By Obakeng Maje
Mmabatho-In celebration of the Human Rights day, the North West Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will host a Cultural festival at Mmabatho stadium on March, 29, 2014.
Below are details of the events:
Cultural Festival
Venue:Mmabatho Stadium
Date:29 March 2014
Time:10h00
-Tdn
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By Obakeng Maje
Lichtenburg-The DA as part of the election campaign has engaged in a robust campaign to retrieve 1000 signatories in support of the impeachment of President Zuma.
During the Lichtenburg Agricultural Show (Lichiefees) a large number of visitors have shown keen interest in signing the petition on the initiative of the McGluwa Constituency (DITSOBOTLA, VENTERSDORP AND TSWAING).
Members of the public eagerly supported the petition with enthusiasm.
“Our Constituency will handover these signatures to the Parliamentary Leader of the Democratic Alliance, Lindiwe Mazibuko in support of her intention to submit a motion on impeachment on the President” DA North West spokesperson Tiaan Kotze said.
Kotze said a number of potential candidates for National Assembly attended the event and had fruitful discussions with the public.
The Lichtenburg Agricultural Show will end today. “We wish we could have been there longer since it is a priority for us to make physical contact with Voters throughout our Constituency” he said.
According to management it is the first time ever that a political party supported the show by opening a stall.-TDN
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Johannesburg – The raid on a Mandrax manufacturing laboratory in Benoni on the East Rand is a victory in the fight against drugs in Gauteng, Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said on Wednesday.
“The discovery of a laboratory this past weekend must be applauded as a major step in the fight against drugs in Gauteng,” she said in a statement.
About three tons of Mandrax with a street value of about R2bn were seized at the laboratory on Sunday, making it one of the biggest drug busts of the year according to the police.
The drugs were discovered after a fire broke out on a plot in Crystal Park.
When the fire department arrived at the house the gate was locked and firefighters had to force it open.
“Four people were seen running away from the premises after the gate was opened,” police spokesperson Mack Mngomezulu said at the time.
Firefighters put out the fire and found the laboratory.
A case of manufacturing drugs was being investigated by police.
Mokonyane commended the police for removing the drugs.
“We laud the law enforcement agencies in the province for the good work done in removing three tons of Mandrax from the streets.
“We know that this could have led to more young people in our province being addicted and as a result condemned to a life of crime and hopelessness,” Mokonyane said.
She urged community members to work with police to ensure that those who were running the lab were arrested.
“Please help the police arrest the people who were making this poison for our young people. This poison could have been destined for your child or mine.”
SAPA
Johannesburg – Four KwaZulu-Natal children died after they were run over by a tractor in Ndwedwe, north of Durban, police said on Wednesday.
Aged between 3 and 7, the children were apparently playing on a dirt road on Tuesday afternoon when a tractor hit them, police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said.
“Three died at the scene and the fourth today in hospital.”
He said the driver fled the scene after the incident. He would be charged on four counts of culpable homicide.
KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Weziwe Thusi expressed shock and sadness over the four deaths.
“This is such a tragedy. I cannot imagine what the family is going through right now. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Magwaza family during this very difficult time,” she said in a statement.
“We hope that the police will catch the driver of the tractor who fled the scene of the incident.”
She said social workers had been dispatched to assist the family.
“This is a very traumatic incident. The family will need the assistance of professionals to deal with it,” Thusi said.
“We are also hoping the social workers will assist the broader community in dealing with what has happened.”
SAPA
Johannesburg – Four KwaZulu-Natal children died after they were run over by a tractor in Ndwedwe, north of Durban, police said on Wednesday.
Aged between 3 and 7, the children were apparently playing on a dirt road on Tuesday afternoon when a tractor hit them, police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said.
“Three died at the scene and the fourth today in hospital.”
He said the driver fled the scene after the incident. He would be charged on four counts of culpable homicide.
KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Weziwe Thusi expressed shock and sadness over the four deaths.
“This is such a tragedy. I cannot imagine what the family is going through right now. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Magwaza family during this very difficult time,” she said in a statement.
“We hope that the police will catch the driver of the tractor who fled the scene of the incident.”
She said social workers had been dispatched to assist the family.
“This is a very traumatic incident. The family will need the assistance of professionals to deal with it,” Thusi said.
“We are also hoping the social workers will assist the broader community in dealing with what has happened.”
SAPA
Pretoria – The home affairs department is ready to assist the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) with the upcoming national elections, it said on Wednesday.
“The department is ready and willing to collaborate with the IEC in support of the 7 May elections,” deputy director general of civic services Vusi Mkhize said in Pretoria.
“There are meetings that we are holding with the IEC to make sure that on that day the mobiles will be deployed in accordance with a cluster of voting stations.”
Mkhize said home affairs department offices would be opened in line with the hours of the commission.
The department is also negotiating with the IEC to ensure that officials required to work on election day be allowed to cast special votes.
