Daily Archives: February 8, 2014

NWest man killed by lightning


A forty-one year old man died after he was struck by lighting during a thunderstorm in Kang village near Tosca on Friday afternoon.

The death of the man brings to eight the number of people who died as a result of flooding as a result of heavy experienced over the past few days in the North West Province.
In conveying condolences to families that lost their loved ones, Premier Thandi Modise said that a team from the provincial government will be deployed as early as Monday to assess the damage to the road infrastructure and housing to determine urgent intervention required.
Premier Modise said that emergency social housing will be considered for those whose mud houses had collapsed.
Four bridges that are linking about 26 villages are reportedly damaged.

Emergency relief efforts are being coordinated to support over 700 families affected by flooding across the province. Distribution of food parcels, blankets, mattresses, cottage tents and processing of social relief of distress grants have commenced.
 

Bona Bona village at which 14 houses were affected by flooding was still not accessible on Saturday.

 

Modise has appealed to people low lying areas to take precautionary measures and to keep authorities informed of threatening conditions for early intervention.

 

She has called on members of the public to exercise extreme caution when they cross flooding rivers and streams.-TDN
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ANC apologises for Zuma no-show


Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma did not attend the ANC’s door-to-door campaign in Soweto on Saturday due to a prior engagement, the party said.

“This omission on our part is regrettable for the inconvenience it caused to the media and members of the public who expected to be addressed by President Zuma,” spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

The party’s programmes in Soweto continued with African National Congress national working committee members Nathi Mthethwa, Nomvula Mokonyane and the provincial chairperson Paul Mashatile.

“These Comrades will continue with tomorrow’s [Sunday’s] programme where the president was deployed.”

Mthembu also expressed regret that ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte had been unable to attend an inner-city campaign in Johannesburg due to illness.

“This leg of mobilisation will continue with the Comrades Malusi Gigaba, Mzwandile Masina and Brian Hlongwa,” Mthembu said.

Earlier, the presidency said that Zuma was relaxing at his home in Nkandla ahead of a busy schedule next week.

“…The president visited two local voter registration stations in Halambu and Ntolwane Primary Schools respectively,” spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement.

“He was happy with the turn out of potential voters, especially the young people who indicated they would be voting for the first time on 7 May.”

– SAPA

Rain, violence disrupt some IEC Stations


Johannesburg – While most voter registration stations opened smoothly on Saturday, some problems with violence and roads rendered impassable by rains were experienced, the Independent Electoral Commission said.

“The vast majority of registration stations opened on schedule at 08:00 today for the final weekend registration drive and officials reported a smooth start to registration in all but a handful of the country’s 22 263 voting stations.”

In Bekkersdal on the Johannesburg West Rand, petrol bombs were thrown at two voter registration stations and registration staff were threatened, the IEC said in a statement.

The IEC was monitoring the situation and would re-open the Bekkersdal stations as soon as possible.

Most of the hitches, however, were related to recent heavy rains and some voter registration stations opened late due to impassable roads in remote rural areas, the IEC said in a statement.

“In Limpopo, in the Musina and Mutale areas officials had to wade across a flooded low-level bridge to reach registration stations, while elsewhere in the North West, in the Kagisano and Molopo areas, official vehicles became bogged down in mud and had to be rescued by security forces.

“Flooding also affected the delivery of registration materials in the Northern Cape in the Joe Morolong municipality.”

The IEC expressed gratitude for co-operation from communities and political parties to ensure that eligible voters could register on the last voter registration weekend.

Unregistered voters were urged to take this weekend to make sure they were able to vote in the general elections, which President Jacob Zuma announced would be held on 7 May.

The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal expressed satisfaction with the voter registration in the province on Saturday.

“We are satisfied that the open voter registration drive is proceeding as planned,” provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala said in a statement.

“Most voting stations opened on time and in most of them the IEC Officials were ready and had the appropriate material to conduct voter registration.”
He called on all eligible voters to ensure they were registered on the voters’ roll before the end of the weekend.

“Voting is not just a right or privilege; it is a responsibility for every South African citizen to determine the future of his or her country,” Zikalala said.

It’s your last chance to register for Elections 2014. Download News24’s free Elections App to check if you are registered, on Android or iOS.
– SAPA

Donor funding behind failed merger: Zille


Johannesburg – The motivation behind Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele’s short-lived agreement to stand as the DA’s presidential candidate was to secure donor funding, according to DA leader Helen Zille, the Saturday Star reported.

“Dr Mamphela Ramphele wanted an immediate announcement because she was desperate for money,” Zille was quoted as saying, while campaigning in Paarl on Friday.

“And the minute we made the announcement she contacted donors and tried to get money.”

Ramphele’s spokesperson Mark Peach described Zille’s claim as “an outright lie”.

“Agang has a fund-raising department that is in contact with donors daily and has been for the last year. So any notion that she was suddenly putting special calls through to donors is a flat, outright lie.”

He denied that a reported donor meeting in London put pressure on Ramphele to work with the Democratic Alliance.

‘I’m white, live with it’

Zille said an association with Ramphele would have benefited the DA largely because of Ramphele’s struggle credentials and to put to rest the myth that the DA wanted the return of apartheid.

Zille said her race compromised the value of her own struggle record in the eyes of some voters.

“I’m white, live with it,” she reportedly said.

The partnership between the DA and Ramphele lasted less than a week.

