Cape Town – MPs processing the protection of state information bill on Tuesday heeded advice from State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele to seek more legal counsel on the adoption of a committee report.

The bill was sent back to the ad hoc committee last week, after it failed to observe procedural rules.

The committee’s report was meant to include minority views on amendments to sections 42 and 45 of the bill.

At Tuesday’s meeting, it was agreed that the DA and African Christian Democratic Party’s (ACDP) views would be recorded in the report.

However, Cope and IFP MPs were not present in the meeting, raising questions about whether their opinion on the amended bill should be included.

Committee chair Cecil Burgess said advice would be sought from state law advisers and parliamentary staff.

In the meantime, a draft report would be circulated among MPs.

“There will be another paragraph which will incorporate that both IFP and Cope objects to the process, but abstained from the adoption of the report. That will be circulate very soon,” Burgess said.

Draft report

The meeting was postponed to Wednesday to give MPs time to consider the draft report.

A final report would likely be adopted

A fortnight ago, the ANC majority on the committee pushed through limited changes to the bill, overruling objections from other parties that the process was flawed.

Opposition parties welcomed changes to the bill, but abstained from the committee vote, arguing that President Jacob Zuma had fallen foul of the Constitution by failing to give MPs an exact brief when he referred the bill back to the National Assembly in September.

MPs fixed an incorrect cross-reference in section 42 and a punctuation error in section 45 that in effect rendered meaningless a hard-won safeguard on the state’s powers to classify information.

– SAPA

Pretoria – The lead prosecutor in the Boeremag treason trial has welcomed the 20 men’s sentences, which range from five to 48-years’ imprisonment.

Fourteen of the men were sentenced to in effect five to 25 years’ imprisonment, five received wholly suspended sentences, and one, who had suffered a series of strokes, was not sentenced.

Afterwards, lead prosecutor Paul Fick SC said he felt the trial had been worth it, despite the death threats he received over the past decade.

He said the trial had been fair and that the community ought to be satisfied.

Fick said it was a difficult, drawn-out trial and he had often worked long hours into the night.

This had resulted in him not being able to spend as much time with his family as he wanted.

“I’m happy it’s over,” he said.

Defence

Piet Pistorius, who represented several of the accused, including Dr Lets Pretorius, also expressed relief that the trial was over.

He said he had yet to receive instructions on the way forward, which could include applications for leave to appeal against the men’s convictions and sentences.

Paul Kruger, who represented the oldest Boeremag member Vis Visagie, said an application would probably follow to have Visagie released under house arrest, as he had severe health problems.

With the conclusion of the trial, it felt as if a mountain had been lifted off his shoulders, he said.

Kruger said he was thankful that his other client, Pieter van Deventer, had received a suspended sentence and that the court had decided not to sentence Fritz Naude, who was in an old age home after suffering several strokes.

He felt the sentences were reasonably balanced, but he had hoped that Visagie would have been able to go home immediately.

Shock

Several of the accused’s relatives expressed shock at the sentences.

The most vocal wife was Ester du Toit, whose husband Mike received a 20-year sentence.

“We have an 11-year-old child. How will I explain this to her? I will tell her her father is a man who stood up for the Boer nation,” she said.

Du Toit said she had not been aware of any coup plot, but had known that her husband attended meetings to forge plans to protect farmers against attacks.

Kobus Pretorius’s spiritual worker Sonja Jordaan said she regarded the sentences as just, given what the accused had done.

She said it was hard for her that Pretorius had to go back to jail, but she would support him all the way.

“I know he’s going to be okay and that jail won’t hold him back. I am very proud of him that he managed to break with the past,” she said.

– SAPA

By Obakeng Maje
North West MEC for Public Works Raymond Elisha stated that his office is adamant to continue uprooting fraud and corruption in the department. “Yes there is leadership in the department, it does not mean that when officials are being put on precautionary suspensions and charged then the department is collapsing,” said Elisha.

“There are dedicated men and women in the department who are diligently undertaking their tasks. People are talking because we have closed taps from which they have been fraudulently benefiting from the department,” he added.

The MEC indicated that Mr Sam Thobakgale has been appointed Acting Head (HoD) of Department and Mr Thapelo Makhetha is still the HoD of the department.

He said Makhetha has just been seconded to North West Transport Investment Cooperation (NTI) for about six months to lead an interim board that is charged with restoring governance at NTI. Elisha explained that this was after the previous board was suspended following irregularities that were unearthed at the entity which is 100 percent owned by the North West Provincial Government.

