Johannesburg – More than 2000 residents of Kanana Section in Hammanskraal were on handed title deeds on Saturday.

“I want you to regard this piece of paper as another step towards your total emancipation and economic freedom, it must be kept in a safe place as proof of ownership,” Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said in a speech prepared for delivery.

He was accompanied by the deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Elizabeth Thabethe.

He further announced the development of a central business district in the Temba area.

Ramokgopa said the work which started in 2008 was bearing fruits.

Thabete congratulated the move to develop a town centre in the area.

She said the establishment of a bigger development node in Hammanskraal was long overdue.

“As the department of trade, we will support SMME [small, medium and micro-sized enterprises] development, supplier support, investment promotion and incentives for anyone who wants to bring money and keep jobs in Hammanskraal,” she said.

The City of Tshwane has recently purchased the former University of Pretoria land in Hammanskraal for the purposes of releasing it for private retail development projects aimed at resuscitating the economy of the area which has been in the decline in the last 15 years.

SAPA

Johannesburg – The DA will raise over R150 000 in relief donations for those whose shacks burnt down in Cleveland, east of Johannesburg, the party said on Saturday.

“The reality of devastating fires is all too common for people who live in settlements like Cleveland,” Democratic Alliance Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.

“These people, who on a daily basis struggle to get ahead, are left to face the dangers of fire, with little protection from the government.”

New building materials and clothing would be donated to those affected by the fire.

Over 100 shacks were gutted by a fire at the Jumpers informal settlement in Cleveland on Thursday. Between 200 and 300 people were displaced.

Maimane visited the area on Saturday.

He said he was running for Gauteng premier because he believed he could change the state of affairs in the province.

“I believe we can create hundreds of thousands of jobs that can give people an opportunity to improve their living circumstances.”

“I pledge to improve emergency service response time. And I pledge to improve material support for those affected by fires,” said Maimane.

SAPA

Durban – Despite “lots of acts of intimidation” many people were still turning out for DA rallies in their hundreds, party leader Helen Zille said on Saturday.

“The intimidation remains the same and in many instances it’s getting much worse, but what is new is that people refuse to be intimidated and that is really important,” she said at the Ntuzuma community hall in KwaZulu-Natal.

Zille claimed that at two events earlier this week in the Eastern Cape, African National Congress supporters had attempted to prevent two DA rallies from taking place – one near Mthatha and another at Fort Hare University in Alice.

“The ANC is intimidating us more and more because they are scared that they are going to lose.”

“They are very worried about the way the DA is growing, very worried indeed. The more worried they get the more intimidation we will see.”

She said the DA would not back down in the face of intimidation.

Zille praised the police whom she said had upheld the party’s democratic right to hold meetings.

She said she saw no reason why the DA could not win control of the eThekwini Metro [Durban] in the 2016 local government elections.

Zille said the party won 23% of the vote in 2011 and had been in a similar situation in Cape Town before it gained control of that municipality in 2006.

“KwaZulu-Natal must be the place for the most opportunity for a coalition. All things are possible here.”

She received a rousing welcome from supporters in Durban’s Ntuzuma area.

Zille, who arrived in the Lindelani area of Ntuzuma was welcomed by about 100 supporters in blue shirts before she visited the homes of two disabled people living in RDP housing.

Hand written banners with the slogan “Zille, Our Only Hope” were waved as supporters danced in the street.

Dean Macpherson, the DA’s deputy chairperson for the eThekwini region said Zille visited the two disabled people because she wanted to hear from them how they had received their RDP houses that did not have water.

Zille promised Nono Ntuli, 72, that she would take her plight to the province’s Premier Senzo Mchunu.

Zille received another warm welcome at the Ntuzuma community hall.

The hall was packed with about 400 people wearing blue T-shirts.

Zille’s visit to the area comes the day before the ANC’s opening rally of its 2014 election campaign on Sunday.

Kwamashu and Ntuzuma have for the past decade been ANC strongholds, although in the 1990s the Lindelani area was an Inkatha Freedom Party stronghold.

SAPA

Johannesburg – The ANC’s Gauteng branch on Saturday said it accepted the national executive committee’s decision to nullify its provincial general council (PGC) held in July.

“The PGC will be reconvened on 30 November 2013,” ANC Gauteng spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli said in a statement.

“The preparations for the PGC will be undertaken together with ongoing election campaign work in Gauteng.”

