Daily Archives: April 24, 2014

Marikana ANC office burnt down


Johannesburg – A shack used as ANC branch office was set alight at Nkaneng informal settlement in Wonderkop near Marikana on Thursday, police said.

“Police are investigating a case of arson. The shack is reported to have been used as an office for a political party,” said police spokesperson Sabata Mokgwabona.

He said no injuries were reported during the incident at 3pm.

The ANC confirmed that its office in Nkaneng was torched.

“We appeal to our members in Marikana to remain calm and allow the law to take its course. The matter is under police investigation, ” said provincial spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi.

He called on residents to assist the police with information to arrest perpetrators.

“The culprits are known in the community. There are people who saw them committing the crime.”

He said the ongoing intimidation and burning of ANC property would not stop the ANC from doing its political work in Marikana.

“The ANC will prevail over this anarchy. We will continue with our work in Marikana, Madibeng and all other areas in Rustenburg.”

Two people were gunned down in Nkaneng two weeks ago, he said.

Mnisi said the burning of their office occurred at the time the ANC was concluding its election campaign in the Bojanala district.

As part of wrapping up the election campaign in Bojanala, ANC treasurer general Zweli Mkhize would address a gala dinner at Sun City on Thursday and provincial chairperson Supra Mahumapelo would have a public session with political analysts to debate on the 20 years of democracy in the North West Province.

– SAPA

Mpofu outlines EFF plans for Gauteng


Johannesburg – An EFF-led government in Gauteng will launch its own provincial land audit and report to residents within 100 days on past failures, the party’s candidate for premier Dali Mpofu said on Thursday.

“An EFF government will report findings on why the ANC [African National Congress] has failed to audit land in a… small province like Gauteng,” he told reporters in Johannesburg.

“Within the first 100 days, the EFF Gauteng government will identify land for expropriation and equal distribution.”

Mpofu set out the Economic Freedom Fighters’ blueprint for the province titled “Formula 777”. It outlines the seven pillars the party was founded on – seven values and priorities for the first 100 days in office.

A preliminary analysis would be completed within the set timeframe, of urban land that could be expropriated for the development of communities closer to job opportunities.

“The apartheid legacy of spatially excluding black entrepreneurs is something that could have been reversed within 20 years with planning and willpower. An EFF Gauteng government will show urgency that has been lacking,” he said.

Gauteng ‘a province of plenty’

Mpofu added that his government would determine the value of the mineral resources remaining in Gauteng, as well as future costs to the environment caused by mining.

“Together these two monetary values, the [natural] asset and the liability [to the environment] will constitute the share that the state should have in mining companies,” said Mpofu.

This would form part of preparations for the nationalisation of mines.

Mpofu said Gauteng was a province of plenty, but its wealth did not benefit the majority of residents.

“Under an EFF government, Gauteng will cease to be a province that serves the few. It will be a province which looks after its poor, its most vulnerable, those who have been marginalised and forgotten, the voiceless,” he said.

The EFF would hit the ground running should it win the province. Mpofu added that heads would start to roll should the 100-day plan not be effectively implemented. Members of the executive council would be recalled should they fail in their duties.
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Premier Modise prays for peaceful elections


Seaparankwe Mama Ruth Segomotsi Mompati and Premier Thandi Modise in worship to Gospel Singer Winnie Mashaba’s music at the Provincial Interfaith Women’s Prayer Service underway at the Naledi Local Municipality Theatre in Vryburg.
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A man bludgeoned a lover to death in North West


By Obakeng Maje
Hartbeesfontein-North West police arrested a 37 year-old man after he allegedly stabbed his girlfriend to death.

Sergeant Kelebogile Moleko said a 37 year-old man engaged in an argument with his girlfriend and hit her with an unknown object.

“The suspect handed himself over to the police at Hartbeesfontein after he allegedly bludgeoned his girlfriend to death. The atrocity took place on Monday where two lover were engaged in an argument” Moleko said.

She said the suspect dragged a 31 year-old girlfriend into the streets and stabbed her several times.

The victim allegedly died on the scene and the suspect dug a shallow grave and buried her.

He allegedly handed himself over to the police and pointed out where he buried the victim.

