Referee Daniel Bennett and assistant referee, Zakhele Siwela will be flying the South African flag high at the FIFA U17 World Cup which will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates from 17 October to 8 November 2013.

The South African duo will join 61 other FIFA-accredited match officials at the tournament.

Fifty two matches will be played in six venues accross the UAE, namely;

1. Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium

2. Al-Rashid Stadium

3. Emirates Club Stadium

4. Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium

5. Fujairah Club Stadium and

6. Sharjah Stadium.

Bennett and Siwela will depart for Dubai on Wednesday, 09 October and return on Saturday, 09 November.

The duo have an excellent record, officiating at FIFA and CAF matches with the recent being the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup Group J qualifier between Senegal and Uganda. Sewela also officiated at the previous FIFA U17 World Cup held in Mexico in 2011.

Both match officials have been selected to be part of the match officials at the upcoming 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup tournament.

Other African match officials that will be in the UAE are Slim Jedidi, Bechir Hassani and Anouar Hmila (all from Tunisia); Badara Diatta, Djibril Camara and El Hadji Samba (all from Senegal) as well as Aen Marwa from Kenya.

The countries that have qualified for the tournament are Cote D’Ivoire, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia.-TDN
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The North West Executive Council (Exco) has approved extension of Section 139 interventions in Ditsobotla and Maquassi Hills Local Municipalities by another six months and a restart of the intervention process in Matlosana Local Municipality.

Although administrators and team of experts in financial management, infrastructure, technical, corporate, strategic management and legal services were appointed for deployment to address governance and administrative challenges within the three municipalities, they were only received in Ditsobotla and Maquassi Hills.

The progress update report presented to Exco by the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Manketse Tlhape attributed delayed progress in addressing challenges within the three municipalities to resistance to the intervention and implementation.

Actual intervention in Ditsobotla commenced on the 16th of last month and not in April as resolved by Exco after a second comprehensive assessment report conducted on the insistence of the municipality reconfirmed that the municipality is facing serious governance and administrative challenges. The report was presented to council by MEC Tlhape on the 13th of last month.

According to the MEC’s report, the continued litigation between the Administrator and the suspended Municipal Manager in Maquassi Hills is scheduled to be heard in the North West High Court next week Tuesday.

Interviews to fill vacant senior managers posts advertised by the administrators were allegedly disrupted by some councillors and are part of the challenges that delayed progress in implementing the turnaround intervention plan in the municipality.

According to the report, the intervention in Matlosana which was limited to building capacity and improving financial management and administration capacity in the dysfunctional Municipal Budget and Treasury Office never took off due to objection by the municipality from the time Exco resolved to intervene.

“Calls for implementation of section 154 intervention instead of Section 139(1) b approved by the Minister of Corporative Local Government and Traditional Affairs in Matlosana are uniformed as the former extends the team to be deployed to include officials from national government, “said Premier Modise.-tdn
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Johannesburg – Former National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) head Andile Lungisa has been arrested for fraud and money laundering, the Hawks said on Friday.

“It relates to R2.5m paid by the department of arts and culture for the Nelson Mandela Sports Day concert,” spokesperson Paul Ramaloko said.

Lungisa was arrested with three other people. They were alleged to have shared the money among themselves.

Ramaloko said Lungisa handed himself over and was subsequently arrested.

R Kelly concert

The four allegedly lied to the department and promised that they would have R Kelly perform.

At the time of the concert, the department said it had entered into negotiations with the promoter of the R&B singer’s recent tour to South Africa.

It was subsequently announced that the star was on the bill for the music concert that would follow the day’s sporting events.

However, it was discovered that R Kelly’s management had been unaware of the agreement, and he had departed the country as planned.

Ramaloko said all four were expected to appear in the Commercial Crime Court in Johannesburg on Friday.

SAPA

Mahikeng-Premier Thandi Modise has appointed a provincial interim structure that should pave the way towards the formal launch of the African Peer Review Mechanism Provincial General Council (APRM PGC) for the North West Province. Members of the interim APRM PGC met with Premier Modise for clarity on their terms of reference in Mahikeng yesterday.

“An inclusive and permanent structure has to be in place to lead implementation of the programme of action to continuously evaluate progress the province and country is registering and challenges we are facing towards addressing issues of governance and socio-economic importance,” Premier Modise told members of the interim APRM PGC.

The Premier said that the APRM PGC would also be critical in galvanizing communities for full participation in the second phase of the APRM process. 

Modise has given the seven member interim structure charged with the responsibility to identify all stakeholders to participate in the revival of the PGC and laying of the foundation for the permanent structure on APRM three months to conclude its work.

The leader of government business in the provincial legislature and MEC for Public Works,Roads and Transport, Raymond Elisha has been appointed as the chair the interim APRM PGC.

Other members representing their constituencies on the interim PGC are Tshepo Mashiane from the APRM National Governing Council, Kgosi Moshe Mabe from the North West House of Traditional Leaders,Rev  Tebogo Mpa from the Provincial Anti-Corruption Forum, Ms Bosa Ledwaba from the Progressive Women Forum, COSATU Provincial Secretary Solly Phetoe from Labour and Ms Raisibe Tshweu from South African National NGO Coalition(SANGOCO).-TDN

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