Polokwane – Poor infrastructure at a Limpopo school had resulted in rain damaging textbooks and pupils missing lessons, Section27 said on Wednesday.

“A few days earlier, at Jaji Secondary School, teachers and pupils held (up) umbrellas inside the classrooms while lessons were conducted,” it said in a statement.

The organisation said it had found “shocking” infrastructure when one of its representatives visited the school, which is situated in the Vhembe district, last month.

The leaks had damaged textbooks, stationary and electronic equipment.

The rain also destroyed a small bridge, resulting in pupils, teachers and the principal not being able to get to the school.

The Limpopo education department accused Section27 of “grandstanding”.

“It is unfortunate that Section27 decided to grandstand and declare themselves champions of service delivery in our schools,” said spokesman Pat Kgomo.

“We welcome their continuous engagements with us, but not to the extent of them overstating their importance over the department.”

Kgomo said the infrastructure at Jaji and other schools was being addressed.

The public works department had been asked to help refurbish five leaking classroom blocks at Jaji.

“The refurbishments will be completed by the end of the month. We have also engaged the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) to build extra toilets at the school.”

Section27 said it would hold a media briefing on Thursday about its findings at the school. – Sapa

BY Obakeng Maje

Mmabatho-North West police arrested a 33 year old man after a rape and murder of a granny.

Betty Titse,98 was found murdered in her home at Tloung village, near Mahikeng.

The granny was found by her grandson in the Sunday morning while on his way to church.

“The police pounced on a 33 year-old man after an intensive investigations. The police found the clothes he was allegedly wearing during the commission of crime with stain of blood” captain Amanda Funani said.

The suspect will appear before magistrate at Mmabatho Magistrate Court on Friday for charges of rape and murder. 

South Africa has experienced scourge of rapes across the country recently.

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BY Obakeng Maje

Taung-The classes came to a standstill today at Vuselela FET College in Pudumong, near Taung after the students embarked on a strike.

The students are accusing the Management of the college for ill-treating them. The college is situated in Pudumong village near Taung.

They demand Campus Manager to step down as she does not listen to their grievances. The strike forced the CEO Dr Mochwanaesi to come and calm the students down.

“The CEO Mr Mochwanaesi is currently on his way to Taung to talk to the unhappy students” The college Head office said.

Even though the details are little bit sketchy, the students say one of the unhappiness issues is that the Campus Manager trweat that like dirt.

They accusing the Acting Campus Manager as a racist and she is practicing favouritism.

The students are currently protesting outside the building and the situation is calm.

Taung DailyNews tried to contact Dr Mochwanaesi but our try was futile as his phone was engaged.

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Free State – Free State male nurse Michael Moema was on Wednesday acquitted on two charges of rape by the Bloemfontein High Court.

Judge Faan Hancke acquitted Moema, who was accused of raping a terminally ill cancer patient at the National Hospital in Bloemfontein.

The judge held there was a possibility the cancer patient was not raped.

There were tears of joy out in the public gallery, where some of  Moema’s colleagues were seated.

An emotional Moema said outside the court he was very relieved. He said the allegation that he raped the patient was “a pure lie and that you cannot mix a lie with the truth”.

“I’m very relieved,” he added. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

Bafana Bafana Coach Gordon Igesund yesterday admitted himself in hospital suffering from severe abdominal pains.

Initial tests showed that the Bafana coach might be suffering from appendicitis.

Dr Ephraim Nematswerani who is attending to coach Igesund said so far he had detected that the national coach might be having appendicitis.

“Thorough and further investigations are being carried out to confirm the diagnosis. We are however, confident that he will be back on his feet soon. It is nothing too serious,” added Dr Nematswerani.

SA Jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim is visiting Kimberley’ Beaconsfield Community hall at 12 (noon) today (Wed 13. 2013) with Japanese artists.

Ibrahim and the Japanese entourage will jam with local cultural activists/artists at the Beaconsfield hall starting at noon today.

Entrance Free.

The Tlokwe municipality’s finances are on a “progressive path”, despite irregularly spending of millions in the 2011/2012 financial  year, it said on Tuesday.

