Johannesburg – The Hawks should be allowed to continue investigating allegations against former Tlokwe mayor Maphetle Maphetle, North West Local Government MEC Mamketse Tlhape said on Thursday.

“The allegations that have been levelled against the then executive mayor Maphetle Maphetle are being investigated by the Hawks branch in Klerksdorp,” Tlhape said in a statement.

“The department recommends that law enforcement agencies be allowed to continue with their investigations and the department observe the processes.”

The DA asked for a forensic probe into irregularities at the municipality last year.

This found that the council irregularly bought Maphetle a R736 000 customised Mercedes-Benz. Maphetle also allegedly abused the Disaster Management Fund and Poverty Relief Fund.

The report recommended that formal disciplinary action be taken against him and other officials.

In May, the DA laid criminal charges against Maphetle, and in June, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said she would investigate the claims of corruption involving Maphetle.

Tlhape said her department also instituted an inquiry into the allegations, in line with its general support mandate.

She said the team probing the matter had concluded its investigation after interviewing a number of officials in the Tlokwe municipality.

“For obvious reasons, as government we could not just fold our arms and turn a blind eye and pretend as if things were normal.

“Our interest as government was to ensure that service delivery was not compromised,” Tlhape said.

The Tlokwe municipality is currently being run by DA Mayor Annette Combrink.

– SAPA

Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma expressed concern on Thursday at tensions between ANC alliance partner Cosatu and its biggest affiliate Numsa.

“We are concerned about the tensions in the federation that is our alliance partner,” Zuma told parliamentary Press Gallery Association members at a lunch meeting at Tuynhuys.

However, Zuma said he was also confident the Cosatu would be able to resolve the dispute with the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

Numsa is involved in a high court battle to have suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi re-instated.

The case was indefinitely postponed on Tuesday.

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim has also threatened not to campaign for the ANC ahead of next year’s elections should the National Development Plan be included in the party’s election manifesto.

Zuma said the ANC had “engaged” Numsa on its comments.

“In so far as the utterances about perhaps not going with the ANC in the elections, I’m sure that people as individuals within any organisation will have their views… We have not engaged those matters from the colleagues who are saying so…,” Zuma said.

“I’m sure when we discuss it again, I don’t think we’ll fail to come to some kind of understanding.”

Zuma said tensions within any organisation were normal.

“There are issues that have arisen, and we believe those issues would be handled and concluded so that the federation is able to move forward,” he said.

“It will be something almost next to impossible that you can have an organisation where at times there are no tensions.”

– SAPA

Three officials of the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) were arrested for corruption in Piet Retief on Thursday, Mpumalanga police said.

Police spokesperson Selvy Mohlala said they gave unactivated, fraudulent grant payment cards to a woman who posed as an official and visited beneficiaries’ homes on the pretext of verifying them as beneficiaries.

“In the process, she will ask for their Sassa cards and the pin code. She then exchanges the cards and gives the beneficiary the card that is not activated,” he said.

Mohlala said a woman, Thembeni Nene, 48, was arrested in Piet Retief on 6 September after allegedly trying to swap cards at an ATM.

She appeared in the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court on Monday when the case was postponed to 1 October for further investigation.

Mohlala said grant payment cards and birth certificates had been seized from the three officials’ offices.

They would appear in the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Nurses are usually blamed for the Eastern Cape’s health department’s problems, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) said on Thursday.

Denosa is set to join a march, demanding improved services.

“For a long time now, and with consistency, the province has been embattled with, among others, gross staff shortages, shortage of equipment, medication and lack of support for health workers,” Denosa Eastern Cape secretary Koliswa Tota said in a statement.

“As the backbone and face of the health care system, it has become a norm for nurses to get blamed as a result of these challenges.”

Denosa planned to join a march by the Eastern Cape Health Crisis Action Coalition to Health MEC Sicelo Gqobana’s office in Bisho, to hand over a memorandum demanding improved services.

“Having just signed the service charter… which is a commitment to quality public service by both employees and employer, Denosa joins this march in line with its commitment to quality health service and under the spirit of a positive practice environment for health workers to render quality service, which is currently not the case in the Eastern Cape,” Tota said.

Earlier, the Eastern Cape health department dismissed allegations by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Section 27 that the province’s health system was collapsing.

The TAC and Section 27 released a detailed report on Wednesday on the health system in the Eastern Cape.

‘Distorted’ report

The department’s spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the report was full of distortions and old issues, which had been resolved.

“The issue of drugs was addressed,” he said.

