Daily Archives: January 22, 2014

DA: N West premier must take the blame for Madibeng debacle


By Obakeng Maje
Madibeng- The ANC’s move to fire three top officials in the Madibeng municipality is a cynical move aimed at sheltering the party’s national and provincial leadership,says DA Chris Hattingh.

“The mayor, ANC chief whip and the speaker all deserve to go given their non-delivery to the people of Madibeng. But the truth is that there are far more senior members of the ANC that should also be held accountable for the disaster in Madibeng” DA Chris Hattingh said.

Hattingh said the three ANC members in Madibeng that were fired are fall-guys for the real culprits.

“The real culprits are the ANC Premier, Thandi Modise, who not only received a copy of the Madibeng Ministerial Report during February 2013 and deliberately failed to act on it, but also allowed poor service delivery, like we see in Madibeng, to take place all over North West. The same goes for the Water Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa, who has known about the situation in Madibeng for ages” he said.

DA said they only started caring about Madibeng when people died and the media started covering the story.

“This move to fire three low-level officials must not be interpreted at an honest attempt by the ANC to clean house in North West. It is about saving face and shifting accountability away from the ANC’s senior leadership in the province” outlines DA.

DA said the fact of the matter is that the ANC in North West has been utterly corrupted by self-serving individuals.

“It can no longer deliver on the promise of freedom. The time has come to vote DA for a corruption-free, effective government that is able to combat the legacy of apartheid” concludes Hattingh.-TDN
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Basetsana aim to end qualification on a high


The South African National U20 Women’s team, Basetsana, will aim to end their qualification for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup on a high when they host Nigeria at Dobsonville Stadium on Saturday, 25 January.

Kick-off is at 16h00.

Basetsana go into the second leg on the back of a 6-0 loss in the first leg played in Nigeria about two weeks ago. But goalkeeper and captain, Kaylin Swart said the team was fully aware of what they were up against. She added that the return leg should be a different story as they are playing at home.

“I must say, we expected a tough one but what happened was not what we wanted, to be thrashed 6-0 in Nigeria was a great disappointment for us, nothing went our way. We are looking to come back in the match on Saturday. We have to look past the experience we had in Nigeria and come back in the second leg.

“We really want to go out there and do the nation and ourselves proud. We are going to go out there and compete. We are going to fight as we also want a result,” said the Basetsana captain, who is also a graduate of the U17 Women’s National team (Bantwana) that participated in the 2010 edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup staged in Trinidad and Tobago.

Fellow teammate and High Performance Centre centre-back, Meagan Newman said the approach in the second leg would different and that the mind-set would have to change if they are to emerge victorious.

“We have always known that the Nigerians are a dominant side and we knew what to expect when we played them in the first leg. It is unfortunate that we return with a heavy loss but we want to have a different approach to Saturday’s match,” said Newman.

Newman was among the eight HPC matriculants who successfully completed their Grade 12 and will be looking forward to furthering her studies at the Jackson State University in Mississippi, USA later this year.

Two teams from Africa will represent the continent at the 2014 edition of the women’s World Cup to be staged in Canada from 5-24 August.-TDN
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MEC MAINE SETS TO MARK THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN OLD AGE COMPLEX IN TAUNG


By Obakeng Maje
Taung-The establishment of a multi-million old age complex in Taung will provide residential care and protection to older people and further creates job opportunities in the area, North West MEC for Social Development Collen Maine said on Wednesday.

“Our plans are at an advanced stage to conduct a sod-turning ceremony on Thursday (23 January 2014) to mark the official construction of an old age facility at Pudumong. The facility will be comprised of 64 beds for frail care unit (32 Males and 32 Females), 30 independent rooms and 6 beds for respite care services, Maine said, adding that the project would be completed over 24 months to the tune of R73,5m.

Representatives from Older Person’s Forum, the from tribal authority Greater Taung municipal councillors, the contractor and government officials will attend the ceremony.

Another sod-turning ceremony, Maine said will be conducted on Friday at Matsheng village for the construction of a prototype early childhood development centre.-TDN
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MEC MAINE SETS TO MARK THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN OLD AGE COMPLEX IN TAUNG


By Obakeng Maje
Taung-The establishment of a multi-million old age complex in Taung will provide residential care and protection to older people and further creates job opportunities in the area, North West MEC for Social Development Collen Maine said on Wednesday.

“Our plans are at an advanced stage to conduct a sod-turning ceremony on Thursday (23 January 2014) to mark the official construction of an old age facility at Pudumong. The facility will be comprised of 64 beds for frail care unit (32 Males and 32 Females), 30 independent rooms and 6 beds for respite care services, Maine said, adding that the project would be completed over 24 months to the tune of R73,5m.

Representatives from Older Person’s Forum, the from tribal authority Greater Taung municipal councillors, the contractor and government officials will attend the ceremony.

Another sod-turning ceremony, Maine said will be conducted on Friday at Matsheng village for the construction of a prototype early childhood development centre.-TDN
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Undisclosed amount of money stolen at Taung shoprite after break-in


By Obakeng Maje
Taung-North West police are investigating a case of business robbery after unknown criminals broke into Taung shoprite on Wednesday.

According to the police, shoprite manager entered the building and realised that his office has broken into.

