Johannesburg – The problem-stricken Thaba Chweu municipal council in Mpumalanga should be dissolved and fresh by-elections held in the area, the DA said on Tuesday.

It said it had learnt that acting municipal manager Thumelo Ratau was to be made acting chief financial officer (CFO) 20 days after his appointment.

DA councillor Sonja Boshoff said he would be replaced by Gilbert Nkosi.

The local ANC caucus would be informed of the decision later on Tuesday so it could be ratified at the next council sitting, she said.

Co-operative governance spokesperson Simphiwe Kunene said: “We must dismiss those assertions by the DA. We indicate clearly that this is grandstanding.

“We have an obligation as a department and provincial government to support all municipalities. We have not failed in our task. We just sent this team around two weeks back.”

A Sapa correspondent reported on 27 September that an administrative support team had been sent to prevent the total collapse of the municipality.

While the municipality had been placed under administration twice in the past eight years, this time it had been decided to send in a support team.

Premier David Mabuza’s spokesperson Zibonele Mncwango said at the time: “The municipality will not be placed under administration. However, the provincial government will dispatch an administrative team to beef up the administration of the municipality which is now close to total collapse.”

Kunene said the team comprised different experts. The department’s assessment found Ratau to be a financial expert and a qualified chartered accountant.

“In our assessment he would better placed as a CFO due to his technical expertise, and also due to the financial challenges faced by the municipality,” he said.

“This would strengthen the team sent to the municipality.”

Governance crisis

The team had already put in place systems which had resulted in the municipality being able to increase electricity payment rates, helping settle the municipality’s electricity bill.

Boshoff said it was clear Mabuza, MEC Simon Skhosana and the provincial government had failed to bring transparent, accountable government to the municipality.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the provincial government has no answer for the governance crisis in Thaba Chweu,” she said.

The DA called on Skhosana to clarify and provide residents with the reasons behind the changes.

The only remaining answer was for the provincial government to admit their collective failure and dissolve the council and declare fresh elections.

The Mpumalanga government said on Monday Eskom had agreed to keep the lights on in the municipality, despite its R163m debt.

Skhosana and Thaba Chweu Mayor Michael Ncongwane met the electricity distributor on Friday.

It was agreed that the municipality would pay off the debt over the next 12 months.

Eskom agreed to conduct a cable audit to determine any illegal connections.

The municipality has been facing problems since 2005 when it was first placed under administration.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Almost three-quarters of Eastern Cape pupils, who started school in 2001, did not make it through to their matric exams last year, the DA said on Tuesday.

“We are cultivating a province of school dropouts with little opportunity of becoming successful job-seekers and entrepreneurs,” DA spokesperson Edmund van Vuuren said in a statement.

He was commenting on responses to written questions he received from Eastern Cape Education MEC Mandla Makupula.

According to Makupula’s response, 74% of pupils who entered the school system in 2001, did not make it to matric in 2012.

“Of the 26% [or 72 354 children] who did make it all the way to matric last year, only 14% [or 39 443] of the total cohort actually passed matric,” Van Vuuren said.

Makupula said in his written response that one of the main reasons for this was that the school system had not always been curriculum-driven, and that since 2011 the department had focused more on this aspect.

“The reasons for the high dropout rates and low cohort survival figures are varied, and causes are related to various socio-economic and educational issues,” Makupula said.

These included teenage pregnancy, youth delinquency, poverty and poor parental control over children.

Van Vuuren said: “What is needed is a strong and effective school leadership, employing quality teachers who can instil a love for their subjects in learners, developing discipline and confidence, providing a safe environment and meaningful subject combinations which will give learners the necessary tools to gain decent employment.”

The DA wanted each school to be assured of core minimum resources.

“When in government, we will take steps including linking schooling to Child Support Grants, to reduce the dropout rate.”

– SAPA

Pretoria – Efficient communication was not done to analyse the causes of the Marikana revolt, political analyst Steven Friedman said on Tuesday.

“Look at what happened after the killings at Marikana last year. One of the many scandals of what happened at Marikana was the conditions in which the workers were living,” he told the third biennial labour relations conference hosted by the Public Service Commission in Pretoria.

“When people tried to engage in discussion [after the shootings]… business said it was all local government’s fault and local government said it was business’s fault.”

Everyone was pointing fingers at everyone else.

He said that after the blame-game the problems bedevilling the mineworkers, including lack of accommodation and a filthy environment, were left unattended.

“It is quite obvious that if those problems were not faced, then they were not dealt with.”

He said major problems in South Africa, including inequality and poverty, were centred on race. He said his opinion was based on factual findings of research conducted by a number of universities.

“One of the findings indicates that race is still important out there. If you are a black graduate… it will take you three to six months longer to find a job than if you are a white graduate with the same qualification.”

Earlier, Congress of SA Trade Unions president Sidumo Dlamini told the gathering that vigilantism had crept into wage-related protests.

“We have come to… a new dangerous form of cohesion where concepts of vigilantism have found space: ‘You are either with us or against us. We will kill you if you are not with us’,” he said.

“Everybody seems to be saying that is the way to get employers to understand the language you are talking.”