Kupelo denied allegations that the province had a high staff vacancy rate.

He said the department continued producing nurses through its internal nursing college, and doctors were deployed where they were needed.

The report described hampered service delivery as a result of the poor state of health care facilities.

Kupelo said six hospitals were being demolished to be rebuilt in Transkei and that a gateway clinic was being built at a cost of R38m near Elliotdale.

More than 50 corrupt officials were fired last year and those doing business with the department were being investigated by the Treasury, Kupelo said.

The report found that the mismanagement of funds was the department’s underlying problem, and that more than R1bn had been overspent by the department in the 2011/2012 financial year.

– SAPA

Pretoria – The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria reserved its verdict on Thursday on an application for a review and setting aside of the decision to withdraw criminal and disciplinary charges against Richard Mdluli.

However, Judge John Murphy said he appreciated the significance of the matter and would ensure his judgment was communicated soon.

“I appreciate fully that this is a matter that should be dealt with sooner rather than later,” he said.

“I hope to get a judgment to you, probably in the course of the [court] recess or shortly thereafter.”

The application was brought by the lobby group, Freedom Under Law (FUL).

The controversial former crime intelligence head was suspended amid charges of fraud and corruption, and charges relating to the murder of his ex-lover’s husband.

An inquest cleared him of any involvement in the murder.

The charges of fraud and corruption were also later withdrawn, by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

He was reinstated, but was again suspended in 2012 pending the FUL application.

Advocate Laurance Hodes, for the national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) argued that instead of “marching off to court”, FUL should have sought the review from the NDPP.

Hodes said the Mdluli matter had been provisionally withdrawn, which did not amount to a discontinuation of the prosecution process.

Decisions on whether to prosecute lay with the NDPP, not with courts, Hodes argued.

Murphy expressed reservations about Hodes’ assertion.

“So you can provisionally withdraw a matter for 25 years and that is fine?” he asked.

Murphy said if courts could not intervene, it would enable corrupt prosecutors to get away with it, as cases would be taken off the roll.

– SAPA

Pretoria – Politicians pledged their support for Marikana miners and called on the government to ensure justice was served during a march in Pretoria on Thursday.

Politicians at the march on Thursday included IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, DA spokesperson Mmusi Maimane, UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, EFF leader Julius Malema, and Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota.

The PAC and Agang SA were also represented, but there was no sign of representatives of the ANC.

Buthelezi said everyone affected by the events at Marikana should be able to present their case at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry for it to be fair and successful.

“If the state could afford the best lawyers then the playing field “should be levelled,” he said.

“Government needs to open its eyes. It needs to see the depth of pain and hardship on the people it is ignoring… and accept responsibility to set things right in our country.”

Citizens4Marikana, a group which came together through social media on the first anniversary of last year’s violence at Marikana, organised a march to the Union Buildings to demand state funding for miners’ counsel, Dali Mpofu and his team.

Mpofu recently provisionally withdrew from the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances of 44 deaths in strike-related unrest at Marikana last August because of a lack of funding.

Police shot dead 34 people, almost all of them striking mine workers, while trying to disperse a group gathered on a hill near the mine on 16 August 2012.

Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, died in the preceding week.

Application to postpone

Mpofu applied for the commission’s hearings to be postponed while he sought funding, but its chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam, ruled on Monday that it would not be prejudicial to his clients to continue the hearings in his absence.

Mpofu has already approached the high court and the Constitutional Court in an attempt to obtain state funding.

Both courts have dismissed his application.

He will appeal the matter in the high court later this month.

Malema told the marchers miners would have received state funding if those who were killed were members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

“That mountain [in Marikana] would be the most important mountain in the country. Only people who are important to the ANC are those aligned with the ANC,” he said.

Earlier, Holomisa announced that his party had donated R10 000 to the Marikana Dignity Trust.

March convenor Bishop Joe Seoka said the trust, which was established to further the cause of the miners, would also be used to restore the dignity of the Marikana community.

“It will also be used to assist with counselling because people were traumatised by what they witnessed on the day,” he said.

Memorandum

The marchers handed a memorandum to directors in the presidency Sifiso Mkhize and Shimi Mashweu.

In the memorandum, they asked President Jacob Zuma to respond to the demand for state funding by Friday.

“In conducting this peaceful and lawful demonstration, the victims wish to urge the South African government and its organs to reconsider their position and provide the necessary funding,” read the memorandum.

“Failure to do so will result in a discredited process on which R115m of taxpayers’ money has already been spent or allocated and which will go to waste.”

