BY KATLEGO MOKAILA

According to the National Water Act of 1998, Item 6(1) of schedule 3 allows the Water and Sanitation Minister to limit the use of water if he/she believes that, on reasonable grounds, a water shortage exists within a certain area.

The constant watering of gardens, car washes and filling up of swimming pools especially in the summer season should stop because the higher the consumption the closer we are to water restrictions. Currently provinces such as Gauteng have imposed water restrictions and this is just a wakeup call to other provinces that are in actual fact in more serious drought.

In South Africa, most affected communities and households either receive free basic water or they can afford paying for water, but despite different backgrounds, they still misuse water.

The Department of Water and Sanitation constantly creates awareness about saving water. Irresponsible water use can only be brought to an end by behavioural change. This is what Minister Mokonyane is always preaching, “More than ever, we need a behavioural change to wise water use,” she says.

Of course pre-paid water meters can limit water consumption but also monitoring water meters is important to ensure you don’t end up with a high water bill. They say charity begins at home and that is why water wise awareness among children and those at home is important, that way even the recreational water toys which require a constant stream of water will not be preferred by children if they know they are wasting water.

Water is worth every cent because it is expensive, so please let’s not waste it.  Monitoring our water consumption in the kitchen, toilet, bathroom and garden will lead to less water bills. The use of grey water to flush the toilet and water the garden can limit the number of times you use fresh water to flush your toilet.

Unmetered yard stand pipes are now abused by the public and this does not contribute to wise water use. Instead of using the water for consumption, the water is now being used for gardening or car washes, all the signs of wasting water. Water conservation is meant to prevent water wastage and loss.

At home, avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily. Dispose of tissues, insects and other such waste in the trash rather than the toilet. The Drop-the-Block campaign promotes water use efficiency and entails placing a plastic block into a toiletcistern, and saves water by displacing up to 2 litres of water per flush. One important point sometimes ignored, is that all tenants in the flats and rental cottages should report all significant water losses (broken pipes, open hydrants, errant sprinklers, abandoned free-flowing wells, etc.) to the property owner or learn basic plumbing tips.

*This is Water and Sanitation department provincial spokesperson, Katlego Mokaila’s personal views. The newspaper does not necessary agree nor disagree with the personal opinion. The subject will remain the writer’s views.

Realeka Secondary School obtained position one during the 2016 Provincial School Participatory Education Technique (PET). The event was held at Barolong-Boora-Tshidi Hall in Mahikeng on Friday.

The community safety and transport management department spokesperson, Thabo Sematle said six schools participated in the competition.

“Identification and recommendations made on lack of road signs and potholes found on the Oliver Tambo Street at Letsopa Township in Ottosdal made it possible for the school to win.

“The five team members consist of pupils from Realeka Secondary School identified challenges they experience on daily basis on their way to school. They stated that the dilapidating roads put their lives at risk. The school will represent the North West at the National Competition that will be held later next month in the Limpopo,” Sematle said.

The second position was attained by Mmabatho High School as Marikana High School came third. He added that the winning school took home a whooping amount of R8 000, while second position pocketed R6 000 and third position went home with R4 000.

Speaking on behalf of the school, the jovial Candy Skei, an English and Mathematics teacher at Realeka said hard work, confidence and teamwork have contributed in achieving good results through the competition.

“We are grateful and the results are a clear indication that teamwork pays off. These kids have worked hard for this project. They had sleepless nights and today they are getting their reward,” said Skei.

Community Safety and Transport Management Acting Head of Department, Buti Chuma said the PET was an important programme that uplifts the confidence of learners and develop their level of thinking. He further said it encourages learners to consider other career opportunities.

“This is not just a competition but a programme which develops our children, and avails opportunities for them. With this programme, they are able to consider other career opportunities. From what they have displayed including their solutions to challenges they identified we are confident that we now have future engineers, town planners and architectures,” said Chuma.

He said that it was encouraging that learners were able to identify road safety problems in and around their schools and communities and further present immediate solutions.