Labour relations management had been relatively sound in the public sector.

“We can’t compare [public sector strikes with] the recent strike between Lonmin at Marikana and those workers,” he said.

The Pretoria conference, hosted in partnership with the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, was planned in anticipation of the International Labour and Employment Relations Association World Congress in 2015.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A shooting on Tuesday on the M1-south highway near Killarney in Johannesburg was like a movie, said witnesses.

“It sounded like a battlefield,” said Nomonde Sithebe, who works at an office park close to the scene.

“We heard gunshots. They were so loud… I think they exchanged more than 30 bullets.”

A man in a minibus taxi chased by police was shot and wounded in the shooting.

Police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini said the man suffered wounds to the upper leg.

Eyewitness Khanyisile Khoza said the man’s wounds were severe.

“I don’t think his lower part will ever work again,” she said.

The man was taken to hospital under police guard.

Police were still searching for his accomplice, who fled after the bullet-riddled taxi came to a standstill near the Joe Slovo Drive off-ramp.

The man shot at police as he fled.

The wrecked vehicle was still parked under the bridge near the off-ramp by lunchtime and ballistics officials were combing the scene.

Confronting the driver

Dlamini said police approached the minibus taxi at a Pretoria taxi rank after a commotion, but it sped off.

“Police officers summoned back-up vehicles, including a chopper.”

Witnesses said shots were also coming from the chopper.

The man who fled the scene shot at police and they returned fire.

Dlamini said police had his particulars and were searching for him.

No police officials or other motorists were injured in the shoot-out.

The taxi driver would be charged with malicious damage to property and attempted murder.

Traffic on the M1-south was disrupted and traffic was moving slowly as dozens of traffic officials, police officers, and medics worked on the scene.

The police landed their helicopter on the highway. Shortly before 15:00, it was still there.

Traffic was being redirected.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Terminally-ill politician Mario Oriani-Ambrosini returned to the National Assembly on Tuesday with a poignant call for a new centre for the treatment of cancer.

Rising to deliver a statement in the House, the gaunt-looking IFP MP – who revealed earlier this year that he was stricken with inoperable lung cancer – told members the current “scientific paradigm” on the disease was wrong.

Oriani-Ambrosini took leave from his post earlier this year. In a statement in May, he announced he had been diagnosed with cancer.

“Suddenly, and without significant prior symptoms… I received a diagnosis of stage four lung cancer, which has extensively metastasised throughout my pleura.

“The condition is terminal and not operable, and, if left untreated, will cause me to be removed from all lists for Christmas functions or gifts,” he said at the time.

On Tuesday, as he stood with the aid of a stick to speak, he was greeted with long applause from fellow MPs across the House that twice stopped the start of his statement.

Speaker Max Sisulu told him: “Honourable member, welcome back; we’re delighted to have you back.”

Oriani-Ambrosini said 10 million people died world-wide of cancer each year, and new strategies were needed to deal with the disease.

However, the current legal framework in South Africa allowed only certain treatments to be administered to sufferers.

Further, only those treatments developed for profit by medical conglomerates were permitted, while alternatives were “prohibited from being administered” to patients.

Appeal for funding

Millions of people were “going through this hell of being a cancer patient, and die and suffer, possibly unnecessarily”, because government was not funding research and expediting approval for treatments where there was no profit to be made.

Oriani-Ambrosini then appealed to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to “establish in this country a centre, which can bring together different treatments for cancer”.

Responding, Motsoaledi said he had taken note of the appeal.

“I take note of what you said and will be eagerly waiting to welcome you to the department of health and listening to you attentively.”

In his statement in May this year, Oriani-Ambrosini said he was pursuing a course of treatment “based on different science, not on an alternative to science”.

He had been receiving this treatment for a while.

“At this point, I shall not speak or vouch for such a treatment, nor discredit it. My death or survival will do so,” he said at that time.

– SAPA

London – The next extradition hearing for honeymoon murder suspect Shrien Dewani should take place as soon as possible, Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas said on Tuesday.

A panel of three high court judges, headed by Thomas, ruled that there were outstanding legal issues the court had to decide, the British Press Association reported.

Dewani is fighting removal to South Africa to face trial over his wife Anni’s death until he has recovered from mental health problems, said to include depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

His lawyers have stressed at various hearings that he will be willing to defend himself at trial once he is fit to do so.

Thomas ruled his case must be reopened to consider two key issues. The first related to Dewani’s status as “an accused person”.

The second concerned whether it would be “unjust and oppressive” to extradite Dewani “regardless of the prognosis” of his mental condition.

Legal experts said the renewed hearing, which could lead to appeals all the way to the Supreme Court, could delay any possibility of Dewani being extradited for months, if not years.

Wanting closure

Outside court, Anni’s sister Ami Denborg said: “We’ve been waiting patiently for three years and today there is another delay in this case. We don’t really understand why there are all these delays.

“We really want this case to move on. We want this to go to South Africa now because this is taking a toll on the family. It’s hard for us to move on with our lives.”

Her brother Anish Hindocha added: “We need closure. We can’t bear it.”

