​

The North West Provincial Government will through the Department of Education and Sport Development take a deliberate decision to redirect more education resources to schools in the province’s villages, townships and small dorpies (VTSD), this in a bid to improve these schools’ overall performance and matric results. 

This was said by Premier Supra Mahumapelo while addressing hundreds of high school principals and chairpersons of schools governing bodies on Friday, 20 January at Rustenburg Civic Centre.  

According to Premier Mahumapelo, this conscious decision will not only be consistent with the provincial government’s VTSD strategy and its efforts to fight the levels of poverty, but will help in ensuring that quality teaching and learning takes place at all schools in the province, with special focus on VTSD schools.

“While we are pleased by the performance of the province in the 2016 matric results, the fact that schools in urban areas continue to perform far much better than those in rural areas, remains our concern. A radical action must therefore be done, to ensure that the contribution of VTSD schools in the province’s overall pass rate is pleasingly visible”, emphasised Premier Mahumapelo.

In evaluating the schools’ contribution to the overall provincial percentage, Mahumapelo announced that from this year onwards, the province will announce matric results per village, township and small dorpie. 

Premier Mahumapelo also expressed the provincial government’s concern about the seemingly high discrepancy between the number of learners who started Grade 1 in 2005 and those who wrote the 2016 matric examination.

According to the Department of Education and Sport Development, approximately 80 000 learners started Grade 1 in 2005, and only 32 049 wrote the 2016 matric results. 

“While we note that there could be various reasons for this difference, it remains my dream as a leader that every learner who starts schooling at Grade 1 must complete by the twelfth year, and that every learner who is in class, doing Grade 12, must pass”.  

The purpose of this meeting was for the Premier to thank the schools principals, teachers, members of the schools governing bodies and parents, for the support shown to the learners during the 2016 schooling year, and to encourage them to continue enforcing efficiency and discipline at all schools.

Accompanied by MEC for Education and Sport Development Mr Sello Lehari and MEC for Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development Ms Wendy Nelson, Premier Mahumapelo expressed his satisfaction about the readiness of the province on the first day of schools reopening, saying so far 98% of schools across the province have recorded 100% of learner supported material delivered.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

: https://youtu.be/-Osq6mB9R2g

taungdailynews@gmail.com

BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

Mahikeng Ministers Fellowship (MMF) in the North West slammed the actions of a Daveyton pastor, Prophet Theo Bongani Maseko of the Breath of Christ Ministries for allegedly making his congregants to drink a vehicle engine cleaning fluid during a sermon describing them as atrocious and outrageously wicked.

Chairperson of an Interdenominational Fellowship of Pastors, Zandisile Mpame said: “It is about time for the church of Jesus Christ to take a stance and say, not in our name. Charlatans that are misrepresenting the Kingdom of God through abuse of our people’s belief systems and their so-called miracles that are not supported by the Word of God must be dealt with accordingly.”

Mpame called on the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to act against occultism and charlatans that are involved in human rights abuses.

“We do not need draconian laws or imposed structures to deal with a handful of individuals that are an embarrassment that is giving Christianity and an overwhelming majority of upright servants of God a bad name but consistent and firm implementation of the existing legal framework and adequate acts that are available to deal with the impostors,” he said.

Mpame highlighted that charlatans are giving traction to processes that might ultimately lead to the persecution of the church.

“The history of the church is replete with examples that prove that once regimes involve themselves with where and how people worship though direct or indirect control, persecution follows,” he said.

Meanwhile, MMF has mobilised fraternal associations and individual church leaders to participate in the provincial consultative engagement to consolidate submissions towards the Hate Speech Bill and the Commission for Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Religious, Cultural and Linguistic Communities (CRL) Report on Commercialization of Religion.

“The Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, John Jeffrey will be the keynote speaker at the event and engage with those in attendance on the objective of the draft Hate Speech Bill which church leaders are concerned might declare quoting of certain Bible verses unlawful.

“Church leaders from various denominations across the province and representatives from other provinces are expected are being part of the engagement to commence at 9:30 at Mocoseng Sundown Resort in Mahikeng on Saturday,” Mpame said.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

Pic: (Prisoner’s cell)

BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

A 35 year-old man was sanctioned to 25 years for raping his cousin. Alfonso James Visser raped his cousin, 20 at Sunrise near, De Aar on November 2016. Northern Cape police spokesperson, Lt Colonel Dimakatso Mooi said Visser appeared at De Aar Regional Court recently. She said the perpetrator’s cousin was from a party and came home late at night under the influence of alcohol.

