By Obakeng Maje

Taung-Taung Youth Forum in conjuction with other non-profitable organisations around Taung will be hosting educational programme, whereby they will be teaching school children and community at large about daily issues affecting them.

According to co-ordinator of Emang-Basha Youth Forum Tebogo Motsebe, the aim of the initiative is to bring awareness in the communities.

He said they will be providing information on issues like alcohol and drug abuse, unemployment and socio-economic issues that affect the youths.

“Our aim is very simple, we need to teach the youths of Taung and make them aware of issues that affect their daily lives” Motsebe said.

The pilot project is a brainchild of those organisations, they want to make a difference in the area.

The event will take place at Bagamaidi primary school in Khudutlou village near Taung.

“Satanism is rife at schools and prayers will be provided to fight against the scourge of satanism, rape, unemployment, alcohol and sunstance abuse including crime” Tebogo Motsebe adds.

Other organisations to be part of the initiative are Agang Molelema Youth, SAPS and Social Developments will grace the event.

“I am not aware of the event,but surely I will receive invitation when the day goes by. It is a good idea to have initiative like this in the area” ward councillor Mogoje Ditshakame said.

The co-ordinator urges the communities within Khudutlou village and its surroundings to attend the event and support the initiative.

Kgosi Keseokile Phakedi is also expected to be part of the event.

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With the 2012/13 Absa Premiership campaign well into its business end, Kaizer Chiefs are leading the table standings after 25 rounds of league action. However, the title contenders are only four points clear of second placed Platinum Stars and six ahead of Orlando Pirates, who are in third spot.

With only five league fixtures left in the current season, 15 points are at stake for each team, and although the Amakhosi are leading the chasing pack with 52 points, the PSL is far from over.

Chiefs defender, Tefu Mashamaite, admits that seeing out the campaign at the top of the log will be a challenging task, although is confident that they do have the quality to go all the way.

The Soweto giants will face SuperSport United, Moroka Swallows, Platinum Stars, Ajax Cape Town and University of Pretoria in their final five league fixtures of the season.

“We have five games to finish the season and all these games will be tough. You know we are aiming for the top spot and win the league, and at this point in time the higher we go the tougher it becomes.

“The good things is that we have a team that will be able to sustain the pressure,” the 28-year-old told Soccer-Laduma.

For more www.soccerladuma.com

By Obakeng Maje

Mahikeng-Two people who died in an accident when aircraft crashed into Modimola dam, near Mahikeng has been identified.

A local aircraft crashed on Tuesday after it allegedly experienced mechanical problems.

The police divers were brought in from Potchefstroom to help and retrieve the bodies of victims.

“The search was adjourned on Tuesday after poor visibility in the area. Police resumed the search yesterday and two bodies were recovered late yesterday” Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.

The wreckage was also brought to the surface.

“Victims were identified as Marthinus Steyn(54) who was instructor and Narco van Straaten(23) who is believed to be a pilot learner” Ngubane said.

The cause of the crashed is yet unknown and police are investigating.

Civil Aviation company also launched their own investigations to discover the cause.

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Johannesburg – A lecturer at the University of Johannesburg has been stabbed to death in his home, Gauteng police said on Thursday.

A house helper discovered the body of Carl Mischke in his bedroom at around 10.50am on Monday, said Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini.

“It is suspected that a sharp object was used to stab him. He was found lying on his bed in a pool of blood. His head was covered with a pillow. No murder weapon was found at the scene,” said Dlamini.

Police believed his killers might have gained access to his house and then taken his vehicle and other valuable items.

“The motive for the killing is unknown at this stage… we are also appealing to anyone who might have information about the killing of Mischke to come forward,” said Dlamini. – Sapa

A police report confirms that officers shot dead 34 striking mineworkers at Marikana, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Wednesday.

Dumisa Ntsebenza, for the families of the deceased, said the report showed that the police did not dispute shooting dead the miners, and that the argument was about the circumstances behind the killings.

According to the report, 30 of the miners died on the scene and four died in hospital, Ntsebenza said.

Earlier, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega said it had not been confirmed that police killed the miners.

For more www.iol.co.za

Rustenburg – Striking Marikana miners suspected police officials tasked to take video footage of the strike were spies, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Wednesday.

During cross-examination at the commission in Rustenburg, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega said officers received information that their lives were in danger and therefore had to withdraw from the area.

