Knives that were out for Madibeng local municipality mayor Poppy Magongwa have now been sheathed following the formation of the rapid response team to address a water crisis that has haunted communities around the area.

The formation of the team follows an emergency meeting between acting MEC for local government and traditional affairs Paul Sebegoe, the mayor and councillors to curb the protest actions in Letlhabile, Centreville, Kgabalatsane, Klipgat and Oskraal communities over dirty, contaminated water for the past three years.

“The water treatment plant in the area will be upgraded. Stolen electricity transformers in some water pump stations will be replaced and those that are dysfunctional will be fixed to ensure sufficient water capacity to reservoirs,” said Sebegoe.

“This will enable them to supply water to high-lying areas. Water filters that are not functional will be fixed. We appeal to communities not to steal these facilities as this denies communities the right to water.”

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

Murder of ANC North West official Obuti Chika was expected to continue in the Klerksdorp Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Proceedings for the bail application began last week.

Chika, 33, was shot at point-blank range in the driveway of his home on December 14. He died later in the Klerksdorp Hospital.

Local government MEC China Dodovu was among those arrested for Chika’s murder.

The suspected trigger-man, Sihlangu Sekhakhane, was also arrested. He led police to Msinga in KwaZulu-Natal, where the suspected murder weapon was found.

The other accused are community member Jeffrey Letuka, North West provincial ANC Youth League chairman Papiki Baboile, ward Secretary Paul Molomonyane, councillor Itumeleng Molebatsi, municipal worker William Malefo and taxi driver Kgotso Kali.

Sapa

Six men accused of corruption in the building of the Mbombela stadium were expected to appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The six are Jacob Dladla, Tebogo Kubeka, Herbert Thelebi, Kaizer Chiefs’ manager Bobby Motaung, Christiaan Grib and Micheal Romanos.

Grib was the CEO of Lefika Emerging Equity (Pty) Ltd while Motaung and Romanos were directors of the company.

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

By Obakeng Maje

Taung-Police are investigating a case of arson and public violence after Mamokwane residents burned down their chief’s house.

No one has been arrested yet and police are searching for suspects.

Protesters set alight a house in Manokwane village in Taung on Friday morning, North West police said.

Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said the house was being rebuilt after it was set alight last year.

“The community has demands to the municipality… It’s like (they are) holding the municipality ransom,” said Mokgwabone.

The details of their demands were not clear.

“We don’t know their demands,” he said.

Contractors started rebuilding the house on Monday. It was set alight around 1am on Friday.

Residents of the village opposed the rebuilding of the house by the municipality, saying they wanted their demands met first, by both the municipality and the chieftancy.

The house was not occupied during the fire, and no reports of any injuries had been filed.

Two other houses were set alight in the village last year.

A case of arson was opened. – Sapa 

Madikwe -Two men accused of murder and stock theft appeared in the Madikwe Magistrate’s Court on Friday, North West police said.

Modise Mekgwe, 32, and Isaac Setshedi, 33, would be back in court on March 7 for a bail application, Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said.

They are accused of killing a 72-year-old man, whose burnt body was found in bushes near Molatedi village, Madikwe, on February 19.

A charge of defeating the ends of justice had also been added.

“They hid his burnt body with shrubs in the bush. That is why they are also facing a charge of defeating the ends justice.”

The man, a subsistence farmer, was last seen on February 17

herding his livestock. He was reported missing the following day. His 70 sheep and 120 goats were stolen.

Mekgwe’s sister handed him to police on Monday. The victim was Mekgwe’s uncle.

Setshedi is the sister’s boyfriend. Mekgwe appeared in court on Wednesday. Setshedi was arrested that day after Mekgwe allegedly implicated him in the crime.

“He 1/8Setshedi 3/8 admitted the incident and informed the police that the stolen livestock was sold at a butchery in Alexandra 1/8Gauteng 3/8,” said Mokgwabone.

Eleven goats and four sheep believed to have belonged to the victim were found in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, on Thursday.

Three men, including the butchery owner, were taken into custody for possession of stolen goods. They would appear in the Madikwe Magistrate’s Court on Monday. – Sapa

Johannesburg – The trial of seven police officers charged with killing protester Andries Tatane will continue in the Ficksburg Regional Court on Monday.

Tatane was killed on April 13, 2011, allegedly by police using rubber bullets during a service delivery protest in Ficksburg.

The case was postponed last year after the State cast doubt on its own witness, Captain Matshidio Lesomola.

He had been deployed in an observer capacity at the protest.

Prosecutor Sello Mathloko said the State had not been aware of the testimony Lesomola delivered, which was not the same as his statement to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) a few days after the shooting.