“The PET is an educational flagship programme which aims at changing learner’s attitude towards road safety issues by means of participatory education. The programme also aims to encourage learners to be aware of road safety challenges in their community as well as to enhance learner’s presentation skills by ways of presentation sessions,” Chuma said.

During this programme, learners competed with each other by illustrating community safety problems and give researched presentation in form of displaying models and presentations with resources that are provided by the department.

Other participating schools were Monchusi, Itshupeng and Morare high Schools, which received and amount of R2 000 each.

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BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

MANTHE Community came out in numbers to celebrate Heritage Day at a local community hall in Mathe village near Taung on Saturday. The event was organised by Tumi Candy Trading Enterprise and other stakeholders.

One of organisers, Boitumelo Motimeng said heritage plays a pivotal role within the society. He said the society needs to safeguard the heritage.

“Our African heritage is under threat because of westernization. We decided to organise this event in remembrance of our heritage. We used to have Taung Cultural Calabash as one of the key proceedings in addressing social cohesion through heritage. However, it seems it is no more hence we came up with this.

Picture: (Gaamangwe Pinase Kgope on the stage sharing her views on Heritage Day)

“We believe that if we go back to basics, we will have a decorous society. Our youth will benefit from the event. We are tackling socio-economic issues that affect the youth through this event. We teach them the importance of heritage and how it can benefit them,” he said.

Motimeng who is a professional nurse said there is a cultural difference across ethnic groups. He added that cultural assortment is what South Africa has as the country.

“We also taught our community about cultural beliefs and what role they play nowadays especially in our health. There are things that were traditionally being applied in the past to address health issues. However, nowadays some of them are outdated.”

Gaamangwe Pinase Kgope also shared the same sentiments. Kgope said heritage can assist in narrowing the huge gap between parents and children.

“Our children are lost and bemused at the same time. However, if we continue to celebrate heritage, we will ensure that they know their identity. We need to know our identity as Africans in order to know where we are going. Engaging with elderly people will also be integral in knowing your identity. By conserving our heritage, we will be securing the future of our next generation,” Kgope added.

Another attendee, Lorato Reetseng said: “Heritage, tradition and culture go hand-in-hand. I believe that heritage can be fundamental also in marriages. You need to know the tradition, the culture and the clan of your in-laws. It will be effortless for you to adapt and understand what is expected from you. So, let us continue to do our utmost on this matter.”

Batlhaping High School pupil, Katlego Khunou said: “I have learnt a lot from this event. As a 16 year-old girl, I’ve already know what is expected from me as a girl child. I learnt a lot and also advice others to partake in events like this. Knowing our heritage and culture is key.”

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THE MARIKANA residents who illegally occupied about 500 completed houses in the R700m Marikana housing projects were given 60 days to vacate those houses. The North West High Court ruled in a favour of Rustenburg local municipality after a court squabble on Monday.

  However this did not deter the illegal occupants as they say they are ready to defy the court ruling.

 The Marikana illegal occupants’ representative, Napoleon Webster said they will never vacate the houses as they belong to them.

“These houses belong to us and no one will force us out. We know that we lost the case, but we have filed for an appeal. We will go to back to court on October 21. The judge did not adhere to our call, so we are adamant that this time we will win. The judgment was biased and we will never budge,” Webster said.

Rustenburg local municipality spokesperson, Thapelo Matebesi said the municipality finds itself in an adverse position. Matebesi said they have to deal with more than 24 informal settlements and a huge backlog of housing provision in its jurisdiction.

“To mitigate this challenge, as per the prescripts of the Housing Act, the municipality has taken all the reasonable and necessary steps within the national and provincial policy framework. We have provided our residents with decent accommodation as done during the process of integrated development planning in the recent years.

“Lawful beneficiaries were identified through extensive consultation with the community. The illegal occupation and pending threats of intensified illegal occupation continue to cause the delay for the completion of the project,” Matebesi.

Human settlements and local government department spokesperson, Be Bole said they will wait for an appeal before taking any drastically measures against the illegal occupants.

“We hope Marikana illegal occupants will respect the court ruling. The court ordered them to vacate the area. Those houses were built for rightful beneficiaries,” Bole said.

