North West University (NWU) Potchefstroom campus biokineticist, Prof Cilas Wilders, has cautioned the South African Rugby Union (Saru) to ensure that “bulletjie” rugby was banned in all schools despite the sport’s increasing popularity at pre and primary school level recently.
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The book collection of Prof FF Odendal, editor-in-chief of the HAT (Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal) for several years and well-known Afrikaans linguist has been donated to the Centre for Text Technology of North West University’s Potchefstroom Campus.
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The provincial health department has acquired the services of a helicopter as part of its fleet of emergency vehicles in a bid to reduce response time to critical and life threatening situations across the province.
The helicopter was unveiled at the Mafikeng Provincial Hospital yesterday and reports are that it has already saved two lives after responding to an accident.
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The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the province has called on the SAPS authorities considering to dismiss two police suspects arrested for armed robbery on their arrival in Mahikeng from Mareetsane on Monday.
“Robbery has an element of dishonesty, which warrants dismissal from public office and must be set as a deterrent factor against those with the same modus operandi in the service. We condemn misconduct and applaud the team of policemen who arrested the suspects,” Sanco’s Packet Seaketso said.
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Many parents heaved a sigh of relief when c was introduced in schools through the subject, life orientation, in 1997.
However, the questions asked at a two-day seminar on sexual education was whether schools were equipped to deal with these “embarrassing” issues and whether the teachers were the right people to introduce these topics to impressionable youngsters.
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Twenty-two thousand public servants were charged with misconduct for corrupt activities and R300 million recovered from perpetrators, the National Public Service Commission revealed in Potchefstroom on Thursday.
Speaking on the first day of the two-day workshop to empower coordinators of National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) cases within North West provincial government departments, Public Service Commissioner James Mudau urged departments to improve coordination of investigation of cases for their speedy resolution.
Commissioner Modau said that if departments could put more effort into speedily finalising investigation of reported corruption cases, the hotline will play a crucial role in the fight against corruption in the country.
Modau said the rate of feedback and the number of cases closed since the inception of the NACH, is a worrying factor as members of the public are not getting information or feedback on the cases they have reported.
“The public loses trust in reporting alleged corruption against government officials, which paints a negative picture as far as the fight against corruption in the public service is concerned. We have the responsibility to make sure that our people are prioritised by dealing cases as they report them to the hotline,” he stressed.
Acting Head of Department in the Office of the Premier, Humang Mashimbye called on investigators in provincial departments to spare no effort in resolving cases referred to their departments speedily in order to restore the confidence of whistle blowers and the general public in institutions set up by government to fight the cancer of corruption.
Premier Thandi Modise has consistently called for an onslaught against Corruption and for it to be uprooted as it has a negative impact on development, democracy, human rights and governance.She has said that capacitating anti-corruption structures would serve to promote ethical culture, deepen an improved understanding of the many facets of the scourge of corruption and strengthen implementation of programmes to combat it.Four officials per department attending the workshop are being empowered on investigation of white collar crime including strategies on how to deal with fraud and corruption from a legal and investigative perspective, techniques and a guide to financial crime that include corruption, bribery and money laundering.
By Obakeng Maje
Mahikeng-North West Department of Health for the first in history show-case it’s EMRS Helicopter that will service critically injured patients in the District.
North West Health Department unveiled Emergency helicopters today.
“I have made it clear in my 2012/13 Budget Speech that we are going to take advantage of the national tender RT79 to get an emergency helicopter to augment our fleet of Emergency Medical Rescue Services vehicles”.
“I am proud to announce that the helicopter has arrived and ready to service our people” Dr Magome Masike said.
Dr Masike said the development comes as they chart ways to aggressively respond to the plight of the communities and improve its response time.
In line with the Primary Health Care Re-engineering Programme, we are on course to Reengineer Emergency Medical Services to improve the response times of ambulances to all communities to be in line with national targets he said.
The Department decentralized EMRS in 2007.
This development together with acquisition of new ambulances has helped to improve response time as emergency vehicles are now placed closer to the communities they serve.
