Pietermaritzburg – Six people were killed in a bus accident near Pongola, northern KwaZulu-Natal, on Tuesday, the province’s community safety department said.

One of the bus’s tyres burst on the N2 around 11:00, causing it to crash into a wall, MEC Willies Mchunu’s office said in a statement.

Five people died on the scene. A sixth passenger died later. Mchunu said the accident bought the number of deaths on the province’s roads to 16 in one week.

“The government of KwaZulu-Natal sends its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in this frightening accident. Such accidents are an indication that more needs to be done to educate road users about the importance of road safety,” Mchunu said.

– SAPA

Cape Town – The public protector may yet launch a formal probe into allegations against some senior officials in the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), MPs heard on Tuesday.

Briefing members of Parliament’s appropriations standing committee, Deputy Minister in the Presidency Obed Bapela said Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had been receiving information anonymously, prompting her to investigate.

“The public protector has been sending questions… on these allegations… to the NYDA… There is no formal investigation as yet by the public protector on the NYDA. There is information seeking. That is a procedure before you can formally investigate an institution.”

Bapela said “quite a number of issues” had been sent in by anonymous callers and whistle-blowers.

“But for now, there’s no formal investigation… The public protector is still probing the issues and asking questions, and the NYDA is responding in detail [to] those questions.”

Earlier, NYDA board executive chairperson Yershen Pillay explained to the committee about the ongoing process involving NYDA CEO Steven Ngubeni, who was suspended last month.

Pillay said the suspension had been based on the contents of a 50-page audit report.

The matter was being handled “carefully” to afford Ngubeni an opportunity to address the charges against him.

It would involve an independent process and an independent external presiding officer, “that will hear the charges and will then make a recommendation to the board as to what the decision will be”.

The board would then act on that recommendation.

CEO formally charged

Bapela, responding to a question on who else in the NYDA was currently being investigated, said the CEO was the only official “formally charged”.

He declined to specify the charges, saying the matter was still being dealt with.

But he revealed that there had also been an investigation “by the suspended CEO, before the suspension took place, on investigating the COO [chief operations officer]”.

However, this process had not been formalised.

“It’s up to the board to follow up on this issue… as to what they do… The process is still an intent, the person is not suspended, still in the institution, but with clouds hanging around,” he said.

According to the NYDA website, its COO is Magdalene Moonsamy.

Pillay, responding to a question on allegations made against himself – and reported in the media – said this was to be expected.

“When you embark on a clean-up process, and you act on a report that indicates maladministration to the value of R35m, you… can’t expect those people implicated are going to keep quiet. They are going to raise issues in the public domain, and we expected that.”

He referred to the allegations as “baseless, ill-informed character assassinations and threats”.

Pillay assured the committee that his new board would “act on any form of fraud corruption, or maladministration” it uncovered.

He also raised the question of why the allegations made against him had arisen now, since Ngubeni’s suspension, and not earlier.

“If there are allegations against me and I am found guilty, I will face the necessary punishment. That’s how we should approach things,” he said.

Youth awards

Bapela, referring to the process involving Ngubeni, said the NYDA – which reports to the presidency – would “make sure this is dealt with speedily”.

He declined to put a date or timeframe on this.

Pillay, turning to his board’s decision to postpone its next youth awards ceremony, described it as “one of the best” the NYDA had made.

It had decided the R10m required to host the SA Youth Awards was better spent on youth development programmes.

The awards would still be held, but only when the necessary funds were raised.

“In the meantime, it’s better to spend that money on tangible youth development programmes,” Pillay said.

In a statement later on Tuesday, DA MP Tim Harris said he intended to ask Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to re-assign the NYDA’s functions to mainstream government departments.

“This morning’s committee [meeting] confirmed that the agency is not performing in terms of their own annual performance plan, and that South Africans are not getting any value for their investment. It is time to pull the plug on the NYDA,” he said.

Taxpayers would contribute R392m to the agency this year.

“The picture painted… was of an organisation in disarray. The leadership appears to be crippled by infighting linked to maladministration, financial misconduct, and alleged corruption, and the performance of the agency is suffering as a result,” he said.

– SAPA

Pretoria – All South African pupils should be equipped with the requisite furniture in schools, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday.

“At the [Council of Education Ministers (CEM)], we said provinces should strive to have a chair and a desk for every child,” she said in Pretoria.

Provincial education departments had been instructed to submit their furniture requirements to the national authorities by 16 August.

Motshekga was holding a briefing on developments in the education sector, particularly relating to the curriculum

She said the CEM had adopted a new curriculum for Early Childhood Development, which was in line with the objectives of the National Development Plan.

“The CEM also discussed schools readiness. We normally look at schools readiness [for the following year] in the fourth term, but this time we did it in the third term,” she said.

“We agreed, as the department, to continue to closely monitor the nature of support required by provincial education departments.”