As a result, police officials were unable to provide videos of how the Marikana shooting on August 16 last year unfolded.

Several weeks before the shooting Phiyega signed a document issuing instructions that police had to ensure they recorded videos  of all public unrest they attended to. Phiyega said there was no provision for this instruction.

Dumisa Ntsebenza, for the families of the dead miners, said police withdrew and stopped filming in several areas around Marikana around 1.30pm on August 16.

At 4pm they opened fire on the protesters, killing 34. He questioned Phiyega on whether the reason the police had provided for not having the visuals was acceptable.

“The explanation in the report, I, Riah, accept.”

She said she learnt of “gaps in the information” once she and the other police commanders started preparing for the commission. It is investigating the killing of 44 people during wage-related unrest in Marikana in August last year.

Phiyega said she did not make any further inquiries into the missing video evidence as she believed provincial police commissioner General Zukiswa Mbombo would have done so if she saw fit.

Phiyega said she did not believe the missing video evidence could have been concealed by police officials who were perhaps filmed doing things they were not supposed to.

Ntsebenza pointed out to Phiyega that the video evidence submitted by police did not show them utilising minimum force.

“Yes, there’s no footage (of them using minimum force). We had a  plan and that plan was disrupted,” she said.

She maintained the disruption affected the police’s ability to record themselves throughout the Marikana operation. The police only supplied two videos of the Marikana shootings to the commission.

Earlier, Phiyega said it had not been confirmed that police shot  dead the 34 miners killed at Marikana.

“I understand that 34 miners were killed, but to say who killed them I cannot comment on that,” said Phiyega.

A report handed in by SAPS later confirmed the police shot the miners.

Ntsebenza said the report showed police were not disputing they shot the miners, but the argument was the circumstances behind the killings.

According to the report, 30 of the miners died on the scene while four others died in hospital, Ntsebenza said.

Phiyega said none of the police officers deployed to Marikana

had been suspended or charged for their role in the killings.

Ntsebenza asked Phiyega whether she considered disciplinary action against the officers, including those who had failed to make  the recordings, since they had failed to comply with her instructions.

“When the commission is concluded and evidence is brought forward…. relevant remedial action will be taken,” she said.

“I shall not pre-empt the outcomes of the proceedings,” she said.

Ntsebenza was expected to continue cross-examining Phiyega on Thursday. – Sapa

The Office of the African National Congress Chief Whip in Parliament has distanced the party from what it says are malicious political views expressed in a document produced by Parliament’s research department. 

The research was done on behalf of the portfolio committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Caucus spokesperson Moloto Mothapo says the report makes serious political judgments against the integrity of Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson and casts aspersions on her competence. 

Moloto says they will engage the research unit. “We are going to ask for a meeting with the head of Parliamentary research so that we can get clarity as to what is the role of Parliamentary research should it contain political statements should it made political claims we really need to get understanding so that we are together in this.”

However, Democratic Alliance MP Annette Steyn says the document does not in any way express specific political views and is a fair and accurate assessment on the performance of Joemat-Pettersson. 

She says the ANC caucus in Parliament should not be allowed to bully or intimidate any member of staff who does not toe their party-political line. “Parliamentary staffs are meant to be objective and present work that is an accurate and fair assessment of the performance of government that is their job,” says Steyn.

The role of the parliamentary research department is to offer objective and impartial research information

The document – extracts from which were quoted in Business Day on Wednesday – stated that the responsibility for fisheries management “is in the wrong hands”.

It further lists mismanaged ships, a lack of research planning, and targets and a strategic plan out of step with the National Development Plan, as problems that must be addressed. It claims the department is in a “defiant mode” with regard to its plans to allocate 70% of fishing rights to SMMEs during the 2013/14 financial year.

Motshekga said the paper attacked the integrity of Joemat-Pettersson. “The role of the parliamentary research department is to offer objective and impartial research information and analysis to enable committee members to have an informed discussion on the topic of the day,” he said.

“Expression of political statements, personal judgements, and posturing is a terrain that should be left to politicians, not staff members.” – Additional reporting by Sapa

World Haemophilia Day which was observed yesterday and is observed every year on April 17, advocates a global effort to ensure appropriate care and treatment for a disease that is the oldest known genetic bleeding disorder caused by a deficiency in the genes.

This year marked 50 years of advancing the cause for haemophilia treatment and care for all people with the disease and other inherited bleeding disorders.

For more http://www.thenewage.co.za