Mathloko said Lesomola had earlier read through his statement but had not indicated that it contained any discrepancies as he later alleged in his testimony in court.

Asked by Mathloko whether he had read the statement, Lesomola said: “Not really, because I was somewhat traumatised, confronted with so many pages, I just signed and went away.”

Given an opportunity in court to indicate with which portions of the statement he was not happy, Lesomola avoided being declared hostile.

He testified that he had not willingly made his statement to the IPID and alleged that after watching a video of the protest, he was threatened by two investigators. – Sapa

Banyana Banyana shook off their rustiness with a commendable 2-2 draw against the highly-rated New Zealand Women’s National team in a friendly match played at the Larnaca Sports Ground in Cyprus last night ahead of the start of the annual Cyprus Women’s Cup.  

The Sasol-sponsored team, who last played a competitive match against Botswana in December 2012, fought back from an early goal down against the towering Black Caps ladies to equalise through winger Mary Ntsweng with the impressive Jermaine Seoposenwe netting the second goal on a rebound after the New Zealand goalkeeper had saved Janine van Wyk’s fierce shot to give Banyana a deserved lead.

With Banyana heading for a famous win, New Zealand grabbed an equaliser towards the end of the match through an own goal, off the hip of Banyana Banyana defender Nothando Vilakazi to make the final score 2-2.

Banyana Banyana coach Joseph Mkhonza said of the outing: “We looked shaken and very rusty early on which was understandable as we haven’t played competitively in nearly three months but I was glad to see the girls gain confidence and play to instructions as the match progressed and then go on to hold this good New Zealand side.”

“Having arrived in Cyprus last Tuesday, we’ve quickly managed to familiarise ourselves with the usually chilly conditions we face in the mornings and evenings while the tactical training we have implemented on the girls seems to be progressing nicely thus far. We are grateful to Safa and Sasol for providing us with the opportunity of performing at this level again this year,” Mkhonza added.

Banyana Banyana will only regenerate today (Sunday) and then have a day off before getting back onto the training pitch on Monday and Tuesday for final preparations ahead of the opening match of the tournament against South Korea on Wednesday, 2:30pm.

Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland make the other two teams in Group C alongside the Sasol-sponsored side. 

The water crisis in many towns in North West and Mpumalanga was just the symptom of a complex problem, according to a report on Friday.

Civil engineer and Fellow at the CSIR’s Built Environment division Kevin Wall told Beeld ongoing severe water shortages in Ermelo, Lichtenburg, Middleburg, Kriel, Delmas and Lydenburg could be attributed to a lack of expertise, poor maintenance of infrastructure and an absence of political will to maintain existing systems.

He said that local authorities had demonstrated a preference for buying “new stuff” rather than maintaining existing structures.

Wall said many of the 237 local authorities did not know what kind of infrastructure existed within their municipalities.

Meanwhile, North West University authorities sent its students home on Thursday because of the ongoing severe water crisis in the city.

All academic activities at the Potchefstroom campus were halted until at least Monday, resulting in a mass exodus of students.

“We don’t want to take any health risks, and we’re trying to limit campus water consumption to allow reservoirs to fill up faster,” said Kiewiet Scheppel, campus spokesman.

Most of Potchefstroom and the surrounding townships have been without water since last Sunday.

According to Potchefstroom municipal spokesman Willie Maphosa, problems arose because pumps and valves at the water treatment plant were poorly regulated and reservoirs ran dry.

Maphosa said the council was investigating the possibility of gross negligence and also sabotage.

-Sapa

 The 2022 Qatar World Cup could be rescheduled from summer to winter if medical evidence shows the intense Middle East heat would harm players, Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke said on Saturday.

Uefa president Michel Platini is a staunch opponent of playing the World Cup in the expected 40 degrees celsius heat of June or July and on Saturday he called again for the finals to be switched to the winter months.

Valcke stepped into the seemingly never-ending debate at a media briefing following the International Board meeting in the Scottish capital where he said staging the Cup during the winter was a possibility.

His remarks were significant because it was the first time Fifa has indicated it could instigate a change based on medical evidence.

“Qatar has to tell us ‘we want to move the World Cup from summer to winter’,” Valcke said.

“I can tell you there is no working group within Fifa thinking and working on what it means to move the World Cup from summer to winter for the time being.

“The international calendar has been agreed for 2015-2018, meaning that we kept open all potential for period 2019 to 2022. We have time.

“Fifa has never said ‘never’, we have just said ‘we are waiting for Qatar to officially ask Fifa to look at the potential to move the World Cup from summer to winter’ and that has not happened yet.

