The police in Taung are investigating a murder case that took place a week ago at Manthe village, near Taung. This comes after the deceased, Tseko Gabonnwe (37) from Kuaneng Section in Manokwanevillage, near Taung was allegedly killed by mob justice.
It is alleged that Gaonnwe broke into one of the houses at Manthe village during load shedding. However, the owner caught him red-handed after the electricity returned.
The deceased was allegedly beaten to a pulp by community members before the police were called.
Gabonnwe was allegedly released, but instead of going home, he went to another house and broke in too. His lifeless body was allegedly discovered by a passer-by in the early hours of the morning on Sunday last week.
Meanwhile, the North West police spokesperson, Lieutenant Col Amanda Funani said: “Yes, the police are aware of the incident, hence we are investigating a case of murder. At this stage, we have not made any arrests.”
Picture: The iconic Mmabatho Stadium is ready to host Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival/Supplied
By OBAKENG MAJE
It’s all systems go for the much-anticipated Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival on Friday. The prestigious festival makes its return after a three-year hiatus owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three-day flagship event, funded and supported by the North West Department of Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation (ACSR) is set to run from March 17-19 at Mmabatho Stadium Parking Lot.
It event will feature a Gospel Night, a Jazz Festival, and Amapiano/Motswako night.
The North West Department of Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation (ACSR) spokesperson, Shuping Sebolecwe said: “As part of ensuring that the local artists are given a platform, the festival will feature many North West-based artists. The stage and the dome, which will accommodate thousands of revellers have already been erected.
“The local artists were organised as part of Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival activations across the province in the past weekend, ahead of the main festival.”
The Gospel Night on Friday will be headlined by the popular gospel music group Joyous Celebration with supporting acts like Gospel stars such as Bucy Radebe and David The King.
Meanwhile, Jazz enthusiasts are set to enjoy the melody of Zonke, and Ringo Madlingozi, as well as Setswana Traditional music artists, MmaAusi and Mosekaphofu on Saturday. The popular Amapiano Djs, Kabza De Small, Maphorisa, Focalist, Toss, and Kelvin Momo, among others with close the event on Sunday.
Sebolecwe further said, the Hip Hop and Motswako artists such as Molemi, Tuks Senganga, Areece, Notshi, and Fifi Cooper will also grace the stage. He added that, the festival, which attracts thousands of music lovers from outside the province and also from neighbouring Botswana, is set to boost the economy of the province in areas ranging from hospitality to tourism and small businesses.
“The Mahika Mahikeng is not just a music festival, but it benefits entrepreneurs from small businesses to the mainstream. The line-ups are dominated by local artists as we prioritise our very own,” said Sebolecwe.
A man has been sentenced to 23 years imprisonment for rape by the Vryburg Regional Court. Frank Kai Monoko (52) raped a boy (14) near the railway lines in Vryburg. The North West police spokesperson in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati cluster, Warrant Officer, Tryphosa van Rooyen said, the incident took place on 5 May 2019 at around 5:30pm.
“The accused found the victim gathering wood and lured him to a house close to the railway lines. The victim walked with Manoko to the backroom of a house after being promised money.
“The accused locked themselves inside the room and raped the boy. Manoko opened the door and allowed the boy to go after the ordeal. The victim ran to the street and found a traffic officer, who assisted him to report the offense,” van Rooyen said.
She further said, the accused was arrested shortly after the incident was reported and he was released on bail after his second court appearance. Van Rooyen added that, during the third court appearance, the accused failed to attend and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
“With the assistance of the Provincial Tracking Team, the accused was re-arrested in 2022 and was remanded in custody until the day of his conviction and sentencing,” said van Rooyen.
Meanwhile, the acting District Police Commissioner, Brigadier Tshenolo Tlotleng commended the investigation officer of Vryburg Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS), Warrant Officer Hannelie van Wyk for the conviction.
Tlotleng stated that, this should send a clear message that the police will do their utmost to ensure the safety of vulnerable groups within our community.
A body of an elderly man who went missing was found in the bushes. John Gumede (75) who was residing at a local Old Age Home in Jericho, near Letlhabile was last seen on 10 March 2023.
The North West police spokesperson, Lieutenant Col Amanda Funani said Gumede allegedly died of natural causes.
“Gumede left the Old Age Home at around 4pm without informing anyone and never returned back home. A search was conducted around the neighbourhood and precinct of Jericho without any success.
“During his disappearance, he was wearing a black golf shirt and blue trousers. He was dark in complexion, average in height and body structure with short grey hair,” Funani said.
Picture: The Grade 12 learners from Mamutla Secondary School were allegedly chased away by the school principal/Supplied
By OBAKENG MAJE
A few Grade 12 learners from Mamutla Secondary School in Kameelpuit village, near Taung were allegedly chased away from school for buying their own uniforms.
It is alleged that these learners, ordered school uniforms from the tailor who was appointed by the school, but it took six months before the uniforms were delivered. So, this forced learners to look for alternatives by buying their own uniforms, which were similar to school uniforms.
However, this allegedly rubbed the school principal the wrong way. He allegedly chased these learners away and ordered them to look for their own schools.
One of the parents, Kegomoditswe Piet said, the school sold the uniform for around R1000, while the learners bought the same uniforms for around R550. Piet said they penned a letter of complaint to the circuit manager raising dissatisfaction against the school principal.
