President Jacob Zuma’s salary will increase to over R2.7 million per annum this year and he will receive a lump sum payment of over R100 000 in back payments.

National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete and Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng will receive just over R2.6 million with similar back payments.

All government officials are in for a salary increase now that the Independent Commission for the remuneration of public office bearers has made its recommendation on public sector salaries.

The increases for our top officials are as follows:

» President Jacob Zuma: R2 753 689 up from R2 622 561

» Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa: R2 602 297 up from R2 478 378

» Ministers: R2 211 937 up from R2 106 607

» Deputy ministers: R1 821 577 up from R1 734 835

» Speaker of the national assembly and chief justice: R2 602 297 up from R2 478 378

» Ordinary member of parliament: R989 883 up from R933 852

» Premiers: R2 081 868 up from R1 982 731

» Mayors: R1 152 803 up from R1 097 907

» Traditional leaders (kings): R1 078 599 up from R1 027 237

The commission, which is obliged to make salary adjustment recommendations for public officials every year, said it had proposed “a 5% adjustment for Public Office Bearers earning more than R 1 000 000 and 6% for public office bearers earning less than R 1 000 000”.

The increase hovers around the inflation mark.

The commission released its report following the monetary policy committee announcement that left the repo rate unchanged, and predicted an average inflation forecast of 5.4% for 2015.

The new salaries will kick in retroactively from April 1 last year for national officials and July 1 for local government officials. This means that officials will be back paid a lump sum once the recommendations have been finalised.

Commissioner Neo Sephoti explained to City Press that the adjustments were delayed as several of the commissioners’ term of office had come to an end, including the chair. The commission had to wait for Zuma to appoint new commissioners which was finished in October, before they could make quorum again for their meetings and complete their work on the adjustments. http://www.remcommission.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=4660

The commission considered a number of factors in coming to the decision, it said in a press statement released today, including the forecast of the consumer price index, market salary increases in the past year and “the economic and social environment”.

The recommendations have been gazetted and will be passed by Parliament where it applied to the executive, and by the president where it applied to the legislature, said Sephoti.

Johannesburg – Five men are expected to appear in the Witbank Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with the shooting of African National Congress MP Jackson Mthembu.

The men, who were arrested between the end of October last year and the beginning of November, face charges of attempted murder and armed robbery.

They were all in their 20s and were arrested in their homes in an informal settlement in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga.

Mthembu was attacked while withdrawing money from an ATM in Mandela Street, Emalahleni, on 19 October last year.

He was approached by an armed man along with several others. They demanded that he withdraw all of his money from his account.

A scuffle ensued and Mthembu was shot. The bullet grazed his cheek and hit him in the shoulder.

He was hospitalised for 10 days and was booked off work until the end of November, 2014.

To further advance the course of establishing strong relations between Government and Private sector, the North West Department of tourism will host the Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Tourism Lekgotla with the sole aim of fostering integrated tourism planning and development across all spheres of Government.

This lekgotla will be used as a platform to derive means and develop methods which will enable the department to put in place systems to advance the course of Rural Tourism and elevate its impact on the socio-economic scale in rural towns across the province.

The session will be held as follows:

Date   : 03 February 2015

Venue: Taung Hotel and Convention Centre

Time  : 08:30

JOHANNESBURG – A private Pretoria school has denied it’s separating young children into classes based on race and hopes to convince parents of this at a special meeting due to take place tonight. 

Eyewitness News has learned that a group of almost 30 parents at the Curro Foundation School in Roodeplaat has complained about this by signing a petition. 
For more http://www.ewn.co.za

Klerksdorp – To effectively and efficiently foster integrated tourism planning and development across all spheres of Government, the North West Department of Tourism has commenced with a series of district Tourism makgotla across the province. 

First of these sessions was held at Klerksdorp in the Dr. Kenneth Kaunda District where North West MEC for Tourism Desbo Mohono highlighted the importance of such stakeholder engagement sessions.

She said that they give industry role players the opportunity to make strategic inputs on how the department can improve the way it conducts its business.

“Platforms such as these can come up with tangible and possible ideas while at the same breath making sure that they become solutions to the promised land. These gatherings have to be able to answer pertinent questions that will either break or make us as a very competitive industry”, MEC Mohono said.

MEC Mohono went further to urge Tourism product owners to package their products well and explore other means of packaging besides the conventional methods.

“As a department we also urge our people to package their inventions in authentic cultural and nature based manner. The other very important factor that I have to make mention in particular when coming to packaging our products is the issue of. E-Tourism Frontiers in the digital market. This trend continues to evolve at a lightning speed and our commitment has to be on the cusp of this curve”, she added.

“Our mandate has always been results orientated in terms of overall direction for Tourism and the targets that we strive to achieve in the long run. As a government of the people we will come to your aid. We will try to assist everybody that shows determination and vigour and most importantly those that meet the criteria we have set to either receive funding or any other kind of help we can give to our people though our SETAs”, she concluded.

The District Tourism Makgotla will continue in other districts of the province with the sole intention of soliciting strategic inputs which will facilitate industrial and institutional growth of the Tourism sector in the North West Province.
-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Cape Town – In a foretaste of the ANC-DA political battle in Cape Town ahead of the 2016 local government elections, this year’s first full council sitting descended into chaos, with some ANC councillors seen throwing punches on Wednesday.