The illegal occupants occupied the housing units which were part of 2600 houses implemented by the North West department of Local Government and Human Settlement in conjunction with Lonmin Platinum mine.

The houses were officially handed over in January by North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo. The units are built on the 50hacter portion of land donated by Lonmin.

The project includes 535 RDP houses, subsidised rental flats and 34 financed linked individual subsidised programme houses.

The North West legislature’s Portfolio Committee on local government and human settlement said workers had an impression that the development were built for them.

Portfolio committee chairperson, Motlalepula Rosho said: “The challenge was that when the land was donated to the government, the workers were not formally informed about the development. They were not informed that they will not just get houses because they work for the mines.”

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BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

FOUR Schools in Mahikeng benefitted from a R2.6 million investment. Thanks to MTN Foundation. MTN Foundation SA senior manager in Information Communication Technology, Angie Maloka said they selected Letsatsing High, Barolong High, Mococeng High and Lapologang Secondary Schools.

Maloka said the schools were identified by the North West department of education and sport development based on their strategy analysis and needs.

“The foundation donated multimedia centres that consist of 20 seater computer laboratories, compujectors, printers, data projectors and interactive whiteboards.  All computer hardware comes with the approved curriculum that has been digitised for ease of use and access for both teachers and learners. 

“This will improve quality of learning and teaching. The identified schools will be significantly improved. We are grateful with our partnership which culminated in the donation of multimedia centres,” she said.

 Maloka added that this forms part of the Public Private Partnership. 

 MTN Foundation SA General Manager, Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi shared the same sentiments.

“Our partnership with government is a very practical and efficient one.  It allows both parties to capitalise on their capabilities and infrastructure to the benefit of the community and learners. MTN SA Foundation harnesses the company’s leading innovations in telecommunications to provide learners and teachers with tools to create a better life for them through education.

“Government uses their vast knowledge and understanding of the education system. It needs to guide us regarding where the facilities are needed and what type of intervention is required,” Mtunzi-Hairwadzi said.

 “We have also hand over 40 seater media centre to Mmabatho Nursing College. This forms part of the MTN SA Foundation’s 2016 e-Health programme. We have seen number of nursing colleges across the country being provided with a fully-kitted multimedia centres. The centre is kitted with hardware that is health and nursing specific,” she said.

North West MEC of Health department, MEC Dr Magome Masike said: “The department highly appreciate and value the contribution of the MTN SA Foundation. They play a pivotal role in developing and advancing the transformation agenda of government. MTN SA Foundation has seen it necessary to align with government’s call for public private partnerships in tackling our various service delivery programmes. 

“As department, we welcome this contribution to the learning environment of our learners who are in desperate need of these kinds of resources. This multi media centre will play an important part in addressing some of the challenges of development.”

Mmabatho Nursing College Principal of Multi-Campuses Mamotale Montshioa said: “The content and access to it will make all the difference in the pass rate.  The graphic and visual content makes understanding the human body so much easier.  Students now have access to content that visually demonstrates the inner and outer workings of the human body and all its components.”

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BY REGINALD KANYANE
LOCAL Government and human settlements department said the induction programme for all municipal councils is underway. Acting MEC for the department, Fenny Gaolaolwe said they have seen improvements in many local municipalities.

“We can confirm that all five municipalities that were under administration in the province were cleared. There is a lot of improvement in all municipalities and we hope to see more developments. The service delivery has also improved and we encourage our municipalities to implement back to basic programme.

“We also met with Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development department (FEED) two weeks ago. They confirmed that all municipalities are submitting their financial statements monthly. This includes all municipalities that failed to do so in the past,” Gaolaolwe said.

However, Gaolaolwe added that there were still more to address. She said Mamusa and Ditsobotla local municipalities received disclaimer in seven consecutive years.    

“We are aware that municipalities like Mamusa and Ditsobotla have received disclaimer in seven consecutive years. However, there is a program in place where incompetent municipalities can make use of. We normally look into the needs of the municipality and see where we can capacitate them. We are also conscious about unravelling situation at Mamusa local municipality. The Audit General reported that the municipality used R305m as wasteful, fruitless and irregular expenditure.

