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BY REGINALD KANYANE

A 31 YEAR-OLD man was was sanctioned to double life sentence by Hartswater Regional Court over rape.

Northern Cape police spokesperson, Capt Sergio Kock said Mooketsi Chevron Bambiso raped a 43-year-old mentally–ill woman. 

“The atrocity took place on April 6 back in 2008 at about 15:45. The victim was on her way home when she was accosted by the accused. The accused threatened her with a knife, dragged her into the veld and rape her. 

“The police searched for the accused and traced him through DNA and the modus operandi he utilized. Bambiso was traced in prison where he is currently serving a 15-year sentence for two other separate rape cases he committed between 2007 and 2009,” Kock said. 

He further said the rape of the mentally ill victim was the third rape Bambiso committed. Kock said the accused was classified as a serial rapist by the Regional Court.   

The Frances Baard SAPS Cluster Commander, Maj Gen Jean Abrahams lauds Detective Sergeant Tanya Fourie from the Hartswater Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit for a brilliant job done.  

“It is with pride that we see our members working extremely hard to remove criminals from our streets. The convictions result in justice for the victims concerned and the community feel safer when the perpetrators are incarcerated.

 “It also sends out a stern message and when you do crime, you will do the time,” Abrahams said.

Bambiso’ sentences will run concurrently.

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BY BAKANG MOKOTO
NORTH West University (Mafikeng campus) will update media regarding new developments within the university.

NWU (Mafikeng Campus) spokesperson, Phenyo Mokgothu said that the update will be more about recent introduction of unitary university model and further to presents plans for the 2017 academic year.

“Media will be presented with the opportunity to engage with the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dan Kgwad,” Mokgothu said.

The proceedings will commence at Greater Hall Building, NWU at 08:30am.

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BY REGINALD KANYANE
THE COMMUNITY of Alabama location in Klerksdorp will receive a new school. 

Acting MEC for Education and Sport Development, Wendy Nelson said the new school will replace the old buildings of Alabama Primary School.

“The announcement is intended to inform the society about efforts done by government in the provisioning of quality education.

“It is extremely important for our learners to attend schooling in safe and secured buildings. When we talk of the provisioning of quality education, it ensures learners achieve expected learning outcomes,” Nelson said. 

She further said it was provincial government’s primary objective to make sure that learners attend schooling in habitual buildings for learning. 

“We further appeal to our communities to own and protect these structures from vandalism and other forms of destruction.

“The new school will be able to accommodate about 1240 learners and it will constitute of 3 classrooms for the Grade R, 21 Classrooms, Library, kitchen, sports facilities,” she said.

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A busy  schedule in the coming weeks will set the tone for what will be a hectic year for the South African Football Association (SAFA) on all fronts.
Apart from a demanding year for most of the national teams, 2017 is set to be one of the most exciting periods as far as football activities are concerned. 

Later this month, the u20 men’s national team, Amajita will travel to Zambia for the CAF u20 Africa Cup of Nations while Bafana Bafana will compete on three fronts – CHAN, AFCON 2019 qualifiers and FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Starting next week, the entire Confederation of African Football Executive will descend in South Africa to watch the CAF Super Cup featuring CAF Champions League winners Mamelodi Sundowns against CAF Confederations Cup champions TP Mazembe of DRCongo.

The match will be played at Lucas Moripe Stadium on February 18 and kicks off at 19h00.

“The entire CAF Executive will be in attendance including President Issa Hayatou, his two Deputies and the entire CAF Executive Committee. The interest from the continent for this CAF Super Cup has been massive as evidenced by the number of officials coming for the match,” said SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan.

Three days after welcoming CAF’s top executive to the country, FIFA President Gianni Infantino will arrive in South Africa to oversee a 3-day FIFA Summit that will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre from 21-23 February.

“It is the first time the FIFA President will be in the country since assuming office and we look forward to welcoming him here. The summit will also be attended by a high number of the Presidents of CAF Member Associations,” said Dr Jordaan who himself has had a taxing last few weeks.

