BY REGINALD KANYANE

FOUR opposition parties in Botswana will embark on a peaceful march and deliver a petition to the Office of the President on September 17. The organizing committee spokesperson, Moeti Mohaswa said parties like National Front, People’s Party, Movement for Democracy and Congress Party all from Botswana will take part in the protest.

“The intention of the march is to protest against the introduction of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) without an audit trail and safeguards. The worsening state of affair the education system finds itself in, the high rate of unemployment and the state media bias against the oppositions.

“The march will start at 9am and will be followed up by a rally at 2pm. The starting point for the march is Diswinking Freedom Square (Old Naledi) and the ending point is White City Freedom Square where the rally will be held,” Mohaswa said.

He said the march in Gaborone will be national. Mohashwa added that the members of the four opposition parties from across the country are expect to attend.

“There will be follow-up demonstrations in various regions after Gaborone National March. There will be a march in Mahalapye on September 24, another one in Rakhuna on October 8. The march will spread to Molepolole and Maun on October 15 and in Kalakamati on October 22.

“Another march will be in Selebi Phikwe and Gantsi on November 6, Tsabong and Letlhakane on November 13.  The opposition parties’ presidents will be accompanied by central committee members.  They are expected to lead the march and address the rally later on.

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BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

CULTURE, Arts and Traditional Affairs department (Cata) will host the third successive heritage celebration event at Lotlamoreng Dam, Mahikeng on Saturday.

Acting department spokesperson, Vusi Kama said the initiative is geared towards getting communities to unite and celebrate their heritage under the theme “Human treasures and legends: Our living heritage”.

“With the South African Traditional Music Achievement Awards (SATMA) around the corner, the audience will be entertained by two of the nine Bokone Bophirima nominees. Mma-Ausi and Thaga-Moso will showcase their talents to secure votes for the awards that will take place on October 1 in Richards Bay, Kwazulu Natal province.

“This event will take place every Saturday this month. It is also part of the build-up event towards the second annual Mahika-Mahikeng cultural extravaganza in December 2016.

“Activities on the day include indigenous games, traditional music and dance. Most excitingly for the youth, there will be a demonstration by bikers. Kids will be entertained in a designated area with jumping castles. Members of the public are also encouraged to bring along their camp chairs and picnic baskets,” Kama said.

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BY KABO LETLHOGELA

THE North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Human Settlements has condemned the Local Government and Human Settlements for lack of progress on addressing various backlogs on housing projects.

Committee chairperson, Motlalepula Rosho said there is a poor management of beneficiary lists between the department and municipality which aimed at addressing housing challenges in Matlosana Local Municipality.

This came after the committee visited several housing projects in the municipality which includes Matlosana Community Residential Units (CRU); Khuma and Kanana Housing projects.

Rosho said they are concern that the Matlosana CRU project has been completed but remained abandoned.

“We are concern about the CRUs like Matlosana project. It was implemented differently from the pilot project in Tlokwe CRU and Marikana CRU project yet it is the same project. The department must go and investigate the problems. They also need to explain why the departmental bid committees did not speed up the process in appointing service providers to complete the project,” Rosho said.

She said blocked projects date back to 1999 and 2004 in Khuma have not been resuscitated. Rosho added that some areas were found to be dolomatic and some houses were abandoned at wall plate stage by contractors.

Rosho also said that Extension 6 at Khuma is one of the first informal settlements after 1994, so it was not acceptable for people to be still waiting for houses to date.

“The worst thing is that the list of beneficiaries where community members are awarded houses, get to be awarded through their relationship with ward councillors and yet they do not occupy them instead rent them out. We are concerned about how beneficiary lists are managed in municipalities.

“The department is not doing anything to eradicate this issue. They need to ensure that the lists are verified and there are no delays. Both municipality and department relook into the system and ensure that those who receive houses are the right beneficiaries,” she added.

She said the committee was worried about the snail pace on housing projects in Kanana where there are nine contractors.

“The contractors are not doing very well although they were given project extensions since 2013. The part of the challenges is the top-up which has been approved and one of the contractors was paid without delivering the service. The contractor was assisted by an inspector who was an employee of the department.

“That employee is currently working for another state entity and is allowed to get away with wrong-doing. He flaunted processes of governance and there is no consequence management,” Rosho said.

Housing Director at the Matlosana Local Municipality, Peter Phala said: “There is a backlog of 376 houses. Most owners of stands are sub-letting their stands and have moved to townships. This makes it difficult for the municipality to audit the beneficiary list.”

North West local government and Human Settlements department, Head of Department, Ephraim Motoko said Matlosana CRU was contracted in April 2013 to ProPlan Consortium. They were contracted to build 100 units at R28 million.

“However, there is no occupation due to lack of in-house furniture such as stoves, cupboards and outdoor structures such as car ports. “We are currently on tendering processes to furnish the CRU. Both Khuma and Kanana housing projects experienced construction delays and challenges of identifying relevant beneficiaries during the time of construction.

