Cape Town – Representatives of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and Parliament’s management will meet again on Thursday morning, with the union vowing that its strike will continue until members’ demands are met.

“The status quo remains; there was no agreement last night. We will meet with the management again at around 10:00 today [Thursday]. The strike continues,” said a text message to News24 from Sthembiso Tembe, chairperson of Parliament’s branch of the Nehawu.

For more http://www.news24.com

Looking for a “unique and meaningful” Christmas present for a loved one? An animal rehabilitation centre might have just what you need.

In its appeal for sponsorships for animals, the Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (Crow), a non-profit, has created the sponsoring of an animal project to assist with the upbringing of four black-backed jackal pups that were rescued in September.

The two male and two females pups are amongst the over 400 injured and orphaned animals that have been rescued and admitted to the Crow centre over the past six weeks. They were discovered by cane cutters on a sugarcane farm in the Empangeni area after their den collapsed. After waiting to see if their mother would return, the farmer contacted Crow’s local depot where assistance was on hand.

For more http://www.news24.com

Cape Town – Minister for Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande will launch an investigation into allegations of corruption in the government’s National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

The department has ordered a forensic investigation into the extent of fraud, corruption, maladministration and collusion in the allocation of financial aid by institutions, NSFAS spokesperson Kagisho Mamabolo told News24 last week.

Many students have labelled the application process for government funding at certain universities as “corrupt” and “biased”, based on a survey hosted by News24.

For more http://www.news24.com

The Rustenburg local municipality has issued water restrictions due to the heat wave, the municipality said on Thursday.

“The municipality has issued water restrictions for consumers and it is important that consumers do understand the seriousness of this. We also hereby request each and every one to keep by the restrictions and conserve our water as it is precious and can’t be replaced,” said municipal spokesman Thapelo Matebesi.

He said the main contributors of water in the municipality were Magalies Water and Rand Water.

“The systems are currently under tremendous strain due to the heat wave combined with the extremely dry season. The level of Rand Water’s Barnardsvlei dropped during the last month from a steady 80 percent to a critical 14 percent. The Bospoort reservoir feeding the Boitekong areas is merely six percent currently,” explained Matebesi.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

The Department of Water and Sanitation said on Thursday that it has deployed water tankers to provide water to areas that had been hardest hit by the drought.

These include rural areas in the KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Limpopo province, which have been declared disaster areas.

Other provinces affected by drought include, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West.

In Gauteng the municipalities are experiencing strain on the supply systems due to high demand and current high temperatures.

Deputy Director General for Planning and Transformation, Deborah Mochotlhi said there were short, medium to long-term measures in place to deal with drought.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

BY REGINALD KANYANE

A 31 year-old man was arrested in Vryburg after armed robbery. The incident took place at Morokweng village, near Ganyesa on Tuesday. North West police said one man was arrested in connection with the robbery.

Provincial police spokesperson, Captain Paul Ramaloko said: “Mafikeng Flying Squad arrested Motsewabatho Buthelezi at Tshidilamolomo village for armed robbery. Buthelezi and his four accomplices allegedly robbed a tuck shop belonging to Ethiopian.  The incident took place on Tuesday at around 02:00 in the morning. They broke into a shop wearing balaclava and demanded cash from him.

“The suspects pointed the victim with a firearm and assaulted him. They found nearly R37 000 inside the wardrobe after searching his room. The suspects fled the scene with that cash, 8 boxes of cigarettes and the victim’s Nissan Hard body. The stolen vehicle was found abandoned 5km away from the scene by Morokweng police and Vryburg K9.” Ramaloko said.

He said Buthelezi appeared at Vryburg Magistrate’s Court for armed robbery and investigations continue.

-TDN

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