Johannesburg – By-elections will be held in Ward Nine in Tlokwe, North West, on August 7, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Thursday.

The African National Congress councillor in the ward had resigned.

The IEC said the ward would be contested by the ANC, the Democratic Alliance, the Congress of the People, the African People’s Convention and an independent candidate.

Earlier this month, the ANC North West provincial disciplinary committee expelled 14 of its councillors after they voted with opposition parties to unseat Tlokwe mayor Maphetle Maphetle.

On July 2, DA councillor Annette Combrink was voted in as the new mayor, for the second time since November.

The IEC said another eight by-elections would be held in the North West on the same day. These would be in Ward 19 in Rustenburg, Ward 14 in Ratlou, Wards four and 12 in Mafikeng, Ward 20 in Ditsobotla (Lichtenburg), Ward 12 and 14 in Ramotshere Moiloa (Zeerust), and Ward four in NW397-NW397 (Ganyesa/Pomfret).

The IEC said all the wards became vacant when the ANC councillors resigned. – Sapa

Johannesburg – Rescue workers continued searching on Friday for a fisherman who went missing near George, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.

The man, who went missing on Thursday, was presumed to have drowned, said Hennie Niehaus of the NSRI.

“On arrival on scene [on Thursday], an extensive sea, shore, and air search commenced and despite [this there was] no sign of the missing fisherman, in his 50s, from Thembalethu,” said Niehaus.

The man had been fishing with his son when he was swept off the rocks into the sea.

“It is believed that it took the son almost an hour to reach the police station to raise the alarm. There is also no cellphone signal in the area where they were fishing,” Niehaus said.

– SAPA

Pretoria – The area outside the Pretoria hospital where former president Nelson Mandela is spending his 48th day was quiet on Friday morning.

Residents in the surrounding area went about their daily business. Broadcast equipment stood idle on the pavement outside the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital’s Celliers Street entrance, with foreign journalists absent. A few cameras were trained on the Park Street entrance.

A woman had set up a stall selling T-shirts with Mandela’s face on them, while the hospital wall behind her, from the street corner to the end of the hospital premises, was covered with banners, pictures, and messages of support for Mandela.

Metro police were at both ends of Celliers Street, keeping watch, while police checked cars entering and leaving the hospital’s two entrances.

Mandela was admitted to hospital on 8 June with a recurring lung infection. According to the last update on his health from the presidency Mandela’s condition had improved, though he was still in a critical condition.

– SAPA

Durban – Two nursing sisters at a rural health clinic in KwaZulu-Natal allegedly referred a sick 5-month-old baby to a sangoma, a health official said on Friday.

The two nurses at the clinic near Dundee were being investigated, said Dundee provincial hospital spokespersonn Mbali Ntshingila.

She confirmed that a complaint had been received from a local commercial farmer, but declined to elaborate.

“We are still investigating and cannot disclose anything. The investigation is at an early stage.”

The two sisters were still working, and it was not standard procedure to refer patients to sangomas, she said.

It was not known whether both nursing sisters had been involved in the referral.

The farmer, Paul Theunissen, said one of his employees last week told him of the baby being referred to a sangoma.

He said he had been told that the woman was informed by one of the nursing sisters that she had to take the baby to a sangoma because “the ancestors were cross with her”.

“We went out to collect the baby – who was covered in some kind of muti and was sicker than before – but the sangoma was reluctant to let her go,” he said.

“Eventually we managed to take the baby to a private doctor, who diagnosed bronchitis,” said Theunissen.

Theunissen said he lodged a complaint with the hospital.

– SAPA

Cape Town – South Africa should reject discrimination against sexual orientation as it has done with racism, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said on Friday.

“Can you imagine me having said it’s unjust to penalise something they cannot do anything about, their race or gender, and then to keep quiet when people are hounded, people are killed, because of their sexual orientation?” he asked.

“I think it’s as utterly unjust as racism ever was.”

He was speaking at the launch of the United Nations “Free & Equal” global campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality in Cape Town.

Tutu said he would do “almost anything” in support of the campaign, which aimed to raise awareness of homophobic violence and discrimination.

He said this discrimination was based on something people were born with and could do nothing about, just as with race.

“We speak of them and say: No, they are a peculiar breed. They are not a peculiar breed. That is precisely what we are saying, that they are human beings.

“I don’t know why we are so surprised. They have gifts, they can become judges. They can become all sorts of wonderful things.”

Tutu said religious leaders had an important role to play in changing people’s ideas about homosexuality and gender.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Three out of five young South Africans claimed to have taken part in Mandela Day activities on 18 July, a survey revealed on Friday.

Sixty-one percent of the 1 917 respondents who took part in the survey, said they did something to “make a difference” on former president Nelson Mandela’s birthday, consumer insights company Pondering Panda said.

“Young South Africans don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk. It shows that young people across the country identify with the spirit of Mandela Day and are ready and willing to help make a difference to South Africa,” spokesperson Shirley Wakefield said.