The SAFA President was in Zurich on 9 January where among other things, he had meetings at FIFA HQ before attending the Best FIFA Football Awards, an event which was attended by officials from around the globe and football icons including the great Diego Maradona, Frank Rikjaard and many others.

From Zurich, Dr Jordaan flew to Gabon via Johannesburg where he spent the entire month at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations as part of the CAF Organising Committee.

He was based in Port Gentil which hosted Group D consisting Ghana, Egypt, Mali and Uganda. The venue was also host to the third and fourth-place match between Burkina Faso and Ghana.

“My task was to make sure that everything goes well at the venue and I was also Match Commissioner to some of the games. Whilst there, I attended CAF Organising Committee and Executive Committee meetings,” said the SAFA President.

Dr Jordaan returned to South Africa this week and will chair a SAFA NEC meeting on Saturday, 11 February at SAFA House which will discuss the appointment of the new Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana coaches.

“It is going to be an amazing coming weeks but we are excited to host some of these top global events because it goes to underscore SAFA’s status as a leading Association on the continent.

“This is going to be a busy year in terms of all our national teams as well. For example, Bafana Bafana will be involved in CHAN, Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers; all in 2017,” concluded Dr Jordaan.
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BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

MORE than 1000 households in Kgabalatsane village near Brits will be switched on by Eskom North West Operating Unit on Friday.

Bokone Bophirima Provincial Government spokesperson, Brian Setswambung said Premier Supra Mahumapelo will attend the event.

“Mahumapelo and the Minister of Energy will be part of milestone celebration. One thousand four hundred households will be switched on.

“The Switch-On will take place at Block G, Ward 10. Eskom has met and exceeded its electrification target by connecting 19 407 houses instead of 19 285 in the 2016/17 financial year,” Setswambung said. 

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BY BAKANG MOKOTO

The Right2Know condemns in the strongest possible terms the unprecedented security clampdown in and around Parliament as part of the State of the Nation Address.
The organization spokesperson, Murray Hunter said that the Presidency announced that Jacob Zuma had called in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to help “maintain law and order” at the opening of Parliament.

“Four hundred and forty one SANDF members will be deployed. The public deserves answers to some basic questions. What legitimate security threats exist that justify deploying the military? What functions will they perform? How many police are being deployed, from which areas, and what are the safety implications for communities that have fewer police on the streets as a result?

“The deployment of the army is part of a longer trend of securitisation and militarisation. Each year, we have seen the securocrats ramping up ‘security measures’ around Parliament to new levels – and each time the public is told that this is ‘normal’. Hundreds of police, called from across the country to the streets around Parliament. Barbed wire and water cannons to meet protesters.

He further said riot police were brought in to drag out troublemaking MPs. Hunter said there will be signal jamming from the State Security Agency and interference with the television and audio feed.

“The restrictions on the movement of journalists and calling in the army is part of that trend. We are told that this is normal. But there is nothing normal about this. These are features of a clampdown, with the aim of shielding Zuma from political embarrassment and shutting out voices of dissent.

“It is not just in Parliament. It is on our streets, and in our communities. It is on our campuses too. These shows of force are the efforts of paranoid and fearful leaders, whose insecurity threatens everyone’s freedoms. And if we do not challenge the creep of securocratic tendencies into our democratic spaces, it continue until there is no democracy left,” he said.

Hunter said whatever Zuma says in his address on Thursday night, this is the real state of our nation.-TDN

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Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the R20 per hour minimum wage agreement between labour, business and government on Tuesday.

That is according to Dennis George, general secretary of the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) on Wednesday.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa declined to confirm the signing late last night. “Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will provide details on the status of discussions of (National Economic Development and Labour Council) Nedlac committee of principals on labour relations and wage inequality tomorrow (Wednesday),” he told Fin24.

The signing was supposed to have taken place at Tuesday’s InvestSA lunch that President Jacob Zuma hosted in Cape Town ahead of his State of the Nation address (Sona) on Thursday.

