North West-The Provincial Planning Commission in the Office of the Premier of the North West will kick start its series of workshops throughout the province on capacity building and population integration  for implementation of the National Development Plan with a two-day workshop that commences at the

Rustenburg Civic Centre today.

The purpose of the workshops coordinated by the Provincial Population Unit within the Planning Commission and the National Population Unit in the Department of Social Development is to support Departments and Municipalities to integrate population factors into their policies and strategic plan as part of implementation of the National Development Plan

(NDP).

“It is critical for stakeholders to have a comprehensive understanding of the salient features of the NDP for them to integrate their plans as it constitutes the new fundamental basis to reconstruct our society and improve the quality of services to the people. It is a strategic framework to build capacity in the state to address the triple challenges of poverty,

inequality and unemployment in South Africa in general and in our province in particular. With the NDP we intend to create an inclusive society,

consolidate democracy and ensure sustainable development,” says Premier Thandi Modise.

Premier Modise said that the province will intensify its effort to involve civil society in the roll out of the implementation plan and has thus far engaged traditional leaders and the business sector in its extensive

consultation programme.

Stakeholders invited for the workshop aimed at also addressing demographic

gaps in government plans and programmes include Heads of provincial government Departments, municipal managers, public participation officers and faith based organizations.-TDN

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

By Obakeng Maje

Galeshewe-Northern Cape police are investigating a business robbery case, following

an incident whereby a business was robbed on Tuesday morning. “It is alleged that the complainant was busy opening the shop for business in Kelotlhoko Street and Africa in Galeshewe when more than three suspects attacked” lieutenant Donald Mdhluli said. 

Mdhluli said it is alleged that these suspects were having

knives and firearm(s). 

Reports also indicate that the suspects fled with undisclosed amount of money, cell phones, as well as meat (as the owner has a butchery section in his business). No arrests were made yet.-TDN

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Efforts to improve Doctor patient contact in the North West Province received a major potential boost with announcement by Health MEC Dr. Magome Masike that the province will this year send 180 students to study medicine in CUBA.  This is a drastic improvement from 100 that was recruited in 2012. 

The Province has 72 medical students from poor backgrounds who successfully completed their medical studies and are now serving their communities since inception of South Africa Cuba Medical programme in 1995.

The recruitment process of 180 students who departs for Cuba in October was highly competitive. Candidates were selected on the basis of academic excellence and commitment to serve the poorest communities upon completion of their studies.

Other criteria included a history of active involvement in their communities, and the potential to be a dedicated and caring doctor.  Priority was given to students from disadvantaged communities.

Bursary recipients had undergone a week long orientation at health facilities to familiarize themselves with medical practice and to get perspective of Cuba from those who studied medicine in Cuba before boarding a flight to Cuba.

The province continues to see steady progress in addressing related challenges of scares skills and training of health professionals. “Through the South African and Cuban Medical Programme more and more medical professionals become available. The availability of extra doctors means more and more communities especially in rural areas where most of them come from are able to be seen and treated by doctors,” says MEC Masike

 “Shortage of medical professionals is a national problem but affects the poor and rural population the most. Through the South Africa and Cuba Medical Programme more and more medical professionals become available and this slowly but surely reduces doctor patient contact in health facilities mainly serving rural communities,” MEC Masike said.

MEC Masike will bid farewell to bursary recipients at Mmabatho Convention Centre tomorrow at 12h00. Members of the media are invited.

Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma is satisfied with the transport laws and related matters amendment bill and sees no stumbling blocks in its implementation, presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj told Fin24.

“The president is satisfied with the bill.”

Zuma has consulted widely, including with his legal advisers and, and sees no stumbling blocks.

On Wednesday, Zuma signed the bill into law. It now sets the wheels in motion for the electronic and cross-border collection of toll fees.

The controversial electronic tolling system of highways in Gauteng has been met with tough resistance, including from ANC alliance partner Cosatu and religious organisations. 

“With the enactment of the law, the necessary legislation is now in place to enable e-tolling,” said Maharaj.

The law empowers the minister of transport to gazette regulation for the implementation of e-tolls, he said.

The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said the signing of the bill did not come a surprise.

“We welcome the signing of the bill into law,” Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona told Fin24. 

“We have never doubted the commitment of the president to the policies and laws of the government,” he said.

The bill was passed by the National Council of Provinces in May, however e-tolling was slated to begin in April 2011.