No credible and legitimate outcome would come out of the commission without the participation of the victims.

“Certainly, no closure, reconciliation, truth and justice can result from it.”

The workers and victims would take steps to withdraw the legal challenge already before the court and return to the commission should Zuma respond positively to their demand.

“This step is likely to restore the commission’s credibility and the bona fides of the South African government.”

– SAPA

Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma declined to explain fully why he found parts on the protection of state information bill problematic, when pressed by the media, which prompted hours of speculation as to the exact provisions in question and the extent of possible amendments.

Confusion grew when his spokesperson Mac Maharaj indicated that Zuma may have meant to refer to different sections of the bill but he later retracted this.

Earlier on Thursday Zuma said he could not sign the bill into law, because it was incoherently drafted and, therefore, unconstitutional.

Since the bill was adopted in April, Zuma has been lobbied not to sign it into law, but to refer it to the Constitutional Court for certification.

Asked why he did not take this route, the president responded that the Constitutional Court was not in a position to amend the bill, and that only lawmakers were.

“I sent it to the people who will fix what I think is wrong,” he said.

Zuma’s announcement was widely welcomed by critics who have campaigned against the legislation for years.

The bill was deemed a throwback to apartheid-era state secrecy when it was first introduced, and over almost three years of drafting the ANC was forced to retreat from some of its most controversial clauses.

Revising the bill

During his announcement, the president singled out two sections of the bill as problematic but his office indicated that a letter sent to Speaker Max Sisulu mandates lawmakers to revise the contentious official secrets bill as a whole.

“I have referred the bill back to the National Assembly for reconsideration, in so far as sections 42 and 45 lack meaning and coherence, and consequently are irrational and accordingly are unconstitutional,” Zuma said to parliamentary reporters.

Section 45 criminalises the improper classification of state information and provides for prison sentences of five to 15 years, depending on the level of wrongful classification. It notably makes it a crime to classify information to conceal corruption or influence a tender process.

Ironically, advocacy groups have welcomed this section for offering those who reveal classified information to expose state wrongdoing protection from prosecution.

Section 42 purports to deal with failure to report possession of a classified document but refers back to an earlier section that sets out the maximum classification period, as stipulated in the National Archives Act.

Shortly after Zuma announced his decision, Sisulu informed the National Assembly that an ad hoc committee would be established to deal with the president’s reservations about the bill.

Rising to address the Assembly, State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele welcomed the president’s decision, because it would strengthen the legislation.

Bill remains ‘unconstitutional’

Critics – among them ANC alliance partners and veteran human rights lawyer George Bizos – have insisted that it remained unconstitutional.

Their objections revolve around more provisions than those Zuma singled out, including the fact that the bill places a low burden of proof on the state for crimes such as espionage.

Last month, the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory called for the bill to be withdrawn and rewritten from scratch because, it said, it would create a regime of dealing with state information that ran parallel to that envisaged in the Constitution and the progressive Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia).

“This was the basis for the secrecy and lack of accountability which characterised the apartheid system,” it said.

The Right2Know campaign welcomed Zuma’s decision and said he had mentioned “only two of many draconian aspects of the bill” and urged a comprehensive redraft.

“We call on members of Parliament to seize this opportunity to redeem themselves and redraft the bill to bring it in line with the values of openness and transparency,” the group’s national co-ordinator Mark Weinberg said.

– SAPA

By TDN
The North West Provincial Legislature will be hosting the Interfaith
Religious Sectoral Parliament under the theme “Strengthening relations
between Religious Community and the State” on Friday in the Legislature Chamber at 10h00.
“The aim of the sectoral parliament is to create a platform for religious
leaders to raise issues that affect better service delivery in our country,
moral decay and have a way forward in working together with the state to improve the lives of the people of our province” departmental spokesperson Mongezi Tsenca said.
The following topics will be under discussion:
The prophetic voice of religious community in society today and cooperation between religious community and the state.
The National Interfaith Council of South Africa (NICSA), South African
Council of Churches (SACC), South African Minister’s Fraternal (SAMIFRA),
Department of Social Development, Women, Children and People with
Disabilities, Department of Education, Moral Regeneration Desk from the Office of the Premier and other related stakeholders will attend the event.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

By TDN
Mpumalanga-A festival of urban and soulful sounds is set to bring a dynamic vibe to Nelspruit yet again this year. Mpumalanga will come alive this September as the 5th instalment of MPUCA Annual 60s Weekend” returns with a scintillating weekend of good music, tourism and entertainment.