Denborg said: “It is up to Shrien’s doctors to judge whether he is fit or not to stand trial, but he needs to go to South Africa and answer the questions raised against him. It doesn’t help anyone, him not being able to answer anything.

“In November it will be three years since my sister died and we’ve gone nowhere.”

In July, Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle ruled at the Westminster Magistrate’s Court that Dewani should be extradited and rejected his attempt to stay in the UK for further hospital treatment.

He said Dewani, from Bristol, was still not fit to plead or stand trial at present, but there was evidence he would receive the care he needed in South Africa.

Appeal

Judge Riddle had originally given the go-ahead to Dewani’s extradition in 2011, but had to reconsider the position after the high court allowed his appeal in March last year.

Dewani is suspected of ordering the killing of his new wife Anni, 28, who was shot as the couple travelled in a taxi on the outskirts of Cape Town in November 2010.

So far three men have been convicted for Anni Dewani’s death.

Last year, Xolile Mngeni was convicted of premeditated murder for shooting her.

Prosecutors claimed he was a hitman hired by Dewani to kill his wife, something Dewani has consistently denied.

Taxi driver Zola Tongo was jailed for 18 years after he admitted his part in the killing.

Another accomplice, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, also pleaded guilty to murder and was handed a 25-year prison sentence.

Dewani’s family have said that he remains committed to returning to South Africa “when his health would permit a full trial and when appropriate protections are in place for his health and safety”.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – An Eastern Cape Grade 11 pupil’s case against Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga about the condition of her school was struck off the roll of the Bhisho High Court on Tuesday, Equal Education (EE) said.

“[We are] still waiting for the department to submit their signed copy of the settlement agreement,” EE said.

The matter would be re-enrolled once the documents had been submitted.

On 11 October an agreement was reached between the pupil, her school and the basic education department about the poor conditions at the school.

“A settlement agreement signed by the parties on 12 August 2013 and made into an order of the Bhisho High Court, settles the matter,” EE said in a statement at the time.

EE said the pupil, Palesa Faith Manyokole, initiated legal proceedings against the Moshesh Senior Secondary School’s principal, its governing body, the provincial and national education departments, and Motshekga.

“Learners from the school first wrote to Equal Education in 2012 to ask for the organisation’s assistance,” it said.

EE visited the school and found that the principal had spent nine months out of school, there were not enough teachers, that some did not attend school, there were too few textbooks, and that conditions at the hostel were appalling.

Eastern Cape education spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani said at the time that the department was satisfied and relieved that common ground had been found.

“A dedicated team was placed to focus on making these rather urgent improvements. We have a very able head of that district, and we are confident that indeed the issues will be dealt with.”

EE said that in June the department said it had probed financial mismanagement at the school. It said the principal was suspended, and an acting one was appointed to improve the school.

The department said the school was underperforming and that it would try to address the issue. Two months later, the agreement was reached.

One of the provisions was that the department submit a progress report a month after the order was signed.

– SAPA

North West departments have been told to increase spending on infrastructure and conditional grants to speed up service delivery, Finance MEC Paul Sebegoe said on Tuesday.

This was after the North West medium-term expenditure committee held a meeting with all provincial departments and public entities, to review spending trends for the six months ended September.

“We want to see more labour intensive projects that… reduce unemployment and create jobs for our people,” Sebegoe said.

Departments that spent far below the 50% threshold would not receive any extra budget, as per their request, during next month’s adjustment budget.

Neither under- nor over-expenditure would be tolerated, he said.

“Sometimes officials disappoint us as politicians. When you postpone projects’ implementation we must be aware that we cannot postpone hunger as most of our people live in poverty,” Sebegoe said.

He directed that a forum on the expanded public works programme be established, consisting of senior managers who would be able to take necessary decisions.

This would help ensure that more people were absorbed into the programme in mid-November, creating labour-intensive jobs to help more people earn a living.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The case of the minibus driver accused of killing mountain biker Burry Stander in an accident was postponed in the Port Shepstone Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

“The case was postponed to 28 and 29 November for further evidence to be gathered,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Nathi Mncube said.

Njabulo Nyawose allegedly knocked down Stander, 25, while he was cycling in Shelley Beach, on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, on 3 January.

Two witnesses appeared on Tuesday.

Stander was fifth in the men’s cross-country race at the 2012 London Olympics.

Four years earlier, at the Beijing Games, he finished 15th in the cross-country event.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysen could have been raped and disembowelled before being dumped at a construction site, the Swellendam Circuit Court reportedly heard on Tuesday.

SABC radio reported that police dog unit investigator Sergeant Jerome Timmy, testified that he believed there was not enough blood spatter at the scene to indicate the attack took place there.

Johannes Kana is on trial for allegedly raping and disembowelling Booysen, 17, in Bredasdorp, in the Western Cape, in February.

Booysen died in Tygerberg Hospital on the afternoon of Saturday, 2 February.

He has admitted leaving a Bredasdorp pub with Booysen, hitting and raping her, but has denied killing her.

According to the broadcaster, the court heard that a baseball cap, allegedly belonging to Kana, had tested positive for traces of blood.

The investigating officer in the case was expected to testify when the case resumed on Wednesday.

– SAPA