By Obakeng Maje

Taung-The residents of Veertien in Taung went beserk after accusing their councillor of hiring Manokwane people in the project meant for them.

According to reports, there is a water project that is going on and those who are employed put water pipes in place from Taung Dam to destined areas.

There are pipes that pass through Veertien and the community alleged that they were supposed to be hired in that project.

According to some residents who spoke to community radio station, Vaaltar FM news the agreement was set between their ward councillor and the community.

The residents allegedly went to Sedibeng Water offices in a protest.

They want some clarity from the councillor mr Vuyisile sibinda.

“We agreed with a councillor that Veertien residents will be part of the project and up to so far we see only few people benefit from the project” one resident said.

However the ward councillor refutes the claim and said the agreement between the community of Veertien and the municipality stands.

“We can assure the residents that nothing has changed. We solved that problem last month with the community” Vuyisile Sibinda told Vaaltar FM news.

The ward councillor outlined that he explained to the residents of Veertien that not only them will benefit from the coming project, but all communities that are affected.

For more news go to http://www.vaaltar.co.za and listen live or tune in to 93.6 mhz if around Taung.

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Johannesburg – Slack security at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital has staff members disturbed, with most saying worried thoughts occupy their minds as they attend to patients, fearing thieves could be  stealing or breaking into their cars.

Exacerbating their fears was the fact that the hospital was busy, making it easy for thieves to blend in with the workers and patients, they said. Some are now forced to leave their cars at home when they work night shift.

For more www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – She sat on the floor, staring at the coffin, as a tear trickled down her cheek.

In the coffin in Naturena Primary School hall on Saturday lay Thandeka Madonsela, her older sister and friend, who once spoke to her about her dreams and aspirations of becoming a doctor.

At the funeral service, Prudence spoke of the good relationship the sisters had.

For more www.iol.co.za

The Kaizer Chiefs duo of Stuart Baxter and Itumeleng Khune have landed the Q-Innovation Coach and Player Awards for the third quarter, following their side’s impressive 13 game unbeaten streak in the PSL.

Baxter won his first award in Q1 of the current Absa Premiership season, and has now added another piece of silverware to his locker ahead of the final quarter of the campaign.

Chiefs topped the Q3 table with 18 points for the quarter, and are now well on their way to landing their first PSL title since 2005.

Meanwhile, Khune has been in fine form for the Amakhosi this season and has now been rewarded for his recent displays by being named as the Player of Q3.

Khune and his defence conceded just four goals throughout the duration of Q3, helping them secure a +10 goal difference for the penultimate PSL quarter.

Chiefs’ Q4 started slowly with a 0-0 draw against Golden Arrows, although lead the overall log standings.

By Obakeng Maje

North West-Following a concentrated recruitment drive, three Chief Executive Officers have been appointed to serve three major hospitals in the North West Province. 

Mr Adrain Lourens will service Mahikeng Provincial Hospital while Mr Polaki Mokatsane has been appointed to manage Klerksdorp/Tshepong Hospital Complex.

Ms Gloria Tlhapi has been retained as chief executive of Potchefstroom hospital. 

The hospital was upgraded to a regional hospital.

“The executives have all undergone a compulsory training at the Academy of Health and Leadership Management in Health Care, which the national Department of Health started in November 2012” Health department Tebogo Lekgethwane said. 

“Mr Lourens and Ms Tlhapi commenced their duties on 1 March while Mr. Mokatsane only started on 1 April” said Lekgethwane. 

The CEOs were amongst the 102 new hospital CEOs  announced by Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi in January.

Mafikeng Provincial Hospital CEO, Mr Lourens is aiming to strengthen good practices and address less good practices, to ensure better health outcomes for all clients.

“This is an effort to contribute to the proverbial bigger picture, by ensuring that the people within the catchment area of Mafikeng Provincial Hospital receive good, quality and sustained services that will not only make them more healthy but also to keep them healthy and thus increase life expectancy for all,” said Mr. Lourens about the future of the hospital.

Mr Lourens says he plans to identify and develop the available leaders in order for them to develop their sub-ordinates to the extent that they function optimally within the parameters of the current health system. 

“This will ultimately nurture employee loyalty, improve/increase employee productivity, improve service values, excellence and quality and promote client/patient satisfaction at the highest level” said Tebogo Lekgethwane. 

