Bloemfontein – The Free State government must invest more in co-operatives to address unemployment and poverty, the Congress of SA Trade Unions in the province said on Friday.

“Unemployment is still a huge challenge in the province,” said Sam Mashinini, Cosatu’s Free State provincial secretary.

He was reacting to Free State premier Ace Magashule’s state-of-the-province address on Thursday.

Mashinini welcomed Magashule’s plans to focus on SMME development.

Magashule said small, medium, and micro enterprises remained the  life blood of all economies.

However, the premier said in the Free State there was a worrying  trend of SMMEs collapsing in the first two to three years after being established.

This situation would be investigated to find the underlying reasons for the failures and the provincial government planned to put programmes in place to help sustain SMMEs.

Magashule identified co-operatives as an economic model that could help increase the momentum of job creation and employment locally.

Areas identified for co-operatives include school feeding schemes, textiles for manufacturing uniforms and protective clothing, security, cleaning, farming, catering, and maintenance.

Mashinini said the government also needed to support the textile  industries in Botshabelo and Qwaqwa.

“This will go a long way in addressing the crisis of unemployment in the province,” he said. – Sapa

Oscar Pistorius was granted bail in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

“… I come to the conclusion the accused has made a case to be released on bail,” said Magistrate Desmond Nair.

Pistorius is charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14.

Nair said there was no evidence before him that Pistorius would interfere with state witnesses and no proper evidence relating to the public perception of the matter.

He was not a flight risk and a propensity for violence had not been shown.

Instead of a “flimsy” affidavit, he had “reached out”.

People in the gallery stood up and shouted “yes” on hearing this. 

Bail was set at R1 million.

He could pay R100 000 first and the rest of the amount by March 1.

Upon payment of the R100 000, Pistorius must be released from custody.

“We have agreed on bail conditions,” said prosecutor Gerrie Nel after bail was granted to Pistorius who is charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The conditions submitted were that he would be present at 8.30am  at every court postponement date.

He would not return to his home at Silver Woods estate in Pretoria, where the shooting occurred.

He would reside at an address that would not be publicly disclosed.

He would hand in all his passports and not apply for any passport or travel documents, and stay away from airports.

Her would report to the Brooklyn police station between 7am and 1pm from Monday to Friday.

He would refrain from being in possession of any firearm and hand in all his firearms.

The case was postponed to June 4. – Sapa

Oscar Pistorius was granted bail by the Pretoria Magistrates Court on Friday.

Magistrate Desmond Nair made his decision after hearing submissions from the State and his defence.

Pistorius has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last week.

He has denied murder in his affidavit, saying he thought an intruder was in the house when he fired his gun.

The evidence presented to the court was based on an initial report of the crime scene.

There was no testimony from Pistorius

BY Obakeng Maje

Klerksdorp-A 38 year-old man remanded in custody at Klerksdorp after he briefly appear before magistrate.

Sihlango Sikhakhane,38 is accused of murdering ANC Regional Secretary Oubuti Chika a day before ANC Elective Conference that took place in Mangaung last year.

Oubuti Chika,33 was gunned down at his house in Alabama, near Klerksdorp and police managed to arrested othe rsix people who also hold senior positions in the ruling party.

“The suspect will remain in custody and will join other accused when they appear on the 27 of February for bail application” said police.

Chika was apparently one of ANC members who were lobbying for changes iwithin the ruling party and was partt of the fraction that wanted Motlanthe to take over from Zuma.

Sihlango Sikhakhane was arrested yesterday in Johannesburg by The Hawks. He was allegedly found in position of a firearm that suspected was used in commission of crime.

The police found the gun at his house in Msinga, Kwazulu Natal.

Sikhakhane resides in Klerksdorp but originally from Kwazulu Natal province. 

BY Staff Reporter

A capacity building training intervention is to be rolled out for maths and science teachers in the North West Province in an effort to improve the 30% pass rate achieved in these learning areas, North West Premier Thandi Modise announced on Friday.

Premier Modise urged hands-on involvement of education stakeholders to address pass rate challenges, including the improvement of the Annual National Assessment in Grade 3, 6 and 9.

The province recorded a consistent improvement in the Grade 12 Matriculation results since 2009. Over the past four consecutive years it increased from 67.51% to 75,7 then to 77,8% and obtained 79.5 % last year.

“The North West government and its people are grateful for the hard work invested by learners, teachers, school governing bodies, parents and the department of education in bringing about the improved results in our Matriculation examinations year in and out,” stressed Modise.

By Staff Reporter

North West Premier Thandi Modise has called on communities and government departments to pay their rates and taxes for services rendered by municipalities.

The call by the Premier follows the non-payment of services by government and Matlosana residents, in particular, which led to the municipality being unable to pay its accumulated Eskom bill. Eskom in turn threatened to cut off the electricity in the entire municipality.

Matlosana municipality which is being owed over R960 million in taxes and rates, has a bill of R68 million rand with the power utility. The bill has been reduced from last year’s October standings of R169 million rand.

  Premier Modise appealed to community members and government departments, especially those in Matlosana to continue to pay for the services.

Following the intervention by the provincial government, an agreement was reached between the power utility and Matlosana municipality for payment and the Eskom has agreed not to cut electricity supply.

“It is government obligation to support, strengthen the capacity, monitor and supervise municipalities to manage their affairs appropriately” said the Premier.

All the municipalities in the province are owed R5,3 billion, a situation which makes it difficult for municipalities to deliver on their objectives.

BY Obakeng Maje

The South African Senior Women’s national team (Banyana Banyana) will play a School of Excellence Select Squad in a practice match on Friday 22 February as part of the preparations for the Cyprus Women’s Cup scheduled to take place from 6-13 March 2013.

The match will take place at the School of Excellence and kicks off at 16h00.

The practice match will give head coach Joseph Mkhonza an opportunity to assess the 22 players he will select to travel with to Cyprus on Monday 25 February 2013. The practice match will replace the proposed international friendly match that was due to be played on Saturday 23 February 2013.

The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana will then play an international friendly match against Group A side New Zealand on Saturday 2 March at the Alpha Sports Centre in Larnaca, Cyprus. Kick off for that match is 15h00.

Banyana are in Group C together with South Korea, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland while New Zealand are in Group A with England, Italy and Scotland.

Coach Mkhonza says he is impressed by the players showing since training got underway on Monday (18 February 2013) and feels he has a bunch of players that are ready to take on the world.

“All the players have been giving their best at training; I suppose the competition for places is making them go all out, which is good to see. This will make the job of picking the final squad a demanding task. I will have to make my selection all the same and as I have already said those who don’t make the cut will be called up for future camps.

“It is unfortunate that we couldn’t get official opponents for the friendly match ahead of our departure but I know the boys at the School of Excellence will give us a good match like they have always done. This practice match will give me a chance to assess the players in a more practical match situation,” said Mkhonza.

Banyana Banyana are currently camping at the North West University, High Performance Centre in Potchefstroom preparing for the annual Cyprus tournament.