Picture: The North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Oageng Molapisi/Supplied
By REGINALD KANYANE
19 August 2025- The North West Department of Human Settlements said it has targeted to deliver 6718 Title Deeds in the 2025-2026 financial year. The department said this number will add to the national target of delivering 80,000 by 2029.
The North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Oageng Molapisi said the objective was recently announced during the relaunch of Title Deed Friday in Polokwane by the Minister of Human Settlements Thembi Semelane during her meeting with Human Settlements MECs from across the nine provinces.
Molapisi said his department will follow the band wagon and intensify the Title Deed campaign during the Thuntsha Lerole accelerated service delivery programme every Friday.
“The gesture will contribute more in restoring the dignity of the people in the province and further ensure ownership. For many families, a home is more than just shelter.
“It is a foundation for economic stability, a source of security for future generations, and a fulfilment of the promise of our democracy,” he said.
Molapisi further said that the department is going to roll-out a massive programme aimed at ensuring that title deeds reach beneficiaries in a timely fashion as move will assist in achieving the intended goal. He added that to accelerate the delivery of Title Deeds, he calls on all municipalities to adopt a door-to-door title deeds campaign to ensure that they are delivered to its rightful beneficiaries.
“This is an essential step in reducing backlogs and ensuringrightful ownership reaches our people without delay. We will also continue handing over tittle deeds during the Phase 5 of the upcoming Thuntsha Lerole Accelerated Service Delivery Programme.
“This approach will see an overall decrease in title deed backlogs and further reduce the delivery of title deeds to wrong beneficiaries,” said Molapisi.
He said handing over a title deed to a beneficiary does not only recognise a beneficiary as rightful owners of land and property, but also goes a long way in restoring their dignity. Molapisi said having irrefutable proof of ownership of a home, the members of the families gets to be assured that generations to come have a sense of dignity and pride, which stems from security and belonging.
“With every title deed, the department rests assured that a family has been empowered, an assert secured, and a sense of dignity restored,” he said.
19 August 2025- North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi will reaffirm the provincial government’s commitment to accelerating service delivery by leading the rollout of Phase 5 of Accelerated Service Delivery Programme Thuntsha Lerole Reloaded on 22 August 2025, at Ditsobotla Local Municipality.
Mokgosi said this phase marks a strategic continuation of the provincial government’s efforts to bring integrated services closer to the people, address long-standing service delivery challenges, and strengthen public participation in governance issues.
“During Phase 5, the provision of water and sanitation infrastructure, sewer network upgrades, roads maintenance, clearing of illegal dumping sites, fighting crime and job creation will be reinforced at targeted and prioritised local municipalities which include Ditsobotla, JB Marks, City of Matlosana, Tswaing, Madibeng, Kagisano-Molopo, Ramotshere Moiloa, Moses Kotane, Rustenburg and Mahikeng.
“On 22 August, government departments, state-owned entities and the private sector will converge at Itsoseng Community Hall at Itsoseng Township, where on-the-spot services will be provided and a community feedback session held,” he said.
Mokgosi further said central to this service delivery-oriented programme, will be the handing over of community facilities including a Community Hall at Springbokpan village, a sports facility at Itekeng Township in Biesiesvlei, a Community Hall at Tlhabologang in Coligny, and a new cemetery site at Itsoseng.
He added that through the Integrated Economic Development Services, dummy cheques will be presented to two local informal traders as proof of machinery and equipment delivered.
“An oversight visit will be conducted at the Itsoseng brick-making plant where job opportunities have been created through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), as well as an inspection of a special maintenance project on road D40 from Thusong to Itsoseng.
“Some of the standard Thuntsha Lerole features which will be performed during the day will include the fixing of high-mast lights, mass registration of indigents for Free Basic Services, clearing of illegal dumping sites, law enforcement, distribution of agricultural packages to a community agricultural project and a local school, provision of integrated primary health care services as well as distribution of sanitary towels to identified local schools,” said Mokgosi.
Picture: The delegates at First Quarterly Review Session/Supplied
By AGISANANG SCUFF
19 August 2025 – The Northern Cape Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Koliswa Otola is currently hosting the First Quarterly Review Session at the Kimberley Police Station Gymnasium. The two-day session commenced this morning and is attended by the five District Commissioners, Provincial and 92 Station Commanders across the province.
Otola is accompanied by the Provincial Management, includes the Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Policing, Major General Keagekae Besnaar, the Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Crime Detection, Major General Luntu Ngubelanga and the Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Corporate Services, Major General (Dr) Thabo Mphuthi.
The Northern Cape Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Thabo Litabe said the purpose of this session is to review the performance of provincial components, districts, and stations in terms of service delivery and crime reduction for the first quarter (April–June 2025) of the 2025/2026 financial year.
Litabe said the proccedings were officially opened with a prayer and devotion led by Chaplain Cornelius Shupinyaneng, followed by messages of support from the labour unions, POPCRU and SAPU.
“In her keynote address, the Provincial Commissioner highlighted critical issues affecting service delivery across all SAPS environments.
“She urged commanders to take ownership and accountability in their respective areas, emphasizing the importance of maintaining discipline among members and employees,” he said.