Motshekga said her department had a strategy to increase the use of African languages in schools, and to strengthen the teaching of English as a first additional language.

Two studies and the matric results highlighted the negative effect of poor English competence on pupils’ performance, and the need to improve the quality of English teaching and learning.

“As a result, from 2012, all children intending to learn through the medium of English began instruction in this language from Grade 1 level.

“The department is looking at addressing the quality of English teaching, working with the British Council,” she said.

Regarding the increased use of African languages in schools, Motshekga said the department supported a pilot initiative to be implemented in 10 schools per district next year.

“Afrikaans, fortunately or unfortunately, qualifies. It is an indigenous language and just happens to fit quite squarely. Even the Afrikaans language cultural groups thought we were going to leave Afrikaans out.

“It squarely fell in the definition. We have not discriminated against Afrikaans. It will be considered as one of the languages that we say schools have to teach as part of African languages,” she said.

Zille’s support

Earlier, Motshekga said Western Cape Premier Helen Zille understood the problems bedevilling the South African education sector.

She appreciated Zille’s efforts to clarify the problems in the sector.

“It shows the highest levels of integrity in terms of inter-government relations,” said Motshekga.

Last month, Zille told a DA Young Professionals forum she was an “unlikely defender” of the minister, because the real problems leading to poor education results in South Africa had been diagnosed under Motshekga.

A recent National Education Evaluation and Development Unit report commissioned by Motshekga found poor discipline was why pupils failed.

Zille said no other minister before Motshekga had been willing to provide the space for such a report to be produced.

In her newsletter, Zille said she supported Motshekga’s critique of the norms and standards campaign for school infrastructure, based on a 2008 draft published by her predecessor Naledi Pandor.

– SAPA

Durban – The Constitutional Court has ordered the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to postpone a by-election in the northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Vryheid.

IEC spokesperson Kate Baphela said on Tuesday that the election in Ward 22 of the Abaqulusi municipality would not go ahead on Wednesday, as originally planned.

This came barely a week after the IEC announced it had removed 1 500 voters from the voters’ roll. Baphela said the IEC was still studying the court judgment.

The postponement was the second in the ward.

An initial by-election date of 24 April was abandoned after its former African National Congress councillor Andre Lotter obtained a court order. The IEC was then ordered to investigate whether names had been fraudulently added to the voters’ roll.

Last week, IEC chair Pansy Tlakula said 1 525 people were removed from the roll and transferred back to their original wards as it could not be proved that they were ordinarily resident in Ward 22.

When the IEC published the names of 1 534 voters, urging them to make representations to the IEC, only 11 people came forward. Eight were able to persuade the IEC that they should be registered in the ward. One had since re-registered in another voting district.

The latest postponement followed another challenge by Lotter, who had claimed that the IEC had not sufficiently investigated how the extra 1 525 people came to be on the roll.

The IEC, the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party have until 20 August to object to the matter being submitted to the Electoral Court, for it to determine whether the IEC properly investigated Lotter’s complaint of voters’ roll fraud, and whether penalties should be applied to the political parties involved.

Anyone found guilty of forcing someone to register or persuading them to do so can face a maximum 10-year jail term if convicted by the Electoral Court.

If a political party was found to have been complicit in such a fraud, the court could fine it up to R200 000. Deregistration of the party was the top penalty.

The municipality is currently under administration. It was formerly controlled by the ANC with the help of the National Freedom Party.

Lotter’s resignation forced the by-election, leaving the ANC tied with the Inkatha Freedom Party on 16 seats each in the municipality.

The NFP has seven seats, the Democratic Alliance three and one seat is controlled by a candidate from the Owethu Residents’ Organisation.

A split within the NFP’s ranks resulted in a hung municipality, with the same number of votes in favour of the IFP and the ANC, when the speaker was included.

– SAPA

The presidency has urged law enforcement agencies to intensify their search for an alleged serial rapist who is operating in Pretoria.

The serial killer is believed to be responsible for the rape and murder of 12 women in Mamelodi and Sunnyside. It is believed that the alleged serial rapist started the attacks on young women since 2004.

Police have confirmed that they found DNA similarities in four incidents. Police spokesperson, Neville Malila says they are analysing 14 dockets.

“In the analysis where those dockets have been collected, four of those dockets indicated the similarities in terms of DNA analysis, 12 of those dockets involve female victims in the ages between 18 and 35. There are various units that are part of the investigation team, that is also including the psychological unit.”

The news of a possible serial rapist, who could also be linked to some murders of his victims, has also shocked the presidency. About 60 000 women fall victims to gender-based violence across South Africa each year.

Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj has urged the community to work with the police in this case and make use of the national women’s month to fight the scourge of gender-based violence in the country.

National Police Commissioner, Riah Phiyega has also reacted with shock and has immediately ordered a top team of detectives to investigate the case. Police could not say if any arrest is imminent.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Congress of the South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) Central Executive Committee (CEC) is expected to hold a special meeting next week to decide the fate of it’s General-Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi.

