Lawyers representing former President Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, have slammed the Presidency for filing a notice to oppose an application by her to have access to State documents.

Madikizela-Mandela wants government to furnish information about the right of ownership of the former President’s Qunu property in the Eastern Cape.

Lawyer Mvuzo Notyesi says correct procedures have not been followed by the State attorney.

Notyesi says it can never be the correct approach to simply proceed to file notices to oppose before a case is completed.

He maintains that what the State has done is irregular and incorrect in terms of the rules, but he says such will be dealt with according to the rules of court.

According to Notyesi, they have written several notices to the State attorney requesting information pertaining to ownership of the property.

Presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj has confirmed that the State attorney filed a notice to oppose the action, “pending instructions from the President”. – Additional reporting by Sapa

Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Thabang Makwetla, says prisoners in South Africa receive better health care from government than ordinary citizens who are not in jail.

Makwetla visited the Johannesburg Correctional Centre on Monday to show the media what the facility is doing about HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis (TB) and other communicable diseases.

Members of the media were taken on tour of the Johannesburg Prison, in particular, the clinic which works with the National Health Laboratory Services, making it easy to conduct tests on site.

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

The world is on track to provide antiretroviral therapy to 15 million people by 2015 and to eliminate mother to child transmission within the next few years.

As the focus now firmly shifts to ending the Aids epidemic by 2030, the United Nations Programme on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids) (UNAids), is pushing for a fast-track approach that could prevent nearly 28 million new infections and avert 21 million Aids-related deaths over the next 15 years.

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

Johannesburg – Cosatu in the Western Cape has welcomed the 15-year jail sentence imposed on former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown by the Supreme Court of Appeal.

“This must serve as a clear indication to fund managers that they are going to be put in jail for corruption and for stealing from the poor,” Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said in a statement on Monday.
For more http://www.news24.com

Ottosdal – Food Security in Letsopa, a township in Ottosdal received a boost as MEC for Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development Manketsi Tlhape visited the area to plant and handover vegetable gardens to assist food insecure households.

The handover ceremony was held at Ottosdal on recently as part of the Provincial Commemoration of 16 days of Activism against Women and Children abuse.

The campaign seeks to raise awareness of the negative impact that violence and abuse have on women and children and get rid of a society of abuse permanently.

About 50 families have been identified to benefit from the garden project initiated by the department.

These families are dominated by older persons, child heads as well as those with mothers as heads.

MEC Tlhape acknowledged that the challenges including unemployment, poverty and gender inequality that exist in communities lead to violence thriving in many families.

She said the department’s efforts of creating gardens for families are a result of the observation that many families which experience violence and abuse are those that are poverty stricken.

Tlhape has urged all stakeholders to come together and adopt the 2014 theme which states: “Count me in- Together moving a non violent South Africa forward”.

Annah Phutieagae, a 77 year old recipient of vegetable garden jubilantly said she had always been waiting for a day when government will extend a hand to their needs.

Phutieagae stays with her grandchildren who will assist her to take care of her garden.

She said she appreciated that government had provided them with what they had tried to implement as a family but didn’t sustain because of lack of resources. Her garden will grow vegetables including tomatoes, onions, cabbage and beetroot.
Garden essential handed over to the families include wheelbarrows, spade forks, spades, and irrigation aids.

When delivering her keynote address on behalf of MEC for Social Development, Fenny Gaolaolwe, MEC Tlhape indicated that the engagement with the community of Ottosdal is meant to share information with them so that women and children abuse can be prevented.
“This is one of the social ills, so we need to work together and make sure that we eradicate this problem,” MEC said.

“As we are celebrating 20 years of freedom and 16 years since the Launch of 16 Days of Activism, MEC Tlhape said that communities owe it to themselves to identify milestones of fighting abuse against women and children.

“We know the perpetrators because they are staying amongst. Time has come for us to stop hiding them and help authorities to move them out of society,” She emphasised.

She indicated that women have endured violence for a long time and the success of the campaign entirely rests on individuals and collective actions to safeguard the communities from a visible cycle of abuse.

According to MEC Tlhape, Letsopa is one of the townships where cases of violence have been recorded at a high rate.

“We have had many previous leaders coming personally to Letsopa to demonstrate against the acts of violence. There was appoint where we buried a young woman who was brutally murdered,” she proclaimed.

This violence, she added: “leads to families being broken and a high number of households where women and children are left to fend for themselves.

The event which had drawn community members across the Province was honoured by many managers from government sector including the departments of Social Development, Rural Environment and Agricultural Development, Sassa, other government agencies as well local government representatives.
-TDN
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Mahikeng- The Bokone Bophirima Provincial Government through Department of Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development will be hosting the Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit.