BDlive reported that in July there was widespread disbandment of structures such as the ANC Youth League.

The NEC found the PGC was unconstitutional because branch general meetings were allegedly not convened.

SAPA

Pretoria-Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela on Friday congratulated Mr Senzo Mchunu on his election and subsequent swearing-in as the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal last week, vowing to work together with him to entrench good governance in the affairs of the provincial government.

The Public Protector also extended a laudatory message to Mr Mxolisi Nxasana and Adv. Vasantrai Soni on the commencement of their service this week as National Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of Special Investigating Unit (SIU), respectively, following their appointments in August. She welcomed the appointment of Judge Bernard Ngoepe as the country’s first Tax Ombud.

“We pledge to partner with them on matters of mutual interest regarding the promotion of good governance in state affairs,” the Public Protector said.

The Public Protector recently signed a response protocol aimed at expediting investigation processes in cases involving high-ranking officials and office bearers in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government with former Premier, Dr. Zweli Mkhize.

The Public Protector has previously partnered with the SIU in investigations, and can, in terms of the Public Protector Act, refer matters to the National Prosecution Authority in the event her investigations point to the commission of criminal offences. She is on record encouraging organs of state to establish internal complaint-handling mechanisms such as sector-specific ombudsmen.

The Public Protector further bade farewell to Dr Mkhize and former Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr Andries Nel, who has since been appointed Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

“We’ve had a fruitful partnership against maladministration with Dr Mkhize and Mr Nel,” she said, adding that her office looked forward to working with Mr Nel and Minister Lechesa Tsenoli on local government matters.-TDN
Source: Public Protector’s Office
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A truck parked next to the road to deliver blankets

Potchefstroom – The social development department has started delivering blankets in the Tlokwe wards where by-elections are to take place later this month, the DA said on Friday.

“Only days after the (African National Congress) launched their plans for the final round of Tlokwe by-elections, the department of social development started its own vote-buying efforts,” Democratic Alliance constituency head for Tlokwe Juanita Terblanche said in a statement.

“The blankets were distributed from (an SA Social Security Agency) truck, coincidentally parked close to the home of an ANC councillor.”

She said sources within the department had alerted the DA about the blanket campaign, and that another food parcel handout campaign was to be held.

This is the third time the department has been accused of buying votes in the municipality ahead of a by-election.

However, the department continued to deny the claims and said the handing out of food parcels and blankets was part of its Project Mikondzo, a service delivery improvement initiative to improve access to the department and its entities.

DA MP Mike Waters has asked for an investigation into Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, who has said she will look into the distribution of food parcels in Tlokwe.

Terblanche said it was not right for the government to use state resources to benefit a particular party’s campaigns.

“This blatant abuse of state resources for party political campaigning must end.

“It is indicative of the ANC’s desperation to regain Tlokwe,” she said.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Former National Youth Development Agency head Andile Lungisa and three others were granted bail in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Friday.

Lungisa, Thabo Shogolo, Xolisile Guquza, and Ursula Sali are accused of defrauding the arts and culture department.

Lungisa and Shogolo were granted bail of R10 000 each, while Guquza was released on R5 000 bail. Sali was released on a warning.

“The release comes with conditions. You have to hand in your passports to the investigating officer and you must not contact the state witnesses,” Magistrate Jeremy van Vuuren said.

“You cannot write letters, e-mails, sms’s, and when you see them on the streets you can’t shout at them.”

The matter was postponed to 30 October.

Lungisa and his co-accused were arrested on Friday morning on charges of fraud and money laundering. He handed himself over to police.

Hawks spokesperson Paul Ramaloko said the arrests related to R2.5m paid by the arts and culture department for the Nelson Mandela Sports Day concert.

The four allegedly lied to the department and promised 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.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The South African education system was better before the advent of democracy, Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele said on Friday.

“The students of 1976 died fighting against inferior education, and it [education] is worse today,” she told students at the University of the Witwatersrand.
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Johannesburg – The Constitutional Court ruling against the criminalisation of sexual conduct between consenting adolescents was welcomed by Fedusa on Friday. For more http://www.news24.com

Johannesburg – Four people, including a government employee who allegedly posed as an SA Revenue Service official, have been arrested for allegedly abusing the tax system, Sars said on Friday.

They were arrested last month, spokesperson Marika Muller said in a statement.
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