There are four senior officials who were earlier suspended, before MEC Elisha came into office and these were then Acting HoD, the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Director: Roads and Director Supply Chain. Their suspensions were related to the awarding of the Koster-Lichtenburg road project.

The MEC continued to announce that five other officials were recently placed on precautionary suspensions.

These included the following: • Chief Director: Transportation, • Chief Director: Facility Management, • Director: Transportation, • Acting Director: Facility Management • Control Inspector: Facility Management.

Elisha said that some of the officials including those at the NTI were suspended due to a syndicate that was discovered operating within the department’s transport portfolio.
The activities of the syndicate involving officials, service providers and other members of the community affected the transport portfolio, roads and building maintenance portfolio and the Mahikeng revitalisation programme.-TDN
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Mahikeng- It is now all systems go for Kgora Farmer Training Centre, as it has officially been accredited by AgriSETA as an Education and Training Provider in the Agriculture sector.

“By obtaining this accreditation, the centre will offer training on Animal and Plant Production respectively, whereby National Certificates (NQF level 1 to 4) recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority will be presented on completion of the training” North West MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development mme Desbo Mohono said.

The Manager for Education Training Quality Assurance at AgriSETA Fanny Phetlha said, the accreditation implies that Kgora Farmer Training Centre has demonstrated compliance to the criteria for delivering the qualifications as per the scope of accredited provider.

Articulating her excitement about this achievement, the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms Desbo Mohono said this accreditation came at the right time as the intake of new trainees will coincide with the planting season in November this year.

“This accreditation illustrates our solid endeavour to sharpen the knowledge and skills of active farmers in the Province, and we are confident that the beneficiaries of our efforts will derive value from this programme as it will foster sustainable food production practices”, remarked MEC Mohono.
Kgora Farmer Training Centre was revitalised and launched last year in October by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to serve as a world class centre that should provide training and capacity building for farmers.

Enrolled subsistence, small-holder and commercial farmers will be trained using the Competency Based Learning-by-Doing approach. This renowned model will not only capacitate farmers on the theoretical part of farming methods, but trained farmers will also become knowledgeable about the practical part of food production.

The scheduled courses will accommodate a maximum of 15 farmers per session, and their training duration will be determined by the production cycle of the product being trained on.

Farmers interested in obtaining training from the centre can contact the Centre Manager on 018 396 0005.

The accreditation will expire in March 2016.-TDN

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(Edited By Obakeng Maje)

Rustenburg – ANC Youth League regional task team co-ordinator in North West province Lincoln Morgan died in a car accident in the early hours of Sunday, Sasco said.

Morgan served as a branch chairman of the South African Students Congress and was later deployed as the president for the Tshwane University of Technology Student Representative Council.

“He was a true embodiment of revolutionary youth activism,” said Sasco president Ngoako Selamolela.

Selamolela said that Morgan’s life was dedicated to building a truly non-racial, non-sexist democratic and prosperous South Africa.

The accident happened in Rustenburg, Sasco said.

Sapa

Vryheid – A man was jailed for 18 years by the Vryheid Regional Court on Tuesday for raping his 12-year-old sister, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

The 22-year-old man raped his sister last year when she was taking off her school uniform in their home in Hlobane, said Captain Thulani Zwane.

He was arrested after the girl told her parents and they laid a charge.

KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni said the sentence would send a strong message to criminals targeting women and children.

Sapa

Durban – A brazen robber jumped out of a minibus taxi and held a Durban family at gunpoint as they were returning home from a local restaurant.

The Manor Gardens family spent the night on their lounge floor on Friday, watching live CCTV footage just in case the attackers returned.
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Durban – KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Chiman Patel has denied he verbally abused or swore at a Durban High Court clerk he had reprimanded for allegedly not performing her duties.

He said he had read a Sunday Times report, about a crimen injuria case opened against him, with disgust. He said he was hurt by the report, adding it had damaged his reputation.
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Durban – A young Durban fisherman who believes he was passed over for the provincial angling team is going to court over what he believes was an unfair selection process.

Ralden Naicker, of Sharkfin Angling, believes that a white angler, who happens to be the son of a former top official of the KwaZulu-Natal Coast Anglers Union (KZNCAU), was unfairly selected over him.
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Cape Town – An alleged killer has been arrested for the deaths of five people in a bar earlier this month.

A man opened fire on people in the Emaplangeni tavern, in Khayelitsha, on Saturday, October 5.

The tavern is linked to actor Ntobeko Rwanqa, who played the part of Budget Naledi on SABC2’s Stokvel.

Police said the shooting followed an argument among patrons.
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