Johannesburg – Gauteng police are on the trail of three hijackers who attempted to hijack Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom outside his Johannesburg home.
Netwerk24‘s Jody Nel reported on Thursday that Hanekom arrived at his Kensington residence at about 19:30 on Monday night. Three men driving a Golf 5 pulled up and attempted to steal his official vehicle, a Mercedes Benz.
For more http://www.news24.com
Pretoria- A thirty-three-year-old man was seriously injured following an accident on Rubenstein Drive near Witdoring Avenue in Moreleta Park Ext 2, Pretoria this morning.
Netcare 911 paramedics and other services arrived at the scene and found the motorcyclist sitting in the roadway after he was knocked over by a motor vehicle.
Exact detail surrounding the cause of the accident and preceding events are still unknown and will remain the subject of a police investigation.
“Upon assessment of the motorcyclist, paramedics found that he had sustained serious injuries. The injured man was treated on scene, immobilised on a trauma board and transported to hospital for further medical care” Netcare 911 spokesperson Santi Steinmann said.
Traffic was affected as a result of the accident.
-TDN
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Vryburg- True to his commitment early in the year to take drastic action against contractors who deny communities the opportunity to own decent and quality low cost houses, the MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements in Bokone-Bophirima, Collen Maine has demolished at least 28 of the 71 houses in Huhudi township.
This exercise follows the failure by a contractor to meet the required building standard of low cost houses especially the quality of the mortar used in all these houses. Other defects include beam filling cracks, damaged locks, cracks on door frames and loose PVC pipes.
Both the Department and National Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) had on numerous occasions attempted to bring to the attention of a contractor, the defects and instead, a contractor chose to proceed with the project. NHBRC subsequently issued a certificate of non-compliance in an attempt to get the contract to stop the building and has since ordered the contractor to provide laboratory tests to prove contrary.
MEC Collen Maine said “we have taken this harsh decision to send a strong message to other contractors and wanna-be contractors that the Department will not tolerate any sub-standard work. Our good track record that we have worked for over the years, will not be tarnished by these shoddy contractors”.
One of the demolished houses belongs to Onica Mogoiwa and her family of four who have been waiting for her house for over a year. Mogoiwa said her family will be patient as the department is determined to quality work.
The R13 million housing project is intended to build 200 houses in Huhudi township. Currently only 43 houses are in good condition. The new contractor will be appointed in due course and is expected to start with the construction of the houses in two weeks.
MEC Maine will continue with the inspection of housing projects in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District tomorrow.
-TDN
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Germiston- Fifteen children, aged between one-year and five-year olds, were injured following an accident at the intersection of Agapanthus Road and Curry Road in Leondale, Germiston this morning after 07h30.
Netcare 911 paramedics and other services arrived at the scene and found that two light delivery vehicles were involved in a side-impact collision.
One of the vehicles then proceeded to crash against a tree.
“Upon their arrival at the scene all the patients were out of the vehicles and standing on the side of the road. Upon assessment of all the occupants they found that all the children had sustained injuries ranging from minor to serious” Netcare 911 spokesperson Santi Steinmann said.
All the injured patients were treated at the scene and transported to hospital for further medical care.
Exact detail surrounding the cause of the accident and preceding events will remain the subject of a police investigation.
Traffic was affected as a result of the accident.
-TDN
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BY OBAKENG MAJE
MAPHOITSILE- A 52 year-old woman was left crippled by her husband after a quarrel erupted between the two over an Aloe Vera herbal medicine.
Grace Akanyang Pebe from Maphoitsile village, near Taung lived to tell her ‘fairy-tale’ after her husband , Joseph Pebe nearly killed her.
“My husband abused, beaten and insulted me. We were staying together since we got married when I was only 19 year-old. He started to abuse me, but last year October it was my last straw” Grace Pebe said.
According to Grace, they bought a bottle of Aloe Vera herbal medicine and they drunk the medicine the whole week both of them.
“We were drinking that medicine the whole week and on Friday, the day he assaulted me, he asked me where is the medicine. I told him that the medicine is finished, but that angered him a lot.