“We are also planning to establish and fund Emergency Medical Rescue Services satellite stations in the districts to uncompromisingly improve our reaction time” said Masike.
The aeromedical service has been awarded for a period of two years and the service provider is a joint venture between ER24 and Halo Aviation and the cost of the service will be around R750 000 per month.
This will include the lease of the helicopter, provision of a pilot and one advanced life support paramedic.
“An additional paramedic will be from our Emergency Medical Rescue Service Training College in Orkney.
“We have contracted 30 flying hours per month” said Masike.
Klerksdorp Tshepong Hospital Complex is the main hospital in the North West province providing some tertiary services and a larger number of secondary services.
As a result, our regional hospitals regularly refer patients in need of specialized care to the hospital.
“Due to the vastness and the rural nature of our province it is more frustrating for a sick patient who has to travel long hours to receive specialized care” Dr Magome Masike adds.
The acquisition of this helicopter will ensure that emergency transfers from rural areas are done quickly, as this will cut down on the normal long driving hours”. An emergency hospital transfer from Vryburg to Klerksdorp will now be completed within two hours whereas previously it would take up to six hours.
He said aeromedical service will not only be used to respond to emergencies; it will also be used for specialized services to remote areas.
In cases where some of our patients in remote areas are in urgent need of specialized services, a specialist will be sent to them via aero medical services.
Specialised Outreach Teams will also be able to utilize the service to conduct outreach programmes in remote rural areas, thereby implementing the concept of Batho Pele Principles to the latter said MEC.
The service will be accessed through normal emergency procedure of contacting the emergency medical service call centre on 10177 toll free number for any emergency.
“Our communication centre will determine the nature of the incident and ensure that the correct mode of transport is dispatched to the scene of emergency” he said.
The helicopter can also be called to an emergency by paramedics on an accident scene or Doctors at a healthcare facility who wants to transfer a patient to another hospital as a matter of urgency.
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By Obakeng Maje
Zeerust-A man denied bail by Zeerust Magistrate Court and will remain in custody.
Milford Mhlari,32 allegedly raped a girl at his house.
“A girl was hitch-hiking at Gopane village when picked up by Mhlari. He asked the girl where she is going and promised to take her to the destination” captain Pelonomi Makau said.
Police said a girl was hitch-hiking to Motlhaba Section and taken to Ntsweletsoku instead.
Mhlari allegedly raped the girl for the whole night of saturday.
Police said a 20 year-old girl went straight to police station to open a rape case.
Mhlari was subsequently arrested and appeared at Lehurutse Magistrate Court.
“He was denied bail and will apply for a formal bail on the 28th of April 2013” Makau said.
Police investigations continue and a rape case was launched.
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A culture of corruption and impunity is seeping through every level of government and corroding society, Agang leader Mamphela Ramphele said Thursday.
“It is estimated that corruption robs us of more than R30 billion of the government’s budget every year through an abusive procurement system,” she said in Johannesburg.
“The most outrageous example is in the private palace costing more than R200 million which was built for President (Jacob) Zuma at Nkandla.”
Ramphele listed other examples, such as irregular leasing for police buildings, and civil servants and their families doing business with government.
She said it was no wonder that the Eastern Cape health department had “collapsed” after government acknowledged that 8 000 public servants in the province were doing business with the department.
“These are not just bumps on the road to a better future. These are not the inevitable pains of a transitional period,” Ramphele said.
“They are a betrayal of the founding principles of our democracy, a betrayal of what our brothers and sisters, our fathers and mothers, who fought all those freedom fights and died.”
Speaking at the Wits Origin Centre, she told students, media, and business people that the fight against apartheid had not been fought so that millions of South Africans could live like the “forgotten people”.
It was important for South Africans to overcome their “fear” and stand up against corruption and patronage.
Quoting former president Nelson Mandela, she said “never, never, never again” should the oppression of one by another in South Africa be allowed.
“Let us mark a formidable war on corruption,” Ramphele said.
“We can’t govern a 21st century democracy without knowledge, science, and technology… Our (Agang’s) policies are going to be based on evidence.” – Sapa
The Guardian 