Orlando Pirates were beaten 3-1 by Mpumalanga Black Aces in a practice match at the Rand Stadium on Thursday morning.

Sea Robbers coach Roger de Sa fielded an experimental side in the game, which served as part of Bucs’ preparations for Saturday’s MTN8 first leg semi-final showdown with Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs.

Former Buccaneer Onyekachi Okonkwo was notably on the scoresheet for the visiting Premiership newcomers.

“We gave the new guys and those that have not played this season a run in this match,” De Sa told his club’s official website.

“We need these guys all ready to help the 18 players who have made the team and I think despite the loss here today, the technical team will now have an idea on how to balance the team with these players we have here today.”

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Orlando Pirates captain Lucky Lekgwathi has hit back at claims that the Soweto Derby is ‘boring’.

The Buccaneers face arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the first competitive Derby this Saturday in the MTN8 semifinal, first leg at Soccer City, and the veteran defender insists fans will have a spectacle on their hands.

“Fans need to stop saying the Derby is boring,” he said at today’s press conference. “We don’t go out there to make the game boring. It’s tough out there.
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Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Reneilwe Letsholonyane believes it is vital his side makes home advantage count against Orlando Pirates in the first leg of their MTN8 semi-final on Saturday.

Chiefs host the Buccaneers at Soccer City before reviving hostilities a few kilometres down the Soweto highway in the return duel at Orlando Stadium on September 24.

Amakhosi can derive extra motivation from the fact that they are yet to beat the Sea Robbers in this competition since it was adopted by MTN in 2008.

The Soweto giants have met three times, with Pirates winning twice while the other contest finished in a draw.

“A win is very important for us on Saturday because we are playing at home,” Letsholonyane says.
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Orlando Pirates winger Daine Klate has encouraged his teammates to take their CAF Champions League form into the domestic scene starting off with this weekend’s Soweto Derby against Kaizer Chiefs in the MTN8 semi-final first-leg clash.
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Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, Jeff Radebe will act as President until Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe returns from Zimbabwe. This has been announced by Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj.

President Jacob Zuma has left for Angola for talks with President José Eduardo Dos Santos and the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila.

The three are expected to discuss current peace efforts in the DRC.

The consultation is a follow-up to a meeting held by the three Presidents on 12 March 2013 in Luanda.

The three Heads of State are expected to discuss a range of issues relating to peace and stability in the region, particularly the current peace efforts in the DRC.

While deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is representing South Africa at Robert Mugabe’s inauguration as president of Zimbabwe in Harare.
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President Jacob Zuma has arrived early in Angola for Friday talks on ways to strengthen regional security. Zuma will be joined by his Angolan counterpart Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and Congolese president Joseph Kabila.

The three countries have huge resources that can power the regional economy if sufficiently harnessed.

Angola is a country which has risen from the ashes of decades of civil war to become Africa’s second largest oil producer after Nigeria. It’s also an emerging power in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

Angola has not only become an important player economically, it’s also crucial for the stability of the region.

South African ambassador to Angola Nhlanhla Ngwenya says a peaceful Angola with all its untapped minerals could be a great partner to South Africa.

On its part Angola is doing a lot to change its image and attract investments and the country’s Chamber of Commerce says it’s working hard to put infrastructure in place.

The meeting with President Zuma is a follow up meeting to the March 2013 meeting where the three countries met to thrash out matters of common regional interest.
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za

North West’s oldest citizen was buried with dignity yesterday, thanks to the efforts of MEC for human settlements, public safety and liaison, Nono Maloyi.

She visited the family last week and promised to help the family with the burial.

Hlokwana Mahlalela, 109, died last week Monday at Rankelenyane village outside Rustenburg, shortly after her deplorable living conditions were exposed by the media.

At the time of her death the provincial government had begun building her a house.

Acting departmental spokesperson Ben Bole said the department donated essential items that were needed for the burial.

“The family was assisted with groceries, a tent and a beast for slaughter. As the department we are glad that gogo Mahlalela was buried with the dignity she deserved.”

The department planned to complete the house soon and hand it over to the family in honour of their promise to Mahlalela.

Maloyi said the provincial government was committed to looking after its senior citizens.
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A ruling by the North West High Court last week finally broke the impasse over the contested mayorship of Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality.

The court dismissed an urgent application by Phaladi Saku, who had taken the council to court to challenge her removal from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) councillors’ list.

Saku had put up a spirited fight to retain her mayoral position after she was suspended from the ANC for three years about two months ago.

She had held on to her councillors position but the ANC replaced her on its list of councillors, effectively throwing her into the political wilderness.

Two weeks ago Saku had sat on the side of a council that successfully opposed an urgent application by one of the speakers, Tebogo Ramashilabele, who wanted to be reinstated as the only legitimate council speaker.