Litabe further said, Otola called for proper management and safeguarding of state resources to ensure they are well-maintained at all times. She added that the session will continue with presentations and interactive engagements from attendees over the next two days.
Picture: Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi
By BAKANG MOKOTO
19 August 2035- Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi said although significant progress has been made to empower women and in ensuring that they assume positions of responsibility in all spheres of society, there remains a lot of work to be done to ensure that the workplace is a conducive environment for women to thrive and prosper.
Kubayi said sexual harassment and abuse of power by men who are in positions of responsibility is a blight in the society.
She further said women are still asked for sexual favours in return for promotion and other benefits to which they are entitled, is a cancer that they must fight hard to eliminate. Kubayi added that they have asked her to talk about is not completely divorced from what she has just raised about creating a conducive environment for women to thrive and prosper.
“Today, you have asked me to speak about repositioning the NPA as the heartbeat of the justice system. To have a clear vision of how we can reposition an institution such as the NPA we need to clearly understand both the, domestic and global environment, under which the institution is operating.
“It requires us to understand the complexities of the world in which criminals operate and the sophisticated tools that are in use today when crimes are committed,” said Kubayi.
She said the kind of changes that have happened in the world require institutions that are flexible, innovative and adaptive to remain effective and resilient. Kubayi said they need to ask themselves the question: “What is it that we are going to do to ensure that the NPA is a flexible, innovative and adaptive organisation?
“The most fundamental point to understand is that the NPA exists because our country and world in general is afflicted by crimes and the criminals responsible for those crimes need to be held accountable.”
She said an ideal world, there are some who would insist that their focus should be on ending crime so that they can live a crime free world. Kubayi said unfortunately, the real existing world is such that crime will always be with them and as such there will a need for the NPA to continue to do its job and do it well.
“We now live in a world in which rapid technological changes that include the emergence of artificial intelligence have changed life as we know it.
“These changes have changed the way we interact, the way we produce goods and the way crimes are committed. Crimes that we used to watch in science fiction movies have become a reality today and we have to find ways of building the capacity to tackle them,” she said.
Kubayi said historically, they have known the generators of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) relied on the exploitation of human victims. She said these new technologies, this kind of material are becoming a thing of the past.
“In 2024, the Internet Watch Foundation released a report in which they raised a concern about the emergence of AI-generated content which has now replaced human involvement.
“Prosecutors who have dealt with these types of cases in the United States have already raised their concern that AI-generate CSAM, complicates detection efforts and raises new ethical and legal challenges,” said Kubayi.
She said they need to ask themselves the question: “Are we ready to tackle this type of crime? Will we be able to detect this crime before it destroys the fabric of our society?
“The team has been led by Ismail Momoniat has done a sterling job to get our country off the FATF greylist. We ended up in the greylist because there were concerns raised about our capacity to prevent and detect certain types of financial crimes that can compromise state security or fund terrorist organisations.”
Kubayi said as they are making progress in dealing with these challenges, these new technologies are likely to further complicate how they tackle financial crimes, artificial intelligence is poised to completely change how money laundering happens. She said human mules and manual coordination, particularly for cybercriminals, drug traffickers, and fraudsters are what traditional money launderers rely upon to achieve their end.
“New AI driven technologies such as synthetic ID generators and automated cryptocurrency account creation, are poised to automate these operations significantly accelerating the speed with which these crimes are committed.
“This means that we need to start today our work to train our people to be able to deal with crimes of this nature otherwise we will stay on the greylist for longer than we would like,” said Kubayi.
She said other complexity that AI has brought is the level of autonomy, which these technologies exhibit which is sometimes difficult to understand on whom to lay the blame when a crime has been committed. Kubayi said US Department of Homeland Security has highlighted in their 2022 report on “Emerging Threats in AI” that Autonomous AI systems could eliminate the need for human hackers enabling widespread attacks at a scale previously unimaginable, with dire economic and security implications.
Picture: North West MEC for Health, Sello Lehari during his visit at Christiana District Hospital/Supplied
By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
19 August 2025- As part of the province-wide monitoring programme and efforts to ensure progress on ongoing infrastructure projects, the North West MEC for Health, Sello Lehari, conducted a political oversight visit to Christiana District Hospital. Lehari said Christiana District Hospital is currently undergoing refurbishment following a fire incident that destroyed a section of the facility in September 2021.
He further said reconstruction of the hospital commenced in October 2023, but experienced several delays which led to extensions of the completion date. Lehari added that project is estimated to the cost of R90 million.
“To date, 85% of the work has been completed. Critical units such as maternity (including ANC, delivery and postnatal services), Paediatrics Unit, Male Ward, Female Ward, Out-Patient Department (OPD), Emergency Unit and X-rays Unit are currently under construction.
“We are here to intervene and ensure there is progress. We are not satisfied with the slow pace of the project – this is unacceptable. We expect all contractors to come forward and account,” he said.
Lehari said the people of Christiana must have a fully functional hospital by October 2025 as promised. He said failure to do so will result in consequences.
“Contractors have since recommitted to completing the project by October 2025,” said Lehari.