However, the Presidency announced on Tuesday that it was postponing the signing due to Cosatu’s request to delay the agreement until its central executive committee (CEC) could review the new proposal.

However, George said Cosatu was not able to stop the signing. “Our friends from Cosatu think they can stop the process,” he said. “Cosatu said they were in agreement and that all they want to do is speak to their CEC. They must tell us when they are ready to sign.”

“This agreement kicks in from May 2018,” he said. “After this, we need to draft legislation and that must go through a public consultation process.

“There were concerns around the R20 per hour salary as employers could try reduce hours,” he said. “But we will put in a law that workers cannot be worse off.”

He said Zuma will spell out the details of the agreement in his Sona.

Signing the agreement on Tuesday were (left to right) National Council of Trade Unions President Joseph Maqhekeni, Fedusa president Godfrey Selematsela, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant.

The deal follows Ramaphosa’s proposal of a R3 500 national minimum wage. He has been heading up the negotiations with Nedlac.

He explained that the panel considered the low level of growth in the South African economy, but also looked at South Africa’s peers, such as Brazil, Turkey and Mexico and how a minimum wage has affected them.

Ramaphosa argued that a minimum wage will be a radical shift to address wage inequality. About 47% of South Africans earn below R3 500, while 51% live on less than R1 600 per month, he said at the time.

However, there has been widespread criticism of a minimum wage of R3 500, with political parties and labour unions referring to it as “slave wages” and “poverty wages”. They are demanding a “living wage” for workers.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday the African National Congress failed to implement its policy to radically transform the economy. “It is ridiculous,” said spokesperson Sizwe Pamla.

“We made it very clear that the minimum wage is not just about having a wage,” he told Fin24. “It’s about having one that makes a difference to South African lives.”

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said paying workers R20 per hour is an insult.

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim also climbed into Ramaphosa, claiming that he has proven to be “hostile” to workers.

“Ramaphosa, the billionaire and ultra-capitalist, values his precious buffalo more than the lives of human beings.”

For more http://www.news24.com

By REGINALD KANYANE

An impoverished community of Lekgopung village outside Zeerust is still reeling in disappointment after RDP housing project expected to improve their lives was left incomplete.

Konki Construction Company, which is linked to North West Business Forum spokesman, Sello Mogodiri was awarded the tender to build 250 RDP houses back in 2015.

Lekgopung Tribal Authority speaker, Motlogelwa Mokgosi said the incomplete project left them dejected.

“Where it was supposed to be 250 houses, now consists of trenches, incomplete foundations, dilapidating walls without windows. We requested several meetings with the contractor and Ramotshere Local Municipality to address the matter. However, we heard a deafen silence from Mogodiri,” Mokgosi said.

The project Community Liaising Officer (CLO), Dinaane Kopeka said: “I live in fear now after some of community members accused me of taking bribes from the contractor.”

One of beneficiaries, Sarah Makhutlhe, 53 said: “We expected a lot from this project. My mother applied for a RDP house on behalf of her grandchildren. Their mother passed away and stay in a shack. We are also living in abject poverty because our house was blown away by heavy rains recently. We are now forced to find shelter in a two roomed house. We have more than seven family members and all unemployed.”

Toki Motlhokodi, 73 who stays in a mud house said she was disappointed after the house was not built. A mother of three children said: “My mud house was demolished because I was promised a RDP house. The contractor only dug a trench and left.”

However, Konki Construction Company representative, Sello Mogodiri said he should not personally be linked to the companies that did business with government.

“I only represented the companies, but did not benefit unduly from government. There were problems regarding that project,” he said.

According to North West Provincial government Director-general, Dr Keneilwe Sebego, Mogodiri’s company was awarded tenders worth R33 million by government and failed to finish them

“Mogodiri who is a member of North West Business Forum secured government tenders worth R33 million.

“He was supposed to construct a road in First Street in Mahikeng. The road was forced to be re-done due to poor workmanship by Mogodiri. He also left a housing project in Lekgophung incomplete.”

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