North West MEC for Social Development Fenny Gaolaolwe on Monday fulfilled her promise to take Banyana Malefo’s nine grandchildren to crèche and the local primary school when the schools reopened yesterday.

“During my first visit to Malefo family I made an undertaking to deploy social workers to look for space for these children and register them at a nearby crèche, which they did. I further promised the family that I would take the children to the crèche myself when the school reopens in July. Here they are today, registered at Jakunda early childhood development centre” Gaolaolwe said.

She said the other two children aged 12 and 15 are to be registered at Signal Hill Primary school while others are to be admitted at an ABET school in the area.

Gaolaolwe’s department and the National Development Agency would explore possibilities of renovating the current structure or building a new prototype early childhood development centre to cater to more than 150 children in the area.

When the school reopened on Monday, some of the five children, Tshireletso 5, keletso 7, and Puseletso 5, could be heard teasing their friends when they left their granny’s dilapidated shack to Jakunda crèche with MEC Gaolaolwe.

The children aged 0-6, accompanied by MEC Gaolaolwe were welcomed to Jakunda early childhood development centre at Signal Hill.

“We are going to crèche, man,” they said, jubilantly.

The manager of Jakunda crèche Agnes Mogale welcomed Malefo’s five children to the centre with open hands. Her crèche caters for 52 children from poverty stricken families who depend largely on social grants.

“I am so happy to receive these children. The more we have children in this centre, the more the stipend increases. For children aged 0-2 years parents pay R90 and for those aged 0-6, they pay R150 per month. We use this money to pay for the teachers and buy food,” Mogale said.

Yesterday after receiving Malefo’s children Mogale was granted a piece of land by the local chief.

“When government avail funds, we would built a big centre for all the children in this area,” she said.

Banyana Molefo(72), a mother of four daughter lives in a dilapidated shack with more than nine grandchildren including their four mothers who are unemployed. Malefo says her family depends on her pension grant which she claimed is minimal to cater for the rest of the family members.

She added: “All these children do not have birth certificates. As a result they are not getting child support grant because their mothers do not have identity documents. They all have to depend on me for survival.”

Signal Hill is notorious for child neglect and misuse of social grants. Most of the residents spend time drinking ‘nola,’ a home made beer to whirl away time.

MEC Gaolaolwe said her department would do household profiling in the area before the end of this month to determine needs of the residents in the area.-TDN
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Bloemhof- Premier of the North West Mr Supra Mahumapelo will on Wednesday convene a mass day of Reconciliation, Healing and Renewal to pray for peace in Bloemhof following events of the last two months.

This event will kick start a province-wide campaign spearheaded by Premier Mahumapelo as announced during the State of the Province Address.

“The purpose of this programme is to restore peace and stability in Boitumelong in particular and reignite the spirit of community and cooperation amongst communities affected by violence and other social ills in the area” Sam Mokaila said. 

Mokaila said the prayer day will be facilitated by community and church leaders from various denominations. 

Mahumapelo has committed himself to a lasting and sustainable solution for the area that includes government intervention on socio economic challenges facing the community in Bloemhof.  

The event that will be held as follows:

Venue: Boitumelong Cover Ground, Bloemhof
Date: Wednesday 23 July 2014
Time: 10 o’clock
-TDN
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Ottosdal- The community of Letsopa outside Ottosdal will on Friday, be officially handed a State of the art library by the MEC for Culture, Arts and Traditional Affairs (DCATA) Tebogo Modise.

The Department in partnership with Tswaing Local Municipality’s main aim is to provide storehouse of knowledge which will be accessible to everyone in the area, regardless their social status in society.

The high tech facility will form part of the province objective to provide quality libraries around the province and will feature Public Internet Access (PIA) for locals to surf for research and other educational purposes. Another key feature is the facilitation of reading for the blind, through Braille capability.

The community library will also provide toy library service that supports programmes for Early Childhood Development.

“The official opening of the library is an important event that signifies commitment of government in improving the lives of the people,” said MEC Modise.

She added. “We continue to focus on the previously disadvantaged, whilst addressing key considerations such as social cohesion, nation building and education.”

The event as follows:

Venue : Letsopa Community Library (Ottosdal)

Date : 25 July 2014

Time : 09h00

-TDN
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The North West MEC for Finance and Enterprise Development Wendy Nelson says government will ensure provincial municipalities get all the support they require and are fully capacitated to deliver quality services to communities.

Although she does not believe in throwing money to solve problems, MEC Nelson told the Provincial Municipalities’ Chief Financial Officers Forum in Mahikeng that provincial treasury has dedicated resources to help them deal with their challenges. She said government remains committed to work with all spheres to ensure the repositioning of municipalities as part of the broader rebranding of the North West Province.