He was charged with murder case and investigations continue.-TDN
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DA: Tlokwe Municipal Manager Can’t Be Municipal Electoral Officer


By Obakeng Maje
Tlokwe- The Democratic Alliance and other opposition parties in Tlokwe managed to have a majority decision of the ANC of the Tlokwe City Council overturned by the Independent Electoral Commission.

“At a recent special council meeting of the Tlokwe City council, the ANC forced the nomination of Mr Laws Mohlomi, the current acting municipal manager of the Tlokwe Municipality as the Municipal Electoral Officer for Tlokwe” DA spokesperson Tiaan Kotze said.

The DA raised its objections against Mr Mohlomi’s nomination by virtue of the fact that it was no secret that Mr Mohlomi acted as a party agent for the ANC in the 2013 Tlokwe by-elections. 

Concerns were also raised with regard to the transparency of Mr Mohlomi in so far as his failure to respond to general inquiries made by opposition councillors as part of their oversight functions. 

“These objections wherein a heated debate simply played down by the current Executive Mayor of Tlokwe, Khotso Khumalo, as irrelevant in so far as the nomination the municipal council was obliged to make.  Notwithstanding sound arguments and a heated debate that ensued the matter was put to the vote” Kotze said.

All the opposition parties demanded that their votes against the nomination be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.  For obvious reasons the ANC voted in favour of the nomination and apparently it was communicated via letter to the IEC that the support of Mr Mohlomi was unanimous. 

“The objections made by opposition parties were independently and in separate communication forwarded to the IEC, by MPL Chris Hattingh, the provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance, and Kenneth Maduna a councillor from COPE, together with a copy of the actual council resolution to indicate that opposition parties were not satisfied with the nomination” he said.   

In a letter addressed to the Municipal Manager of the Tlokwe Municipality on the Tlokwe City Council was notified that Mr Mohlomi’s nomination is rejected and the objection grounds that were raised by the Democratic Alliance and other opposition parties during the earlier special council meeting was echoed as the basis for the rejection.

The Democratic Alliance considers this to be a double victory in the interest of free and fair elections and the rule of law.  

“It should be a reminder to the ANC that a majority vote cannot legalise something which is on face value against the provisions and objectives of legislation”. 

“On the negative side this whole situation is just another example where sound principles of a participation of democracy is sacrificed on the altar of the sole interest of the ruling ANC”. 

Kotze said it is clear that Mr Mohlomi was due to be deployed to serve the interest of the ANC,  as this is the only explanation why the ANC was clearly not willing to opt for a Municipal Electoral Officer that would have been acceptable for all concerned parties.-TDN
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Malema responds to open letter


Punches are being thrown at all politicians in a “boxing match” ahead of the May 7 general election, EFF leader Julius Malema said on Thursday.

“We are in a boxing match. There are going to be punches thrown at all of us,” he told Sapa in response to an open letter by Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie.

“I shouldn’t be bothered by this. As we come closer to election day it will get worse.”

Malema declined to comment on the contents of the letter.

“I have nothing to say… I don’t think the matter deserves my attention.”

McKenzie wrote a scathing letter to Malema on Wednesday, describing him as the “biggest thief” he had ever met.

“You get two kinds of politicians in this country — the ones who come from prison and those who must still go to prison. You belong to the latter,” McKenzie wrote.

“I may be an ex-thief, but you are a present-day thief. You, particularly you, cannot be calling all white people in this country thieves.”

He claimed Malema’s intention was to bankrupt the country.

“You are like a man who steals a cellphone and then goes back to his victim to ask for airtime… You bankrupted the ANC Youth League. You bankrupted Limpopo. You bankrupted yourself. Now you want to bankrupt what’s left of South Africa.”

McKenzie went further to say Malema was a “false prophet”.

“You are the modern-day Nongqawuse,” he wrote. “There was no one there in 1856 to warn our people against that false prophet. Somebody needs to have the courage to warn us against you.”

Nongqawuse was a teenage girl who had a prophecy that the Xhosa in the Eastern Cape should slaughter their cattle, many of which were sick, and not cultivate crops, because the oppressive British settlers were going to be swept into the sea and their ancestors would rise bringing new healthy cattle and crops.

The prophecy did not come true, leading to extreme hardship in the area.

