at Beauvallon High School in Valhalla Park.

– In October, Grade 11 pupil Thabani Mntini died after being stabbed in the face during a break-time scuffle on the grounds of Hillcrest Secondary School in Mossel Bay.

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

A planned campaign by Cosatu against major retailers who “exploit” farmers by paying low prices for agricultural products would not work, TAU SA said on Thursday.

“I wish Cosatu could take a lesson in economics. That is not how economics work, there is a whole range of issues involved from the farm right up to the consumer,” general manager of the farmers’ organisation, Bennie van Zyl, said.

Western Cape Cosatu secretary Tony Ehrenreich said on Wednesday that retailers were buying products from farmers for “ridiculously” low prices.

“It is partly these practices that have seen the distorted pricing structure in agriculture,” Ehrenreich said.

Van Zyl questioned whether Cosatu’s actions were “economically driven or politically driven”.

He said calm had to prevail in order to effectively deal with this crisis in the sector. He urged Cosatu to instead campaign for more investment and job creation in the country.

-Sapa

Cape Town – The rape, mutilation and subsequent death of a 17-year-old Bredasdorp girl has shocked many, and political organisations have expressed their outrage.

Cosatu described the attack on the girl as “appalling”, while the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) said the incident left it disgusted.

Anine Booysen was raped – possibly gang-raped. She was also disembowelled but was still alive when she was found. Before she died, she was able to name one of the men she said had attacked her.

Jonathan Quinton Davids, 22, appeared in the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court on charges of rape and murder on Tuesday.

Police are still looking for more suspects.

Cosatu national spokesman Patrick Craven appealed to residents to “demonstrate” outside the court when Davids was set to appear.

“When a very similar incident occurred in India there was a massive protest and mass demonstrations in the streets. It was a huge story around the world. We must show that South Africa is no less angry at such crimes, and make an equally loud statement of disgust.”

In South Africa there was a tendency to accept incidents like the death of Booysen as part of daily life. “We need to unite as a nation to make criminals scared of society’s outrage when such acts are perpetrated,” Craven added.

The teenager was found in early hours of Saturday and taken to the local hospital before being transferred to hospital in Worcester and eventually to Tygerberg, where she died.

A source in the Bredasdorp told the Cape Argus that Booysen had been sliced open from her stomach to her genital area, and her internal organs and insides had been “hanging out”.

“It was one of the most gruesome things you can imagine – especially for a small platteland town,” the source said, asking not to be named.

Hospital staff had to receive debriefing counselling, “because the girl’s injuries were so horrific”, said the Health Department’s Faiza Steyn.

Bredasdorp resident Zeldie Jooste said the community was shocked and angry, Eyewitness News reported.

“It’s a big shock to the community that something so brutal can happen in a small town where our children go out walk around in the evenings.”

She told EWN that she was concerned about letting her teenage daughter go out at night.

“You’d think it’s a safe town because it’s so small and then something so brutal happens to an innocent girl on her way to a party.”

A statement released on behalf of the ANCWL by spokeswoman Troy Martens said South Africans needed to come together as a nation and declare that “enough is enough”.

“Men and women need to join hands around this issue and fight this epidemic together. The Women’s League and a few women’s NGOs can no longer be the lone voices crying out against rape.

“The scourge of rape cannot be seen as a women’s issue any longer. All South Africans of all creeds need to come together as a nation and take a stand against this vulgar and despicable sexual crime,” Martens said.

“We cannot let another girl or woman suffer like 17-year-old Anene Booysen.”

The women’s league was “baffled” by the high number of rapes in society.

“It is difficult to find reason behind the many different acts of gang rape, child rape, rape of the elderly, corrective rape and male rape.”

South Africa’s statistics agency concluded in 2000 that it had the highest reported rape rate of all 120 Interpol member countries, according to Reuters. Even when suspects are caught, only 12 percent of cases end in conviction.

* Call Detective Dollien Olivier on 082 522 1014 or 028 425 5448 with information on Anene’s rape and murder.

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

TERTIARY graduates be warned! You may soon be slapped with a “graduate tax” the minute you find a job.

CHAIRWOMAN: Naledi Pandor, the chairman of the ANC sub-committee on education, which took a resolution in Mangaung to introduce a tax on new entrants in the job market. Photo: DANIEL BORN

NOT HAPPY: Themba Masondo

A resolution on such a tax was taken at the ANC’s conference in Mangaung, Free State, in December.

Delegates participating in the education and health commission resolved that consideration “must be given to a graduate tax for all graduates from higher education institutions”.

Details on the mooted tax – as presented in the ANC’s comprehensive list of conference resolutions – are very scant, with no explanation given about time lines for implementation or the likely percentage to be levied on new job market entrants.

As yet, the said tax is only a consideration but delegates would expect that it will be made a reality since it was adopted as an official conferenceresolution.

The secretary-general of the South African Students Congress Themba Masondo, who participated in the education commission, confirmed the agreement to introduce the tax but said Sasco opposed it.

“As an organisation, we raised a number of issues with this tax. They are not so clear about how it will work,” said Masondo.

“It simply implies that those who graduate and find work will have to pay this tax but that means those who don’t find work will not.

“It’s not fair and that is why we are opposed to it.”

Masondo dismissed the “targeted tax” in favour of a general levy that would see high-income earners paying more.

And there will certainly be a lot of protestations from those who will feel they should not be taxed, Masondo predicted.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe referred Sowetan to the party’s education sub-committee chair Naledi Pandor – who is the also minister of home affairs – when approached to explain how the proposed tax would work.