“According to the reports, the municipality also procured services from nine people who have close relations with some of senior officials. Those service providers did not disclose their relations. We have intervened and we decided to put the municipality’s financial structure under administration.

“Our senior administrator in finance will mitigate and make sure the municipality function well. We also met with municipal mayors of all municipalities across the province and requested them to make sure the municipalities function well,” she said.

Gaolaolwe further said they encouraged mayors and municipal managers to implement AG’s audit reports. She added that this will assist them with good governance.

“The department will also make use of consequence management too. We want to see accountability prevailing in all municipalities. We also recommended a good working relationship between municipalities and its communities. We are in a process of doing skill audit.

“The department requested all municipalities to submit its senior managers’ qualifications. The municipalities need to employ competent people with necessary skills. This will reduce the use of consultants because they are costly. The municipalities will submit all the advertised posts to our office to check if they meet requirements before taking them to newspapers for advertising,” she said.

Gaolaolwe said they wanted to do quality assurance and make sure they obtain needed skills. All administrators are still at the municipalities because they need to do a formal hand over to the new councils.

“We are also investigating the claims that Lekwa-Temane local municipal manager does not have relevant qualifications. We have received the report and investigations are underway. There was another issue raised regarding the acting municipal manager for Ditsobotla being paid by Madibeng local municipality.

“It is true and we have also engaged with SCOPA provincial chairperson, Mhlakeng Mahlakeng to address that matter. From now on, he will be paid by Ditsobotla local municipality,” she said.

Ditsobotla acting municipal manager was previously working at Madibeng local municipality and he was transferred to Ditsobotla.

Gaolaolwe also highlighted on Marikana RDP houses. She said the North West High Court ordered the illegal occupants to vacate the area.

“We are now waiting for the law enforcement authorities to implement court order. The court gave those illegal occupants 60 days to vacate the houses. We also request them to vacate the houses and let the housing project continues.

“We urge them to visit our offices to apply for houses by following proper procedure. Those houses have relevant beneficiaries and by so doing they deter the process. We are proudly to announce that flats at Ext 39 in Mahikeng will be in operational come November.          

However, the Marikana illegal occupants’ representative, Napoleon Webster said they will never vacate the houses as they belong to them.

“These houses belong to us and no one will force us out. We know that we lost the case, but we have filed for an appeal. We will go to back to court on October 21. The judge did not adhere to our call, so we are adamant that this time we will win. The judgment was biased and we will never budge,” Webster said.

Rustenburg local municipality spokesperson, Thapelo Matebesi said the municipality finds itself in an adverse position. Matebesi said they have to deal with more than 24 informal settlements and a huge backlog of housing provision in its jurisdiction.

“To mitigate this challenge, as per the prescripts of the Housing Act, the municipality has taken all the reasonable and necessary steps within the national and provincial policy framework. We have provided our residents with decent accommodation as done during the process of integrated development planning in the recent years.

“Lawful beneficiaries were identified through extensive consultation with the community. The illegal occupation and pending threats of intensified illegal occupation continue to cause the delay for the completion of the project,” Matebesi.

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BY REGINALD KANYANE

ANOTHER minor has gone
missing in Koster. North West police said Queen Nebe, 10 went missing on
September 13.

“Nebe resides at house no 5105
at Senthomole Section in Reagile, Koster. She was last seen on the 13^th
of September at a tuckshop by her neighbour. The police urge anyone who could
assist with any information that could lead to find Nebe to come forward.

“They can also contact the
investigating officer, Cst Morolodi of
Koster Police Station. He can be contacted on the following numbers: 
014-543 8600/076 510 9112.

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BY REGINALD KANYANE

BATLHAPING High School was yanked into controversy by Douglas Police Station former typist, Thapelo Samson Shongwe. Shongwe lied about his qualifications and said he passed his Grade 10 at the renowned school.

He was arrested back in October 2015 after it was discovered that he submitted fraudulent document in order to gain employment within the South African Police Service.