“In Kanana Ext 13, where Relay Development was contracted to build 390 houses. The project was stopped by the department due to the milestones which were claimed by the developer which were not there during the time of audit,” Motoko said.

“The department removed some of the beneficiaries who qualified during applications period during the commencement of the projects because they already had proper houses. Some projects were delayed for many months because developers submitted requests for additional funding (top-ups) due to price increases on the construction market and initial subsidy quantum.

“We found out that a developer cannot construct the initial number of houses in a certain area due to reduction in initial list of beneficiaries or due to various reasons. We have requested them to address housing backlogs in other areas such as in Khuma which has a backlog of 76 houses,” he said.

Rosho said the department must deal decisively with the employee (inspector). She said the inspector misled the department on the payment of a contractor while the work was not done.

“The employee must come and account as he transgressed processes of good governance in the department. Provisions in laws are there to ensure that he pays back the money. We will await the report on the investigations.

“We need to set an example so that public servants must know that when they work within the construction industry. It is not for their benefit, but for the disadvantaged people who need shelter,” she said.

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BY REGINALD KANYANE

The South African Police Service in the North West will hold a commemoration service to honour members who lost their lives in the line of duty during 2014 / 2015 financial year on Sunday.

North West police spokesperson, Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said the event will be attended by the North West Community Safety and Transport Management department, Dr Mpho Motlhabane, the Acting National Commissioner, Lieutenant General JK Phahlane, South African Police Service members, families of the deceased members and the broader community.

“The North West Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane invites members of the media to cover the commemoration service that is scheduled to take place at Westpol Square Building (Parking Area),” he said.

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BY REGINALD KANYANE

FOURTEEN people are expected to appear in Taung Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. They were arrested on Wednesday morning after they allegedly embarked on protest in Choseng village, near Pudimoe.

Pudimoe Police Station spokesperson, Sgt Tebogo Thebe said they have arrested fourteen people after they barricaded N18 road with burning tyres and stones.

“They embarked on illegitimate protest and barricaded N18 road between Vryburg and Taung with burning tyres and stones. We urge our communities to engage with law enforcement before embarking on illegal strike.

“They need to follow correct channels and stop taking the law into their own hands. We have charged them with contravening gathering act, public violence and damage to properties,” Thebe said.  

The community said they embarked on a strike because they do not want the newly-elected councillor, Lopang Tokwe. One of Choseng community leaders, Sinah Letlhogela said: “We do not want Tokwe as our councillor. We elected Peter Moetsi as independent candidate. However, ANC plotted his downfall and that resulted in Moetsi losing against Tokwe during recent local government elections that took place in August 3.

“We conjecture why all councillors come from Matlapaneng village though? This is the fourth consecutive councillor coming out of Matlapaneng village. We want to know if we do not have proficient and competent people from our village who could become councillors,” Letlhogela lamented.

Letlhogela added that they submitted their enquiries to ANC regional structure in Dr Ruth Mompati region.

However, ANC Regional coordinator in Dr Ruth Mompati, Pontsho Kgosieng said they have received Choseng community’s memorandum. He said they will meet on Thursday as the PEC structure in the region to tackle issues raised by the community.

He lambasted the community’s actions after they chased their ward councillor, Lopang Tokwe out of the village on Tuesday.

“We need to educate our people how politics work. They have raised various issues and we will address them. However, we request tranquility in the area. Our people need to accept the outcome of the local government elections. Even though they do not approve the winner, according to chapter 7, the ward was won by ANC and we are expected to provide basic service delivery to the area,” he said.

Kgosieng said some of opposition parties might impel the community to fight the ANC councillor just to hinder the developments in the area.

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BY REGINALD KANYANE

Water and Sanitation department was in the process of publishing a gazette on water restrictions to limit the use of water for urban and irrigation purposes from Sehujwane, Marico-Bosveld, Kromellenboog, Swartruggens, Pella, Madikwe, Molatedi, Lindleyspoort, Setumo and Koster Dams and river systems respectively.

The department spokesperson, Sputnik Ratau said restrictions come as a result of the continuing drought phenomenon which has seen the dams named above running below normal water levels. Ratau further said consequently, the water and sanitation department plans to implement restrictions to mitigate the risk of complete system failure to supply water.

“However, it has to be noted that the restrictions would be implemented to safeguard water supply to the users of water from dams and river systems. We want to ensure that all users both domestic and agriculture receive their fair share of the available water during the current drought period,” he said.

Acting Head of the Department in North West, Dr Tseliso Ntili said the situation has worsened at the above-mentioned dams over the past few months. Ntsili added that the decision to implement restrictions becomes more important.

“Due to the critically low levels at these dams, together with a lack of seasonal rainfall and a lack of runoff during the past few months, we did an analysis which determined the need for implementing restrictions on the use of water from these dams.

“The analysis was done by means of an operational model called the Water Resource Yield Model (WRYM) using stochastic analysis of hydrological records and DWS consulted with relevant stakeholders who included local municipalities, district municipalities and commercial agriculture,” Dr Ntili said.

