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Barely half a day into Mamelodi Sundowns’ stay in Egypt, and CAF Champions League opponents Zamalek have already started their shenanigans in attempting to derail Masandawana’s chase for African glory.

The Brazilians jetted out of Johannesburg on Wednesday evening, landing in Egypt’s capital Cairo in the early hours of Thursday morning before taking a connecting flight to Alexandria, checking into their hotel just after 9am.

Yet a planned training session with the squad had to be called off after their hosts failed to issue the Absa Premiership champions a venue.

“We were expecting to go to training, but were still waiting for Zamalek to confirm a training ground for us, as per CAF rules,” Sundowns Communication Co-ordinator Thulani Thuswa tells KickOff.com.

When they came to South Africa, we gave them a training ground on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But unfortunately they did not give us a training venue today, so we had to cancel training and alter the plans a little bit. And now we have to wait to see if they’ll give us a training ground tomorrow.”

The players were given the day to rest at the hotel, which is under visible police presence.

“Today was meant to be day of light training, stretching, tactics and so forth, but we’ve been unable to do that, so the players have just rested,” Thuswa added.

Sundowns hold a healthy 3-0 lead heading into Sunday’s final, which is set to kick-off at 8.30pm at the Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria.

Source: http://www.kickoff.com 

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New Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has started her term with a bang.

Mkhwebane briefed Parliament’s Justice Portfolio Committee on her office’s annual report, for Madonsela’s last year in office.

EWN’s Parliamentary correspondent Gaye Davis says Mkhwebane is putting her stamp on the institution.

In her first public engagement since assuming office three days ago, Mkhwebane announced that donor funding would be a thing of the past in her office.

This after it emerged in Parliament that her predecessor Thuli Madonsela secured 500 000 US Dollars from government agency USAID, raising some concerns.

Mkhwebane also said that she would abandon the use of consultants as far as possible, after revealing that academics and firm PwC had helped with compiling the state capture report.

Mkhwebane said she’s going to be looking for a different caliber of investigator.

— Gaye Davis, Parliamentary correspondent for EWN

She said she’d also be chasing Madonsela about the amount she owes after her son crashed an official vehicle.

Davis suggests that Mkhwebane was “throwing shade” at Madonsela during her first briefing today.

Source: http://www.702.co.za

BY REGINALD KANYANE

Farmers in the North West province are ready to hit the ground running. This follows the department of Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development (READ) launching the 2016 cropping season. 

North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo said the launch was set to provide a platform for government to debut the planting season and to announce its assistance to subsistence farmers in the province. 

Mahumapelo lauded the department initiative and emphasised that the Manamolela community and other local communities needed it. 

He said it was imperative for the province to be robust in its Villages, Townships and small dorpies. 

Mahumapelo further said he was hopeful for more rain and more opportunity for produce and as this was going to create more jobs. 
“The department entered into service level agreement with beneficiaries. It is hoped that farmers would embrace the agreement which truss beneficiaries to cease 10% for storage.”

About 500 farmers from Tswaing local municipality assembled to witness the event held at Manamolela village on Wednesday.

“We joint forces with the national Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. We have also set aside R38 million on Crop Massification programme for the 2016/17 financial year. 

“Each famer is set to receive crop inputs for both Sunflower and Maize (Seed, Fertilizer, Chemicals and fuel) for 50 hectares of land each. This is equivalent to R350 000 spend on each farmer, Manketse Tlhape said. 
Some of beneficiaries of the project, Lydia Setlhare and Badirwang Lekgetho who have been in farming for over a decade said they were grateful at the support. 

Setlhare said government has been doing a lot to help farmers and urged her colleagues to begin to do things for themselves. She further said the rain received also motivates them to prepare for a cropping season hoping for a better harvest. 

Lekgetho said: “It was good that government was proceeding with support despite drought. We trust that this year is better than the previous one.

“We are happy that government has come back to offer its much needed assistance,” he concluded      
240 farmers across the province are set to benefit from this provincial initiative. In all, the Letsema Le Bolotse 2016 cropping season programme covers 10 000 hectares of land.

MEC Manketsi Tlhape also encouraged farmers to yearn to grow to greater heights. She said the assistance was meant to give them a start with an anticipation to have them grow to commercial level. 

