Johannesburg – Two construction workers are killed a week in South Africa, Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi said on Thursday.

“The safety of employees must be an absolute priority. It is unacceptable that, on average, two South African construction workers die every week,” he said at a construction conference in Midrand.

“We expect every employer, in partnership with labour, to ensure that health and safety regulations are implemented and enforced.”

Among the delegates was Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel and Ghana’s Public Works Minister Abraham Byandala.

Nxesi said the construction sector needed to deal with procurement, over-pricing, fraud and corruption.

“We will fail if we don’t get on top of this challenge.”

He called on professionals within the sector to promote ethical practices.

It was important for the country to get more construction management professionals.

Nxesi said programmes needed to be taken to schools to provide support for promising pupils.

“We need to expedite the training and mentoring of graduates so that they attain full professional status in a shorter timeframe.”

Nxesi said more black people were needed in the sector.

“It cannot be right that after nearly 20 years of democracy, still only approximately 25 percent of built environment professionals are black,” he said. – Sapa

Cape Town – A Western Cape Rastafarian pupil who was ordered to stay away from school until he cut his dreadlocks has been allowed to return,  Equal Education (EE) said on Thursday.

The non-governmental organisation met the principal of Siphamandla High School in Khayelitsha, the school’s governing body  (SGB), and staff on Wednesday to discuss the pupil’s grievances, said EE chairwoman Yoliswa Dwane.

“It was agreed that the learner would be allowed back into school and that a catch-up plan would be provided,” said Dwane.

He would not have to cut his hair.

The Cape Times reported last week that the Grade 10 pupil Sikhokele Diniso was told to leave the school last month.

The education department said at the time Diniso could return to  school as he had not been suspended.

Department spokeswoman Bronagh Casey said that according to the school principal, the pupil was asked to bring his parents to discuss the matter.

“The boy returned with his brother. The principal insisted on discussing the matter with the parents.

“The parents eventually met the principal and agreed that the son should clean, comb, and tie his hair. The boy did not want to do this,” said Casey.

The EE said on Thursday it had dealt with similar cases in the past and had found that the education department failed to properly  address the situation.

“While learners are eventually allowed back into school, to date  there has been no official apology by the principals or by the Western Cape education department to affected learners for the violations to their dignity,” said Dwane.

She said the department had failed to respond to requests to release a circular to all schools providing clarity on the legal position that schools reasonably accommodate pupils’ religious beliefs.

“This is unacceptable because affected learners are forced to lose out on crucial learning and teaching time and are also subjected to verbal abuse and prejudice because of their religion,”  she said.

However, the education department said it had addressed the matter.

“Schools may ask parents to submit a letter from a religious teacher or organisation to substantiate a request to deviate from the dress code,” said Casey.

“The department has (also) provided training to school governing bodies on their roles and responsibilities following the SGB elections last year.

“These roles and responsibilities include drafting codes of conduct and dress codes, and disciplinary procedures, in line with constitutional values and the law,” said Casey. – Sapa

Johannesburg – Politicians are not being held properly accountable because of the country’s strong masculine political culture, Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele said on Thursday.

“At the heart of the problem in our country is a political culture – found among all political parties – which privileges men at the expense of other social groups, and which privileges political parties at the expense of individuals,” Ramphele said in speaking notes prepared for delivery.

“In our male-dominated and party-oriented democracy, the link between political parties and citizens is extremely weak and in some instances non-existent.”

Ramphele was speaking at a round-table seminar on electoral reform at the University of SA (Unisa).

When Ramphele launched her party political platform, Agang SA, in February she called for a new system in which voters in geographic constituencies could choose their MPs directly, instead of having MPs chosen by party bosses.

“Political loyalty supersedes individual or human rights.

“The loyalty problem is complicated by factors such as race, ethnicity, and religion,” she said.

This explained why it was possible for Parliament to table and pass the traditional courts bill, which blatantly violated human and gender rights.

Only when there was a fundamental change in South Africa’s political culture would the country be able to build meaningful accountability in its political system, Ramphele said.

“Changing the electoral clause of our Constitution is long overdue.