He said through the analysis, it was discovered that Sehujwane, Swartruggens and Koster dams are over utilized and domestic water demand has outgrown supply to such an extent that restrictions have to be implemented at capacity and additional sources of water supply need to be developed urgently.

The Swartruggens Dam in Kgetleng Rivier Local Municipality and Wentzel dam in Mamusa Local Municipality are already dry and cannot be used. Dr Ntili said the department is currently assisting with tankering whilst also exploring other short term interventions including underground water source development.

“In Ngaka Modiri Molema district, there are also challenges in rural areas with regard to drying up of boreholes and issues relating to vandalism of water infrastructure which leads to rampant water shortages. The department has provided 25 trucks as a relief measure in the province.

“In addition to the analysis and recommendations of DWS and its stakeholders, expected reservoir trajectories for all major dams in the North West province (in particular, the above-mentioned dams) have been developed to monitor the situation for possible easing or intensifying restrictions,” he said.

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BY KAMOGELO POOE

The North West MEC for Tourism, Desbo Mohono remains absolute that the North West Province still has a lot to offer in terms of various tourism attractions. Mohono was speaking at one of the province’s hidden gems, the Herman Charles Bosman Museum in Groot Marico where she launched “Tourism Fridays – Wake Up with the MEC” an interactive live show, hosted at a less popular tourist destination, where the MEC will give out first hand information on various activities which will be taking place during the tourism month a live interactive.

The focus for this week was on the Groot Marico which is a small bushveld town along the N4 towards Botswana and the provincial capital Mafikeng. Among others the Marico district has attractions such the rock paintings by early San and Bushmen people and an old watermill (now a national monument) on the farm Naauwpoort. Also in the district, at Mabotsa, is the ruin of the first mission erected by David Livingstone.

According to MEC Mohono the province has a very rich history and heritage. “As a department we need to encourage our tour operators to start packaging some of these hidden gems so that we expose them to tourists. A place like the Herman Bosman Museum in the Groot Marico area is a great place indeed. This is also where students can come and do academic research for their citations.

Through the A RE YENG BOKONE BOPHIRIMA brand property, we need to place emphasis on some level of exposure places such these need and let it be known out there that the North West Province has a lot to offer.

We cannot sit on our laurels while we have hidden gems such as this museum where history, culture and heritage has been captured so well. Most of such attractions are found in our Villages, Townships and Small Dorpies”, said Mohono.

Chairperson of the North West Tourism Board, David Mogashoa said that there is a dire need to encourage all people to tour their own backyard during this tourism month.

“We need to start touring our own backyards and not rely on people from outside to come and tour our areas. During this Tourism Month we are promoting universal accessibility. This will also help in ensuring that individuals are familiar with their own tourist attractions and areas of interest. We are encouraging everybody to start traveling and exploring their own backyards”, said Mogashoa.

MEC Mohono will be travelling across all four districts of the province in endeavor to expose some of the province’s hidden tourist attraction sites and places of interest. Through her “Tourism Fridays – Wake Up with the MEC” initiative, MEC Mohono will every Friday of the Tourism Month also interact with general members of the public through a live radio show. “During these Tourism Fridays jamboree, we will then be able to also assess the level at which we as a province are in terms of promoting universal accessibility and ensuring that Tourism is for all”, concluded Mohono.

(Unedited version)

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The Mayor of Moses Kotane Local Municipality, Cllr Ralesole Diale has conveyed deepest condolences for the sad passing of the Station Commander of Sun City police station, Tankiso Mokhunana

Tankiso Mokhunana sadly passed away in the line of duty on Friday.

“On behalf of the people of Moses Kotane Local Municipality, we extend our deepest condolences to Mokhunana family for the loss of a dedicated police officer. May his soul rest in peace,” said Diale.

Details of the funeral are yet to be confirmed by the family.

Mayor Diale and Members of Executive Committee will attend the funeral.

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BY REGINALD KANYANE

The Northern Cape Hawks Commercial Crime Unit said they welcomed the assistance they received with regards to its investigation on irregularities pertaining to the redraw or new house plans at Sol Plaatjie municipality.

The Hawks provincial spokesperson, Capt Philani Nkwalase said they wish to invite any person affected to come forward still.

“Several victims allegedly approached the Plan & Structure Office at Sol-Plaatje Municipality and made payments for both approval and drawing of new house plans or redraws. Different amounts were paid to the person believed to be responsible for the processes but no services rendered in terms of drawing the house plans.

“As part of the investigation, we kindly appeal to all the possible victims within Kimberly to come forward with their proof of such allegations. It is not known how many people were affected with this scam. However, few victims came forward with reasonable evidence and we would like more possible victims to come forward,” Nkwalase said.

He said those who want to lay a charge can contact Colonel Potelo from Commercial Crime Unit with tangible information on 053-838 5564 / 071 481 2827.

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