Mr Lourens holds a National Diploma in Public Health and B Tech in Environmental Health and he held various leadership positions in various public health facilities in Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province.

The appointments followed well-thought out processes and were made in accordance with the law and labour procedures. 

This was after new criteria for hospital chief executives were published in the Government Gazette. 

“CEOs needed to be from healthcare backgrounds and needed at least five years experience in middle and top management of a health institution” said Lekgethwane.

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North West – A sangoma who was meant to testify during the Farlam commission of inquiry was killed as a result of taxi wars, according to a report on Monday.

“The cold-blooded murder of tat’uNdzabe is totally not related to Marikana,” Uncedo service taxi association president Ntsikelelo Gaehler said at Alton “Ndzabe” Joja’s funeral on Saturday, the Dispatch Online reported.

The funeral was held at Ludeke Halt in Bizana, near Port Edward in the Eastern Cape.

“Mr Joja is lying here dead because of us – he has been killed by those in the industry.”

Joja, 69, was shot outside his home in the Ludeke Holt village in Mbizana on March 24.

The Dispatch Online reported that a week before the murder Joja called Gaehler telling him that money was being raised to have him assassinated by people in the taxi industry.

“It is wrong that we are confusing the family, the community and the police by making them believe the Ndzabe murder was associated with Marikana while we know it is some of us in the industry. We have to talk truth,” Gaehler reportedly said.

The Farlam commission heard last month that Joja was believed to have performed rituals on protesting Lonmin mineworkers before the shooting on August 16, during which 34 of them were killed. – Sapa

Bloemfontein Celtic were unable to grab all three points against a resilient Maritzburg United side in a 1-1 draw in an Absa Premiership encounter at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon.

The team of Choice opened the scoring through Byrone Hendricks just before halftime before Mduduzi Nyanda equalised for the home side 30 seconds into the second stanza.

Bloemfontein Celtic started the game the stronger of the two sides as they looked to grab an early opener.

Despite all the possession in the opening ten minutes, Phunya Sele Sele were unable to break down the Maritzburg defence.

The first chance of the match fell to Rodreck Mutuma in the 13th minute of the game.

The powerful forward got on the end of a Tsietsi Mahoa cross but the striker was only able to direct his header over the crossbar.

The home side had a great opportunity to take the lead in the 20th minute of the game.

Letladi Madubanya played a good ball across the face of goal but somehow Maritzburg cleared their lines without Tladi Majake and Mutuma being able to stab the ball into the back of the net from close range.

Delron Buckley constructed the first chance for the Team of Choice in the 37th minute of the game.

The experienced midfielder controlled the ball with his chest before hitting a stinging strike towards goal but Tignyemb was up to the task, and tipped the ball over crossbar for a corner.

It was from the corner that the Team of Choice opened the scoring, completely against the run of play through Byrone Hendricks in the 38th minute of the game.

Patrick Tignyemb was unable to overpower Cuthbert Malajila in the air and as a result the ball fell to Hendricks at the far post who tapped into an empty net from close range.

Siwelele equalised immediately after the break through Mduduzi Nyanda. The midfielder dribbled the ball into the box before hitting a powerful shot past Shu-Aib Walters for his first goal of the season.

The goal gave Celtic renewed energy and they dominated proceedings.

Mutuma had a great chance to give Celtic the lead in the 64th minute of the game.

The ball evaded everybody in the box from a free-kick before falling to the feet of the Zimbabwean but he was unable to direct a strong effort towards goal from point blank range.

Phunya Sele Sele had another good opportunity to take the lead for the first time in the match through second half substitute Vuyani Ntanga in the 74th minute.

The forward got on the end of a Limbikani Mzava long throw but the striker blasted his shot over the crossbar.

Tsietsi Mahoa nearly snatched all three points for Phuya Sele Sele in the final minute of regulation time. The midfielder hit a fierce effort from outside the area but the strike only managed to trouble the post.

Maritzburg United managed to hold on to grab a valuable point away from home.

Bloemfontein Celtic (0) 1 (Nyanda 46’)

Maritzburg United (1) 1 (Hendricks 38’)

Teams

Bloemfontein Celtic:

Tignyemb; Mzava, Nthethe, Motlhaping, Mahoa, Majake (Mogorosi 53’), Arwuah, Madubanya, Nyanda (Ntanga 71’), Bacela (Gamildien 66’), Mutuma

Maritzburg United: Walters; Petersen, Booysen, Hendricks, Evans, Morton, Cloete, Buckely, Sheppard (Matuka 87’), Isaacks (66’ Mandaza), Malajila.