“Letsema le Bolotse was to urge farmers not to expect government to be lone contributors. Farmers need to be key partners in growing agriculture and making it a key economic factor in the province,” she said.

Tlhape further urged the farmers to use silos for grain storage.

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Former public protector Thuli Madonsela has accepted an offer to take up a chair in social justice at the University of Stellenbosch.

The university said in a press release that Madonsela will take up her position in 2018 after a sabbatical.

Madonsela said that she was “supremely honoured” by the offer of the chair in the law faculty.

“I hope to work with my colleagues at the law faculty to play our part in accelerating the pace of achieving the constitutional promise of an inclusive society based on social justice, shared prosperity, friendship and peace. 

“I am also looking forward to working with young people at the university and beyond on these matters.”

The dean of the law faculty at Stellenbosch, Professor Sonia Human, said the decision by Madonsela to join the faculty was “a tremendous honour and one that will contribute significantly to the faculty’s continued commitment to champion the realisation of a constitutional vision for South African society”.

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

Zamalek’s charismatic president Mortada Mansour has been searching for answers this week as to why his side capitulated in Pretoria and lost the first leg of their African Champions League final 3-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns.

It appears he does not believe the simplest reasons available – that they were outplayed by a better team on the day – and has turned his attention to claims that Sundowns‚ or disgruntled former Zamalek players‚ used muti or “magic” in the goal of keeper Ahmed El-Shenawy.

Mansour‚ known for his outlandish statements‚ told a press conference in Cairo that Sundowns had defeated his side using non-footballing means‚ leading to the own goal from Islam Gamal‚ especially as Ali Gabr had also scored an own goal in the same net during the pool phase.

“I want to tell everybody to not make fun of our claims that there was something suspicious in Islam Gamal’s own goal‚” Mansour said.

“It is abnormal that Islam Gamal scores an own goal in the same way Ali Gabr scored with before with the same foot and in the same net.

“It is not necessary that it is Sundowns who have used magic‚ look for the former Zamalek players who were expelled from the club.”

Mansour added that he has invited Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to Sunday’s return leg in Alexandria‚ along with the ambassadors of Algeria‚ Morocco‚ Saudi Arabia and Tunisia in a show of Arabic solidarity against the South Africans.

Mansour‚ who it would appear could pick a fight with his own shadow‚ has a long-standing feud with the club’s Ultras fans and this week appeared to dismiss a call for reconciliation from the group‚ who he claims have tried to kill him in the past.

Meanwhile‚ Zamalek coach Momen Soliman has included goalkeeper El-Shennawy in his squad for the second leg.

The Egypt international went off in the second half of the game at Atteridgeville with what appeared to be a muscle injury‚ and was replaced by Mahmoud Gennesh.

A call on his fitness will be made later in the week. – TMG Digital

BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

A STUDENT constable, 30 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for two cases of robbery. Northern Cape police spokesperson, Lieutenant Col Dimakatso Mooi said Kabelo Godffrey Setlhabi (who was a student constable in the South African Police Service) sentence will serve as deter to other criminals.

“It will also show that no one is above the law regardless of where you are employed. Setlhabi was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by Taung Regional Court for two cases of business robbery on Tuesday.

“At the time of the robberies, Setlhabi was stationed at Delareyville Police Station as a student constable. The robberies happened on February 2012 at Pampierstad and Sekhing village respectively. The accused used a firearm on both robberies and was arrested through intelligence gathered information,” Mooi said.

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The MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements in Bokone Bophirima Galaletsang Gaolaolwe has restored calm in the residents of Ntsweletsoku and Dinokana which are few kilometers outside Welbedachgt township after they went on a rampage demanding clean drinking water. The residents accused Ramotshere Moilwa local municipality of failing to deliver services and maintenance of boreholes.

The residents embarked on a two day protest to voice out their dissatisfaction with water tankering services, indicating that the arrangement which was initially supposed to be a short term intervention, has not been beneficial for over three months.� They complained that they have not been experiencing water shortages for a very long time, until recently.

MEC Gaolaolwe called on all residents to abide by the law and make use of legitimate channels to address any grievances and to allow officials from the district municipality to attend to the malfunctioning boreholes.“I agree that one of the problems that led to this protest is non-communication or lack of feedback by our councillors”, she said when addressing residents of Ntsweletsoku, recently.