According to a joint statement issued by Ramphele and Zille last Friday, the Agang SA founder would have been welcomed into the DA at a press conference in Johannesburg on Monday.

However, following the joint statement being issued, a message from Ramphele was uploaded onto Agang SA’s website saying that she never agreed to join the DA.

On Sunday, Zille said Ramphele had reneged on the agreement to be the DA’s presidential candidate and the following day the parties held separate press conferences to explain what went wrong.- SAPA

Two killed in a crash


Pietermaritzberg – Two people were killed on the R33 near Pietermaritzburg on Saturday morning when a car and truck collided, KwaZulu-Natal emergency medical services said.

“This resulted in the car going down an embankment next to the road,” spokesperson Robert McKenzie said.

“Tragically, two occupants of the car sustained fatal injuries and a third was critically injured.”

McKenzie said the injured person was treated on the scene and taken to a nearby hospital.

“The road was closed due to the obstruction caused by the truck and for the safety of the emergency staff on the scene.”

Police were investigating, he said.

SAPA

Amplats worker shot dead, allegedly by police


An Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) worker was shot dead, allegedly by police, during protests at the mine’s plant near Northam, Limpopo.

The man was an Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) shop steward, the SABC reported yesterday.

Police told the SABC they were trying to defend themselves as they were under attack. They said they were unsure whether they or security guards fired the fatal shot.

Amcu workers said they were singing and going to a gathering where they were expecting feedback from their leaders when police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades, and live ammunition at them.

Several striking mineworkers had been arrested following violence and intimidation during the strike that began several weeks ago. The platinum sector has been crippled by the protected strike headed by Amcu. Its members from Amplats, Impala Platinum and Lonmin downed tools on January 23.

The union is demanding a R12 500 monthly basic salary for miners.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration has been facilitating talks between the platinum producers and the union.

– Sapa

EFF told to doff berets


Johannesburg – Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) visiting the family of Lerata Rabolila, who was shot dead during protests in Boiketlong, south of Johannesburg, were asked to remove their red berets on Friday.

“We do not want political parties here. The protest is about the needs of the community,” said community leader Daniel Mofokeng.

“We ordered EFF members to take off their berets because the issues in this community have nothing to do with politics but service delivery.”

EFF members visited Boiketlong informal settlement in Sebokeng without their leader, Julius Malema.

“We gave them an hour to pay their condolences to the Rabolila family,” said Mofokeng.

Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane was expected to address the residents of Boiketlong later on Friday.

Residents took to the streets on Wednesday demanding decent housing. Rabolila was shot dead during the protest.

Afterwards police spokesperson Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng said he had been shot while protesters disagreed over whether barricades should be removed.

“The protesters split into two groups. The one group wanted to remove the barricades on the road and the other group would not allow it. Several shots were fired between the two groups,” said Mofokeng.

SAPA

Flame lit at Sochi opening


Sochi – The honour of lighting the Sochi Olympic flame was given to two triple Olympic champions on Friday as Vladislav Tretyak and Irina Rodnina jointly lit the cauldron at Russia’s first Winter Games.

The 61-year-old Tretyak, who won three Olympic ice hockey golds and a silver as goaltender for the Soviet Union and is president of Russia’s ice hockey federation, received the torch from figure skater Rodnina and both jogged from the arena to ignite the flame.

The lighting was the finale of the longest-ever relay for a Winter Games that President Vladimir Putin wants to burnish Russia’s image on the world stage.

After a route that included the North Pole, the depths of Siberia’s Lake Baikal and even outer space, four-times tennis grand slam winner Maria Sharapova, who carried the Russian flag at the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, brought the flame into the 40 000-capacity Fisht Stadium.

She handed it to double Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who passed it to three-times Olympic champion wrestler Alexander Karelin.

Olympic champion gymnast-turned parliamentarian Alina Kabayeva, who Russian media have speculated is Putin’s girlfriend, was next in line.

Rodnina, who won a hat-trick of golds in the pairs event before entering the Russian parliament, took over before joining Tretyak in taking the flame outside the arena to its final resting place for the duration of the Games, which conclude on February 23.

Reuters

Final voter registration weekend kicks off


Eligible South Africans still have a chance to register at their voting stations in the final registration drive this weekend.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) aimed to get 80% of the voting population on its voters’ roll before the general elections on 7 May. The IEC said on Thursday that just over 24.1 million South Africans had registered to vote.

“This is 76.7% of the estimated voting age population which, according to Statistics SA, is 31.4 million,” spokesperson Kate Bapela said in a statement.

“This includes just over one million new voters who were added to the voters’ roll during the previous registration weekend held in November.”

To reach the target another 1.1 million people needed to register.

Candidate lists

Bapela said 22 263 voting stations throughout the country would be open on Saturday and Sunday from 08:00 to 05:00.

On Friday, the IEC said eligible voters had until the official proclamation of the election date to register. The date of the official proclamation still had to be announced.

After the weekend voters would have to go to one of the IEC’s regional offices to register.

President Jacob Zuma announced that the fifth national general elections would be held on 7 May.

Once the proclamation was published the IEC would issue an election timetable.

This would give deadlines for submissions of candidate lists by political parties and applications for special votes, among others.

After consultation with political parties in the national party liaison committee, the IEC would publish the full election timetable in the Government Gazette, Bapela said.

– SAPA