By STAFF REPORTER

The Greater Taung Local Municipality speaker, Ebusang Tladi said he fears for his life. This comes after Tladi received a WhatsApp messages insinuating that he was scheming with the municipality’s Chief Whip, Joyce Malepe to oust the Municipal Manager, Katlego Gabanakgosi, and some Directors those who disobey their orders.  

However, defiant Tladi denied sending those disparaging messages to anyone. He confirmed to Taung DailyNews that he also received death threats a few days after the leaked bogus messages making rounds on social media platforms.

“On Friday, I was from the North West Provincial Taxi Lekgotlha in Rustenburg and on my way out of Koster, I received a call from the ANC Chief Whip in the Greater Taung Local Municipality, Joyce Malepe asking me about the string of messages that I have sent out.

“I asked her which messages is she referring to and she promised to send those messages through WhatsApp. Shockingly, those messages depict and insinuate that I had a conversation with her where we ploy against other members,” he said.

Tladi further said some of the messages imply that they are also planning to re-shuffle the exco. He added he also received death threats messages a few days after.

“This prompted me to open defamation of character and intimidation case at Taung Police Station. Many people believed that it was me who sent out those messages. I received many calls from various people including the ANC leadership.

“I normally do not respond to anything that is said about me, but these damning messages affect my reputation. I am a leader and a man of integrity, so I cannot allow disgruntled individuals to tarnish my character just like that,” said Tladi.

He believed that there are some individuals who want to hijack the municipality and use it for self-enrichment. Tladi said his detractors labelled him as a ‘stumbling block’ at the municipality hence he is targeted.

“Some of my detractors have done this before back in 2016. This is not the only story because on Thursday last week, I received a SMS where a person asked me why I am talking bad about them.

“I called that person, but he/she did not pick up the phone. He/she said bad things about me through the messages and I did not know who that was. I believe that people want me dead simply because I defeated them,” he said.

Tladi added that he was also allegedly attacked on Wednesday at the North West Provincial Legislature when the municipality appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).

Meanwhile, the North West police spokesperson, Col Adele Myburgh said: “We can confirm that the case in question has been opened. No one has been arrested at this stage and investigation into the matter continues.”

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By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

More than one million learners will be sitting for their National Senior Certificate final examinations across the country on Thursday. The combined examination for National Senior Certificate (NSC) candidates makes this the largest cohort with 1 058 699 candidates.

North West Premier, Prof Job Mokgoro described the year 2020 calendar which came with the COVID-19 pandemic as a true character test for learners especially the matriculants. However, Mokgoro believes that learners will prevail and come out victorious from their final year examinations.

“The character of the learners has never ever been tested like the Class of 2020 due to coronavirus. They had to endure what no other generation of learners has ever endured.

“They went into a lockdown with uncertainty, losing learning time as well as the re-opening of schools under difficult conditions with new measures of wearing masks, sanitizing and keeping social distance,” he said.

Mokgoro further said despite all the difficulties, learners reached this stage. He added that they have demonstrated that they will certainly put North West right at the number one position.

“We admire your courage, determination, and well-done in defeating the pandemic. We know you’re going to do even better in your examination. We also want to pay our gratitude to MEC Wendy Matsemela for her leadership and guidance during this period.

“We also thank educators who had to go through the unchartered territories as they navigated their way to assist learners to complete their curriculum by racing against time. Despite all these challenges, matriculants and educators remained focused and committed,” said Mokgoro.

He added that a true character can only be built from tough circumstances and that’s why he believes that the Matric Class of 2020 will do well. Mokgoro wished everyone all the best in this year’s final examinations.

“We also thanked the parents and communities at large for their support to learners through programs such as “Ngwana Sejo wa Tlhakanelwa”. We urge parents to assist learners to study hard, take deserving breaks, to eat and rest well as this is the good recipe for passing examinations,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Portfolio Committee Chairperson on Basic Education,

Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba said: “We would like to wish all candidates the best of luck with the upcoming final examinations. We urge them to continue working hard and to keep their focus.

“These examinations are the culmination of the last 12 years of schooling. We know it has been a challenging academic year, but we support you no matter what. It was a very unusual academic year for this class.”

She added that the committee has been assured by both the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) that it is all systems go for the examinations.

Mbinqo-Gigaba said the sector has had to drastically increase its efforts to ensure that the Class of 2020 is fully-prepared to sit for the NSC examination, despite the disruptions of the academic year. She said the committee commends the DBE for providing additional support to learners because of the loss of academic time due to Covid-19.