The event attracts a mélange of ethnicities from across the country, young and old to this exciting and progressive city.
For the past 4 years these event played host to a unique melting pot of these cultures, coming together for a massive celebration.

Boasting some of the majestic and panoramic views, the Mpumalanga Province will come alive from 26th – 29th September 2013 when revellers and tourists from all over Southern and South Africa gather at some of Mpumalanga’s iconic locations.

“We are quite thrilled at the success the festival has enjoyed over the past four years and this year is going to be even better as we feature the SAMA awards Winner KhuliChana and the Musical Legend ‘ZOLA7’ to head our strong line-up of more than 40 Artists,” says Sam Sekgota, Managing Director of Molite Productions.

The MPUCA 60s Weekend in Nelspruit will kick off on Friday, 27th September with a high-energy Pre-Party at Cappellos featuring Naives and SPHE, Mpako, Ocean and others.
“For the lovers of HouseMusic we have a second dance floor still at Cappellos with Dj @Work Vinny Da Vinci & Christos, Fistaz Mixwell, TrevorDee, China, Glen Lewis, ThePrince, Nasty Nev and TrendyL as well as some of the top club DJs in the country. Saturday, 28th September will be the Main Sixties Party at Mbombela Stadium Precinct with Dj Blackcoffee, Fresh, Sbu, Ganyani, Sumbody and others and on Sunday, 29th September the weekend winds down at The Mbombela Picnic & Braai area with sultry and soulful sounds at the popular Sunday Soul Session presented by the METRO FM’s Paul Mtirara, Eddie Zondi, Sweetmike and UnkleMdu headlined by top Afro-Jazz Artist like Mafikizolo, TheSoil, JazielBrothers, Zahara, Ntando to be flanked by local artists Tsepe and many more” Organiser said.

“It’s sure going to be an unforgettable Mpumalanga weekend and we urge all South Africans to set aside that September weekend and book their tickets, flights and accommodation as this is going to be amemorable festival of excellent music,” adds Sekgota.

Ticket prices to the MPUCA 60s weekend are available at Computicket Nationwide and Shoprite Checkers and online as follows:

• Friday, 27th September Hip-Hop Pre-Party at Cappellos R 100

• Saturday, 28th September Sixties Party at Mbombela Stadium R 180

• Sunday, 29th September Sunday Soul Session at Mbombela Stadium Picnic and Braai Area R 150.
Book your ticket early to avoid disappointment.-TDN

For more information on Sixties Weekend follow them on Facebook: 60s Nelspruit, number 013 752 2153 http://www.60snelspruit.co.za

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Johannesburg – The SA Broadcasting Corporation plans to exercise fiscal prudence when its government-guaranteed loan is paid off at the end of September, CEO Lulama Makhoba announced on Thursday.

“The SABC… has made R330 million in profits after taxes, and we will be paying off the government guaranteed loan at the end of September,” she said.

Makhoba said the partial financial freedom would not translate into careless spending, but would be invested in turn-around strategies including the training of staff in its financial department.

She said an audit had found that financial instability within the SABC had resulted in skilled financial department employees vacating crucial posts.

The SABC was releasing its 2012/13 annual financial report, just two days after receiving a disclaimer of opinion for 2012/13 – the worst audit opinion – from Auditor General Terence Nombembe.

A disclaimer is issued if the AG cannot form an opinion and thus declines to present an opinion on an entity’s financial statements.

In the SABC’s 2013 annual report, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, Nombembe cited financial mismanagement and inadequate controls as reasons for the disclaimer.

In his audit report, he found, among other things, that the SABC had spent more than R1.5 billion, and was not able to provide corresponding documentation for what the money was used.

“I was unable to obtain sufficient, appropriate audit evidence for journals processed to broadcasting cost, signal distribution, and linking cost, marketing cost, professional and consultancy fees and other expenditure… which, in total amount to R1,588,929,000, as supporting documentation could not be provided,” Nombembe said.

The SABC had also failed to adhere to the laws governing taxpayers’ money.

“Irregular expenditure to the amount of R106,322,000 was incurred, as proper tender processes had not been followed,” said Nombembe.

It also emerged that the broadcaster had procured goods and services through unfair and untransparent means.

Dismissing media reports that the SABC faced financial ruin, Makhoba said its major flaw was a financial reporting system which vastly differed with that used by the AG.

“The hybrid system that we were sitting with in reporting our finances was different to what the AG had, creating the confusion,” she said.

“When the AG assisted us, we found that his system was much wider and deeper and was not what we had previously used.” – Sapa