“Agang SA is determined to pursue this electoral clause change in order to transform the politics of South Africa into a caring political culture which puts the country and its people ahead of leaders,” she said.

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Wilfred Mugeyi (Gallo)

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Johannesburg – Chippa United have fired their fifth coach of the season, with Wilfred Mugeyi becoming the latest casualty at the club.
According to the Soccer-laduma website, the crew reported last week that the coach was on thin ice at the club. A string of poor results has kept the Chilli Boys firmly rooted at the bottom of the PSL, and after a meeting on Thursday it was decided that both Mugeyi and technical director, Roger Sikhakhane, would be relieved of their duties.
Mugeyi confirmed his exit from Chippa with Soccer-Laduma, “Unfortunately, there’s no more going forward because I got sacked today. You are the first to know that. I wasn’t told the reason.
Chippa sent Wanda (Mbenguzana) to tell me the news. Roger has been fired as well.”
It remains to be seen who will be brought in to replace Mugeyi at the helm of the club. However, whichever man is given the poisoned chalice, will no doubt understand that the club, who have 16 points from 24 games, are probably on their way out of South Africa’s top tier of football.
Mugeyi was brought into the club in January to replace Farouk Abrahams after he had become the fourth coach to be fired by the club.

Fore more www.news24.com

Johannesburg – The mental health of British businessman Shrien Dewani, who is wanted in South Africa in connection with the honeymoon murder of his wife Anni, has significantly improved, a court heard on Thursday.

The UK-based Press Association reported that this had been conveyed to the Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London.

Dewani, 33, is being treated at a hospital in Bristol for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dewani’s 28-year-old wife Anni was shot when a taxi in which she and her husband were travelling was hijacked in Gugulethu, in November 2010.

On Thursday, prosecutor Ben Watson told the court: “He has improved, and improved significantly.”

However, he said the businessman remained “moderately depressed” and was suffering from PTSD in the moderate range.

Doctors had reported that Dewani had “neither plans nor thoughts to kill himself”, but that spontaneous self-harm always remained a risk.

Defence lawyer Julian Knowles told the court: “There has indeed been an improvement, but just to underline, Mr Dewani is still in the moderate range for both depression and PTSD.”

A further hearing was planned in the same court on 15 May, and extradition proceedings were expected to resume in July.

Dewani was excused from attending Thursday’s hearing because of the risk to his mental health.

Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle said although Dewani had improved it was felt that “the stress of coming to court today might set back that process”.

He said Dewani would be “most welcome” to attend the next hearing, but would be excused from doing so if his doctors felt he was unfit to do so.

Johannesburg – Little has been done to reduce road deaths in South Africa, the Automobile Association (AA) said on Thursday.

“While South Africa is a signatory of the United Nations Resolution on the Decade of Action, it is clear that little has been done to create change or prevent road deaths during the busiest times of the year,” AA spokesperson Gary Ronald said.

The number of road deaths over Easter had been increasing since 2011.

“Despite the claim that the number of crashes on major routes declined, the number of deaths… has increased year-on-year since 2011,” said Ronald.

The AA said 241 people were killed on the roads over the 2013 Easter holiday, from 28 March to 1 April, up from the 217 lives lost in 2012 and 151 in 2011.

“Figures show 60% of those killed are pedestrians,” Roland said.

“The UN Decade of Action was launched two years ago, and yet we are still waiting for the South Africa strategy to be formulated and introduced to the public. The question is why it takes so long to get the strategy in place” he said.

PRETORIA: The Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, met SAFA President, Kirsten Nematandani, this morning (11 April 2013) as part of government’s commitment to mobilise different sectors of society in the fight against the scourge of violence against women and children in our country.There is an acknowledgement that despite South Africa’s constitutional and legislative protection, violence based on gender remains unacceptably high. A concerted effort is therefore required to help eliminate this scourge. The two noted that the current spate of gender-based violence and the brutality with which it is carried out is a matter of grave concern to all South Africans and a painful reminder of the disregard for human life and the rights of women.

Both SAFA and the department agreed in principle to work on joint programmes that will seek to raise public awareness through various SAFA platforms.