The labour federation’s top six national office bearers met at Cosatu’s headquarters in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Patrick Craven says it was a routine meeting, although weekend newspapers had reported that it would be Vavi’s disciplinary hearing. Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini, in the meantime, has confirmed that the meeting considered a report on a grievance hearing against Vavi.

Cosatu instituted an internal disciplinary hearing against Vavi after a 26-year-old female colleague accused him of rape. She withdrew the grievance during the hearing last Monday.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Wits University says it’s reviewing its sexual harassment policies. This, after two lecturers were dismissed last week while two others are still going through a disciplinary process.

Wits Vice-Chancellor, Adam Habib, has told students that the institution is tightening screws to ensure that it acts decisively if such matters are reported in the future.

“There is a review of all of our sexual harassment policies underway. Once that review comes in, in about two weeks, we will look at it, and we will put in measures to implement an environment that is free and safe for everyone on this campus. It’s a non-negotiable,” says Habib.

He also apologised to every single woman that was preyed upon sexually by those individuals and anybody else. He says the university is meant to be a free space and promised that it will be a free space and they will act if people are found guilty.
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The Energy Department has ruled out the possibility of introducing a subsidy to cushion the effect of fuel hikes. Energy Department officials have been briefing Parliament’s oversight committee on Tuesday.

The Department says the latest increase is largely due to geopolitics in the major oil producing countries. But it insists things could have been worse if the rand had not strengthened against the dollar.

It also turned down suggestions to ease the huge fuel hikes from month to month, saying this requires a R4 billion fund. The Energy department dismissed the idea of subsidies, arguing that these are unsustainable.

The petrol price in Gauteng will reach a record high at mid-night tonight — 95 Octane will cost R13.23 a litre in Gauteng, and R12.86 at the coast. The price of all grades of petrol will jump by 32 cents a litre. Diesel price rises by just under 33 cents.

Meanwhile the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has warned taxi commuters to expect fare increase due to the hike in the fuel price. The council says the increase will vary, depending on the routes and distances of each association.
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Cape Town – The trial of Thandi Maqubela, accused of killing her acting judge husband Patrick Maqubela, was postponed by the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.

Marius Broeksma, for Maqubela, asked Judge John Murphy for more time to prepare argument on the amendment of her murder and forgery charges.

Maqubela and her co-accused Vela Mabena, both out on bail, were asked to return to court next Tuesday.

The two have pleaded not guilty to suffocating the acting judge with cling-wrap in his Sea Point, Cape Town, flat on 5 June 2009.

Maqubela has also pleaded not guilty to forging her husband’s signature on his will, and then fraudulently presenting it at the Johannesburg office of the Master of the High Court.

Last month, Murphy indicated he intended amending the charges on the indictment.

On the murder charge, he wanted to extend the cause of death by adding “or means unknown” to “suffocation with plastic”.

He said this was after the State previously conceded that it was unable to submit evidence regarding an alternative means of death.

Regarding Maqubela’s alleged forgery of her husband’s will, he wanted to amend the charge from “making of the signature” to “making of the will”.

Broeksma would present argument next week as to the prejudice his clients would suffer should the charges be amended.

The court heard the defence intended calling a witness next Wednesday.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A complaint calling for the impeachment of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has been laid with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

The Institute for Accountability said on Tuesday its director, Paul Hoffman, SC, did so after Mogoeng addressed Advocates for Transformation last month.

“The most serious aspects [of the complaint] include allegations of contempt of court and attempting to defeat the ends of justice which it is alleged amount to gross misconduct justifying impeachment,” the institute said.

In his speech, Mogoeng questioned critics who complained when a white male candidate was not recommended for appointment to the Bench, while those who were appointed were described as “executive toys”.

“These developments seem to suggest that war has been declared against transformation. People are clutching at straws to discredit the JSC. They seem to want the JSC they can dictate to,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery.

Complaint received

“The apparent discomfort with the progress we are making in transforming the Judiciary… must be dealt with decisively.

“And for the record, many white males have been recommended for appointment by the JSC over the years. It is for them and those who know them better to say whether they are ‘executive toys’.”

JSC secretary Sello Chiloane said the commission received the complaint.

“The complaint will be dealt with by the judicial conduct committee,” he said.

“The chief justice is one of those judges on the committee, and because the matter involves him, they will have to consider how to deal with it. They will handle it in terms of their own processes.”

The institute said it included a complaint of gross incompetence in the first complaint.

“[This is to]… cover the eventuality of the JSC being unable to find the necessary intention for the charges of contempt and attempting to defeat the ends of justice,” it said.

“The JSC has been asked to deal with the matter as one of urgency in view of the high office of the chief justice and his invitation to ‘forge ahead’ with the complaints.”

– SAPA