BY REGINALD KANYANE
The MEC for education and sport development, Sello Lehari will lead the Provincial Prayer for the Grade 12 learners. 

Lehari said the purpose of the Provincial Prayer is to invite the divine intervention before the learners eembark on their final examinations. 

“A total of 35 397 candidates from 399 examination centres across the province are geared to write the 2016 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Matric examinations that will commence on Monday. 

“The Provincial Prayer will take place at Moretele Local Municipality Hall (Mathibestad Village near Makapanstad North of Pretoria),” he said.

Lehari added that he was optimistic about the performance of the 2016 Class.

“We are asking the Almighty God to guide them when they write their final examinations. We know that with God, the Almighty nothing is impossible. 

“I am optimistic that our children will perform to their fullest potential and make the province proud,”, Lehari said.

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To onlookers, it seems inescapably obvious that South Africa’s finance minister Pravin Gordhan has beentargeted by senior political figures who do not want him to do his job properly – with a criminal case against Gordhan the most obvious sign he is being hounded out of office.

Rest assured: the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) cannot win its case of fraud, or alternatively theft, against Gordhan. This is the opinion of legal expert Cathleen Powell, who has worked through the chargeswith a fine tooth comb. She has gone one step further, analysing the legal technicalities on the jurisdiction of the NPA and the Hawks investigative unit.

Powell comes to the conclusion, based on a careful assessment of the facts and legislation, that the law in this case is being used as an instrument for political gain. Powell’s in-depth reading of the matter underscores that is high time for an overhaul of the people who are running our law enforcement agencies. The separation of powers is critical in maintaining democracy.

Along with state capture, the lines have become blurred between the executive and legislative organs of state. – Jackie Cameron

By Cathleen Powell*

Earlier this month South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) laid criminal charges against the country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

The NPA does have the power under law to charge people with crimes – that’s its job. But do the charges against Gordhan stand up to scrutiny? And did the NPA follow the correct processes in charging him?

Closer examination shows that the NPA is bringing a case it cannot win. Indeed, the weaknesses of the case are so glaring that any vaguely competent criminal lawyer should have been able to spot them. Secondly, it is doing so in a manner which belies its claim to be protecting and enforcing the law.

This case may therefore have less to do with the law than with the pursuit of a political agenda. If so, law has ceased to be the basis of a just and fair society – and instead become an instrument for political gain.

The charge sheet brings a case of fraud against Gordhan, with an alternative charge of theft. Both charges are meant to arise from his approval of early retirement by Ivan Pillay from the South African Revenue Services (SARS), and his rehiring of Pillay as Deputy Commissioner on a fixed-term contract.

Related to this is the so-called “penalty” which SARS paid to Pillay’s pension fund, which allowed him to enjoy full pension benefits (as though he had retired at the statutory age). Gordhan was commissioner of SARS at the time these events took place.

The merits of the charges

We can dispose of the charge of theft without further ado. Gordhan cannot be guilty of theft if he did not appropriate the money that was paid out for Pillay’s benefit. There has never been any indication that anybody other than Pillay benefited from his early retirement on full benefits.

To prove the main charge – fraud – the NPA would have to establish that Gordhan unlawfully and intentionally made a misrepresentation which caused prejudice or potential prejudice to another (or to the state).

According to the charge sheet, these requirements are all met because Gordhan “unlawfully, falsely and with the intent to defraud” pretended to SARS that it was liable to pay R1 141 178.11 (US$78 000) to the Government Employees Pension Fund.

Source: http://www.news24.com

Bloemfontein – A 43-year-old Free State man is under police guard in hospital after he shot his daughter and then stabbed and shot himself, police said on Tuesday.

The incident happened on Monday night at 20:30 at their home in Leeuwenhof Street, Hospital Park, police spokesperson Captain Chaka Marope said.

“The man went to his father’s house and stole his firearm. He then went home and came across his daughter in the driveway and shot her,” Marope said.

The 17-year-old girl was shot in the neck and left thigh, he said.

“After shooting his daughter, he went into his house and held his wife and 4-year-old son hostage. He also fired several shots in the house, but both his wife and son were unharmed.”

Marope said after the man had fired several shots, he stabbed himself in the stomach and turned the gun on himself.

Both the man and his daughter were rushed to hospital in critical condition. The motive for the shooting was unknown.

Police were investigating a case of attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and pointing a firearm.

Source: http://www.news24.com

​

Platinum Stars midfielder Solomon Mathe was spotted leaving the residence of a professional prostitute this week.

Sunday World was informed of the footie’s nefarious tryst in the bordello by neighbours who disapprove of the hooker’s business on the property.

Mathe, who wedded his long-time girlfriend Sissy Naledi Tenza in 2014, was seen on August 29 visiting the apartment in Winchester Hills, south of Joburg, where a professional prostitute plies her trade.

At the hooker’s apartment, a black Jeep owned by Mathe’s friend Tlali Motsie was parked in the visitors’ parking in the townhouse complex.

After about half an hour, the former SuperSport United player, who was clad in a white T-shirt, blue shorts and brown sneakers, trudged out of the unit and jumped into the car.

He kept a straight face when he passed a group of residents standing with the Sunday World team.

Platinum Stars spokesman Tebogo Mochadibane declined to comment and referred us to the team coach Cavin Johnson.

Mathe begged us not to publish the story. “Grootman please, don’t publish that, this thing will affect my marriage and my career, please.”

The residents complained that the tenant, known to them as Meikie, was selling sex and Mathe was one of her regular Johns.

“There are too many male visitors coming here every day. We investigated and discovered that this woman is selling sex in that unit. We complained to the unit owner who told us her tenant insisted the people who were visiting were her friends,” said a resident who did not want to be named.

Another resident, who also asked not to be named, said they discovered the unit was used as a house of ill-repute early this year when they heard “funny noises” coming from the house whenever there was a male visitor in it.

Source: http://www.sowetanlive.co.za

​

BY REGINALD KANYANE

A dream of owning a fully fledged bakery has come true to ten residents  who used to sell scones and cakes along the
streets of Huhudi outside Vryburg. 

Mathew Gaonakala, a former bread manager at
the Erstwhile Score retail said they had for many years dreamt of owning a
bakery in Huhudi to provide fresh bread to the residents. 

He said the new
bakery which has started to operate in less than five month will save residents
travel costs to access bread from town. 

“We
are a group of 10 residents. At the time of starting this primary cooperative
we were not working at all. We used to sell scones, biscuits and wedding cakes to
the residents. Many people who had weddings here in the township used to place
orders for wedding cakes.

“We registered Redirile bakery cooperative to beat poverty and unemployment
in our township back in 2009,” Gaonakala said.

He said that they would work hard to create job
opportunities for unemployed people at Huhudi.

They
supply bread, cakes, scones, biscuits, swiss rolls to local schools, and
tuckshops in the area.

Gaonakala said transportation is the main challenge that hinders the delivery of bread and
cakes to other areas in Naledi local municipality.

Addressing
the residents  Acting  MEC for Social Development, Fenny Gaolaolwe
said her department has invested more than R1.3m in Redirile project. 

Gaolaolwe said the project team has undergone training on baking, project
management, book keeping and financial management.

“We
will monitor this project and ensure that it is sustainable. We also call on
the residents to support this business by buying bread here,” Gaolaolwe said.

She
added: “In the fifth administration we have vowed to spend 70% of our budget in
procuring goods in villages so that we develop and grow local economy. Creches, community home based care, tuckshops in this are supposed to buy bread here.”

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