Picture: (Fury as NWU up in smoke)

BY REGINALD KANYANE

SITUATION is now abominable at North West University in Mafikeng campus. The students and police are up in arms against each other. The police were shooting at the students using stun grenades and rubber bullets, while students retaliated by pelting stones at the police.

North West University (NWU) students representative in Mafikeng campus, says the time has come for the university’s council to be disbanded in the interests of promoting transformation.

The SRC president, Xavier Mabengwana, said all three campuses would be on total shutdown until their demands were met.

As part of the action, they vowed to blockade even entrances to the institutions.

“We want NWU council to be disbanded because it has failed dismal in its duty to streamline operations at all the campuses. We want curriculum alignment that is in line with our higher education regulations. The Potchefstroom campus is the only campus that is benefiting. You look at their hostels and the infrastructure they have, you will never find them at the two other campuses.

“The council said they want to reserve a culture and understand what it is. They only want to preserve the Afrikaans language and use it to see transformation within three campuses. The council only benefits white students and consists of whites only.

“Their reaction in return makes it very difficult for the vice chancellor to do his work properly.” Mabengwana said.

The SRC met with North West Supra Mahumapelo who shared some of the concerns raised by the students.

“The student leaders said part of their concerns at Mafikeng campus include calling for the university library to be opened for 24 hours a day. The library currently closes at 10pm during weekends. I declared that on behalf of Bokone Bophirima provincial government, we fully support removal of all obstacles,” Mahumapelo said.
-TDN
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Brits – Three of the four people accused of setting a teenage girl alight in Letlhabile near Brits appeared briefly in the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

Gugulethu Sharon Thwala, Koketso Moyo and Victor Pilane appeared before magistrate Moses Maswangwanyi who postponed their case to January 12, 2016.

A warrant of arrest was issued against accused number four, Cynthia Mosopi, who did not appear in court on Thursday. She had submitted a medical report indicating that she was ill.

“The sick note is admitted and a warrant [of arrest] issued in respect of accused number four [Mosopi] suspended until January 12, 2016,” said Maswanganyi.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

Marikana – The Bapo Ba Mogale Traditional Council in Bapong, near Marikana in North West, must treat all villagers equally or face the wrath of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the party said on Friday.

“The traditional council of Bapo must stop discriminating (against) people. We are told to be employed at Lonmin you need a letter from the council and the council refuse to give such letters to non-Setswana speaking people,” said Thulani Makhanye, the chairperson of the EFF in the Bojanala Region.

He was speaking to party supporters during a protest march at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana.

“The council must stop this discrimination or we will challenge them. I am not scared of them,” said Makhanye.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

Cape Town – A high ranking delegation from the Western Cape government will head to the Overberg on Monday to inspect two schools plagued by structural defects in the Gansbaai and Hawston communities.

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The visit comes in the same week as the Public Works department, together with its legal team, is set to make a decision about the termination of the contracts for the engineering provincial service providers involved in the controversial school construction debacle, which affected four schools in the province this year.

Masakhane Primary School in Gansbaai, Hawston Primary School, Delft South Primary School and Scottsdene Secondary School in Cape Town were affected by design and structural defects discovered after occupation and, in other cases, during construction at the schools.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – The Democratic Alliance has wished all 801 688 Grade 12 learners well as they begin their National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations Monday.

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DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, Gavin Davis said the success or failure of the learners would be used as a barometer to determine how well our education system was performing and where interventions were needed most.

“It is therefore vital that we are able to accurately compare results of learners across different schools, social contexts and provincial education departments,”he said.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

Durban – The eThekwini Municipality’s controversial plan to evict Newmarket Stables tenants is going to be costly for its metro police who have to find R30 million to relocate the equestrian unit.

The police unit will have to ask for funding from the city to

move the unit from the Newmarket Stables to Westville, and there are concerns that this will have an impact on the funding for service provision projects.

The city has issued eviction notices to the stables and other tenants on the property, but they have refused to move out. The tenants are to be moved to make way for a R300 million soccer academy to be built as part of a world-class sporting precinct in the Kings Park area.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – A Witwatersrand University Senate meeting was adjourned after protesting students occupied the venue on Monday.

The special meeting of Senate, the highest academic decision-making body of the university, was supposed to convened to deliberate on the ongoing protests and to decide on the resumption of the academic programme.

“This university is under new management now, it is the students that are in charge … this is the struggle we will fight until we win,” said student leader Vuyani Pambo, who is also the Wits EFF chairman.

The students had earlier held their own meeting at the Senate House – that they have renamed Solomon House – to come up with a strategy for their renewed #FeesMustFall movement.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

JOHANNESBURG – A South African woman caught allegedly in possession of over R4 million worth of drugs at OR Tambo International Airport has been remanded in custody after making her first appearance in the Kempton Park Magistrates Court.

The 29-year-old was arrested yesterday after she was found with crystal meth weighing nearly 16 kilograms.

It was reported that the woman was a well-known television celebrity but the police denied this.

For more http://www.ewn.co.za

Johannesburg – The father of Reeva Steenkamp said in an interview on Sunday that he wants to meet Oscar Pistorius to seek closure over the killing of his daughter.

Pistorius was released last week after a year in prison for shooting dead Steenkamp through a locked toilet door in their bedroom in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013.

“I think I will get more closure one day if I get the chance to speak to Oscar myself,” Reeva’s father Barry Steenkamp told M-Net.

“Most probably I wouldn’t have to say anything. I will just have to look at him… but that is what I would like to do one day.”

For more http://www.news24.com