Johannesburg – A re-draft of the norms and standards for school infrastructure will take at least six months to complete, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday.

Last week, the Equal Education (EE) group said it was taking her to court for allegedly breaching an agreement to publish the document by 15 May. The matter was to be heard in the Bhisho High Court on 11 July.

On Tuesday, Motshekga said she has been communicating with EE to update it on progress with the norms and standards.

She wrote it a letter on 9 May in which she indicated that the compulsory consultation process with the National Economic Development and Labour Council had not been concluded. When she received its report, she would consider all recommendations.

“It is important to emphasise that norms and standards cannot be published at the whim of EE,” said Motshekga.

“The South African government is a democracy that requires all involved and interested in education to have ample time to make input to the final regulations,” she said.

Motshekga accused the EE of being disingenuous. She questioned the group’s sudden interest in the education of African children.

“…To suddenly see a group of white adults organising black African children with half-truths can only be opportunistic, patronising and simply dishonest to say the least,” she said.

The EE said it was shocked and disappointed by Motshekga’s comments.

EE chairperson Yoliswa Dwane said Motshekga should distance herself from these statements, which it viewed as racist.

“EE consists of people of every background and we are very proud of this. Any person who commits [themselves] to advancing the daily struggles of poor and working class youth is welcome in EE,” said Dwane.

“That these values exist is something that those responsible for education should celebrate, not attack.”

The EE has in the last few days mobilised school children in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria to participate in marches.

The children demanded that Motshekga publish the norms and standards, and called for safer and better resourced schools.

On Tuesday, a Grade 11 pupil from an Eastern Cape school took Motshekga, the Eastern Cape education MEC, her school principal, and school governing body to the Bhisho Magistrate’s Court about the condition of her school.

Palesa Manyokole, of the Moshesh Senior Secondary School in Queen’s Mercy, complained that the principal was often absent and unlawfully expelled pupils; teachers were absent and late; there was a shortage of qualified teachers; and there was no curriculum planning.

The matter was postponed to 22 October.

Basic education spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said the department would appear in court if it received a notice.

“We believe this case is part of the gimmick of the EE to embarrass the department,” he said.

As from July, the basic education department claimed it would open one school per week in the Eastern Cape. These are an addition to several other schools opened in Mthatha in the last three months.

These former mud structures reportedly all have early childhood development facilities, administration blocks, soup kitchens, ablution blocks, water and electricity,

“Equal Education will not be brave enough to acknowledge this, or any progress we make on a daily basis regarding school infrastructure,” said Motshekga.

– SAPA

A court ruling dismissing an application by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa for a review of findings in a matter involving a Cape Town jogger was welcomed on Tuesday.

“We are very pleased with [the judge’s] finding that the minister must respect the [SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)] and the work done by the commission,” its chairperson Lawrence Mushwana said in a statement.

“This should really send the message to other government officials who do not co-operate with the commission or its findings.”

The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg found in favour of the commission last week and dismissed the minister’s application with punitive costs.

Police ministry spokesperson Zweli Mnisi said Mthethwa had not undermined the commission, but had raised valid Constitutional issues.

The issue was whether litigants should have access to many forums in which to “ventilate their complaints against the state”, or if a particular forum within which to do so should be established, said Mnisi.

“The judgment does not clarify this important Constitutional issue, and may lead to extensive cherry-picking by litigants in the future.”

The SAHRC found in July 2011, that a number of political science student Chumani Maxwele’s rights had been violated.

Maxwele was detained in February 2010 and was quizzed about his political affiliations after he showing a rude hand sign to a convoy carrying President Jacob Zuma while jogging.

He alleged that his head was covered, his legs were tied, he was taken to two different police stations for interrogation, and that his home was searched.

Maxwele said he was held a day without being fed, and was released by the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court without appearing.

Review application

SAHRC spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the SAHRC found against Mthethwa and the president’s Special Protection Unit (SPU).

In January 2012, the minister brought an application to review, set aside and substitute the SAHRC’s decision on appeal, Mangena said.

In a hearing on Wednesday, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg criticised Mthethewa’s behaviour and reminded him of his constitutional duties.

