Premier Thandi Modise says that the depth of commitment displayed by all involved in the teaching and learning process gives her confidence that North West Province would not only consolidate and sustain the improvement in matric results it has recorded over the past few years but that it would increase its pass percentage in this year’s examination.

“We wish all learners who will be sitting for their examinations as from tomorrow the very best and call on them to stay focused and not be distracted from the task at hand. Whatever sacrifices and extra effort they have put to revise will definitely pay off. We believe in them to succeed and make us proud,” highlighted Premier Modise adding that investing in the education of young people as future leaders is key to sustainable development.

The Premier said that the provincial government expects the success of the focus on quality improvement and extra efforts put through the last push revision campaign over the past three weeks to be reflected not only in the results, but also in the skills and competencies of the learners who will be exiting the school system.

The MEC for Education, Wendy Matsemela had recently assured the Executive Council that her department has made all the necessary preparations to ensure the successful administration of the examinations and has gone to great lengths to put in place the required measures to safeguard the integrity of the examinations process.

“It should be all systems go tomorrow. The checks and balances that have been put in place and perfected over the past 19 years should ensure that there are no glitches and no hiccups,” Modise emphasised.

Premier Modise had called for special prayers for matriculants during this weekend church services.-TDN

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North West Premier Thandi Modise has implored parties involved in wage negotiations at Impala Platinum Mine to return to the mediation process and negotiate in good faith to explore deadlock breaking mechanisms to their current wage negotiation dispute.

Premier Modise said that parties should not to lose sight of the progress they had registered within the mediation process facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) as it is critical towards rebuilding a relationship based on trust and respect and avoiding actions that adversely affect this relationship, 

“The Framework Agreement for a Sustainable Mining Industry should guide the wage negotiation process and adherence to the framework of the law and established structures of collective bargaining. Strengthening the mining sector to set it on a sustainable footing requires management and labour to engage each other to find win-win solutions instead of screaming threats at each other,” she stressed.-TDN

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Rustenburg-Platinum Stars and their partners ABSA, North West FM and ABI held a hugely successful charity car wash at the BP Garage in Tlhabane on Saturday.

Platinum Stars’ Brand manager Tebogo Mochadibane, Supporters’ Co-Ordinator Aubrey Molobi and Dorothy Thyobeka, Marketing Officer for North West FM, get stuck in to work

A number of fans came out to meet their Platinum Stars heroes and have their cars washed by members of the Dikwena staff and those from our partner organisations.

ABSA have very generously stated that they will double all the proceeds made at the car wash, which will go to needy organisations in the North West community.

“It was a great day out and we were overwhelmed with the support from the community. We wish to thank our partners for giving of their time and also the supporters for helping us to serve our communities,” says Platinum Stars Supporters’ Co-coordinator & Media Relations head Aubrey Molobi.

Meanwhile, Stars will be hosting meetings with the supporters’ club branches in Atteridgeville (starting at 15h00) and Lefaragatlhe (17h00) today.

All supporters are welcome to come and share their views with the club.-TDN

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Two pedestrians sustained serious injuries when they were involved in two separate hit runs in Pietermaritzburg.

The first reported incident took place on Saturday evening. A 26-year-old woman was found lying on Greytown road in Northdale in a critical condition by pedestrians who then contacted ER24 paramedics.

On arrival, responding crew members discovered that she had sustained injuries indicating that she was struck by a vehicle and dragged underneath it.

The patient showed decreased levels of consciousness and sustained radiator wounds, a compound fracture on one leg, significant road rash and avulsions on her back.

“Hit and runs are common on this road because there are usually many pedestrians walking along it and some sections of the road aren’t well lit,” said responding ALS paramedic Emmah Boreham.

Boreham added that the fact that it was pay day for many people was also a contributing factor for such incidents.

The second hit and run incident which took place in the wee hours of this morning on College road in Pelham, involved a 30-year-old male.

A 30-year-old man was found unconscious and received breathing assistance, suffered a deep gash on his head and was found to have lost approximately half a liter of blood.

The amount of blood he lost indicated to responding ER24 paramedics that he may have lain on the road for several hours after being hit.

Both patients were transported to nearby hospitals for further treatment.-TDN

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Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane says he does not blame Polokwane City for parking the bus to earn their 1-0 win last night.

City handed Downs their first League loss of the season, after an own-goal by Tebogo Langerman in the first half.

Sundowns came into the match off a 7-1 win over AmaZulu, but could not break through the Polokwane defence.

“[Our first loss] had to come sometime, but it is football,” ‘Jingles’ says. “They attacked once and scored. It is sad, but it’s football.

“It was a nice parked bus; you can’t move the bus, but I understand Boebie [Solomons, new City coach] needs the points, and they needed them more than us; that’s why their central defender was man of the match.”

Mosimane says he appreciates that the Brazilians fans were behind his team all the way.

“We didn’t play well on the wings. Our wing play was not very good, but these things happen. Sundowns fans are singing and they understand that we tried.”

For more http://www.kickoff.com

Everything is being done to expedite the financial assistance required to mitigate against the drought conditions they are currently experiencing, North West Premier Thandi Modise assured farmers in a statement issued on Sunday.

