Johannesburg – The Public Protector is probing claims of payments for repairs to non-existent bridges in Ehlanzeni in Mpumalanga, her office said on Monday.

Thuli Madonsela’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, said the matter was brought to her attention by a representative of the Congress of the People.

“Reports on the disaster relief projects that were tabled at the Ehlanzeni District Municipality Council at two separate meetings did not tally,” said Segalwe.

“[For example] there were differences in prices and the same number of bridges were not appearing in both lists.”

He could not confirm how much money, if any, was put into the construction of the alleged “ghost bridges”.

“The amount cannot be established at the moment as investigation is still continuing,” said Segalwe.

For more http://www.news24.com

Johannesburg – Orlando Pirates boss Roger de Sa believes Kaizer Chiefs will have a slight advantage in terms of fitness and recovery ahead of their MTN8 second-leg semi-final meeting at the Orlando Stadium on Tuesday.

Chiefs claimed a 2-1 Premiership victory over Platinum Stars on Saturday evening to extend their unbeaten run to three, while the Buccaneers successfully negotiated their passage into the semi-finals of the Caf Champions League, following a goalless draw with Egyptian giants Al-Ahly on Sunday.

De Sa said the fact that Chiefs had an extra day to prepare for Tuesday’s encounter gave them the upper hand, allowing their players enough time to sufficiently recover from the weekend’s action.

“We’d love to have had an extra days’ rest but that’s part of the game,” De Sa said on Monday.

“We get given the fixtures and we have to plan around it. It is a slight advantage but there’s nothing we can do, we just have to get on with it.

“The difference of three or four days is not big. But the difference between one and two days can be problematic for us.”

Daine Klate scored the only goal of the match on August 24 to hand Pirates a slender advantage heading into Tuesday’s encounter, but De Sa believes it would be vital for the Pirates camp to shift its focus away from the Champions League, back to the heroics of the local cup competition.

“As far as the Champions League is concerned, to be honest, I’m only thinking Chiefs right now,” De Sa said.

“We have to refocus quickly. We know Chiefs will come at us and we know they are capable of that.

“They’re hungry and coming from behind, it’s going to be tough.”

Amakhosi boss Stuart Baxter, meanwhile, called for a committed effort from his troops.

“There’s no draws, no safety margins and you have to score more goals than your opponent,” Baxter said.

“When you get onto the field, there can be no other option than to beat your opponent.

“We need to go there, we need to have total focus on winning the game in the 90 minutes in front of us.”

Baxter opted to rest a number of his senior players for Saturday’s game, and the Briton admitted the nature of the season necessitated the need to rotate players on a game-to-game basis.

“We were resting some of the players, not because we had an important game coming up against Pirates, but because looking at the games ahead, I felt it was the only opportunity to give some of the players a rest,” Baxter said.

“I think the fact that we (Chiefs) had an extra day to prepare only becomes an advantage if we use it.

“I will take the extra day because I wouldn’t like to be in Roger’s shoes and not have the extra day… it’s a potential bonus for us but we have to use it.”

In Tuesday’s other semifinal, Platinum Stars will travel to Bidvest Wits leading 4-2 on aggregate.

SAPA

Johannesburg – Two members of the so-called Waterkloof Four, Reinach Tiedt and Gert van Schalkwyk, have been readmitted to the Zonderwater Prison, the correctional services department confirmed on Monday.

“The two reported for re-admission today [Monday] at 12:30, they have now been readmitted,” said the department’s regional commissioner, Zacharia Modise.

Tiedt and Van Schalkwyk’s recent application for leave to appeal against an earlier ruling that they return to the facility, was dismissed on 16 September by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

The two had been under house arrest for almost two years.

The two, along with Christoff Becker and Frikkie du Preez, were sentenced in January 2005 to 12 years’ imprisonment for murdering a man in a Pretoria park in 2001.

They started serving their sentences in August 2008 after an unsuccessful appeal.

A Pretoria magistrate converted Tiedt and Van Schalkwyk’s sentences to correctional supervision in December 2011 after an application by the Parole Board.

Correctional Services appealed against the decision and a full bench of the high court ruled in June that the magistrate’s ruling had been based on an error in law and that the two must return to jail.

Judges Hans Fabricius, Ephraim Makgoba and Wendy Hughes found that the pair were not entitled to parole if more than five years of their sentence remained.

SAPA

Women must not oppress other women to benefit in status or materially, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said in Durban on Sunday.

“The continued oppression of women can as well be worsened by some other women who use women’s oppression to climb the social ladder,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery at a training conference held by the International Association of Policewomen.

“They use the gender ticket for narrow, material benefit, which has no bearing to the course of women’s emancipation,” he said.

Mthethwa said the association needed to reflect on how it improved female police officers’ lives “not only through work promotions, but impacting even the impoverished young girls in terms of career shadowing”.

Female officers needed to be recognised for their “resilience, courage and determination”, against issues such as gender bias.

He said policewomen could contribute to ending violence against women.

“You should be seen as a force to be reckoned with in the fight against crime” he says.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The South African Communist Party’s (SACP) Blade Nzimande says union leaders who want to leave labour federation Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) must do so immediately.

Nzimande addressed Communist Party and Cosatu members at Folweni, south of Durban on Sunday, where tensions within the labour federation took centre stage

He says the SACP will not fold its arms while Cosatu is crippled by divisions.

Its president S’dumo Dlamini says the request by unions for a special congress to be held is not an easy solution.

National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is leading the charge for a special congress to be held, following the suspension of Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

Vavi was suspended after details of an affair with a subordinate came to light. Some unions within Cosatu are calling for his re-instatement.

