Johannesburg – The Democratic Alliance has received documentation related to the implementation of e-tolling in Gauteng following a request to the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), the party said on Sunday.

“The DA has received Sanral’s contract documentation on e-tolling in Gauteng,” transport spokesperson Ian Ollis said in a statement.

“Delivery of the documents follows the DA’s successful request for Sanral’s e-toll contract documents via a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application submitted in June 2013.”

Sanral had agreed to provide all 5 848 pages of the contractual agreements, he said.

Still missing

Upon receiving the documents however, Ollis said three items from the 65 item contract tender register were missing.

These were the financial memorandum of the tender documentation and two items of the electronic toll collection (ETC) submission.

“The DA will request that Sanral provide the outstanding documents without delay or additional costs,” he said.

The party would study the documents, and specifically scrutinise Sanral’s monthly financial obligation to the ETC, the collection fees structuring, how transgressors would be prosecuted, as well as an opt-out clause for e-tolling in Gauteng.

Ollis said the DA maintained that e-tolling in Gauteng must be scrapped as it would not benefit the people of the province, and hit the poorest hardest by increasing the price of doing business.

This would result in food price increases and inevitably would undermine economic growth and job creation.

The police have built a case against Oscar Pistorius as a trigger-happy gunman prone to violent outbursts.

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This is the central theme of their strategy against the Blade Runner, who will be back in court tomorrow.

Pistorius’s past boasting of being a crack shot and threats to “break people’s legs” could come back to haunt him because the prosecution will now rely on former girlfriends and associates in an attempt to expose his “aggressive character”.

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

Polokwane – Limpopo’s new Premier Stan Mathabatha will suspend some of his provincial heads of departments tomorrow after his predecessor, Cassel Mathale, failed to take action for more then seven months. Some staff members could also face criminal charges.

According to the Sunday Independent, charges have already been formulated against some staff. In the past two weeks, Mathabatha has met with Public Service and Administration director-general Mashwahle Diphofa and national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega to discuss the charges. These include fraud, corruption and maladministration.

Phiyega’s spokesperson Solomon Makgale confirmed that Phiyega had been in Limpopo and that the Hawks were part of the investigations.

Mathabatha’s spokesperson Kenny Mathivha would not confirm which heads of department would be suspended, but said: “Big fish would be charged.”

“We will be charging heads of departments who have flouted the rules, who have been found to have transgressed in a lot of things.”

“We are tightening the screws, when we charge them, if they have to go they have to go for good.”

Monday’s suspensions come just one month after Mathabatha fired eight of the province’s 10 MECs and reshuffled the remaining two. 

News24

Cape Town – Cape Town’s mayoral chief of safety and security, Jean-Pierre Smith, has vowed to throw the book at ANC NEC member Tony Yengeni  due to repeated transgressions on city roads.

Nicknamed the “Gucci socialist” for his expensive tastes, he was arrested last Sunday for allegedly driving his Maserati GranCabrio while under the influence of alcohol in Green Point. The vehicle also had no front number plate, reported the Sunday Times.

“Mr Yengeni breaks the law with impunity,” said Smith. “He is the worst offender you can find on the road.”

“This time the metro police are making sure that the book will be thrown at him,” he added.

Smith said there was surveillance video footage of the Maserati driving erratically. “I want to make it clear that Mr Yengeni was not targeted or set up by the metro police,” he said.

“He was caught by a metro police officer for swerving across the road and with no number plates. The officer had no idea who was in the car.”

News24

Service delivery in the Sol Plaatje municipality was brought to a total standstill when employees staged a sit-in at the municipal chambers yesterday.

The workers, who are members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), prompted the speaker of the municipality, Vincent Diraditsile, to postpone the proceedings of a special council meeting.

Hundreds of the workers, who are believed to be contract employees, wanted the council to address their concerns.

Last week, the workers marched to the municipal offices demanding that employees who were on contract be permanently employed.

Samwu branch chairperson Mane Moremi said they had given the municipality seven days to respond to their grievances. “Instead of dealing with our issues, they held their own special council meeting to protect their interests,” he said.

Moremi said they also demanded the reversal of a decision to dismiss their shop steward, Gilbert Gaolelelwe.

“That is why at our last protest march we requested the executive mayor, Agnes Ntlhangula, to review labour cases within the municipality, and to intervene on the issues, giving a political instruction to the administration to put all cases in abeyance until an internal review is completed”.

The spokesperson in the office of the speaker, Thakadu Sebeela, said the council’s meeting had been postponed until further notice.

“There were a couple of issues which were supposed to be dealt with, such as the reinstatement of the mayoral committee members who were fired by the mayor last week,” he said.

The New Age understands that the executive mayor was asked by the ANC in the region to reverse the decision because it was seen as “purging” those who did not support the current leadership of the Frances Baard region.

The ANC could not be reached for comment as they were locked in a meeting with the mayor

For more.www.thenewage.co.za

Angry residents went on the rampage and broke into shops owned by foreign nationals shortly after the news of Themi Might’s killing on Sunday.

About 20 businessmen, mostly from Bangladesh, were sent packing. According to eyewitnesses Might was not armed and he was not a threat to the police.

“He only wanted to explain something to the businessman while he was being chased by the police,” a witness said. It took the community about three hours to chase the foreigners out of their shops, saying they caused Might’s murder.

The story started on Saturday evening when a foreign businessman laid a charge of theft of a cellphone at Windsorton police station.

“Because Thembi is known as one of the notorious guys around he was fingered as a suspect,” a resident said.

“The police looked for him the whole of Saturday and he was only arrested on Sunday morning,” another source said.

“When he was taken to the police station for further questioning he escaped and went straight to the accuser to state his case. This is when the police came and shot him twice.”

The community reacted angrily to the incident and broke into about seven tuckshops belonging to foreigners.

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

Cape Town – There being no law against substitutes earning player-of-the-match mantles in ball games, the Sport24 choice for the Springboks in their 73-13 roasting of Argentina on Saturday goes to a mere 25-minute contributor … Fourie du Preez.

As it happened: Springboks v Argentina

The veteran Rugby World Cup-winning scrumhalf, making his first appearance for his country in almost two years, massively confirmed his pedigree as South Africa appeared to only go up into power-fifth gear following his entry to the fray in the Castle Rugby Championship match, part of the Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day at FNB Stadium.

For more http://www.news24.com

Johannesburg – Africa has a serious deficit in leadership, philanthropist Mo Ibrahim said on Saturday.

South Africa needed to step up and play a better role in the continent, he said.

“Leadership is not about bossing people around…it is not about securing a seat in the UN Security Council on behalf of Africa, or chairing the African Union,” he said.

“Leadership is true engagement with Africa. You [South Africa] have a role to play.” Problems such as climate change, transparency, tax evasion and illicit transfers of funds needed the serious voice of leadership.

Ibrahim was delivering the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Pretoria.

Women, youth

He said women and youth were an important part of social cohesion.

Seventy percent of the population depended on women because they were in charge of the agriculture.

“Women play very important roles but they are denied the dignity they deserve in our society,” he said.

“Rape is widespread in Africa, and that is not acceptable. We cannot afford to lose what is vital for our society.”

Ibrahim said that half of the continent’s population was below the age of 19, and that African youth could become the best in the future in terms of production.

This was because the population of countries such as China and many European countries were ageing.

“But to do that, we need good education and training to equip these youngsters for the future. Through that, Africa can become the future factory of the world.”

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