“Visser who stays in the same house with the victim, found her asleep and raped her. The victim woke up and caught Visser busy raping her. She called for help and the accused was arrested and charged with rape,” she said.

Mooi further said the provincial management welcomed the sentence and applauds the investigating team for a job well done.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

BY REGINALD KANYANE

NORTH West premier, Supra Mahumapelo along with MEC for education and sport development department, Sello Lehari will host a dialogue session with SGB chairpersons and principals at Rustenburg Civic Centre in Rustenburg on Friday.

The department of education spokesperson, Freddy Sepeng said: “This is an effort to improve the matric results. We also want to push the province to the top position. We will host a dialogue session with School Governing Bodies Chairpersons and the School Principals for all schools across the province.”

Sepeng said the primary objective of the meeting is for Mahumapelo to interact with school management in terms of 2017 academic year activities.

“Mahumapelo has called this meeting to come and personally thank the school management for their contribution in the Rebranding, Repositioning and Renewal of the Bokone Bophirima. The outcome of the National Senior Certificate is an indication of the hard work and commitment of men and women under their leadership in schools,” he said.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

BY REGINALD KANYANE

North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo has commended Eskom for reaching its 2016/17 target of connecting electricity to citizens of the province.

Mahumapelo addressing the media alongside the Premier’s Infrastructure Coordinating Committee Meeting (PICOCO) held at Cookes Lake, Mahikeng on Tuesday.

He further also applauded Eskom for its hard work.

“We have received an update from Eskom about the progress they are making as far as electricity connectivity is concerned and I must say it was impressive. Eskom has put a lot of work in making sure that more and more people in our province benefit from the electrification programme and they are way ahead of the target they have set for themselves,” Mahumapelo said.

Eskom has targeted to electrify 19 285 houses in the province for 2016/2017.

“So far, they have managed to connect 18 007, leaving 1 278 in the province. This means Eskom is well within their target as they will have completed the 19 285 by the end of March 2017 according its North West Regional Manager,” he said.

Eskom is currently cutting electricity for municipalities which owe them money. Five municipalities in the province where affected. Mahumapelo cited that he has established a Task team led by the MEC for Local Government and Human Settlement, Fenny Gaolaolwe and the MEC for Finance Economy and Enterprise Development, Wendy Nelson to assist the struggling municipalities.

“We have set up a task team in December last year to deal with the challenge of electricity debts and so far the team has made interventions in assist struggling municipalities to make payment plans working with Eskom.

“The municipalities affected by the cut offs is only Naledi and NW 405 Local Municipality. However, the team is currently working with Eskom to come up with an amicable solution to the challenges in these municipalities,” he explained,” he said.

Mahumapelo added that indicators show that residents in the communities do not pay electricity which makes many municipalities to end up accumulating huge debts.

MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements, Fenny Gaolaolwe has urged municipalities to pay ESKOM because the provincial government will take strict and decisive action on municipalities failing to pay their debts.

“We call upon all our people and the municipalities to pay for their electricity to avoid unnecessary blackouts. Eskom is not playing, it will cut off electricity if we do not pay our bills on time,” she said.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

​

Durban – The assets of Durban tenderpreneur couple Shauwn and S’bu Mpisane will be held for at least another two months by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) as it prepares to seize more than R200 million in taxes from the flamboyant pair.

On Tuesday, Durban High Court Judge Kate Pillay granted the application sought by Sars to extend the preservation order that was originally granted in November.

The application, brought by Advocate Simon Anderton for Sars, was unopposed and there was no legal representative for the Mpisanes, who themselves were not present in court.

The order allowed Sars to seize and preserve assets from the Mpisanes as the tax authority prepares to claw back in excess of R204 million it believes it is owed in taxes from as far back as 2008, as revealed in court papers.

Those papers allege that Shauwn Mpisane owes R57 million of this in her personal capacity. While most of the assets are in Shauwn’s name, both S’bu and Shauwn have been targeted in the preservation order because they are married in community of property.

Their known assets include 128 cars and 10 properties, including their lavish La Lucia home which has played host to some of the city’s most extravagant parties attended by South Africa’s political elite, celebrities and business tycoons.

Over the last decade, the Mpisanes have secured over R1 billion in government business, predominantly to build low-income houses.