“[The judge] found that the minister had displayed a disconcerting attitude which, if not downright contemptuous of the commission, at the very least showed disrespect for the commission’s standing as a body instituted by the Constitution…,” Mangena said.

“The judge accordingly found that the minister’s conduct fell far short of its duty to assist the commission,” he said.

Mthethwa noted and respected the judgment, Mnisi said.

“The minister instituted the review proceedings on legitimate grounds that the findings of the SAHRC could impact on the legal proceedings instituted against the minister in this matter,” he said.

“The legal proceedings in this matter are at an advanced stage and are likely to be settled.”

– SAPA

Pretoria – Police plans to protect the Nkaneng informal settlement against armed protesters in Marikana last year were at issue before the Farlam Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday.

While North West deputy police commissioner General William Mpembe said the police’s plan had included the protection of the whole area, the commission’s evidence leader Mbuyiseli Madlanga submitted that: “… No provision was made for such.”

The hill where protesters held their meetings during the unrest is in the Nkaneng informal settlement, near Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana.

“The plan was to not let those protesters in groups through into the informal settlement as history has shown that, when in groups, protesters would go out of hand and destroy property,” said Mpembe.

He said the police planned to search, disarm and arrest groups entering the area. Those walking alone would be let through.

The commission’s chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam, said it seemed there was no plan, away from the police line at the hill, to chase those who escaped the police and entered through other sides of Nkaneng.

Mpembe said the aim of the police was to search those who entered in groups of at least 10, so as to protect residents.

“We did not know where those who faced danger and reported for work stayed exactly in Nkaneng. We deemed it safe to not let the groups into the settlement,” he said.

The commission, sitting in Centurion, is probing the circumstances of the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana, in August.

Thirty-four striking miners were shot dead when the police tried to disperse them on August 16. Ten people, including two policemen, died in strike-related violence the week before.

The hearing continues on Thursday. – Sapa

Platinum Stars have released a statement in which they make it clear that they want to keep Cavin Johnson but adds the coach is free to go the legal route if he feels he is entitled to leave.

Johnson, who has been strongly linked with SuperSport United, handed in a resignation recently but Stars insist they won’t accept it.

The statement reads:

“Platinum Stars Football Club has been inundated with calls from the media regarding its relationship with the club head coach Mr. Cavin Johnson.

“The facts are as follows-

1. Mr. Johnson has performed admirably while at the club, he has a contract with the club, and Platinum Stars have no intention of terminating the relationship.

2. Mr. Johnson has however indicated that he wishes to move on and Platinum Stars have been informed that there are various clubs interested in his services with whom he intends contracting.

3. Platinum Stars has every intention of commencing the coming football season with Mr. Johnson as the head coach of the first team and we hope that the club’s right to enforce its contracts will be respected by Mr. Johnson and all other stakeholders and participants in the game.

4. In view of the need for certainty – both for the club and Mr. Johnson – we have invited Mr. Johnson to commit to the club or, if he believes he is entitled to leave, to refer a dispute to arbitration in terms of the football rules as he is entitled to do.

“We have made these comments in view of the widespread reporting on the matter but do not intend discussing the issue any further in the media for reasons of privacy and also of course because any dispute or difference that there may be should be dealt with in the correct forums and not in the media.

“Our relationship with Mr. Johnson has always been professional and we intend maintaining that.”
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The PSL is undaunted after the South Gauteng High Court’s decision today that the application brought by Thanda Royal Zulu should go to arbitration again.

The matter already went to arbitration, which ruled in favour of the League. Thanda then took the matter to the courts, despite Fifa’s strong standing that football matters cannot be resolved in courts of law.

But the court has ruled that the matter must go to arbitration again, despite Thanda’s case already having been dismissed, and the PSL insist this is what they were calling for.

“The judge’s ruling is in line with the argument advanced by the PSL throughout the proceedings that the matter cannot be argued in court but through processes available to all 32 members of the Premier Soccer League as stated in the NSL Rules,” a PSL statement reads.