The Hawks spokesperson in Northern Cape, Capt Philani Nkwalase said Shongwe’s appointment dates back from 26 March 2004.

“He worked as a data typist for the duration of his employment. The minimum requirement for a data typist post was Grade 10 as advertised. However, Shongwe submitted a statement of symbols on his application indicating that he wrote his matric examination in November 2003.

“He also highlighted that he passed his Grade 10 in 1989 at Batlhaping High School. Hawks Investigations revealed that Shongwe did not meet the minimum requirements for the post he occupied,” Nkwalase said.

Shongwe firstly appeared in Douglas Magistrate’s Court in October 20, 2015. He was released on R1000 bail.

Nkwalase added that in September 20 this year, Shongwe pleaded guilty.

“He was fine R6000 or 24 months imprisonment. The court further imposed 24 months imprisonment on him and suspended it for five years on condition that he is not found guilty on similar offences,” he said.

Northern Cape Hawks Provincial Head, Major General KD Galawe said they welcome the court outcomes against Thapelo Samson Shongwe.

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BY REGINALD KANYANE

THE recent attacks on emergency personnel have left a bitter taste in the mouth of many as they say they are afraid to go out and assist. Er24 spokesperson, Chitra Bodasing Harduth said emergency personnel are called upon to help people in their greatest time of need.

“In many instances, they could be the difference between life and death. Despite their dedication to helping strangers and aiming to save as many lives as possible, the risk of finding themselves in life-threatening situations when trying to assist people in need of medical attention is increasing.

“Attacks on EMS crews have been going on for a long time. Crimes committed against them started increasing a few years ago.  At ER24, just one of various emergency medical service companies in the country, there has been about 15 incidents over the past two years,” she said.

Bodasing-Harduth said some of these incidents resulted in crews sustaining serious injuries. She further said fortunately, there have not been any fatalities at ER24 to date.

“EMS personnel have been attacked, robbed, hijacked, stabbed and assaulted. These incidents either occurred while staff is responding to an incident, at a scene while attending to a patient or while on their way to or at the hospital for example.

“There have been incidents where criminals have posed as fake patients in order to attack and rob staff. Items have been stolen from the ambulance while paramedics were attending to a patient on a scene. EMS personnel attend to a number of medical-related calls in crime hotspots. There were instances where paramedics were targeted in these areas,” she said.

Bodasing-Harduth added that EMS personnel have also been seen as the “enemy” at protests and other hostile situations. She further said they have been attacked while trying to attend to patients at some of these incidents.

“ER24 launched a course called EMSHE (Emergency Medical Support in Hostile Environments) in 2011. This course is directly targeted at addressing concerns relating to violent crimes committed against EMS personnel.”

Peter van der Spuy, General Manager of Quality Assurance and Support Services at ER24 said: “The aim of the course which entails various training exercises, is to teach our staff various skills such as identifying hostile environments, how to deal with these situations and, if the need arises, how to defend themselves and the patient.

“We have found that this course has better equipped staff to deal with crimes committed against them (opportunistic crimes while attending to patients or while responding, during protests and other hostile incidents for example),” she said.

“In 2014 we introduced EMSHE 2, a more advanced course. We have seen a number of successes due to the implementation of EMSHE. In addition, ER24 also has continued education courses and workshops to better equip staff. We pride ourselves in protecting our staff,” Van der Spuy said.

“ER24 also works closely with the SAPS to ensure that it keeps up to date with trends and hotspots to further improve the safety of staff. We monitor situations and have a network which helps in identifying potential threats. ER24 works well with various local authorities and we have utilised their services numerous times. We continue to do so.

“Dealing with various incidents and scenarios can have a severe and negative impact on EMS personnel. ER24 ensures that staff members have access to trauma support specialists when required. Debriefing takes place as well,” she said.

“There are instances, such as during protests for example, where EMS personnel are either instructed not to enter a hostile area until it is cleared by authorities or are escorted by authorities to gain access to patients.

“There are also cases where the patient has to be brought out to EMS personnel. With this said, we also have processes in place to determine which crews, based on their experience and training, will go into these areas should the need arise,” said Van der Spuy.

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