The majority of registered motorists will pay a monthly fee of only R100 to use Gauteng’s freeways,  Sanral said in August. This after e-toll tariffs was slashed at least thrice. 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Appeal is hearing an appeal by the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) as it challenges Sanral’s decision to breathe life into tolling Gauteng highways at the expense of the public.

Mike Maritz, for Outa, argued that legislation allowed Sanral to explore options other than tolling to fund freeways, reported Sapa on Wednesday.

Sanral also suffered a credit rating downgrade in September by Moody’s Investors Service.

The ratings agency cited deterioration in Sanral’s cash flow stemming from the prolonged delay in the realisation of e-toll revenue, it said in a statement at the time.

 – Fin24

Pretoria – Evidence leaders have concerns about evidence supplied by police to the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, senior evidence leader Geoff Budlender, SC, said on Wednesday.

“It is a matter for the [SA Police Service] to respond. It is not as though the evidence leaders have reached a conclusion, we have very serious concerns. We have identified certain of them and we continue to identify them as we go along,” he said.

“Certain of the matters which have given us cause for concern will be raised in the further cross-examination of [Lieutenant] Colonel Duncan Scott,” said Budlender.

In response, Ishmael Semenya, SC, for the police, said the evidence leaders’ concerns would be addressed in writing.

“About [suggestions] the police’s version being untrue, I do not hear any answer about it. It was very definitive, it was said and it was not made lightly, it was considered and it was said the version of the SAPS is untrue,” said Semenya.

‘Damning’ statements

Commission chairperson, retired judge Ian Farlam, said Budlender had indicated that the contested issues would become clearer during further cross-examination of Scott, currently on the witness stand.

Budlender said he would also communicate with the police attorneys and point out to them the parts which had caused concern.

“Some of it will become clear from the cross-examination and we are happy to communicate further with our colleagues to tell them where our concerns are if it’s not sufficiently clear, he said.

When the public hearings resumed on Wednesday morning, police representatives protested about “damning” statements attributed to Budlender.

Semenya said Budlender’s statements that the police evidence to the commission was untrue caused “grave concern”.

“The concern is grave because the evidence leaders are an extension of the commission. They have been appointed by the commission and they do their work for the commission.

Semenya invited Budlender and the evidence leading team to identify the documents which inspired that opinion.

“They must also identify which of the SAPS witnesses at this commission are demonstrated to have been untruthful to this commission. We think we deserve that and that will inform our clients with regards to their conduct at these proceedings,” he said.

New evidence

Earlier this month, Budlender sought a postponement of the public hearings to enable the evidence leaders to work through new material running into thousands of pages.

In his statement, Budlender said the new material had been made available by the police and its legal team to explain certain matters.

The statement read: “In the past 10 days we have discovered through the evidence leaders that there must be info that was not disclosed by the police that seeks to suggest that the information was withheld to try and portray a certain approach to the commission in relation to what has been discovered.”

During Budlender’s submissions he stated that in the opinion of the evidence leaders, some of the documents demonstrated that the police version of events at Marikana, and the evidence of police witnesses at the commission, were in material respects not the truth.

Farlam said that might not be so. Budlender said this was for the commission, and not the evidence leaders, to decide.

In granting the postponement sought, which neither the police nor any of the other parties present opposed, Farlam said: “I think it appropriate to place on record these are at the moment only concerns.

“There are no findings made, these are matters that have to be looked at, and we don’t know what the results of the examination of these points will be. But clearly from what you tell us, these are matters that require careful consideration, which I am sure they will receive.”

The commission, sitting in Centurion, is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg, North West, last year.

Police shot dead 34 people, almost all striking miners, while trying to disperse and disarm them on 16 August 2012. Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

President Jacob Zuma established the commission shortly after the unrest.

SAPA

WHEN little Anelisa Mkhondo didn’t return home, her grandparents thought they would see her the next day.

But there was no sign of the five-year-old girl the next day, Sunday 8 September.

A search began and the child was found murdered a day later. She had been dumped in a dustbin and used condoms were found around her.

She had gashes on her head and neck as if she had been chopped with an axe. She wasn’t wearing her shoes.

Neighbours found the little body about 50m from her home in Diepsloot, north of Joburg.

Last Thursday residents, friends and family flocked to a hall in Afrika Tikkun Akani Centre for Anelisa’s memorial service.

Her grieving gogo, Bongiwe Ncubuse, pleaded with people to help the police to catch the brutal killers of her innocent granddaughter.

Church leaders, community safety officials, police, pupils and representatives of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund were among the mourners.