“As parents, we writing this complaint letter to the circuit manager complaining about the challenges we are facing at Mamutla Secondary School.
“The school principal has chased two learners from school because they bought school uniforms elsewhere not from the school. Other learners who endorsed the same uniform were also chased away,” she said.
Piet further said, the parents decided to buy school uniforms from elsewhere because the uniforms from the school took more than six months to arrive. She added that there are also parents who are still owed uniforms money by the school.
“The school principal endorsed the same uniform and he only had a problem because the same uniform was not bought from the school-appointed tailor.
“He also accused these learners of theft for using the school emblem without his consent. I think the Grade 12 learners should have access to the school emblem. So, I do not see any problem with that,” said Piet.
According to Piet, the matter was resolved a few days ago.
Meanwhile, the North West Department of Education spokesperson, Elias Malindi said: “It is important that we put everything into perspective and state the facts clearly. The uniform in question is not prescribed for all the grades, but is a Grade 12 preferred uniform for the year 2023.
“The principal never chased away any learner, but informed the two of them to bring parents to clarify some issues such as who authorised the use of the emblem without consulting the school administration and the School Governing Body (SGB).”
Malindi said, the school was running the risk of every Grade 12 learner designing their own patterns and different colours, which would not serve a purpose. He said the whole exercise of executing different patterns, colours and etc was going to defeat the exercise of uniformity.
“Learners in question were requested to bring their parents for purposes of clarifying the situation and one parent who responded conceded to the issues raised by the school.
“We fully believe that the matter is blown out of proportion and the SGB met and resolved the matter and that uniformity will prevail,” said Malindi.
Picture: One of community members raising his views during public participation at the North West Provincial Legislature/Facebook
By OBAKENG MAJE
The community members raised various service delivery challenges ranging from scholar transport challenges, lack of sports facilities in schools and communities, high teenage pregnancy and drug abuse in schools.
One of the community members, Tshegofatso Molome said, patients, are suffering because health centres are not operating at night and during the weekend. Molome said lack of social workers in schools and a shortage of health professionals and medicine in health centres.
“People cannot be sick only during the day and the week, but our clinics are turning away sick patients at night and at weekends. There is also a shortage of ambulances, especially in villages where road conditions are also bad and damage those vehicles as well.
“We health facilities that are not operating 24 hours and 7 days a week, shortage of medication and personnel, social workers that are not deployed in schools to deal with social challenges of learners, the dilapidated infrastructure of schools, health facilities and arts, culture and sports facilities and shortage of classrooms and teachers,” she said.
Another community member, Kedibone Matlhomola shared the same sentiments. Matlhomola said they were informed that, the classrooms in rural communities and some townships are overcrowded and that the learner dropout rate is very high due to drug abuse and teenage pregnancy.
“Although the department is providing mobile classrooms, there is no plan to maintain them when damaged. Some learners who come from child-headed families are also struggling to attend school due to social problems in their families hence they end up dropping out of school,” she said.
These challenges were raised during the North West Provincial Legislature (NWPL) public participation programme in Mahikeng, where Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) engage with community members to hear their concerns on various service delivery issues and discuss possible solutions as well as allow Members of the Executive Council (MECs) from various provincial departments to respond to such issues.
The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development, Gavin Edwards informed the attendees that, during the recent oversight programme of the legislature in Ngaka Modiri Molema District, the committee witnessed various challenges such as dilapidated health centres without personnel and medication, poor records management in health facilities which results on patients files being misplaced, and victim empowerment centres that are not fully funded and supported with resources.
“There are instances, where patients in clinics or hospitals have more than one file, and instances where operations theatres and other facilities in hospitals are not working.
“Often medical doctors and nurses knock off at 4pm thus leaving patients stranded and unattended without receiving any medical attention,” said Edwards.
The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Education, Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation, Paul Sebego said: “Schools that were built by communities before 1994 need serious renovations as the infrastructure is dilapidated and not conducive for teaching and learning.
“Another concerning issue is the scholar transport, where buses used to transport learners are not roadworthy as we have seen in recent times when traffic authorities have impounded them. Education department must engage the Transport Management department to ensure that learners are transported on roadworthy vehicles.”
Sebegoe added that the North West Department of Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation (ACSR) should also address challenges of libraries and sports facilities that are not maintained regularly.
Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha said his department plans to renovate 44 clinics each financial year and upgrade 10 clinics to 24-hour/7 days a week operations.
“We are also planning to build a state-of-the-art hospital that will cater for Tswaing and Ratlou Local Municipalities. We have budgeted R170 million to upgrade Motswedi clinic to a Community Healthcare Centre (CHC) and have changed the method of procuring ambulances to accommodate the growing population,” he said.
North West MEC for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation, Keneetswe Mosenogi said the department has agreed with municipalities to provide maintenance support to libraries and install internet.
“As municipalities are not paying librarians the same as the ones from the department, we plan to incorporate them into the department so that, they can be on the same salary scale.
“We will ensure that municipalities utilise their 15% of Municipal Infrastructure Grant to maintain sports facilities and will work with sports federations to address their issues,” she said.
The North West MEC for Social Development, Boitumelo Moiloa said: “Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) are funded based on services rendered and are financially supported yearly with 2 trench payments.
“We are trying to support the NPOs and other organisations with necessary resources. The department will resolve the issue of transport for social workers in Ratlou and other affected areas,” she said.
The Guardian 