“He assaulted me and threw me against the wall. He broke my bones and that is why I am crippled. I now rely on this crutches to move around” said Grace Pebe.
The GBH assault case was opened at Taung Magistrate Court. against the suspect.
Grace’s husband, Joseph Pebe(58) was arrested and appeared before court on Monday.
He was granted R300 bail and the case was remanded for Tuesday because the accused’s lawyer was in absentia.
Grace’ sister, Mary Seetsi(65) said her sister can’t do anything for herself now.
“I stay in Magogong village, but I am forced to visit my sister often as she can’t bath nor cook for herself. Pebe left her and stays with another wife” Seetsi said.
Some of those who attended the case were South African Civic Organisation (Sanco) members in Taung and according to the chairperson of the organisation, Boitumelo Gaojelwe, they condemn domestic violence and said they will support Grace through and through to see justice prevails.
“We real condemn the domestic violence and we will fight tooth and nail to see justice prevails. This is not the only case we fighting, a 5 year-old boy was hanged by his father during Christmas eve, and we want to advice all couples to seek professional help if they experience rough patch in their relationship” he said.
The case continues and police investigation continues.
-TDN
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BY OBAKENG MAJE
TAUNG- Two suspects who were arrested in connection of stock-theft at Morokweng village, near Taung will briefly appear at Taung Magistrate Court on Tuesday.
The duo were arrested by community members after they saw them loading goats in a bakkie at around 03:00am last week.
More than 30 goats were recovered from the suspects who one of them believed to be Morokweng resident.
The community beat them before handing them over to police.
Situation went out of hand as the community picketed and demanded the suspects be handed over to them to make them feel their wrath, but police never budged.
One of the suspects was from Kwazulu-Natal.
They will face livestock-theft and the case continues.
-TDN
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Kimberley- Issues such as high crime rate, racism, erosion of Ubuntu, unemployment, corruption, land distribution and youth development have topped the agenda during the Northern Cape Provincial Social Cohesion Summit.
The summit was held at Nababeep in the Namakwa District on Monday.
It came as a build up towards the National Social Cohesion Summit which is scheduled to be held in March 21st 2015.
“The country’s constitution was also criticized of giving criminals more rights than the crime victims. Delegates have also encouraged the use of traditional leadership to instill values of moral regeneration” departmental spokesperson Morapedi Sekhoane said.
The Lesbians, Gays, Bi-Sexual, Trans-Gender and Intersex Organisation (LGBTI) has called for the recognition of Bi-sexual and transgender community.
Some of the members of the organization have called for tough action against government officials who they accuse of often plagiarizing their business ideas.
Delegates who came from all corners of the province, have also expressed a need for recognition and support of the Khoisan/khomani San languages.
The appointment of properly qualified officials at all structures of government was also raised as a thorny issue.
The Departmental Senior Manager for Strategic Management Bonakele Jacobs encouraged those who raised concerns around the repatriation of bodies of freedom fighters which are reportedly buried at Nababeep to their ancestral land to engage with the department for further engagement.
The summit was aimed at promoting a culture of conversations among South Africans, with specific focus on the subject of social cohesion and building a caring nation.
“It was also intended to identify key socio-economic, political, cultural and environmental stressors to social cohesion prevalent in respective districts” Sekhoane said.
Resolutions will be used to contribute towards the National Summit which will be held on 21 March 2015.
-TDN
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Be part of the best entertainment establishment in Mzansi, 99.2 YFM.
YFM, in partnership with e.tv, Sabido eAcademy and the MICT SETA, is running an accredited Skills Programme for radio enthusiasts, the Y Academy. The Y Academy programme will be running for 6 months, and will be based at the YFM office in Hyde Park, Gauteng.
Applicants that wish to apply must be unemployed South African citizens over the age of 18 years and must have a valid South African ID document. As this is an equal opportunity initiative, people living with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
Candidates that wish to apply outside their respective residential regions must be willing and able to find their own accommodation in Gauteng for the 6 months. A minimal stipend will be paid to cover local transport costs.