19 August 2025- A tree long overlooked as goat feed could help farmers in the North West boost meat production and cut feed costs, new research from the North West University (NWU) has found. NWU researchers from the subject group Animal Sciences at the Mahikeng Campus, led by primary author Onke Hawu, say the Searsia lancea tree, commonly known as the Karee tree, has untapped potential as livestock feed.
Hawu said it is a hardy, evergreen and drought-resistant tree with a graceful, weeping form common in semi-arid parts of southern Africa. He said while its leaves are rich in protein, they also contain tannins, compounds that make them harder for goats to digest and less appealing to eat.
“By treating the leaves with polyethylene glycol (PEG), a substance that neutralises tannins, the team found that goats ate more, digested more nutrients and grew faster.
“We wanted to see if treating Searsia lancea with incremental levels of PEG would improve intake, digestion and growth without harming the goats,” said Hawu.
He further said their results show that it can be done. Hawu added that the study determined that 15,4 grams of PEG per kilogram of dried leaves offered the best balance between weight gain and feed conversion.
“Blood tests confirmed there were no negative health effects and, in some cases, nutrient levels in the blood improved. This could be a game changer for farmers during the dry season when poor-quality grazing limits animal growth.
“Searsia lancea is abundant in the region, but tannins have historically restricted its use as feed. The research provides evidence that simple, affordable treatments can increase the value of locally available forage, offering small-scale and commercial farmers a way to rely less on purchased feed,” he said.
Hawu said by using what they already have in the environment, they can address feed shortages and support farmers without increasing production costs.
Picture: ANC LET coordinator in Taung Sub-region, Moreotsile Israel Olifant/Screengrab
By OBAKENG MAJE
19 August 2025- A fraud case against the ANC Local Election Team coordinator in Taung Sub-region, Moreotsile Israel Olifant (50) and Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP) coordinator in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District, Malane Abraham Letsapa (45), has been postponed to 30 September 2025.
The case has also been transferred to the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit in Vryburg. Olifant and Letsapa were arrested by The Hawks’ Corruption Team in Taung and Vryburg on 16 August 2025.
The Hawks spokesperson in North West, Lieutenant Colonel Tinyiko Mathebula said the reports indicate that, in December 2020, Dr Ruth Mompati District Municipality approved the implementation of the Presidential Stimulus Project (PSP) under the Department of Public Works and Roads’ EPWP. Mathebula said the project was allegedly intended to be rolled out in Matsheng and Tlapeng villages in the Greater Taung Municipality, which involved cutting of trees and grass along the main road leading to and from the two villages.
“It is alleged that the Oliphant facilitated the process of head hunting beneficiaries, while Letsapa processed claims for payment of beneficiaries for a period of three months. Investigation revealed that no services were rendered, resulting in the department suffering a loss of over R87 000.
“The accused made an urgent bail application on 17 August 2025, in the North West High Court sitting in Mahikeng and they were granted R2000 bail each. They will appear in Taung Magistrate’s Court on 18 August 2025, on charges of fraud,” he said.
19 August 2025- In a quest to fight crime through intensified actions, the police swiftly responded to a call of a suspicious man (19) spotted in the informal settlement of Paballelo carrying luggage on 18 August 2025. The police followed up, and the suspect was searched and subsequently approximately R108 276.00 worth of dagga was found in the luggage.
The ZF Mgcawu District Police spokesperson, Sergeant Omphile Masegela said the suspect was arrested for dealing in dagga and is expected to appear in court soon.
Meanwhile, the ZF Mgcawu District Police Commissioner, Major General Monica Sebili, commended the accelerated actions aiming to address crime in the district.
19 August 2025- The accused, Kitso King Molawa (49) briefly appeared in the Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court on 18 August 2025, for alleged Contravention of Section 8 of the Public Administration Management Act 11 of 2014, which prohibits any employee in the Public Administration from doing business with the state. Molawa was arrested on 18 August 2025, by members of the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in Mahikeng.
The Hawks spokesperson in North West, Lieutenant Colonel Tinyiko Mathebula said this comes after an investigation into allegations of doing business with the state, while being employed as a Chief Director in the North West Department of Health. Mathebula said the reports indicated that in 2018, Molawa’s company, KKM Consulting Engineering, entered into a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the Mahikeng Local Municipality for upgrading a road in Tsetse village.
“The municipality allegedly paid the accused over R2 million for the services rendered. It is further alleged that in 2019, he entered into another SLA with the same municipality to upgrade a tar road in Lotlhakane village.
“The municipality reportedly paid the accused over R3 million for services rendered. Following an investigation, the accused was apprehended and charged with Contravention of the Public Administration Management Act,” he said.
Mathebula further said Molawa briefly appeared in court and was granted R3000 bail. He added that his matter was postponed to 3 September 2025, for first appearance at the Specialised Commercial Crime Court sitting in Mmabatho.
Meanwhile, the North West acting Hawks Head, Brigadier Georgia Moos and the Director of Public Prosecutions in North West, Dr Rachel Makhari have lauded the investigation and prosecution team for ensuring that the accused is brought to justice.
The Guardian 