“The manager allegedly observed what’s sinister in the building and heard footsteps in the shop. He allegedly ran outside and police were called” sergeant Kealeboga Molale said.

Molale said the police did not arrest any suspects and undisclosed amount of money were stolen.

A case of House(Business) breaking was launched and investigations continue.-TDN
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Amcu sings ahead of court challenge


Johannesburg – Members of Amcu sang and danced outside the Johannesburg Labour Court on Wednesday, ahead of a legal challenge to their planned strike at gold mines.

Wearing green T-shirts bearing the slogan “AMCU: entrenching economic freedom for workers”, they sang a song that included the lyrics: “Voetsek i-chamber, f… off”, referring to the Chamber of Mines which is bringing the court challenge.

As the song finished they shouted: “Phansi (down with) the chamber”.

On Monday, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union announced it would strike in both the platinum and gold sectors after issuing employers with strike notices. The union wants an entry-level monthly salary of R12 500.

But the chamber said gold producers would go to court as they believed the strike in that sector was illegal, and would seek damages from the union.

Spokesperson for the gold producers Charmane Russell said a “peace clause” in an agreement signed last year prevented Amcu from striking.

The two-tier wage agreement was concluded on September 10 with three of the four unions in the sector – the National Union of Mineworkers, Uasa and Solidarity.

The three unions represented 72% of workers in the gold sector, while Amcu represented 17% of workers at the time of the negotiations. Amcu participated in the central level negotiations but refused to accept the agreement.

“The September 2013 agreement was made applicable to all employees who form part of the bargaining unit, irrespective of trade union affiliation. These wages were backdated to July 1, 2013,” Russell said in a statement on Monday.

Amcu members had benefited from the outcome of the wage talks since then.

“In terms of the ‘peace clause’ contained in the agreement, there can be no strike action about terms and conditions of employment during the existence of the agreement,” she said.

“The issue of conditions of employment has been settled for the duration of the agreement, and no demands may be made during the course of the agreement.”

She said any strike relating to terms and conditions of employment would be in contravention of the peace clause, and illegal.

“The Chamber of Mines will request that the court rule that the union should be held responsible for any and all damages suffered as a result of strike action,” she said.

The strikes were scheduled to take place from Thursday at Sibanye Gold’s Driefontein mine, Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu and Masimong mines, and at all of AngloGold Ashanti’s South African operations.

The court room was packed with Amcu members from 09:00, but the matter was stood down until later on Wednesday morning.

SAPA

Two teens raped while from school in Pampierstad


By Obakeng Maje
Pampierstad- Northern Cape police are investigating cases of rape after two teenagers were allegedly raped.

Police said a 13 and 14 girls were raped while on their way from school in Tlapeng village, near Pampierstad.

“The atrocity took place on Monday near BTH where two teenagers were allegedly raped by unknown men. The two were walking home from Reikamile primary school when two men allegedly pounced on them” said Pampierstad Police Station spokesperson Thuso Setumiso.

The police are investigating two cases of rape and the suspects are still at large.

According to the victims, the suspects were allegedly wearing balaclavas.

The police request anyone with information that could led to any arrests to come forward.

Police investigations continue.-TDN
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Chiefs defender Masilela ready for Sundowns


aizer Chiefs defender, Tsepo Masilela, has been back in full training, and is available for selection in tomorrow’s clash with Mamelodi Sundowns.

The 28-year-old recently signed a new contract at Naturena as they sought to reward him for his fine form, although he has spent the last few weeks recovering from injury.

Masilela was withdrawn from Bafana Bafana’s CHAN squad due to the injury, though it was always expected that he would be fit in time for tomorrow’s top-of-the-table clash.
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Voorspoed pupil, Maretela to be remembered


By Obakeng Maje
Magogong-The memorial service of Neohadi Maretela,10 who died in a fatal accident will be held at Voorspoed Primary School on Wednesday, at around 11:00am.

Maretela died last week in a fatal accident where 32 pupils from Voorspoed primary school were involved in an accident.

Police said a driver of a excavator plunged into a school bus after he lost control.

15 pupils were taken to various hospitals for medical attention and Maretela died on the scene.

A 43 year-old driver was subsequently arrested on Saturday and briefly appeared at Hartswater Magistrate Court for culpable homicide charge.

Johannes Khanye,43 was granted a bail and according to our investigations, he does not have a valid driver’s licence for the alleged hazardous vehicle.-TDN
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NWest Exco to evaluate municipal interventions


An urgent meeting of the Provincial Executive Council (Exco) to evaluate progress in implementation of Section 154 intervention in Madibeng Local Municipality, Section 139 interventions in Ditsobotla, Maquassi Hills and Matlosana Local Municipalities has been convened by North West Premier Thandi Modise. The Special Exco meeting is to be held in Mahikeng today.

Premier Modise said that the meeting is aimed at determining urgent appropriate interventions where progress has not been registered since administrators and experts were deployed to the four municipalities.

“Obstruction and resistance to provincial intervention and hand-on support that is part of our local government turnaround strategy had delayed progress that needed to be registered for the benefit of our communities,” stressed Modise.   

She added that the meeting will also consider an update report on performance of all municipalities across the province.-TDN
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