BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

MANTHE Community came out in numbers to celebrate Heritage Day at a local community hall in Mathe village near Taung on Saturday. The event was organised by Tumi Candy Trading Enterprise and other stakeholders.

One of organisers, Boitumelo Motimeng said heritage plays a pivotal role within the society. He said the society needs to safeguard the heritage.

“Our African heritage is under threat because of westernization. We decided to organise this event in remembrance of our heritage. We used to have Taung Cultural Calabash as one of the key proceedings in addressing social cohesion through heritage. However, it seems it is no more hence we came up with this.

Picture: (Gaamangwe Pinase Kgope on the stage sharing her views on Heritage Day)

“We believe that if we go back to basics, we will have a decorous society. Our youth will benefit from the event. We are tackling socio-economic issues that affect the youth through this event. We teach them the importance of heritage and how it can benefit them,” he said.

Motimeng who is a professional nurse said there is a cultural difference across ethnic groups. He added that cultural assortment is what South Africa has as the country.

“We also taught our community about cultural beliefs and what role they play nowadays especially in our health. There are things that were traditionally being applied in the past to address health issues. However, nowadays some of them are outdated.”

Gaamangwe Pinase Kgope also shared the same sentiments. Kgope said heritage can assist in narrowing the huge gap between parents and children.

“Our children are lost and bemused at the same time. However, if we continue to celebrate heritage, we will ensure that they know their identity. We need to know our identity as Africans in order to know where we are going. Engaging with elderly people will also be integral in knowing your identity. By conserving our heritage, we will be securing the future of our next generation,” Kgope added.

Another attendee, Lorato Reetseng said: “Heritage, tradition and culture go hand-in-hand. I believe that heritage can be fundamental also in marriages. You need to know the tradition, the culture and the clan of your in-laws. It will be effortless for you to adapt and understand what is expected from you. So, let us continue to do our utmost on this matter.”

Batlhaping High School pupil, Katlego Khunou said: “I have learnt a lot from this event. As a 16 year-old girl, I’ve already know what is expected from me as a girl child. I learnt a lot and also advice others to partake in events like this. Knowing our heritage and culture is key.”

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THE MARIKANA residents who illegally occupied about 500 completed houses in the R700m Marikana housing projects were given 60 days to vacate those houses. The North West High Court ruled in a favour of Rustenburg local municipality after a court squabble on Monday.

  However this did not deter the illegal occupants as they say they are ready to defy the court ruling.

 The Marikana illegal occupants’ representative, Napoleon Webster said they will never vacate the houses as they belong to them.

“These houses belong to us and no one will force us out. We know that we lost the case, but we have filed for an appeal. We will go to back to court on October 21. The judge did not adhere to our call, so we are adamant that this time we will win. The judgment was biased and we will never budge,” Webster said.

Rustenburg local municipality spokesperson, Thapelo Matebesi said the municipality finds itself in an adverse position. Matebesi said they have to deal with more than 24 informal settlements and a huge backlog of housing provision in its jurisdiction.

“To mitigate this challenge, as per the prescripts of the Housing Act, the municipality has taken all the reasonable and necessary steps within the national and provincial policy framework. We have provided our residents with decent accommodation as done during the process of integrated development planning in the recent years.

“Lawful beneficiaries were identified through extensive consultation with the community. The illegal occupation and pending threats of intensified illegal occupation continue to cause the delay for the completion of the project,” Matebesi.

Human settlements and local government department spokesperson, Be Bole said they will wait for an appeal before taking any drastically measures against the illegal occupants.

“We hope Marikana illegal occupants will respect the court ruling. The court ordered them to vacate the area. Those houses were built for rightful beneficiaries,” Bole said.

The illegal occupants occupied the housing units which were part of 2600 houses implemented by the North West department of Local Government and Human Settlement in conjunction with Lonmin Platinum mine.

The houses were officially handed over in January by North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo. The units are built on the 50hacter portion of land donated by Lonmin.

The project includes 535 RDP houses, subsidised rental flats and 34 financed linked individual subsidised programme houses.

The North West legislature’s Portfolio Committee on local government and human settlement said workers had an impression that the development were built for them.

Portfolio committee chairperson, Motlalepula Rosho said: “The challenge was that when the land was donated to the government, the workers were not formally informed about the development. They were not informed that they will not just get houses because they work for the mines.”

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BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

FOUR Schools in Mahikeng benefitted from a R2.6 million investment. Thanks to MTN Foundation. MTN Foundation SA senior manager in Information Communication Technology, Angie Maloka said they selected Letsatsing High, Barolong High, Mococeng High and Lapologang Secondary Schools.

Maloka said the schools were identified by the North West department of education and sport development based on their strategy analysis and needs.

“The foundation donated multimedia centres that consist of 20 seater computer laboratories, compujectors, printers, data projectors and interactive whiteboards.  All computer hardware comes with the approved curriculum that has been digitised for ease of use and access for both teachers and learners. 

“This will improve quality of learning and teaching. The identified schools will be significantly improved. We are grateful with our partnership which culminated in the donation of multimedia centres,” she said.

 Maloka added that this forms part of the Public Private Partnership. 

 MTN Foundation SA General Manager, Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi shared the same sentiments.

“Our partnership with government is a very practical and efficient one.  It allows both parties to capitalise on their capabilities and infrastructure to the benefit of the community and learners. MTN SA Foundation harnesses the company’s leading innovations in telecommunications to provide learners and teachers with tools to create a better life for them through education.