“Supplementary material, holiday classes, after-school programs, teacher content training, placement of volunteer teachers, as well as alternative (differentiated) ways of grouping and teaching learners were provided to assist this cohort.”

“The sector has placed a strong emphasis on areas such as psycho-social support for learners and teachers, curriculum coverage monitoring, extra school-based tuition, such as morning, afternoon, and weekend classes, ICT utilisation on television, radio, and web-based platforms; and peer-led study groups,” she said.

The June examinations for both full and part-time candidates had to be cancelled due to the outbreak of Covid-19. Grade 12 learners are expected to sit for their examination from 5 November to 15 December 2020.

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By REGINALD KANYANE

Residents of Huhudi in Vryburg welcomed the construction of an R80 million school project. North West Education department performed a sod-turning ceremony on Monday.

North West MEC for Education, Wendy Matsemela said the construction of the school will provide quality education and learning environment for the Huhudi Extension 25 learners in Vryburg.

“The new settlement in Vryburg informally called Colour Block did not have a school and learners were subjected to attend school in the old location by means of scholar transport. This is a sign of the department to give assurance to the Huhudi community of the much-awaited project.

“Today, we brought a massive school project for the community of Extension 25 to the value of R80 763 027.60. This project is going to change this community forever by planting a seed of knowledge to the learners of this place. The school project duration is only 18 months and we should work together to meet the deadline,” she said.

Matsemela urged the community to guard against any form of vandalism once the school is completed. She further said the school will constitute of 24 classrooms, administration block, school hall, dining and nutrition block, Grade R block, library and computer lab, change rooms, tuck shop, security house and security fence.

“The community expressed that this development will have a long-lasting positive influence on the children from Extension 25,” she said.

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By BAKANG MOKOTO

North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha appointed two professors to strengthen the capacity at the Brits District Hospital. This comes after a public outcry by the community, which were sparked by a video clip posted on social media (Facebook) by a community member whose mother was admitted to the hospital on the 19th October 2020.

Sambatha said that the picture depicted in the video clips is indeed a true indication of the challenges faced by the hospital.

“Patients were not fairly treated and consequence management will be applied.  I must say I find the treatment of the complainant’s mother and other persons that were lying on the floor inhumane, unprofessional unacceptable, and lacking empathy. 

“For that, I must be upfront in saying that we apologise to the patients, the family, community and the rest of South Africa. A report given to me was that, the mother of the complainant was brought to the hospital on 19 October 2020 with history of an acute neurological event,” said Samabatha. 

He added that there was up to 3 hours delay before she was attended to.  Sambatha further said it was also revealed that the person who escorted the patient was forcefully removed from the casualty by security and denied access to the unit and the mother. 

“The patient and others in the casualty unit sat on uncomfortable seats or slept on the floor for up to 16 hours.  It was concluded that the care provided was sub-optimal and particularly a staff attitude towards patients and escorts was very poor.  At this point, the complainant recorded the state of the casualty and posted it on social media.

“Poor clinical governance was identified as a key challenge for the hospital that has a big influence on the undesirable conditions at the hospital. In order to strengthen these areas, we have taken a decision to appoint Professor John Tumbu, Professor Benu Luke and the Clinical Manager of JST to oversee the strengthening of clinical governance prescripts and quality assurance,” he said.

Sambatha also said the department will appoint quality assurance officers and implement the Ideal Hospital Framework.  He said a dysfunctional patient filling system will also be addressed through strengthening of patient management systems. 

“This intervention will cover filling and archiving systems. The two, Professor Tumbu and Professor Luke have been elevated to Provincial status to support all the Districts.  Their work will also cover the strengthening of the quality assurance unit and to ensure the implementation of standard clinical governance prescripts. 

“There will be visible systems re-organisation in the service units to improve patient flow and records management. A decision was taken to strengthen a provincial representation in the intervention.  As a result, a team led by the Administrator which comprises of labour representatives, representatives of staff members, hospital board, and district management will oversee implementation of all these resolutions,” said Sambatha.

In terms of leadership, it was revealed that there is a lack of substantive appointees in key leadership positions. However, Sambatha said the department has taken a decision to fast-track the appointment of senior managers at the hospital including the position of Clinical, Nursing, and Allied Managers as well as speeding up the disciplinary hearing of the substantive CEO.

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