“Qatar is perfectly aware and 2014 is not the deadline it can be even in 2015.

“The most important thing is to make sure work with all stakeholders and make sure there is full agreement with all parties, leagues, clubs and we would have to find eight weeks in the mid-season to play the World Cup.”

Valcke said Fifa’s executive committee would make a unilateral decision only if there were strong medical evidence in favour of a change.

“The Fifa executive committee has the power to make decisions and if at the executive committee this issue starts to be a real point for discussion then why not, and then again maybe the committee will say based on medical reports, or whatever, we really have to look at playing the World Cup not in summer but in winter.

“I am not saying that the case is closed but what I’m saying is as long as we have not fixed the international calendar all alternatives are open.

“I think it would be good to have a final decision about when this World Cup will be played and have an agreement between all the football family but it’s in 2022, nine years and we have two World Cups to organise in Brazil and Russia so there is some time.”

CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb said earlier on Saturday he was opposed to changing the timing from summer to winter.

“Historically the World Cup is always played in June and July and I would definitely like the World Cup to be played in June, we accepted it. We went through a long process regarding that,” he said.

“We all knew the World Cup was going to be played in June and July and as far as I am concerned, that’s accepted.”

For more details go to http://www.supersport.com

Absa Premiership

Score: Chiefs 1-1 Wits

Date: 2 March 2013

Venue: FNB Stadium

Kaizer Chiefs failed to extend their advantage at the top of the Absa Premiership to five points as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Bidvest Wits at the FNB Stadium.

Ryan Chapman had the ball in the back of the net inside of ten minutes but Siphiwe Tshabalala equalised minutes before the half hour mark.

Having looked a little panicky in the opening minutes Eric Mathoho headed behind for a corner under very little pressure and Chiefs were punished for their lack of communication.

Matthew Pattison delivered a beautiful flat ball from and Chapman rose high and arrowed his header into the bottom corner.

The home side looked to hit back and had an opportunity in the 13th minute which Kingston Nkhata headed wide from Tshabalala cross.

Not long afterwards another Tshabalala cross was whipped in dangerously but a Wits defender just managed to divert it away from the oncoming attackers.

Tshabalala, man of the match last week against the Clever Boys, smashed a powerful effort straight down the middle from range which was parried away by the on-debut Mabokgwane.

The Chiefs left winger then scored the equaliser as he collected an excellent diagonal ball from Letsholonyane and scrambled it home amidst confusion in the box.

Amakhosi came under a little pressure after the half hour mark but Khune did well to keep out Papy Faty whilst Pattison’s dangerous cross was cleared.

There were chances at both ends towards the end of the half as Nkhata hit a first time shot into the side netting and Vilakazi forced a smart save from Khune.

The chances continued to rack up as Pattison almost caught out the Chiefs stopper with a wicked curling effort that almost crept in at the near post as Wits went into the break in the ascendency.

After the break Parker showed quick feet to wriggle past two defenders although the angle was two tight to squeeze the ball past the keeper.

Wits had their share of the opportunities too as Vilakazi’s 66th minute shot was plucked out of the air by Khune.

Vilakazi’s replacement Erwin Isaacs tested Khune with his first touch but the shot from range was nothing that the Bafana Bafana number one could not deal with.

In the 79th minute a powerful shot from Parker had the keeper flying across goal to push the ball around the post as the teams remained deadlocked.

Chiefs thought that the deadlock had been broken minutes later but Mashamaite’s header did not count as he climbed all over the defender before planting the ball in the net.

Substitute Mandla Masango though that he had found the crucial goal after Parker squeezed the ball to him in the box but his shot rolled just wide.  

In stoppage time Mabokgwane effectively ensured Wits came away with a point as he produced a number of good stops whilst Pattison shot at Khune after a swift counter in the final minutes.

Chiefs: Itumeleng Khune, Siboniso Gaxa, Morgan Gould, Eric Mathoho, Junaid Mashamaite, Tsepo Masilela (Keegan Ritchie 58’), Lucky Baloyi, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Kingston Nkhatha(Lehlohonolo Majoro 45’), Bernard Parker.

Wits: Jackson Mabokgwane, Thomas Sweswe, Sipho Mngomezulu, Matthew Pattison, Tinashe Nengomasha, Sibusiso Vilakazi (Erwin Isaacs 69’), Papy Faty, Ebrahim Seedat, Ryan Chapman, Sandile Sibande, Asive Langwe (Miquel Timm 85’).

Goals: Ryan Chapman (Wits 9’), Siphiwe Tshabalala (Chiefs 27’).

For more details go to http://www.soccerladuma.com