“Government uses their vast knowledge and understanding of the education system. It needs to guide us regarding where the facilities are needed and what type of intervention is required,” Mtunzi-Hairwadzi said.

 “We have also hand over 40 seater media centre to Mmabatho Nursing College. This forms part of the MTN SA Foundation’s 2016 e-Health programme. We have seen number of nursing colleges across the country being provided with a fully-kitted multimedia centres. The centre is kitted with hardware that is health and nursing specific,” she said.

North West MEC of Health department, MEC Dr Magome Masike said: “The department highly appreciate and value the contribution of the MTN SA Foundation. They play a pivotal role in developing and advancing the transformation agenda of government. MTN SA Foundation has seen it necessary to align with government’s call for public private partnerships in tackling our various service delivery programmes. 

“As department, we welcome this contribution to the learning environment of our learners who are in desperate need of these kinds of resources. This multi media centre will play an important part in addressing some of the challenges of development.”

Mmabatho Nursing College Principal of Multi-Campuses Mamotale Montshioa said: “The content and access to it will make all the difference in the pass rate.  The graphic and visual content makes understanding the human body so much easier.  Students now have access to content that visually demonstrates the inner and outer workings of the human body and all its components.”

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BY REGINALD KANYANE
LOCAL Government and human settlements department said the induction programme for all municipal councils is underway. Acting MEC for the department, Fenny Gaolaolwe said they have seen improvements in many local municipalities.

“We can confirm that all five municipalities that were under administration in the province were cleared. There is a lot of improvement in all municipalities and we hope to see more developments. The service delivery has also improved and we encourage our municipalities to implement back to basic programme.

“We also met with Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development department (FEED) two weeks ago. They confirmed that all municipalities are submitting their financial statements monthly. This includes all municipalities that failed to do so in the past,” Gaolaolwe said.

However, Gaolaolwe added that there were still more to address. She said Mamusa and Ditsobotla local municipalities received disclaimer in seven consecutive years.    

“We are aware that municipalities like Mamusa and Ditsobotla have received disclaimer in seven consecutive years. However, there is a program in place where incompetent municipalities can make use of. We normally look into the needs of the municipality and see where we can capacitate them. We are also conscious about unravelling situation at Mamusa local municipality. The Audit General reported that the municipality used R305m as wasteful, fruitless and irregular expenditure.

“According to the reports, the municipality also procured services from nine people who have close relations with some of senior officials. Those service providers did not disclose their relations. We have intervened and we decided to put the municipality’s financial structure under administration.

“Our senior administrator in finance will mitigate and make sure the municipality function well. We also met with municipal mayors of all municipalities across the province and requested them to make sure the municipalities function well,” she said.

Gaolaolwe further said they encouraged mayors and municipal managers to implement AG’s audit reports. She added that this will assist them with good governance.

“The department will also make use of consequence management too. We want to see accountability prevailing in all municipalities. We also recommended a good working relationship between municipalities and its communities. We are in a process of doing skill audit.

“The department requested all municipalities to submit its senior managers’ qualifications. The municipalities need to employ competent people with necessary skills. This will reduce the use of consultants because they are costly. The municipalities will submit all the advertised posts to our office to check if they meet requirements before taking them to newspapers for advertising,” she said.

Gaolaolwe said they wanted to do quality assurance and make sure they obtain needed skills. All administrators are still at the municipalities because they need to do a formal hand over to the new councils.

“We are also investigating the claims that Lekwa-Temane local municipal manager does not have relevant qualifications. We have received the report and investigations are underway. There was another issue raised regarding the acting municipal manager for Ditsobotla being paid by Madibeng local municipality.

“It is true and we have also engaged with SCOPA provincial chairperson, Mhlakeng Mahlakeng to address that matter. From now on, he will be paid by Ditsobotla local municipality,” she said.

Ditsobotla acting municipal manager was previously working at Madibeng local municipality and he was transferred to Ditsobotla.

Gaolaolwe also highlighted on Marikana RDP houses. She said the North West High Court ordered the illegal occupants to vacate the area.

“We are now waiting for the law enforcement authorities to implement court order. The court gave those illegal occupants 60 days to vacate the houses. We also request them to vacate the houses and let the housing project continues.

“We urge them to visit our offices to apply for houses by following proper procedure. Those houses have relevant beneficiaries and by so doing they deter the process. We are proudly to announce that flats at Ext 39 in Mahikeng will be in operational come November.          

However, the Marikana illegal occupants’ representative, Napoleon Webster said they will never vacate the houses as they belong to them.

“These houses belong to us and no one will force us out. We know that we lost the case, but we have filed for an appeal. We will go to back to court on October 21. The judge did not adhere to our call, so we are adamant that this time we will win. The judgment was biased and we will never budge,” Webster said.

Rustenburg local municipality spokesperson, Thapelo Matebesi said the municipality finds itself in an adverse position. Matebesi said they have to deal with more than 24 informal settlements and a huge backlog of housing provision in its jurisdiction.

“To mitigate this challenge, as per the prescripts of the Housing Act, the municipality has taken all the reasonable and necessary steps within the national and provincial policy framework. We have provided our residents with decent accommodation as done during the process of integrated development planning in the recent years.

“Lawful beneficiaries were identified through extensive consultation with the community. The illegal occupation and pending threats of intensified illegal occupation continue to cause the delay for the completion of the project,” Matebesi.

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