Nzimande says union leaders who have their own agendas have no place in Cosatu.

“We can see that there are some leaders in some of the unions who are considering maybe leaving us. We want to say to you as workers if they want to go let them go with their own jackets not together with you as workers of this country,” says Nzimande.

Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini says calls for a special congress are being considered.

“The constitution of Cosatu is very funny because it gives, under the circumstances of such a request, powers to the president to apply his mind on this matter. I will apply my mind and inform the structures,” says Dlamini.

Dlamini also says that Cosatu will stand by its decision to support the ruling party in the next elections.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

JOHANNESBURG – Parents of matriculants registered at the Edu Centre College in Midrand north of Johannesburg say they want the money they paid to the education facility back.

They say their children returned home from school on Thursday morning saying they found a notice on the school gate telling them that the school has been shut down.

When parents contacted authorities to check what’s going on they were told the school has been liquidated.

The department of education has since said they have dispatched an investigator at the school but also say they can’t do much because the school is private.

Jayshree Pillay says her son’s school fees were paid in full at the school.

“My son’s fees were paid in full at the beginning of the year and more important than anything is he’s in matric, we can’t afford this at this time of the year.”

The matriculants attending the school have now been left stranded as final year exams approach.

JOHANNESBURG – The SanWild Rhino Sanctuary has endorsed an academy that will train rangers to physically protect rhino from being poached in South Africa.

The specialised wildlife protection academy will start training candidates from January next year.

At the same time, the world celebrates World Rhino Day on Sunday, it was started by the World Wide Foundation in 2011.

A total of 688 rhino have been killed in South Africa this year alone.

The SanWild Rhino Santuary’s Louis Joubert said, “We’ve teamed up with the specialised wild life protection academy that have managed to get the first endorsement for the training of professional counter poaching rangers to physically protect rhino.”

Meanwhile, The World Wildlife Fun (WWF) South Africa is targeting some of the world’s most influential people to pledge their support for rhino, asking for 1million tweets tagged “I am for rhinos”.

There are a number of events and initiatives happening this year and the focus is on creating awareness.

The Private Rhino Owners Association Pelham Jones said “We are trying to get every South African to become a rhino ambassador.”

The misguided perception that the rhino horn is a status symbol or has medical benefits has left activists dismayed that efforts to stop poaching has had little effect on the illicit trade.

219 people have been arrested this year in connection with rhino killings.
For more http://www.ewn.co.za

JOHANNESBURG – Paramedics have confirmed that two people have been killed after a head-on collision between a truck and a VW Jetta on the R30 near Odendaalsrus in the Free State last night.

It’s still unclear what caused the accident.

Paramedics say heavy duty rescue services had to be called to the scene to lift the truck as the vehicle was found underneath it.

ER24’s Werner Vermaak said, “Paramedics arrived at the scene and found the front of the car and the back under the truck and there were four people in the vehicle. Fatalities can’t be confirmed but it looks like four people lost their lives.”

This comes after 23 people were killed in an accident earlier this month involving a truck which crashed into four taxis and two vehicles at an intersection in Pinetown in KwaZulu-Natal.
For more http://www.ewn.co.za

JOHANNESBURG – Gauteng police say they’re investigating a case of murder after a decomposed body was found in the boot of a car in Monte Casino.

It’s understood that security guards who were patrolling, identified the vehicle which had been parked at the casino since Friday.

Officials say they are still trying to identify the person who parked the car there.

The police’s Lungelo Dlamini said, “The body has not yet been identified but we are continuing with the investigation to identify the body.”

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

By TDN
Mahikeng: The North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development calls on all domestic animals owners to join forces in preventing the spread of the deadly Rabies disease, by ensuring that their animals get vaccinated. The call comes in the wake of the month-long awareness and vaccination campaigns, which the Department has embarked upon throughout the Province.
During these campaigns, the Department’s Veterinary Animal Health Technicians and State Veterinarians are vaccinating pets like dogs and cats against the disease, and educating communities about how rabies is spread, how it is treated, and the preventative measures available for both humans and animals.
“When people know about rabies, understand how it is transmitted and what to do when a person is exposed to the virus, lives are saved”, says MEC for Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Desbo Mohono.
Rabies is a preventable yet fatal viral disease, which is found in domestic and wild animals, and occasionally in humans. The rabies virus which is found in the saliva of an infected animal is transmitted from animals to humans/animals through bites, licks and scratching.
Humans can be infected through the broken skin or mucous membrane, after coming into contact with an infected animal.
According to Dr Langa Madyibi, Director for Veterinary Services within the Department, domestic animals should be vaccinated at three months of age and have their first booster between one and nine months, after which they must get the booster vaccinations every year, as required by the Animal Disease Act (Act 35 of 1984).
Madyibi advised communities to look for behavioural changes in their animals like, aggressiveness, dumbness, paralysis or partially paralysis, or excessive salivation, as they are common signs and symptoms of rabies.
“In humans, flu-like fever, headache and fatigue which progress to involve respiratory, gastrointestinal or central nervous system are common symptoms of infection. Signs of hyperactivity in a furious form or paralysis are also common” explained Dr Madyibi who maintains that human beings die during the first seven days of illness.
Owners are urged to ensure that they observe the legal requirement of vaccinating their domestic animals, more so the vaccination is administered at a free cost.
For more information on where vaccination will be carried out in different areas of the Province, communities are encouraged to contact the Department’s State Veterinary offices found in all the Districts. World Rabies Day will be commemorated on the 28th of September.-TDN
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