The tension between the political rivals was palpable from the onset as mayor Patricia de Lille and the ANC, led by Tony Ehrenreich, locked horns over issues that included services, MyCiTi bus routes and the renaming of Table Bay Boulevard after former president FW de Klerk.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Pietermaritzburg – A bakkie carrying 24 primary school pupils crashed over the edge of a road and down into a house, killing seven of the children.

It was another horrific accident involving schoolchildren being ferried on the back of a bakkie – once again bringing the transporting of children into sharp focus.

Bakkies are not meant to be used for transporting children – but the practice continues, with horrifying consequences.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday that a list of “leaderless institutions” did not constitute a corruption-busting task team.

“While I appreciate the time taken by the Presidency spokesperson, Mac Maharaj, to dispute my latest newsletter on the demise of the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT), it would have been useful if he had actually commented on what I wrote,” she said in a statement.

Zille said she wrote in her newsletter that the removal of both the chair and deputy chair of the ACTT through suspension and demotion was a deliberate ploy that had left the task team effectively dismantled.

“The presidency statement calls this ‘disappointing’ and ‘misleading gossip’, but then does nothing to refute my claim,” she said.

Instead the presidency gave a page of bullet points that listed all the bodies ever set up by government to fight corruption.

“That would have been great, were it not for the fact that almost every institution or body listed is currently in complete disarray thanks to precisely the political meddling I was referring to.”

On Monday, writing in her newsletter SA Today, Zille said the “dismantling” of the anti-corruption task team was evidence the government was not serious about graft.

Zille said the task team was launched in 2010 to fast-track high priority corruption investigations.

“But the ease with which he pulled the plug on them in the space of just a few weeks, exposes [President] Jacob Zuma‘s hypocrisy when it comes to tackling corruption.”

‘High-level purges’

The team is made up of representatives of the Hawks, the SA Revenue Service (Sars), the Special Investigating Unit, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and the commercial branch of the SA Police Service.

It was headed by Hawks boss Anwa Dramat. His deputy was Sars anti-corruption unit head Clifford Collings.

Zille said there was effectively no team left since Dramat and Collings had become “victims of high-level purges”.

However, on Tuesday the President said the ACTT had visible successes and government looked up to it to work even harder to assist in rooting out corruption.

“It is disappointing that the premier [Zille] has decided to spread misleading information and gossip when she could have easily established the facts and imparted accurate information to the public,” the presidency said.

It said the inter-ministerial committee confirmed and concretised the role of the ACCT in June last year.

Government had a multi-agency approach on which comprehensive anti-corruption architecture, which was composed of a range of institutions to address corruption from different angles, said the presidency.

“This sets the direction towards ensuring that a resilient anti-corruption system is in place.”

The presidency said that a number of changes took place in 2014 and included the development of a number of strategies to address corruption, initiatives were launched and mechanisms established to expose corrupt practices in South Africa.

‘Spin’

On Wednesday, Zille said Maharaj must have penned his statement in response to her newsletter “straight after his effort to spin” the “stepping down” of the SIU head, advocate Vas Soni.

“Citing the SIU as an example of corruption-busting excellence on the same day they became leaderless is a stretch, even for a seasoned spin doctor,” she said.

“So no, Mr Maharaj, none of these “proof points” are, in any way, chapters in the government’s anti-corruption “good story”. Instead they are a damning indictment of President Zuma’s calculated capture of state institutions in order to avoid investigation and prosecution.”

Zille said Maharaj should give examples of “significant, high-profile successes” that these bodies had achieved in recent years.

She said none of the institutions were fully operational.

“One by one they have fallen into the hands of the President, and now exist only to turn a blind eye to anything that says “Zuma” or “Nkandla” on the cover,” Zille claimed.

Maharaj could not be contacted for comment on Wednesday.

Cape Town – Two police officers are expected to appear in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Cape Town on Thursday on charges of extortion, corruption, and defeating the ends of justice.

The case against Jonathan Jerome Plaaitjies, 42, of the Mitchells Plain police station, and Morne Albert Britton Fasser, 30, of the Lentegeur police station on the Cape Flats, was postponed during their appearance last month.

This was to allow for consultation with their defence counsel, Gilbert Jose.

Both face two charges of extortion, one of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice. They were not asked to plead at the time.

The State alleges that in July, Plaaitjies informed a woman accused in a number of criminal matters that he had spoken to Fasser, the investigating officer in the cases, and that “something” could be done to help her.

Plaaitjies allegedly arranged for the accused to meet himself and Fasser, but on the undertaking that she would not report what was discussed.

At the meeting, Fasser said her case was serious, and that she stood to lose her house and money. Fasser told her he was able to help her for R10 000, which she paid.

All communication with Fasser had to be via Plaaitjies.

At a second meeting, Fasser allegedly told her the dockets of her cases were to be shredded, but that two other officials involved wanted a cut of R20 000 each. She agreed, but instead went to a senior police officer.

Permission was given for an undercover police operation during which the money was allegedly paid, and Plaaitjies and Fasser arrested.

Pietermaritzburg – It is the uncertainty of not knowing when load shedding kicks in that affects businesses, according to a business chamber.

Over 50 Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business (PCB) members tackled this issue on Wednesday, a day when stage 1 load shedding was implemented from 10:00 until 14:00.

The group said that under the current circumstances, businesses were not able to plan when they could switch off their machinery to prepare for load shedding, and workers were not given enough notice in terms of their work schedule.

For more http://www.news24.com