For more www.psl.co.za

Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter hailed the character of his player despite their slip-up on Saturday against Lamontville Golden Arrows in the Absa Premiership title race, which he conceded will now go down to the wire.

Amakhosi played almost two thirds of the match at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban with 10 men following the 33rd minute red carding of Bafana Bafana midfielder Reneilwe Letsholonyane and still managed to secure in a goalless draw.

After the incident, both coaches exchanged heated words and a spectator also ran onto the field and struck referee Lwandile Mfiki with a vuvuzela.

“I thought at the start of the game we were very sloppy and very flat for some reason and we allowed the game to become stretched out, which meant it became a bit of an end-to-end game,” Baxter said afterwards. “We didn’t play with a lot of quality.

“The sending off, which I don’t think should have been a red card, was a collision at best.

“But that seemed to galvanise the team in some way. What the supporter did, you don’t like to see that and we’re absolutely against that sort of behaviour.

“At half time, we changed the shape of the team because we had a man sent off and a man injured after Morgan Gould had to come off.

“It was difficult to balance things, but the players played with great quality in the second half and I thought their tactical understanding was excellent.

“What encourages me, in the middle of a miserable feeling really, is the character of the players in the second half.

“With a little bit of luck, we could have won the game 2-0 or 3-0. So I’m very proud of the players.”

The one point took them to a total of 52, seven clear of Platinum Stars, who are now second and have a game in hand, and eight points in front of Orlando Pirates – the other Soweto club having two games in hand.

“This game is the same as the last one and the same as the next one,” Baxter said. “It’s one game and this is going to go down to the wire.

“A point in this game could win us the league, this one point could be the difference between winning or not winning the league.

“So you’ve got to play every game like it’s a cup final from now on. We have to win every one of them. We have to move on.”

The Englishman was also adamant that his players were not beginning to feel the heat following a second successive game without victory – they drew 0-0 with Maritzburg United in midweek.

“I think we’ve been top of the league since the first ball was kicked. You don’t produce a performance like we did in the second half if you’re nervous. I don’t think they’re feeling the pressure,” he quipped when quizzed about the pressure.

Abafana Bes’thende coach Manqoba Mngqithi, whose side remained 12th, was satisfied with the point, saying the circumstance meant it would have been difficult to take more from the game.

“Against any other team I think it would be considered as a chance missed,” he added. “But this is a big team that is leading the championship.”

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

The province has finally released its Easter road accident report, which shows that 22 people died on North West’s roads during the long weekend.

The 22 include five youths who died when a Johannesburg-based lawyer, Mandla Gumbi, crashed into a group of 12 people in Ledig, near Sun City on April 1.

Capt Adele Myburgh said the deaths were recorded between March 27 and April 3. Last year, 19 people lost their lives during the same period.

“A total of 15 culpable homicide cases were opened and are under investigation,” she said. In some of the incidents, drivers lost control of their vehicles, resulting in crashes and loss of life.

“For instance, one person died after a motorist lost control of his vehicle at about 2am on the Lichtenburg/Coligny road on March 27 and nearly the same incident happened the following day at Mooinooi when another person was killed after a motorist lost control of the vehicle at about 4am,” she said.

An eight-year-old boy lost his life in Ipelegeng, Potchefstroom, when he fell off a trailer at about 4pm on March 28.

Myburgh added that two vehicles collided and three people died on the R501 road between Muiskraal and Klerkskraal at around 1am on March 28, bringing more concern to motorists travelling at night.

“This applies also to the incident in Stilfontein, near Klerksdorp, on March 30 where a motorist died after his vehicle left the road and hit a tree at about 11pm,” she said.

The issue of pedestrians dying on the roads also raised concern especially after the incident where five young people were killed early the morning of April 1 in Ledig.

Five other pedestrians lost their lives on the same day in other incidents.

“Some of the incidents include the one in Boitekong, near Rustenburg where a pedestrian died after being hit by a vehicle on the R510 road at about 8pm. Earlier, another pedestrian lost his life near Sun City after he was hit at about 6pm.

“Another incident was recorded along the N12 in Potchefstroom at about 8pm on the same day.

“Motorists should drive cautiously, rest every two hours and not exceed the speed limits. Alcohol or medication can also impair concentration.”