They are being represented by Johannesburg-based tax lawyer, Jennifer Faber from Faber Goëtz Ellis Austen Inc.

The preservation order was extended to March 13, by which time the couple is expected to submit “answering affidavits”.

The preservation order was brought against the couple and their companies Zikhulise Group, Zikhulise Cleaning Maintenance and Transport CC, Zikhulise Auto Restorers CC, Inyanga Trading 559 (Pty) Ltd, Royal Eagles Football Club and Zikhulise Auto Recoveries (Pty) Ltd as well as a Mr Madoda Mbeje, a trustee of the Mpisane family trust, the Sbusha Trust.

The Sunday Tribune reported late last year that the couple had been declared “factually insolvent” by Sars.

This is not the first time the Mpisane’s have had a run in with Sars.

In June 2011, Shauwn was criminally charged for VAT fraud and forgery, totalling 119 charges, at the Durban Magistrate’s Court relating to the 2008 tax year. A year later, she was re-arrested, this time for interfering with a state witness, who she allegedly tried to bribe with the offer of lucrative contracts.

This matter was heard at the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.

In 2013, in an unrelated matter, Shauwn was charged again, this time at the Durban Commercial Crimes Court, for allegedly forging her construction company’s Construction Industry Development Board grading.

This alleged forgery allowed Shauwn to score contracts above her company’s competency between 2007 and 2013.

But by mid-2013, the State’s cases in the Durban and Pinetown magistrate courts began to unravel when Shauwn’s defence claimed the State’s lead prosecutor, Advocate Meera Naidu, had coached a key State witness and withheld information from the defence team.

Shauwn’s defence made representations to the then National Director of Public Prosecutions Mxolisi Nxasana where they alleged Naidu’s conduct was so serious it was a “miscarriage of justice”.

On January 31, 2014, the Nxasana, agreed, and stopped the tax-related trials in both Pinetown and Durban, acquitting Shauwn on some charges while withdrawing others.

Naidu was suspended pending an internal disciplinary hearing.

Sars had also formally withdrawn its support for the trial.

Coincidentally, just two weeks prior to Nxasana’s decision, the Commercial Crime Court also withdrew its charges on the grounds that the State was not ready to proceed.

Nearly two years later, in December 2015, Naidu was cleared of any wrongdoing in her handling of the Mpisane trial and returned to work.

African News Agency

Banyana Banyana striker Andisiwe Mgcoyi is confident they will do well against France when they meet in an international friendly match on Sunday, 22 January in Saint-Denis, Reunion Islands.

Kickoff is at 19h00.

The Europeans are ranked 3rd in the world and 2nd in EUFA while South Africa is ranked 5th on the continent and 51st in the world.
Mgcoyi says playing against top nations can only do wonders for the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana.

“This game is good for us because France is up there with the best, and playing against them will really help our game improve even more. Some of the players in the current Banyana Banyana squad faced the likes of New Zealand, USA and the Netherlands, and you could see how that helped lift their performance at the Olympic Games in Brazil where they also played other big guns like Brazil, Sweden and China. So this game is really crucial for us to try and improve as much as we can. We know it will not be easy but we are up for the task,” said Mgcoyi after their training session in Johannesburg.

The Mamelodi Sundowns striker missed out on the Olympics but was part of the squad that was in Cameroon for the 2016 CAF Africa Women’s Cup of Nations.

Mgcoyi admits that lack of goals at the tournament was their downfall.

“After the AWCON, where we finished fourth, and I think mainly because we didn’t score goals, I went back home and had a good look at my performance. If you think about it, at the Sasol League games I score many goals and I asked myself what could be the reason. The fact is that the standard of the league and international matches are very different, but we cannot use that as an excuse, we have to work harder until we get it right,” added Mgcoyi.

“We play well in the national team but don’t convert our chances, which is something we have been focusing on. As a striker I have to score goals because that is the job I have been called up for – and we must remember that scoring goals starts at training and it will be easier in the games, so it is all work in progress. But we are confident we will get a good result against France.”

The South African Senior Women’s National Team will have their final training session on home soil on Wednesday, 18 January before jetting off to Reunion Islands on Thursday, 19 January.

This will be the second meeting between the two nations – France won the first clash 3-2 back in 2009.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

The fight between ANCWL in Bokone Bophirima and the so-called North West Business Forum (NWBF) is far from over. The ANCWL provincial secretary, Bridgette Mogakwe said they have noted the desperateness in which the so-called North West Business Forum continues to attack the ANC and its other structures.