Pandor had not responded to questions by the time of going to print yesterday.

According to ANC resolutions, the graduate tax looks to be a means to bolster the coffers of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which is expected to play a bigger role in the state’s plans to introduce free education to all undergraduate students.

Free education would likely be introduced next year, according to the set of resolutions.

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

Durban businesswoman Shawn Mpisane is expected to appear in the Durban magistrate’s court today.  She’s facing fraud charges – relating to her construction companies.  Mpisane is currently also embroiled in a tax fraud trial.  

The restraining order was granted after a two-year investigation. The wealthy businesswoman allegedly provided false information to the Construction Industry Development Board to get government tenders.

This allegedly led to larger government contracts worth R140 million. Yesterday, the Assets Forfeiture Unit seized assets and attached property worth R140 million belonging to Mpisane and her husband Sbu. 

The  unit seized among other things, a Rolls Royce Phantom worth between R6 and R8 million, two Porsches, a Maserati, a Mercedes Benz and a BMW. Their luxury house is said to be valued at R80-million.

PricewaterhouseCoopers curator Trevor White says: “As a result of the restraint order we are in the process of valuating three properties that they own as well as the various assets in those properties as well as their motor vehicles which in the court order is listed as 62 vehicles.”

Questions have earlier been raised about Mpisane and her company– Zikulise Cleaning and Transport. They have been accused of poor workmanship relating to housing projects.

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

At least 2000 farm workers were issued with retrenchment notices on Wednesday, Business Day reported on Thursday.

This, as the agricultural sector shed jobs ahead of the implementation of a new minimum wage, and as mechanisation on farms gathered pace.

The paper reported analysts warning that thousands more would be shed when the new wage comes into effect at the beginning of next month.

Agricultural Machinery Association secretary Jim Rankin told Business Day he expected he expected farmers to look more closely at mechanisation “in the light of the last six months” — during which workers went on strike and unions demanded big pay rises — but said the process “started a long time ago”.

Sapa    

Community members in Mahikeng have joined the DA in attacking the licencing departments, especially in the Ngaka Moridi Molema district.

The neglect they say is causing people to sleep outside the departments’ offices to queue for learners’ and drivers’ license appointments.

“It’s a risk waking up early rushing to join the queue of a limited number of people considered to make appointments. Traffic authorities should do something about this or increase the number of people they take for appointments,” said Kenny Leburu.

Mapule Thebejane said: “I realised I was risking my life when I woke up early sometime last year to queue for an appointment. Many people want their driver’s license but the department of traffic should register people who come on that day and take a limited number and those left behind should be considered as first priority the following days and not that people should wake up early everyday.”

The DA called for improvement saying people’s lives were at stake.

“Community members start queuing for service as early as 4am only to be served after four hours and this smacks of total disrespect and is rather unacceptable. All the different services in the department are handled by the same few people, causing the application forms to stop being issued as early as 10am. This affects local productivity as leave needs to be taken from work to fulfil their legal obligations,” said DA provincial media manager Tiaan Kotze.

“It is very unsafe to be in a queue at that time of the morning as it exposes members of the community to robberies and cold conditions. We appeal to the municipality to employ more trained permanent staff to alleviate the lack of adequate service delivery to the taxpayer. We respect our people and we would like them to be afforded a decent service,” said Kotze. Human settlements, public safety and liaison spokesperson Simon Mmope urged the community to use other license centres including Lehurutshe, Zeerust and Lichtenburg to avoid congestion.

“We appreciate people applying for licenses but they must be safe and take heed of criminals when they walk in the dark,” said Mmope.

Public safety director in the Mahikeng local municipality Keaobaka Boikanyo was not available for comment at the time of going to press.

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

The ANC has set February 26 as the day the party will win back the mayoral seat at the Tlokwe local municipality.

This comes after as the ruling party promised to call for a motion of no confidence in the DA’s Tlokwe municipality mayor, Annette Combrink.

“Maphetle (Maphetle) will be reinstated the same way he was removed, through a motion of no confidence in the present mayor,” spokesperson Kenny Morolong said.

In November last year, warring ANC factions passed a motion of no confidence in ANC mayor Maphetle.

He was replaced by the DA’s Annette Combrink. The DA won the mayorship following a walkout during the vote on the motion.

Morolong said relations among the party’s councillors at the municipality had been mended.

Morolong is part of the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) members who were tasked to restore order in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district after the party’s regional executive was disbanded a week ago.

“PEC officials convened a successful meeting with ANC councillors at Tlokwe local municipality on Monday.

“The purpose of this meeting was inter-alia to reflect on previous developments, harmonise relations among these deployees of the organisation and forge close working links,” he said.

Morolong said officials were satisfied with the progress made through the engagement, which he said would restore the confidence of the people of Tlokwe in the ANC.

“Our councillors have exhibited renewed determination and an unflinching readiness to work to preserve the vote of confidence bestowed in the ANC during the previous local government elections.

“They have committed themselves to the reinstatement of comrade Maphetle as mayor of Tlokwe, this long awaited development will be realised on February 26,” he said.

As a result of the interaction, Morolong said PEC officials had resolved to engage the party’s provincial working committee to start disciplinary action against the affected councillors.

Six councillors face the party’s wrath for spearheading the ousting of Maphetle.

Morolong scoffed at what he said were efforts by the DA to pass a motion of no confidence in the council speaker at the municipality. –with Sapa