Last week’s ruling left those who had sought Saku’s ouster writing her political obituary.

One of the ANC members who did not want to be named said: “This is the end of Saku’s political career in the ANC, at least for the next three years. She is no longer employed, the ANC is no longer her political home and surely, unless she joins another political party, this is her end.”

The ANC’s Ngaka Modiri Molema regional spokesperson, Daddy Sebolecwe, said the ruling should be a warning to other party functionaries who had defied ANC directives.

“The issue of Saku is now behind usand it should serve as a reminder to those operating as if they are not ANC members that they would face the same fate. We now expect the acting mayor, Priscilla Kwenaite, to take over her mayoral function, possibly this week. All that is left is for her to get blessings from the ANC,” he said.

Kwenaite was elected acting mayor on July 16 but had not been to the office because Saku refused to yield.

Tebogo Motlhamme, a researcher at the municipality who also represented Saku in her appeal against her three- year suspension, said Saku had now left the municipality.

“Saku is now out of the municipality pending the outcome of her case against the council set for some time in September. She is contesting her erroneous removal from the IEC list so that she can get back her councillor status,” Motlhamme said.
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The provincial finance and local government and traditional affairs departments have been ordered to prepare a comprehensive report on the circumstances around R200m that was withdrawn from the Bapo Ba Mogale Community Trust Account, which is also known as the D-account.

This came after the provincial standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) called the two departments to account for millions of rands remitted to the community through mineral royalties by different mining companies operating in the area.

The community has long complained it was not benefiting from the royalties and often blamed the provincial government over the issue.

At a meeting held in Brits on Tuesday, finance MEC Paul Sebegoe and the province’s accountant-general, Geo Paul, presented details to the public accounts committee of all the money deposited into the Bapo Ba Mogale D-account from 1992 to date and the interest accumulated.

However, matters came to a head when it emerged that R200m had been withdrawn without adequate explanation of what it was used for or who had made the withdrawals.

Paul told the committee that the finance department only maintained accounting records relating to traditional authorities, account receipts and payments for each tribe and distributed interest earned to the respective tribal accounts but did not account for what the tribes did with the money.

Scopa refused to entertain a report from the local government and traditional affairs department after its head, Johnny Motlogelwa, failed to attend the meeting.

The committee ordered that the two departments go back and prepare a comprehensive report and explain how the R200m had been used.

Committee chairperson Hlomane Chauke said it was clear the provincial government did not have clear policies on the D-account, leaving it vulnerable to unscrupulous people.

“There was clear dereliction of duty on the part of the finance department and issues of potential mismanagement and corruption cannot be ruled out.

“If they cannot account for the R200m in this particular community it means most mining communities run the risk of being prejudiced, especially where administrators are appointed to manage these accounts,” he said.

Chauke said Scopa would work together with the public protector to make sure that all the money was accounted for and those who might have looted the account were brought to book.

Deputy speaker of the provincial legislature Philemon Mapulane also called on the two departments to cooperate so that accountability on the use of money from the account could be restored.

“The finance department cannot keep releasing funds while administrators do not account for them. The department should have refused to give them money unless they had their financial statements reconciled.”

Meanwhile, Scopa has welcomed community social responsibility plans presented by Samanco, Lonmin and Pandora mining companies for the Bapo ba Mogale community.

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The African National Congress in the Northern Cape has rejected allegations that it is buying votes with blankets for the elderly.

“The DA is playing petty politics,” spokeswoman Keitumetse Mathiba said on Wednesday.

She was responding to a Democratic Alliance allegation that two senior citizens of Warrenvale at Warrenton were turned away from receiving blankets during a government “outreach” event.

Warrenton DA representative Jan Louw said the couple heard that blankets would be handed out to the elderly at the town hall last week. While in the queue, they apparently heard from ANC councillors that if they did not have ANC membership cards they would not get blankets. They left the queue because they were not ANC members, Louw said in a statement.

Mathiba said the event was an “outreach” by Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas. The elderly were also treated to tea and cake with the premier.

“The premier will not hand out blankets in order to win votes; as a caring person she initiated this as a response to the reality of very cold weather conditions.

“We respect our people too much to prey on their vulnerability by addressing their needs on the basis of political patronage.”

Referring to the councillors who allegedly said only ANC members should line up for blankets, Mathiba said they would not make such an order.

She said ANC public representatives understood their constitutional responsibility of serving all residents, irrespective of political affiliation.

Louw said it was not the first time ANC representatives had acted this way.

“People who apply to receive houses are treated in the same way. If they do not support the ANC, they do not get houses.”

He alleged this attitude also applied to lower water and electricity costs for the poor. Louw said opposition supporters were scared to wear party T-shirts because they would not be picked for working on government projects or other jobs. – Sapa