“The irregular expenditure or unauthorised expenditure incidents  do not necessarily mean that money was misused, but only that certain supply chain procedures were not followed,” spokesman William Maphosa said in a statement.

The municipality was responding to the Democratic Alliance citing an auditor general report, which found the North West municipality had irregularly spent R143 million while under the administration of former mayor Maphetle Maphetle.

On Monday, DA leader in the North West Chris Hattingh, said now that the party was running the Tlokwe municipality it would clean up its finances and focus on delivery.

“Dramatic increases in irregular and unauthorised expenditure, as well as material under-expenditure, have become endemic in the North West province, plagued by years of the ANC’s factional infighting in a quest for power and control over financial resources,” Hattingh said.

The AG’s figures showed that under Maphetle R152 million was spent without authorisation, and a further R2.8 million was wastefully spent. In addition, the municipality under-spent its budget by R48 million.

The AG found a total of 63 problem areas in the municipality’s finances.

“As a consequence, service delivery was negatively affected, the  AG found,” Hattingh said.

“In most cases, 60 percent of the delivery targets set for the municipality were too vague for the AG to verify.”

The municipality said the DA had not fully interpreted the report.

“What the DA is not disclosing is the fact that the AG has also pronounced an unqualified audit for the municipality’s 2011/2012

finances, the period before the DA had hardly dreamt of assuming administrative power in the local council,” Maphosa said.

He said the municipality had established a public finance committee and had staffed the supply chain unit.

“Once these processes are finalised, this municipality will consistently maintain a clean audit, and indications are that this will have been achieved already by next year,” said Maphosa.

Maphetle was replaced by the DA’s Annette Combrink in November last year, after warring factions within the African National Congress filed a motion of no confidence in him.

The ANC in Tlokwe said it would have Maphetle re-instated, with several ANC members already tabling a motion of no confidence in Combrink.

On Monday, President Jacob Zuma and deputy ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa visited the area for talks with members of the divided city council. – Sapa

Johannesburg – Vehicle manufacturer Daimler Chrysler’s chief executive officer Trent Barcroft was in hospital after he was shot at during a robbery in Midrand, Gauteng police said on Wednesday.

“He was with his wife, who was unharmed. He was shot in the stomach… the attackers took jewellery, cellphones and the wife’s handbag,” spokeswoman Captain Kym Cloete said.

The two were on their way home when the attack happened on Tuesday.

No arrests had been made. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

South African Football Association (SAFA) has welcomed the eight-year sentence imposed on Phil “Mr Jones” Setshedi for match fixing. He will serve an effective three years in prison, with five years of the sentence suspended for five years.

The sentence was handed down by the Bellville Commercial Crimes Court, in Cape Town yesterday, 12 February 2013.

Setshedi was convicted on 7 December 2012 of contravening section 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, Act 12 but his sentence was deferred to February this year.

Setshedi was found guilty of an attempt to unduly and improperly influence the outcome of one of the 2011 Vodacom Play Off matches in Cape Town in 2011.

He was arrested on 8 June 2011 after SAFA reported him to the police following representations to SAFA officials in a bid to influence the outcome of one of the matches. This conviction comes out of SAFA’s close working relationship with the Hawks on corruption in football.

Court proceedings commenced at Bellville Commercial Crimes Court in November 2011 and concluded last December when the accused was convicted.

Handing down the sentence, Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg said match fixing was against the ethos of fair play and should never be tolerated. She noted match fixing was a growing scourge around the world and therefore the South African Courts needed to contribute to the fight against the disease by imposing harsh sentences which should be a deterrent to other potential match fixers.

SAFA President, Mr Kirsten Nematandani said the sentence of Setshedi would send out a clear message to other would-be corrupt elements that match fixing has no place in our soccer.

“Once again, this sends out a strong warning to anyone who might intend to tarnish the good name of the sport through corrupt and any other unsporting behaviour.

“In accordance with FIFA and SAFA’s zero tolerance to corruption and match fixing, we would like to warn other potential criminals that the long arm of the law would not spare you,” said Mr Nematandani.

Members of the public, players, football administrators and members of the media are encouraged to report suspicious activities in football on the 24 hour anti-corruption hotline number 

0 800 777 228.