The number was, however, lower than anticipated, as a survey conducted several days before Mandela Day revealed that 89% of 16 046 respondents, aged between 15 and 34, planned to do something on the day.

The latest survey revealed that more younger respondents participated in the day’s events as compared to older respondents.

Seventy-one percent of 15 to 17-year-olds said they did something on the day, as did 61% of 18 to 24-year-olds and 56% of 25 to 34-year-olds.

Wakefield said: “It’s very encouraging that the highest turnout was among the youngest age group, and that so many people worked together to help make a difference.”

Helping the community

The survey also revealed that 38% of those who claimed to have participated in the day’s events said they helped their community.

Thirty-two percent said they helped make a difference to the lives of their family members and friends, while 14% said they made charitable donations.

Most of the younger respondents claimed to have helped their community, while older respondents mostly did something for friends or family.

The majority of participants (65%) took part in group activities with their friends, families, colleagues, and schools compared to individual activities.

Around 83% of the respondents said they believed people would help each other more often because of Mandela Day.

There was little difference in opinion among people of different genders and race, Wakefield said. The survey was conducted nationally on cellphones between 24 and 25 July.

Responses were weighted to be nationally representative in terms of age, gender, and race, said Wakefield.

– SAPA

By Obakeng Maje

The North West Traffic Authorities have warned motorists to pay their outstanding traffic fines to avoid inconvenience on the road as they have already started with special operations to recover all out standings through the special JAWS unit.

“Thousands of rands are expected to be recovered during these operations which will be held in all major roads of the province” departmental spokesperson Simon Mmope said.

According to Human Settlements Public Safety and Liaison MEC Nono Maloyi, not paying traffic fines is also an offence.

“Most drivers don’t pay their fines to an extent of getting warrant of arrests and those would be inconvenienced because if we find you with an warrant of arrest then your trip ends right there” Maloyi said. 

“We are not going to allow any motorist to drive on our roads while owing the state for not complying with the road laws. To avoid being subjected to an inconvenience, please go and check yourself and do the right thing, pay your outstanding fine and drive freely,” said MEC Maloyi.

He further warned drivers to obey and comply as they will not escape the justice system if found on the wrong side of the law. 

The MEC said the department has strengthened its operations as the recently launched Highway Patrol Vehicles has started to operate on all the roads of the province.

The operations will be held in a form of roadblocks and through the Automatic Number Plate Recognition System vehicles on the major roads of the province.

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Cape Town – Transport Minister Dipuo Peters aims to push President Jacob Zuma to sign into law the electronic tolling bill, BDLive reported on Wednesday.

The newly-appointed minister said she was expected to meet with presidential advisers to put pressure on them to ensure that Zuma signs the bill.  

“We are wishing he does it (signs the bill) very soon and will be communicating with his office to check where in the process it is,” Dipuo was quoted as saying. 

The transport laws and related matters amendment bill was passed by the National Council of Provinces in May.

The bill provides for the electronic and cross-border collection of toll fees.

For more http://www.news24.com

Pretoria – Heavily armed police intervened in the CBD on Thursday as South African Students Congress (Sasco) members, on a protest march to the Department of Higher Education, became unruly.

Police and education officials were pelted with eggs as the assembled students received messages of support from trade unions and other organisations outside the department’s offices on Francis Baard Street. Police officers stood guard outside the main entrance, whose doors had been closed as the protesters approached.

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

Pretoria – A Mamelodi man accused of strangling his wife and two young children claims he was wrestling with a snake when he attacked his wife.

“When I explained to him that this person I was with changed into a figure like a snake and that I tried to fight with this snake… he stopped me,” Evans Mpanyane, 33, told the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

He was giving evidence about his discussion with the police captain who interviewed him after his arrest. This formed part of proceedings to determine the admissibility of certain statements he made to the police after his arrest.

Referring to the police captain, he said: “Also when I told him I suspected this has got to do with witchcraft he stopped me. He said witchcraft has got nothing to do with the law. I then took his advice.”

Mpanyane has denied guilt on charges of murdering his wife of 14 years Connie and their daughters Priscilla, 6, and Joy, 7, near Kameeldrift, Pretoria North, on 16 December 2011.

Connie’s body, clad only in her underwear, was found under a tree in the veld with what appeared to be suicide notes tucked into the back of her bra.

A police handwriting expert testified on Wednesday that Mpanyane wrote the rambling notes, in which he mostly asked God for forgiveness.

The children’s bodies were found in the back of their father’s car. All three had been strangled.

Mpanyane claimed on Thursday that the captain who first interviewed him warned him he would be assaulted if he did not make a statement.

“I told him I would co-operate because of was afraid of being assaulted. I told him what happened at the scene while I was with the deceased. I tried to explain to him, but he did not accept some of the things I told him.

“During this discussion he told me there will be a day that I will be taken to the place where the crime was committed. I didn’t think I had a choice to deny or not to agree with his instructions,” he said.

The trial continues.

SAPA