Daily Archives: April 7, 2014

Taung Agricultural college receives R1m donation


By Obakeng Maje
Taung-Agriculture is one of key points that keep Taung economy afloat.

Taung Agricultural college has been one of centres at forefront to develop and offer training on Animal and Plant Production respectively.

The college’ solid endeavour to sharpen the knowledge and skills of active farmers in the province and make sure efforts derive value from its programme as it foster sustainable food production practices has gone unnoticed.

Deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe announces that a whopping R1m has been donated to the college by unknown businessman in Norway.

Motlanthe said they will be handing over that R1m to the college on Thursday.

“I was in Norway sometime ago and I met this businessman who spoke non- stop about Taung Agricultural college. Unfortunately he passed away, but he donated R1m to the centre” Motlanthe said.

Even though our crew asked him about the name and who is the late businessman, the deputy president could not remember the name but assured us that he will find out and on Monday we will receive full details.

Kgosi Tshepo Mankoroane shared the same sentiments and welcomed the donation. “Our college will be revitalized and serve as a world class centre that should provide training and capacity building for farmers.”

Motlanthe is expected to arrive with various ministers in Taung come Thursday and to outlines way forward of developing the area.

Taung is poverty-stricken area however is rich with minerals, lack of resources impede the developments. The college trained commercial farmers and this renowned model are not only capacitate farmers on the theoretical part of farming, but they are knowledgeable about practical part of food production.-TDN
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Numsa and Vavi face suspension


Durban – Both Cosatu’s newly reinstated secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi and Numsa could find themselves suspended from the federation while Sadtu’s suspended president believes he will be fired within the week.

This emerged at a National Union of Metal Workers of SA shopstewards council at the Coastlands Hotel in Durban on Sunday where riot police had to be called in to keep pro-Vavi and anti-Vavi factions apart.

Referring to a Cosatu central executive committee (CEC) meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Numsa deputy president Karl Cloete said: “On Tuesday they will say let us continue with the disciplinary charges against Zwelinzima Vavi.”

He said that the current office bearers of Cosatu should be held accountable for wasting workers’ money on hiring expensive lawyers to fight against Vavi’s reinstatement.

Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) president Dorothy Matebeni told the meeting that there were several items on the CEC agenda, including Numsa’s suspension from Cosatu.

Sadtu president Thobile Ntola told the meeting: “I have no doubt that within a week I will be fired.”

He described the upcoming CEC as “a war” for the survival of Cosatu.

He said it was “unfortunate” that members of his union had attempted to disrupt the shopstewards council.

Earlier, when Numsa members along with other invited affiliates arrived at the hotel, they found it had also been booked by Cosatu affiliate the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu).

On both sides, numerous members were singing, with some carrying umbrellas and sticks while others wore T-shirts with President Jacob Zuma’s image.

Denosa KwaZulu-Natal secretary Cassim Lekhoati could also be seen negotiating in a bid to secure alternative venues for the two different groups.

A police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said that one venue at the hotel had been booked about three weeks previously by Numsa, while another venue at the hotel was booked by Sadtu.

It is understood that the hotel inadvertently opened the Numsa-booked venue to Sadtu.

Sadtu’s Durban South Regional secretary Sva Xulu said: “We were having a Sadtu meeting upstairs when we became aware that there are other Cosatu members here. Constitutionally we have a right to attend a Cosatu meeting.”

Police eventually managed to persuade the Numsa-led group to hold their meeting on the third floor conference venue while the Sadtu-led group remained on the second floor.

At the Numsa-led group, members of the Food and Allied Workers Union, the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union and Denosa were seen.

There were about 30 police officers present at the hotel. The meeting had been due to start at 10:00 but only kicked off at midday.

His daughter was injured in a car accident in the Eastern Cape on Thursday and Ntola told the meeting that Vavi was at an East London hospital where his daughter was expected to undergo surgery.

In August last year, Cosatu said Vavi had been put on special leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing relating to his affair with a junior employee.

In July, the employee accused him of rape. He said they had an affair. The woman subsequently withdrew a sexual harassment complaint against him.

Following Vavi’s suspension Numsa, an ally of his, lodged an application in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg challenging the decision.

On Friday, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg set aside Vavi’s suspension.

Cosatu had been split between affiliates supporting Vavi and those supporting his suspension.