McKenzie wrote: “I’m not scared of you. But I am scared of what will happen to this country if our young people don’t realise what you are before it is too late.”

Malema, a former ANCYL leader, was expelled from the ruling party in 2012 for sowing divisions and bringing the party into disrepute. He then started the Economic Freedom Fighters.

He faces fraud and corruption charges related to a R52 million contract awarded to On-Point Engineering. The State alleged that Malema substantially benefited from the tender payment to On-Point, using it to buy a farm and a Mercedes-Benz.

It said Malema’s Ratanang Family Trust was an indirect shareholder in On-Point. His case is due to be heard in September in the High Court in Polokwane.

In March, The Star reported that charges against four of his alleged business associates had been dismissed. Malema had made representation to the national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) to have the charges against him dropped. The NDPP had yet to make a decision.

Malema is also trying to settle his tax bill with the SA Revenue Service to avoid being barred from Parliament.

On February 10, Malema was provisionally sequestrated by the High Court in Pretoria. Malema and anyone else who did not want the order to be made final had until 10am on May 26 to give reasons as to why this should not happen.

On Thursday, The Star reported that Malema was disappointed by the letter.

“As African brothers, we must stand by each other, despite differences. But if, after writing the letter, he is going to find comfort, we wish him luck,” Malema was quoted as saying.

“He is plagiarising what the media says without verifying. Good luck to him.”-Sapa

MEC Nono Maloyi to hand three houses in Mahikeng


Mahikeng-North West MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison, Nono Maloyi in partnership with the SABC North West will officially handover three houses as part of a special housing project to a family of twenty five (25) in Mantja village outside Mahikeng.  

The family’s plight was made public through the SABC news’ “Touching Lives” segment. The corporation in partnership with the department as well as other key stakeholders embarked on a Corporate Social Investment (CSI) campaign to build shelter for the family.

“The family headed by 63 year old partially blind Mosekeng Mosiane resides in a two roomed make-shift shack which was built in 2008 and has no form of income to sustain them” departmental spokesperson Ben Bole said.

The event will be held as follows:

Date  :FRIDAY 25 APRIL 2014 Time:           9H00
Venue:           MANTJA VILLAGE
-TDN
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ANC members killed in KZN


Durban – Two African National Congress members in KwaZulu-Natal have been killed in the run up to the 7 May elections, the party said on Wednesday.

Supa Zuma, the party’s secretary for the Moses Mabhida region, said in a statement that Nkosi Nkwanyana was gunned down outside his home in the Mhlangandlovu area.
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SA mom held for murder ‘doted on kids’


London – A South African woman, who has been arrested for the murders of her three disabled children in the UK, has been described as a devoted mother who doted on them, reports said.

Tania Clarence, 42, was arrested after her 4-year-old daughter and twin boys aged 3 were found dead at their home in New Malden, south London.

The children, Ben, Max and Olivia, had a genetic condition called spinal muscular atrophy that left them with little muscle strength.

Neighbour Joy Devis, 86, told the UK’s Mirror newspaper that Clarence and her husband were “dedicated, loving parents who doted on their children”.

But a friend of the South African woman told Eyewitness News that she was struggling to cope with the children’s illness.

Clarence’s husband, Gary, was in South Africa with their other daughter, 8-year-old Taya, at the time of the murders but is flying back to the UK.

Gary, who works for Investec, would never have left the UK if he had known his wife was going to murder their children, a family spokesperson told the Cape Argus.

The UK’s Daily Mail reported that Tania Clarence had given up her career as a graphic designer to look after the children. The couple had also renovated their R21.3m mansion and installed special features, including a lift and ramps.

They employed a nanny and carers for the children and also sent them to a special school for disabled children.

The three children were found in their upstairs bedrooms and police suspect they were suffocated. News24

Gareth Cliff will have his own talk show on TV


Johannesburg –  Radio DJ Gareth Cliff is continuing to explore exciting new pastures with his own brand new TV show that will be broadcast 5 days a week on Comedy Central Africa.

The new talk show The Gareth Cliff Show Live on Comedy Central will be aired live every Monday to Friday on Comedy Central (DSTV Channel 122), on comedycentralafrica.com and on
cliffcentral.com
from 1 May.
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