“Processes to access the R 400 million emergency relief grant to assist the 23 346 farmers who have applied for financial assistance to safe close to 1 million livestock units across the province are at an advanced stage for relief to be rolled out soon as the impact of the drought has had a devastating impact on crops, livestock and the livelihood of both subsistence and commercial farmers,” Premier Modise highlighted.

Modise said that R50 million of the emergency relief grant that the province expects to be transferred in the next week will be targeted for rehabilitation of water reticulation infrastructure such as boreholes and windmills to alleviate water shortage for human consumption currently experienced in Mamusa, Greater Taung, Kagisano-Molopo and Ditsobotla.

Meanwhile, Premier Modise is scheduled to meet with a delegation of the North West Agricultural Sector Unity Forum that represents North West African Farmers Association, Agri-North West, North West African Farmers Union (NAFU) and Transvaal Agriculture Union (TAU)-Western Region on Tuesday in Mahikeng to address the concerns of the forum regarding the advertised tender process for the provision and distribution of animal feed.

ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa will be hauled before the Marikana Commission of Inquiry chaired by retired Judge Ian Farlam.

He will be asked to explain the alleged pressure he exerted on police, ahead of the killing of 34 miners in Marikana last year.

This week, a transcript of a high-level meeting came to light in which Ramaphosa was further implicated as a force behind the ramped-up police action that preceded the miners’ deaths.

Ramaphosa will have to tell the commission how and why he pressurised Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa into acting against the miners.

Highly placed sources within the Farlam commission say Mthethwa will also be called to testify.

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

Johannesburg – The DA welcomed on Saturday several tribal chiefs from Limpopo as new members of the party.

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said she met and welcomed about 40 chiefs and elders around Maleboho, near Bochum, to the party. She said they had expressed interest in the DA.

“The people of Limpopo are still in need of basic services like water. Many are without those essentials that government is supposed to provide,” she said.

Zille said under the right leadership the province had “great potential”.

“We won a ward here recently and we believe our work and policies will speak for themselves in the province.”

She was confident her party would perform very well in Limpopo in the national elections next year. SAPA

Johannesburg – The people of Africa must reject any idea from outside the continent which would lead to regime change in an African state, President Jacob Zuma said on Saturday.

“Through the AU [African Union], the peoples of Africa must reject any idea from outside the continent which seeks to foster an agenda of regime change,” Zuma said at the University of Fort Hare’s East London campus.

In a speech prepared for delivery at the university’s Organisation of African Unity (OAU) 50th anniversary lecture, the president said the replacement of democratically elected governments on the continent must be rejected.

“We must do everything we can to prevent Africa from being cheaply auctioned as a result of the ineptitude and lack of united action and resolve on the part of some of its leaders in safeguarding its vital territorial and sovereign interests,” Zuma said.

The mandate of the OAU had been to deliver African unity, freedom, independence, economic emancipation and development.

Hope

The achievement of these objectives still continued today under the banner of the AU.

The AU replaced the OAU on 9 July 2002. The OAU was founded on 25 May 1963.

Zuma said Africa was no longer a place devoid of hope as was believed in the past, with it now being one of the world’s prime regions of economic growth.

“Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. It is no longer characterised as hopeless, but rather as a continent of hope and opportunity,” he said.

The economic emancipation of the continent, as envisaged by the OAU and AU, could be best attained through economic integration.

This would enable Africa to grow its markets, allow for more diversification, and encourage the optimisation of resources.

Integration would help lower transport costs, and ensure people, goods and services were able to move effectively and efficiently across the continent.

For integration to be achieved, providing the needed infrastructure was critical.

“Roads, bridges, rail lines, pipelines, power plants, ICT connectivity, cables, ports, and water-ways are the underpinning arteries of growth,” Zuma said.

Africa’s people, including those who lived outside its borders, also had to recognise that they needed to contribute to its development.

“Beyond this, Africa cannot develop if the continent is not peaceful, and there cannot be peace without development as the two are indivisibly intertwined,” Zuma said.

“The peace and security efforts that the African Union is championing in the continent are important and should be supported by every member state.”

Zuma said Africans should continue to think globally, beyond the confines of the continent.

“We want to be part of the UN Security Council. We want to see an urgent transformation of global economic institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” he said. SAPA

Johannesburg – Police have seen a trend emerge where more children were being killed by their mothers, The Sunday Times reported.

Family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit operational head Brigadier Bafana Linda told the newspaper, “We are seeing more children dying at the hands of their mothers.

“This is extremely worrying. How do the police prevent a child from getting killed in the place where they are presumed to be the most safe?”

The unit secured 499 life sentence convictions over the past financial year alone, Linda said.

A World Health Organisation study released in May stated that 1018 child murders took place in South Africa in 2009, the newspaper reported.

Over a third, 35.5%, were killed by an acquaintance and nearly 30% by their mothers.

Nearly half, 45.9%, took place in a public space, 34% in the victim’s home, while girls were more likely to be killed at home than boys.

Of the children murdered, 43% were cared for by single mothers and 29.8% by both parents.

SAPA