Johannesburg – Oscar Pistorius told his Twitter followers the three sentences he penned for his dead girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, were expressed from “my heart”. But to PR guru Marcus Brewster, the brief tribute was contrived and insincere.

“Oscar’s statement is overly polished, and so refined as to undercut the sincerity of it. If it was sincere, my question is why was the comment not made on another day? He would tell us how he really misses her (Steenkamp) every day that he wakes up. But every other day he has been silent.
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Johannesburg – A woman who was misdiagnosed with breast cancer and given a double mastectomy has won a R2.8 million damages case.

But Estelle Kunneke’s nine-year battle to get the Limpopo Department of Health to compensate her for the trauma she endured will not bring back her body or her self-esteem.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

North West -Properties belonging to Madibeng Municipality officials found to have been involved in corruption, will be forfeited to the State as the proceeds of crime.

Every cent they earned with underhand tactics will be recouped and guilty parties arrested.

North West Premier Thandi Modise has given her sternest warning yet that heads will roll as the implementation of a minister’s report on maladministration, fraud and corruption gains momentum.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – Former Hard Livings gang leader Rashied Staggie’s day parole has been reinstated, the correctional services department says.

Staggie’s day parole would be from 17 March to 17 September, said spokesperson Manelisi Wolela in a statement on Friday.

“His day parole comes with strict conditions that will include, among others, thorough supervision, agreement to electronic tagging and tracking and non-contact with victims and gang members”.

Staggie was granted parole on 23 September, but it was revoked in December because he met members of gangs and made unauthorised visits.

Day parole

In 2003 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of kidnapping and rape. In 2004 he received another 13 years for gun theft from a police armoury.

The sentences ran concurrently and he served 11 years before his release on day parole in September.

Wolela said Staggie would be on full parole from 18 September until the end of his sentence on 23 March 2017.

“Placement on parole is an internationally accepted practice that forms part of the total rehabilitation programme in correcting offending behaviour and in managing inmate populations.

“Parole is an incentive for continuous good behaviour,” he said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A transformed economy and decent, sustainable jobs are the solution to strikes and protests taking place throughout the country, Cosatu said on Friday.

“The long-term solution to strikes and protests lies not just in regulations and police action but through the transformation of our economy,” said Congress of SA Trade Unions spokesperson Patrick Craven, “and the creation of thousands of decent, sustainable jobs, decent wages and a far more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth.”

The trade union federation was referring to President Jacob Zuma’s state-of-the-nation address on Thursday night.

Zuma criticised the loss of lives during strikes and protests which were taking place throughout the country. He also touched on regulations to prevent arbitrary strikes and retrenchments.

“We note however his off-the-cuff announcement of ‘regulations to prevent arbitrary strikes and retrenchments’ and urge him to clarify what he means and to reassure us that any such regulations will be fully discussed by roleplayers,” Craven said.

He said very few of the proposals Zuma mentioned during his address at Parliament were new, which was concerning.

He described the speech as a “repetition of many pledges already made in previous SONAs” and that “there was not enough focus on the way forward”.

Craven said the Cosatu had consistently backed the policies Zuma mentioned, including the Industrial Policy Action Plan, the Infrastructure Development Programme and parts of the New Growth Path.

“It is also worrying that the economics of the National Development Plan (NDP) are still being highlighted as a solution to our socio-economic challenges,” Craven said.

“The NDP’s market-led solutions if implemented will roll back many of the areas of progress spoken about in SONA [state of the nation address], which have been made through state-driven interventions.”

White males the problem

Cosatu was still calling for the reshaping of the economic elements of the NDP, “as agreed at the 2013 Alliance Summit, in line with the resolution for radical economic transformation”, he said.

He said the country’s task now was to achieve the same advances on the economic front as it had on the political front.

“Ownership of the country’s wealth and resources is still concentrated in the hands of a small, mainly white, male elite, who run big monopoly companies, many foreign-owned,” he said.

“Inequality between that elite and the workers whose toil creates the wealth they enjoy is getting wider and wider.”

He said poverty and inequality were at the heart of all the strikes and community protests which were taking place countrywide.

“Cosatu fully backs the president’s plea for protests and strikes to be conducted lawfully and peacefully.”

– SAPA