“We are delighted to have SAFA as our ambassadors in our campaign. Football is a powerful communication tool that speaks all languages and reaches every South African. We applaud SAFA for being part of this initiative and urge other organisations to emulate this noble example”, said Lulu Xingwana, Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities.

Kirsten Nematandani said: “To win the war against gender-based violence requires the active involvement of all South Africans. As SAFA, we are privileged to be part of a campaign that seeks to create a society free of violence against women. We want to use soccer, as a number one sport in the country and with its mass appeal, to spread the word”.

The details of the partnership will be announced in the next two weeks in a joint press conference.  Through this partnership, members of the community and the football fraternity will be mobilised to join in the national effort to create a safe and secure environment for women and children.

Murder accused Oscar Pistorius and his family have bemoaned the tone of social media comments on his relationship with his deceased girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

“The disregard that is being shown by some – specifically those commenting via social media – for the profound pain that Reeva’s family and friends are going through is very troubling,” the family said in a statement.

“There is not a moment in the day that Oscar does not mourn for his girlfriend and Reeva’s family, and all those who were close to her are in his thoughts constantly.”

Paralympic star Pistorius has been charged with murder after Steenkamp was shot dead in his Pretoria home on February 14. He was released on bail on February 22 under conditions which included a ban on international travel.

He successfully challenged the conditions in the Pretoria High Court and several were relaxed, including the travel ban.

Pistorius family spokesperson Anneliese Burgess, said: “Reeva’s family, and everyone who loved her, are constantly in their (the Pistorius family’s) prayers.

“Although their relationship was young, she had become an intimate member of the Pistorius family.”

Burgess said that in the short time the pair were together, Pistorius did not have an opportunity to meet Steenkamp’s family, whom she had spoken of with great love.

“She touched all of us with her generosity of spirit and constant affection and will always remain in our hearts.”

Burgess said that over the past few weeks, Pistorius had spent time with many people Steenkamp was close to, sharing memories of her.

“Just as the Pistorius family struggle on a daily basis with the loss of Reeva, they are deeply aware that everyone whose lives she touched is grieving too, and that everyone is doing this in their own way,” she said.

“For Oscar, the process is incredibly overwhelming as he struggles not only to deal with manner in which he lost his girlfriend, but also his role in it.” – Sapa

Taung-Dryharts residents lambasted their ward councillor Lekoko Mahura in a meeting held at Dryharts primary school,near Taung.

The meeting held was to brief community and those who suffered a loss during torential rains that hit the area last year.

The residents accused ward councillor regarding RDP houses that are allocated to those who were victims of disaster Vaaltar FM news reported.

According to some friction within the community, Lekoko Mahura is allegedly selling or building those houses to his pals.

This came to light after the residents questioned the criteria used and alleged that there is someone from Modimong village who benefited from the programme even though the latter’s house was not affected.

According to Vaaltar FM, Mahura refused to commend on allegations metered against him and said he will seek advice from those in power before he can commend.

He also outlined that the deadline was today for those who wanted to register.

According to reports,208 houses has been built since aftermath and 24 houses are still in the pipeline.

For more http://www.vaaltar.co.za and Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews

South Africa has lost its sense of self-worth, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said on Thursday.

“The world was thrilled when freedom came to our land and we pray that SA will recover its own sense of worth of every single human being,” he said at a ceremony in Cape Town to celebrate winning the Templeton prize.

“[I pray] we will recover our ‘ubuntu’ and become a generous, gentle, caring, and compassionate society.”

He said South Africa became the “flavour of the month” when apartheid was abolished in 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up, and citizens were riding on the victory at the Rugby World Cup.

“We can’t pretend we have remained at the same heights and that’s why I say please, for goodness sake, recover the spirit that made us great.”

When asked where exactly the country was failing, Tutu focused on violence and inequality.

“Very simply, we are aware we’ve become one of the most violent societies. It’s not what we were, even under apartheid,” he said.

Rape, murder, and the high number of road accidents, especially over the holiday season, were worrisome.

One did not have to look at statistics to see that South Africa was one of the most unequal societies in the world, and the problem was underpinned by a lack of spirituality.

“This is why we ought to be saying it is utterly blasphemous that we should still have people who live in shacks. It’s not politics, it’s religion.”

–Sapa