She said since her assumption of duties she has become increasingly aware of collective responsibilities to ensure that municipalities, as coal face of service delivery are run efficiently to improve service delivery to the citizens of the province.

She further cautioned against reckless, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and called for prudent spending of public funds and resources.

“We are responsible for good spend but ultimately for ensuring that we spend within the necessary confines of the law. As part of ensuring accountability new means of consequence management should be put in place to ensure adherence to policy and legislation. We must remain conscious of the fact that we are dealing with the public purse and must act responsibly.”

Nelson reiterated government’s commitment to ensure that all suppliers are paid within thirty (30) working days of rendering service and goods. These will also include payment of creditors such as electricity utility Eskom, Water Boards and the Auditor General’s fees and she will be meeting with them in the near future to resolve the problem of debts owed by municipalities.

As intervention measure, the national treasury, provincial treasury and the department of local government and human settlements will engage municipalities to sign payment agreements. Where necessary, some municipalities are going to be assisted with the development and implementation of a financial recovery plan.
Nelson also indicated that provincial departments owing municipalities will also be engaged to ensure that accounts are serviced.

She informed the gathering a dedicated official will be made available to each municipality assist in the closure and ratification of all accounts owed by municipalities.

She said no municipality will be allowed to make late submission of the financial statements to the Auditor General. She said submission should not be for compliance purpose only but to ensure that issues raised and highlighted by the Auditor General are addressed and the quality of information contained therein is of the highest standard to ensure positive future audit opinion.
-TDN
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By Obakeng Maje
Jan Kempdorp-Jan Kempdorp police are investigating two counts of attempted murder and armed robbery. Lieutenant Sergio Kock said nine men allegedly robbed a shop in Ganspan, Jan Kempdorp.

“Two of the men were armed with a knife and gun. The armed men threatened the shop owner and his assistant and shot both of them in the stomach” Kock said.

The men took an undisclosed amount of money, airtime and cigarettes before fleeing the scene.

Both the injured men are aged 36 and were transported to Jan Kempdorp Hospital for medical treatment and later transferred to Kimberley Hospital, where they are said to be in a serious condition.

No arrests have been made and the police request that anyone with information urged call Det Warrant Officer Dennis on 074 846 1641. The investigation continues.-TDN
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By Obakeng Maje
Mahikeng- Embattled North West Provincial Head of Communication, Lesiba Kgwele has redirected his complaint against the SABC to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission for the public broadcaster’s distortion of his statement responding to his widely publicised dismissal from the Office of the Premier.

“The SABC first broadcasted the statement issued by the Acting Director General without seeking my comment and contrary to the statement that i had issued reported on that i had alleged that senior politicians are involved in the bigger orchestrated plot to purge and ultimately destroy me” Lesiba Kgwele said.

He said such insensitive distortions and sensationalised reporting not only have the potential to jeopardise my case including the appeal process but are also a violation of my constitutional rights.

“The endorsement of the premature announcement of my dismissal by Democratic Alliance(DA) Provincial Leader, Chris Hattingh is not suprising as his party would be the major and unintended beneficiary of my sacking” he said.

Kgwele said it is not in Hattingh’s party interest that the provincial government has at its helm a skilled, experienced and assertive communicator who has frustrated its effort to project government in a negative light.-TDN
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Johannesburg – A man was expected to appear in court on Monday in connection with the discovery of the dismembered corpse of a four-year-old boy at a church in Pongola, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

Captain Thulani Zwane said a 23-year-old man was arrested on Thursday and was expected to appear in the Pongola Magistrate’s Court.

“He is facing kidnapping and murder charges. He was also linked to another kidnapping and assault where a five-year-old boy was kidnapped in the same area in June 2014,” said Zwane.

He said the pastor who was earlier held after the corpse was found at his church was in hospital.

“The priest was found in the boot of his car on Friday. We do not have further details, police are waiting for him to recover so we can get the details,” said Zwane.

He said more details were not available.

On 15 July, the pastor was released and at the time police said no arrest were made.

The pastor was held by police following the discovery of the remains of a missing four-year-old at his church on 6 June.

The remains of Kiki Ntuli were found in a plastic bag on the church premises.

Forensic specialists who probed the 51-year-old pastor’s property found more bones on 11 July. Police also discovered a skull and skeleton at a woman’s house in Ncotshane.

Police said it was unclear whether those bones were linked to the Ntuli case or whether they were those of a human being.

The bones were taken for forensic testing.

A few days after the boy’s corpse was found, angry Pongola residents went on the rampage and torched the pastor’s church and woman’s house.

Fifteen people were arrested on charges of violence and were scheduled to appear in the Ncotshane Magistrate’s Court. The court, however, was petrol-bombed.

The group finally appeared in the Pongola Magistrate’s Court on Friday where they were released on a warning. Their case was postponed to 28 July.

SAPA