She requested them to remain calm and allow stability to prevail whilst their issues were being attended to.

(Unedited version)

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BY KAMOGELO POOE

Klerksdorp – The North West MEC for Tourism Desbo Mohono has urged her departmental management to find cohesive methods to ensure that the department diligently delivers on its constitutional mandate without fail. Mohono was addressing a convergence of managers within her department during a two day strategic review session held recently at the Rio Casino Hotel and Convention Centre in Klerksdorp.

The strategic planning session was to afford the departmental management an opportunity to review its performance and also draft new strategic objectives for the 2017/18 fiscal year. “We are all here to put a finger on the pulse of our department in terms of reviewing our performance against the set goals. We are here to measure our output for the 2016/17 fiscal year but also map a way forward by setting new strategic goals which will assist us in achieving our set deliverables for the 2017/18 financial year. We are here to put systems in place which will guide us in  finding ways on how we can do things differently in terms of what needs to be changed and what needs to remain the same”, she said.

MEC Mohono went further to plead with her team to ensure that they go through everything with a find comb and ensure that they produce a quality document. “There is no need to have a huge strategic document with poor content. We need to produce a quality document which we can all be proud of and are all able to own up to it. I rather have a 20 pages quality document than have a 100 pages document with poor content. We need to be clear and to the point while also being strategic in setting our strategic objectives, she added.

Head of Department Adv. Neo Sephoti also added on the quality of goals set and emphasized on the importance being as strategic as possible in setting the new agenda for the coming financial year. “We need to take into cognizance the way we put out key performance indicators. They need to reflect smartness while also being as strategic as possible. They need to be realistic and achievable. I will align myself with MEC’s words and also call for quality rather than quantity. We also need to measure our previous performance and see how best we can improve in the next financial year”, said Adv. Sephoti.

MEC Mohono was flanked by members of the North West Tourism Board and Its executive management when she emphasized that the department and the Tourism Authority need to work hand in glove in order to develop and grow the tourism sector in the province. “We need to stop operating in silos and start working together in order to advance the agenda of tourism in the province. We know that there are some challenges but we all need to remain focus and look at the bigger picture which is growing the tourism economy and that can only be done if both the department and the board are working together as one organization”, said MEC Mohono.

(Unedited version)

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BY ORPA MATHABE

Workers under the Contract Cleaning Sector have today pleaded for government’s protection since this is contracted mostly to government departments  than private sectors. This was expressed yesterday during the public hearing that was conducted by Employment Conditions Commission (ECC); a body which advises the Labour Minister of the minimum wage review in particular for “vulnerable sectors” which is regulated by the Sectorial Determination under the  Basic Conditions of Employment Act

Workers have pointed out that they are mostly exploited by employers contracted to government  departments  which are  issuing out tenders and desperately looking out for the lowest bidder even though it is at the cost of the workers.

“We are earning less that the stipulated amount and when we ask why we are told the department that contracted us is refusing to pay the employer as per the regulation requires; said one worker from Ketlareng Trading Enterprise who further indicated that they also do not have a proper pay date as wages comes on different dates even beyond 30 days time.

Contract Cleaning Sector is a sector in which employers and employees are associated on a fixed-term or fixed-project contract for the purpose of cleaning or washing by hand or machine, of furniture, windows, carpets, doors, floors, tools, machinery, under supervision at industrial and commercial premises, buildings, and flats that are let commercially or any airplanes, trucks, cars, buses, trains or any other vehicle requiring to be cleaned.

The ECC is this time taking a different turn from normal public hearings as it is coupling them with site visits to the workplaces in an attempt to get direct responses on the sizes of these companies as well as the ability of employers to carry on their businesses successfully, the cost of living plus wage differentials and inequality amongst others. The North West site visit was in Klerksdorp and Mafikeng and will continue Rustenburg today.

In terms of the current Sectoral Determination contract cleaning workers in the North West falls under Area C and the rate per hour of  R15,47 ( 01/12/ 2015 – 30/11/2016: R16. 41) is applicable. The public Hearing will proceed to Limpopo province after the North West and the consultations are envisaged to end on 11 November 2016 at Umthatha in the Eastern Cape.

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