Many Y Academy graduates have gone on to have successful careers in radio and the media space, so apply now and be part of the pool of entertainment game-changers.
For more details Go to http://www.yworld.co.za/yacademy/applicants/
Mahikeng- North West MEC for Social Development Fenny Gaolaolwe said preparations for the annual Provincial Early Childhood Development (ECD) awards ceremony to be held on Tuesday are at an advanced stage.
“The ECD awards, as they commonly known, is a means to promote excellence, dedication and investment in the future of children by individual practitioners and various organizations involved in the early stages of child development,” Gaolaolwe said.
She added: “This awards initiative which has been taking place since 2003 is implemented in partnership with the departments of Social Development and Basic Education, the South African Congress of Early Childhood Development and UNICEF.”
About 765 entries for this year competition, Gaolaolwe said have been received from all four districts municipalities. Best practitioner, best ECD and best centre category winners will be announced tomorrow at a glittering award ceremony to be held as follows:
Date: 24 February 2015
Time : 09h00
Venue: Mmabatho Convention Centre
Executive mayor of Ngaka Modiri Molema, Executive mayor of Mahikeng local municipality, ECD forum members and various stakeholders will attend the ceremony.
-TDN
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Moscow- Moses Kotane will be repatriated to South Africa from Russia, Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said in Johannesburg on Monday.

“[President Jacob Zuma] has tasked us, as the department of arts and culture, to lead and co-ordinate the repatriation and reburial of these two legends,” Mthethwa said.
The first South African delegation, including Mthethwa, would leave for Russia later on Monday.
Mthethwa said those unfamiliar with Marks and Kotane could not claim to know South Africa’s history as they had been instrumental in defining the freedom and democracy the country now enjoyed.
Political activist and trade unionist John Beaver (JB) Marks served as president of the Transvaal Branch of the African National Congress and was elected chairman of the SA Communist Party in 1962.
In 1963 he was sent to the ANC external mission in Tanzania.
He became ill in 1971 and went to the then-Soviet Union. He died of a heart attack in Moscow the following year.
Kotane was the secretary general of the SACP from 1939 until his death in 1978. He was selected to study at the Lenin School in Moscow.
Kotane, one of the first activists to be banned under the Suppression of Communism Act, suffered a stroke in 1968 and went for treatment in the then-Soviet Union, where he died in 1978.
Both were buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Kotane will be reburied in Pella, North West, on March 14, and Marks in Ventersdorp, on March 22.
Zuma has granted them both special official funerals.
Mthethwa said the repatriation of their remains should offer an opportunity for South Africans to remember them.
“It is a serious indictment that our children do not know the men and women who brought about democracy and freedom.
“We need to work together to tell the story of where we come from and celebrate our heroes.”
There would be a special reception at the Waterkloof Air Force Base, outside Pretoria, to celebrate their repatriation on March 2.
Kotane’s son Sam Kotane expressed the family’s gratitude to Zuma and all those who had helped have his father’s remains brought home.
His mother, Rebecca Kotane, now 103, approached Zuma last year to request the repatriation.
“Prior to that, apparently… there was some conversation where my father said to my mom, the work he was doing, he did not know where he would end up, but he strongly believed he would be accepted in that country or community.
“We tried as a family to change her mind… that she should not take that literally. We are saying, as Africans we believe that the spirit does not rest until [the body] comes back.”
Sam Kotane last saw his father alive in 1977, when he visited him in a Russian sanitorium.
“He was bedridden. He no longer was vigorous, active, but he still cracked jokes. He spoke Russian to his caregivers.”
He shared “some brief, very intimate moments” with his father during that visit.
Mthethwa said the repatriation of Marks’ and Kotane’s remains had the potential to bring together South Africans from diverse backgrounds to celebrate and express their unity.
“We believe the memory and legacy of these two struggle icons continues to sharply define the ideals and aspirations of the society we want to be: just, equal and prosperous.
-SAPA
The Guardian 