SAPA

Two pedestrians killed trying to cross freeway


Johannesburg – Two pedestrians have been knocked down in separate incidents on roads in the Western Cape, SABC news reported.

Traffic authorities say a 25-year-old man was hit by a vehicle on the R300 late on Saturday night as he tried to cross the busy freeway near Bellville in Cape Town.

An unidentified man also died near Grabouw in the Overberg when he attempted to cross the N2 highway.

SAPA

Man stoned to death


Johanesburg – A man in his seventies was beaten and stoned to death in the Dzumeri village outside Giyani, Limpopo police said on Sunday.

The man was allegedly beaten and stoned on Saturday morning by community members, who believed he was responsible for the death of another man last week, said Colonel Ronel Otto.

“The man was found dead at the side of the road and it is believed that he was assaulted with a blunt object,” said Otto.

The incident happened at the funeral service for the 22-year-old man.

“Community members assaulted the elderly man with a spade and with stones until he died on the scene,” said Otto.

They then covered the body with soil, but police where called in and the body was recovered.

Otto said no arrests had been made yet, but a task team had been established to investigate the incident.

SAPA

Parties spend weeknd on campaign trail


Johannesburg – With 30 days until the national elections, political parties are pushing full steam ahead with their campaigns.

On Sunday, most parties focused their main campaigning efforts on Gauteng’s biggest townships.

ANC

In KwaZulu-Natal, President Jacob Zuma launched a multi-billion rand housing project in Cornubia, Durban.

“The entire Cornubia development has an estimated construction value of R25bn over a period of approximately 25 years,” said Zuma.

“The project will include the provision of 28 000 homes catering for a wide range of income levels.

“A total of 15 000 of these will be subsidised or low income houses,” said Zuma.

He reminded the locals of Solomon Mahlangu who was killed by the apartheid government exactly 35 years ago on Sunday.

“That is the South Africa we have emerged from, where the state had the right to kill and destroy the lives of many, including young people,” said Zuma.

ANCYL

The African National Congress’s Youth League (ANCYL) also met in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria to commemorate Mahlangu.

The SABC reported that the youth was expected to visit Mahlangu’s grave site, the Solomon Mahlangu Square and his home which government recently announced would be turned into a museum.

EFF

Meanwhile, the ANCYL’s former president Julius Malema kept scores of his supporters waiting for him for hours on end in Kliptown, Soweto.

Malema, who now heads the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), was scheduled to have addressed his followers at around 10:00.

“When is he coming, we’ve been waiting in the sun, we’re even getting dark,” a man who gave only his first name Tshepo said.

But most of the EFF supporter’s spirits were not dampened as they continued to dance and sing praise songs of their leader.

When Malema finally arrived in the afternoon, he told residents their area was a symbolic definition of what poverty looked like.

“People of Kliptown don’t know what freedom and democracy is. Freedom is a house, how do you have freedom if you share a room with your kids? When you go to bed hungry? When you don’t have a local clinic in an area where the Freedom Charter was adopted?.”
He said the ruling party should be ashamed.

DA

The Democratic Alliance took to the streets in Tembisa, Gauteng.

Led by the party’s Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane, the party held a march along the streets of the East Rand township.

The procession went along several streets with the marchers waving blue placards saying: “Together for change” and “Together for jobs”.

Echoing Malema’s views, Maimane said the people of Tembisa lived in terrible conditions and Zuma’s livestock had better living conditions than the township’s community.

“Our people in Tembisa wonder where the development is. Around here our grandmothers are digging their own toilets,” said Maimane.

“There is no progress here. South Africans cannot find work.”
Meanwhile, DA leader, Helen Zille led an anti-drug march in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town.

Joined by around 100 people, mostly women and children, they marched from Atletiek Street in Beacon Valley to the police station.

“We are asking for more police on the street. We are asking for the reinstating of the gang and drug unit that was scrapped… and we are looking for the army to be brought in,” said Zille.

Cope

The Congress of the People focused its campaigning in the north of Johannesburg at the Alexander township.

The SABC reported that the party said it wanted to lodge a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission about the poor conditions of the overcrowded women’s hostel in the area.

The hostel was constructed to accommodate 2 000 women but had 3 000 living there.