“The ANCWL would like to make it clear to these frustrated business people that, we are an autonomous structure of the ANC and take our own decisions. We are not confused when we defend the good work that our provincial chairperson, Cde Supra Mahumapelo is doing.

“We talk about something that we and the people of Bokone Bophirima know.

We will not allow anyone who has left the ANC to come back and want to claim control of what they failed to show confidence in. We have worked hard to build the organisation,” Mogakwe said.

She further said it is very clear that there is peace and unity since Mahumapelo was inaugurated as both the ANC Provincial Chairperson and the Premier of North West province. Mogakwe added that they were unmoved by those who left the ANC and lost touch with what is happening in the movement in the process.

“It is because of that lack of knowledge that they are waging a dirty war for resources because they have forgotten the teachings of the ANC.

Our ANC President, Cde Jacob Zuma stressed the importance of unity in struggle in the January 8 Statement. The ANCWL recognises that part of its duty is to defend the ANC.

“Our movement will ensure that we achieve all that we have set out to do for our people. This year’s January 8 Statement called for the celebration of the life of the ANC’s long-serving President, Cde Oliver Reginald Tambo, who unashamedly fought for the emancipation of women,” she said.

Mogakwe further said for the first time in the province, they have a provincial chairperson who lives those values in Mahumapelo. She added that women have found a voice.

“This can be seen in the positions of influence they occupy in the province. From municipalities, to the provincial government administration led by Director General, Dr Lydia Sebego and the South African Police Service, whose Provincial Commissioner is a woman, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane. We also acknowledge the introduction of the Villages, Townships and Small Dorpies (VTSD) which is an economic approach. The initiative is a breath of life to our previously neglected poor areas.

“We know that it is largely this policy that is driving the so-called NWBF up the wall. VTSD ensures that even small businesses are empowered. Unlike in the past, when some established business people benefited alone. Our Provincial Chairperson has now opened the space for everyone to benefit,” Mogakwe said.

She further said women and mothers will not allow disgruntled business people to cause chaos in the province. Mogakwe said this will impact on vulnerable people.

“Women are most vulnerable group within the society. The same people who recorded the two songs making rounds on social media are not doing this for the first time. They failed in the past when they tried to sow divisions between Mahumapelo and the former North West premier, Thandi Modise.

“They once released a song attacking Modise. They are trying again and hiding behind supporting the songs because they agree with its content. However, they know very well that they are the funders and creators of these songs,” Mogakwe said.

She said NWBF members are politically bankrupt because they cannot even come out and stand for their own ridiculous acts.

However, NWBF spokesperson, Sello Mogodiri refuted the claims. Mogodiri said they did not produce the songs, however, they endorse them.

“The chicken have come home to roast. Mahumapelo is being given a taste of his own medicine. The NWBF wishes to remind Mahumapelo that during the period leading up to the 2014 general elections, he commissioned derogatory and defamatory music CDs about the then outgoing North West premier, Thandi Modise.

“In his desperate attempt to ascend to power by discrediting her, he also organized service delivery protests against Modise’s administration. So, the production of CDs has always been his idea,” he said.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

BY REGINALD KANYANE

RUSTENBURG Local Municipality successfully re-launched the Safe and Clean City Campaign recently. Acting municipal spokesperson, Andrew Seome said the main objective was, inter alia, to raise awareness amongst the residents of Rustenburg, members of the public and the entire society about the safe and clean environment.

“This involve all communities in keeping Rustenburg clean. The campaign has seen many successes especially as it relates to community safety, notwithstanding cleanliness of the city.

“As part of the Safe and Clean City Campaign, the municipality’s Public Safety department in partnership with the South African Police Service (SAPS) embarked on uprooting illegal activities around Tlhabane policing area including drug trafficking, undocumented persons, human trafficking, and other crime related activities,” Seome said.

He further said six cases were opened in drug-related crimes front, twenty cases opened in undocumented persons’ front, and two cases of contravention of liquor Acts, where liquor is being sold without a license.

“Abandoned houses and addresses were identified where illegal activities usually take place. These details have been referred to relevant departments for further investigation.

“Furthermore, there were many other activities that the municipality was involved in, including, among others, illegal dumping sites that were cleared of rubbish, and attending to areas where other challenges were experienced, to meet the needs of the community,” he said.

taungdailynews@gmail.com