Fund representative Fikile Ngcobo asked people to report crime.

Nehwoh Belinda, the manager of a gender-based anti-violence and child abuse programme at Afrika Tikkun, asked Diepsloot residents to fight crime and violence, especially against women and children.

James Khumalo of a community safety group asked churches to help fight immorality in the township.For more http://www.dailysun.mobi

Cape Town – The projected decrease in the price of petrol of between 19 and 25 cents a litre predicted by economist Dawie Roodt should not serve as an incentive for consumers to go out and spend money they don’t have.

Roodt said depending on the price of crude oil and the Rand US Dollar exchange rate, the price of petrol could drop by as much as 25c a litre on Friday with a further decrease of about 13c a litre predicted for October. The diesel price is expected to remain unchanged.

Last week Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus said petrol prices increased at a year-on-year rate of 23% in August, but that favourable base effects and the small decline in the price in September are likely to result in a far lower rate of petrol price inflation in that month.

The combination of a lower oil price and a stronger exchange rate is likely to result in a further moderate price decline in October, reversing the expectation earlier in the month of a further significant increase, she said.

The rand was slightly firmer against the dollar on Wednesday but economic data from the United States in the coming days could push it weaker if the numbers come through stronger than expected.

The rand was at R9.8520/$ at 08:37, up 0.2% from its New York close on Tuesday.

While Roodt’s predicted petrol price reduction was to be welcomed, consumers should not see this as an opportunity to stack up even more debt, warned Neil Roets, CEO of Debt Rescue.

“What we hope for is that the retail sector takes cognisance of this reduction and that it will be reflected in lower prices for all goods and services once the price decrease has worked its way through the system.”

The serious nature of South Africa’s consumer debt was clearly demonstrated by the latest TransUnion consumer credit index which found that consumer loan defaults continued to rise. It also found that “distressed borrowing” had held steady, but credit card usage nonetheless remained high, and household cash flow was deteriorating.

It further found that the demand cycle for unsecured lending was “extremely robust.”

The number of civil summonses for debt – which is the first legal step in the recovery of debt – jumped by 5.6% year on year in July to 78,908, after declining year on year to 65 729 in June.

Roets said the high costs of food and services as well as slow economic growth is making it difficult for many South Africans to pay back their loans on time. One in every four South Africans is unemployed and the number of borrowers with impaired credit records – three or more payments in arrears – has risen to nearly 50%.

Roets said total consumer debt is now topping R1.44 trillion according to Statistics South Africa.

“We are already seeing a dramatic growth in the number of people who are seeking protection from their creditors by going under debt review. There has also been a significant growth in the number of consumers who are having their salaries docked by garnishee orders and who are being blacklisted because of judgements against them.

“We are experiencing double digit growth in our own client list and we know from colleagues in the debt counselling industry that they too are seeing rapid growth in the number of distressed consumers seeking help,” Roets said.

He said the number of consumers seeking help from his company had more than doubled over the past six months.

– Fin24

Potential supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have laid into party leader Julius Malema after he failed to pitch at heritage day celebrations in Brits in North West.

The rally was organised to prepare for the EFF’s national launch in Marikana next month.

Some of those attending were angered at Malema’s failure to arrive. They say they wanted to find out from him what EFF was going to do better.

This month EFF was registered as a political party with the Independent Electoral Commission. Malema said the approval meant the party would contest the general elections in 2014 and win.

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

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema was wrong to say that the ANC-led government is worse than the apartheid government, DA spokesperson Mmusi Maimane has said.

“You may have heard Julius Malema saying over the weekend that the ANC is worse than apartheid. It is wrong to create this impression among South Africans,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery today.

“Apartheid was worse because it was a system of entrenched racism. Apartheid was worse because we couldn’t vote out apartheid. In fact, we couldn’t vote at all.”

The EFF leader said at the rally in Lethabong near Rustenburg, North West, on Saturday that black people would never own land under the ANC.

“Our struggle is about land. (Former president Nelson) Mandela was arrested for demanding land,” Malema said.

Maimane said “the sacrifice that so many made for our freedom” had to be remembered.

“Like so many others where I grew up, I used to be an ANC supporter. I believed that the ANC could bring about a better life for me and my family,” he said.

“Since then I have seen how that once proud movement has lost its way under the current leadership.”

He said apartheid was forced on the people against their will, while the ANC was “not compulsory”.

“The ANC is a political party in a democracy. We can vote for another party if we feel let down by the one in power.”

– Sapa