– SAPA

SA economists shrug at Nigeria growth jump


Johannesburg – South Africa remains the most important economy in the continent despite being overtaken by Nigeria as Africa’s biggest, South African economists said.
The result of a long awaited rebasing of Africa’s most populous nation showed that Nigeria’s GDP of $453bn in 2012 was higher than South Africa’s $384bn.
“South Africa will remain one of the important economies of the continent, though this rebasing will be a significant step in establishing Nigeria as a true African powerhouse,” said Investec portfolio manager, Roelof Horne.
Nigeria, with 170 million people, is about three times the size of South Africa by population, but it’s economy is still battling challenges such as poor infrastructure that hampers business activity.
The new statistics included the contribution of the fast-developing sectors such as telecoms, music and film industry, known as Nollywood.
Economist Dennis Dykes, at Nedbank, said Nigeria’s new position as Africa’s largest economy should be “viewed positively”.
“It’s important that economies were measured accurately… it gives potential investors a good picture of activity,” he said.
“The news figures should help South African investors identify new opportunities in Nigeria, especially in areas that were previously not factored in.”
Dykes said South Africa’s $7 508 GDP per capita, higher than Nigeria’s $2 688, was still the most important measure of the economy.
“Being Africa’s number one is definitely a great confidence booster for Nigeria, but it won’t change much,” he added.
South Africa has been hit by slow economic growth since the 2008 global recession, its growth lagging behind many of the world’s developing economies.
This year, the World Bank revised the country’s growth outlook to 2.7%, down from 3.2%, amid high unemployment.
AFP

Time for Oscar to explain


2014-04-06 21:59
Pretoria – More than a year after he killed his girlfriend, Oscar Pistorius is expected to finally answer questions about why he shot Reeva Steenkamp through a toilet door, when his murder trial resumes this week and his defence lawyers begin presenting the evidence they hope will save him from going to prison for 25 years to life.

Pistorius’s account that he killed Steenkamp by mistake is going to “stand or fall” with his testimony in court, a legal expert says.

Charged with premeditated murder for Steenkamp’s death, Pistorius and his defence team say he will testify to counter accusations that he intentionally killed Steenkamp by firing four times through the door in his bathroom before dawn on Valentine’s Day last year, hitting her in the head, arm and hip.

Pistorius says he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder.

Pistorius’s testimony also gives prosecutors the chance to cross-examine him and scrutinise every aspect of his story.

Facing a possible life sentence, his questioning by chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel could be the biggest challenge yet for the 27-year-old Pistorius.

Brian Webber, one of Pistorius’s lawyers, said they had no choice but to put Pistorius on the stand. Legal experts say it’s a risk Pistorius’s defence has to take.

In a rare comment after the prosecution closed its case, Pistorius said “we have a lot ahead of us”.

Emotional reactions

Pistorius often reacted emotionally to details of Steenkamp’s death in the four weeks of prosecution-led testimony at his trial. He retched loudly and vomited in court when a pathologist described Steenkamp’s injuries and cried and frequently covered his ears while sitting in the dock in an apparent attempt to block out graphic testimony.

During his own testimony, he will have to describe in depth his fatal shooting of Steenkamp.

“He can’t ignore it,” Marius du Toit, a criminal defence lawyer and former State prosecutor, who is observing the trial, said of Pistorius testifying. “He has to get into the box and confirm his version and be open to cross-examination. And this matter is going to stand or fall with that.”

Defendants have the right to remain silent, but because he has admitted killing Steenkamp, Pistorius is under pressure to tell the court why he decided to shoot through the door with his 9mm pistol without knowing – in his version – who was on the other side.

Prosecutors charge that Pistorius murdered Steenkamp after a fight and he must dispel their accusations that he intentionally shot her as she hid behind the locked door, legal experts say.

Pistorius likely won’t be the first witness the defence calls on Monday, but he should take the stand straight after pathologist Professor Jan Botha gives evidence.

Pistorius has not yet spoken publicly about the shooting, only giving his side in a written statement at his bail hearing a year ago and in court documents presented at the start of the trial last month.

In those statements, Pistorius claims to have been in a loving relationship with Steenkamp but, in fear for his life, he shot at what he thought was an intruder after hearing a window being opened in his bathroom and then a noise inside the cubicle.

Even if he is acquitted of murder, Pistorius faces a negligent killing conviction which can carry a five-year prison sentence. His testimony must show that he acted reasonably when he shot four times from close range.

“A reasonable man most probably would not have fired four shots through the door,” lawyer and observer du Toit said. “His actions were definitely not reasonable and I think that’s his biggest problem.”

AP