Mkhize and Deputy Home Affairs Minister Fatima Chohan were addressing the media on various issues including the new births and deaths regulations, the new smart ID cards, and the invalidation of duplicate IDs.
The smart ID card would be utilised for the first time for election purposes, said Mkhize.
The department had met its target of processing 100 000 smart ID cards by 31 March, said Chohan.
“We have processed over 140 749 smart ID cards as of 24 March and have thus met our target,” she said.
“We are very pleased about this.”
Hotline
Chohan said the department’s hotline had been inundated with calls from people who had applied for the new ID, who thought they had been receiving hoax SMSes to collect the new ID three or four days after they applied.
“We do want to assure people that the production of the ID card is a fairly seamless one. It’s digital and that it is possible for you to get an SMS of having applied for one…”
She said the real time constraint was the courier service and would depend where people were located geographically.
Chohan called on people who received the SMS to collect their new ID cards timeously.
The number of uncollected smart ID cards had reached 26 866.
Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor would soon address the media following Cabinet’s approval of the approach on the expiry of permits issued under the special dispensation for Zimbabweans project.
“In this regard, Cabinet agreed that the permit holders will be expected to re-apply for their permits in their country of origin,” she said.
Pandor would provide more details soon.
– SAPA
By Obakeng
De Aar-Northern Cape police arrested two male suspects with mandrax worth R20 000.
Lieutentant Sergio Kock said the police held a roadblock on the Britstown/ De Aar Road at approximately 08:45 and managed to arrest two male suspects aged 44 and 46 after searching their motor vehicle.
“The police allegedly found 204 mandrax tablets with an approximate street value of R20 400 in the vehicle” Kock said.
The suspects known as Isak de Bruin(46) and Havard Hoorn(44) appeared in the Britstown Magistrates’ Court and the case was remanded for 31 March 2014 for a formal bail application.-TDN
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By Obakeng Maje
Britstown-The police are investigating two separate cases of possession of mandrax after three males were arrested.
“The police followed up on information and pounced on a suspect in Dahlia Street. A bag of the suspect was searched and a man known as Fieland Charlies(48) was found in possession of 246 mandrax tablets, 1 half tablet and 2 quarter tablets” lieutenant Sergio Kock said.
The mandrax has an approximate street value of R24 600.
“The suspect already appeared in the Britstown Magistrates’ Court and the case is remanded until Thursday for a formal bail application” Kock said.-TDN
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By Obakeng Maje
Majakaneng-The five suspects arrested on Tuesday at Majakaneng village near Mooinooi for Arson, Malicious damage to property, Intimidation, Assault Common and Public Violence appeared on Wednesday at Brits Magistrates’ Court and only one accused Lazarus Mathe(24) who facing a charge of public violence was released on warning.
He will appear again in court on 13 May 2014.
“The four other accused, Pogisho Sediro (24), Abram Rakomane (26), Reuben Ramatshane (28), Vincent Soko (23) were granted R1000 bail each.
They will appear again on 15 May 2014.
“The accused were arrested after intensive investigation on cases that were registered during Majakaneng community protests on 27 and 28 February 2014” colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said.-TDN
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Johannesburg – Pretoria and Kigali have agreed to resolve a furious diplomatic row sparked by attacks on Rwandan dissidents exiled in Johannesburg, President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday.
Speaking after meeting on Tuesday in the Angolan capital Luanda with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, Zuma told SABC that the two leaders had “agreed to share some detailed information and deal with the issues”.
The presence of many Rwandan dissidents in South Africa has long been a bone of contention between the two countries, but relations turned frosty after Kigali’s exiled former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya was found strangled to death in a luxury Johannesburg hotel on New Year’s Day.
The full-blown row was sparked by a botched assassination attempt on 3 March against former Rwandan army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, an opponent of Kagame, also in Johannesburg.
It was the third attempt on Nyamwasa’s life since he was granted asylum in South Africa in 2010.
On suspicion that three Rwandan diplomats were behind the attempts, South Africa declared them “persona non grata”, saying they had “violated their diplomatic privileges”, and expelled them on 7 March.
Rwanda immediately retaliated by expelling six South African diplomats from Kigali.
Kagame’s response to Pretoria’s allegations was both ambiguous and hawkish.
“Anyone who betrays our cause or wishes our people ill will fall victim,” he said at the time.
“Rwanda believes that they are undertaking some action, and we as South Africa have an international obligation that when people come to us for refugee status we’ve got to give it them,” Zuma said Wednesday.
His meeting with Kagame, which took place on the sidelines of a regional summit on the African Great Lakes region, had not been previously reported.
The diplomatic row was also discussed at the Luanda summit itself and “there was agreement that the two countries must discuss the issue and find a mutually agreeable solution”, Zuma’s office said in a statement.
Zuma said there “was an agreement that South Africa and Rwanda should meet and that has been accepted”, the statement added.
AFP
The Guardian 