The focus will be on creating awareness about opportunities available to both emerging and existing entrepreneurs across all the sectors of the economy.

“The aim of the summit is to address challenges faced by entrepreneurs and also to create a platform that will able them to participate in the mainstream economy.

“This will result in their business being sustained and creating jobs to the local communities” departmental spokesperson Dumisa Seshabela said.

Seshabela said during the summit, industry experts will be there to share their experiences and knowledge with participants on various sectors being; Agriculture, Culture, Tourism and ICT

Details of the event are as follows:
Date: 02nd – 03rd December 2014
Venue: Mmabatho Convention Centre
Time: 09H00
-TDN
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Cape Town – Stellenbosch University’s (SU) new rector says it will be an honour for him to lead the process set out by former rector Professor Russel Botman.

SU made the announcement on Monday that Professor Wim de Villiers, dean of the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Health Sciences, was appointed the new Maties rector and vice-chancellor.
For more http://www.news24.com

Johannesburg – Stigma and discrimination against those living with HIV/Aids persists, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.

“This can have a devastating effect on the lives of people living with HIV and on those closest to them,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery at a World Aids Day event in Welkom, in the FREE State.

“It also undermines our efforts to tackle the epidemic.”

It was because of this that people were reluctant to be tested and to disclose their status to access treatment, care and support.

Efforts to fight against prejudice, stigma and discrimination needed to be redoubled.

“Like racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of intolerance, the stigmatisation of HIV is driven by ignorance and fear,” Ramaphosa said.

Despite the decline in the incidence of HIV there was a significant number of new infections every day.

A quarter of these were in women between the ages of 15 and 24.

Ramaphosa said more needed to be done to promote prevention, as it was within the power of the individual.

“Everyone, especially young people, should use condoms consistently, stick to one sexual partner and delay the age at which they first have sex,” he said.

“All leaders – whether in government, the religious sector, traditional leadership or business – need to speak about safer sex practices.”

Ramaphosa said government was concerned about the number of people who did not know their HIV status.

Referring to a recent SURVEY, he said about two million South Africans were living with HIV but did not know their status, which meant they were not getting the medical help they needed or protecting their partners.

“We must ensure that every South African tests for HIV and is screened for TB [Tuberculosis] annually.”

“Despite the progress that we have made in the past five years, the end of Aids is not as near as we would like,” Ramaphosa said.

At the International Aids Conference in Australia earlier this year a global target was announced.

These were the 90, 90, 90 targets.

This meant the country needed to test 90% of people for HIV, put 90% of those on treatment and ensure 90% of those on treatment were virally suppressed by 2030, he said.

Reaching this target was affordable over the mid-term.

However, a major barrier to achieving these targets was the stigma which still existed in the country.

“It is irrational. It is hurtful. It is unacceptable,” Ramaphosa said.

“While HIV has had an unprecedented impact on GLOBAL HEALTH, it is like any other disease. There should be no shame and no blame.”

– SAPA

Ventersdorp- In a bid to help municipalities to strengthen ties with communities in the North West Province and assist capacitate community members, the Department of Local Government and Human Settlements together with Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality held a ceremony to hand Ward Committee Offices and Certificates to honour ward committee members in Ventersdorp.

Ward committee members who were trained in different fields will be assisting and empowering community members in municipal affairs and therefore improving the standard of living through their inputs and guidance. A total number of 1881 ward committee members have been trained in the program, candidates had to pass 8 modules before receiving their certificates.

Only four provinces were identified for this project and North West was fortunate to be among the chosen. The project which has been a success through its pilot stages in the North West aims to arm community members with skills that enable them to assist other community members. The project was funded by European Union through the Department of Cooperative Governance.

The speaker of Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality Mbulelo Zephe officially opened the offices and handed them over to ward committees, committed to assist with the facilitation of the committees and make it easier for them to interact with community members.

Pule Moipolai, Director for Municipal Administration in the Department of Local Government and Human Settlement said the program is unique in its nature as community members will be helping other community members “There is no other project like this in the North West all thanks to Mr Eshmael Lesabe who led the project, all though it has not been smooth sailing all along, we are overwhelmed that the program has picked up” remarked Moipolai.

He continued that successful candidates who received the certificates were encourage to serve their communities with efficiency and be accountable. “It’s very important that communication with the community is maintained, and it should be transparent. Reporting back to the community is also equally vital, whether it is good or bad news” concluded Moipolai.