“The judge did not rule on the merits of the application. The court ordered that the issues be referred to arbitration or arbitrators appointed in terms of the constitution and rules of the National Soccer League, as read with those of the South African Football Association and any further instruments incorporated by reference in the constitution and rules of NSL and Safa.”

PSL head of legal, advocate Ntsietso Mofokeng, says: “We are delighted with the outcome because we are convinced that this matter should never have been referred to court in the first place. This is a football matter.

“An arbitrator will be appointed to deal with the issues raised by Thanda. Today, the judge did not make any findings on the merits of the award made at the arbitration process of 26 May 2013.”

The PSL also advised that the promotion/relegation play-offs will continue as scheduled this week. On Thursday, June 20, Santos will host Mpumalanga Black Aces at Cape Town Stadium, kick-off at 7.30pm.
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Johannesburg – An Eastern Cape Grade 11 pupil took Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to the Bhisho High Court on Tuesday over conditions at her school, Equal Education (EE) said.

Moshesh Senior Secondary School pupil Palesa Manyokole wanted the court to act against those responsible for standards at her school, EE said.

The school is in Queen’s Mercy, a rural village near Matatiele.

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

“Equal Education visited the school to assess the situation, and found several problems at the school which were seriously hampering learner progress.”

These included absenteeism of the principal, the principal’s unlawful expulsion of pupils, teacher absenteeism and lateness, a shortage of qualified teachers, and no curriculum planning.

The matter was postponed to 22 October.

Gimmick

Manyokole’s application was against Motshekga, the Eastern Cape education MEC, the school principal, and the school governing body.

EE said despite numerous communications with the provincial education department, most issues remained unresolved.

“In light of the fact that major issues still need to be resolved, Equal Education is pushing ahead with the case,” it said.

Basic education spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said if the department received a notice it would appear in court.

“We believe this case is part of the gimmick of the EE to embarrass the department,” he said.

“The department already opened 22 schools in the Eastern Cape and plans to open more to eradicate the bad conditions in schools. EE are misleading and using children to fight their issues.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The PAC distanced itself from a statement by Pan Africanist Youth Congress (Payco) spokesperson Sello Tladi calling former president Nelson Mandela a “sell-out”.

“The PAC would like to distance itself from the reckless statement issued on the Youth Day [16 June], by some cranks parading themselves as youth leaders of the PAC,” General Secretary Narius Moloto said on Tuesday.

“In their statement, they callously wished that the former president should die. As the PAC, we are sad that such a reckless statement was issued in the first place, and that the persons who issued such foolish and reckless statement attached the name of the PAC to [the] statement.”

Moloto said the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania did not know the source of the statement and said Tladi was not part of the youth leadership.

Freedom Charter

On Monday, the Citizen reported that Tladi said Mandela was a sell-out and greedy.

“He betrayed us by rubber-stamping the 1913 Land Act through the adoption of [the] Freedom Charter,” Tladi was quoted as saying.

“The problem with the Freedom Charter is that it made African people to be landless.”

Tladi was reportedly addressing PAC, Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo), and Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa) supporters at the Regina Mundi Church in Soweto at a Youth Day event on Sunday.

Moloto said the PAC regretted that such a statement was made on the organisation’s behalf.

“We hold the former president in high esteem as a struggle icon who helped this country gain its freedom from the shackles of oppression and apartheid rule,” he said.

“We also take this opportunity to wish him well as he recovers from his illness.”

Mandela was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on 8 June with a recurring lung infection.

– SAPA

South African Football Association (SAFA) President Kirsten Nematandani has swiftly moved to dampen speculation on Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund’s future saying the coach had a contract that runs until next year.

Only then, said SAFA President, would the coach’s future come up for discussion. The SAFA President has in the past told the media about his admiration for Igesund and again reiterated the same sentiments when the team arrived home on Monday from the World Cup qualifying assignments where they beat Central African Republic (CAR) and lost to Ethiopia.

The 2-1 defeat to Ethiopia effectively knocked Bafana Bafana out of contention for a place to Brazil 2014. That defeat led to speculation that Igesund’s contract would be reviewed and that he would meet his employers soon to chat the way forward.

However, Nematandani who was with the team on the two assignments said the Association would not meet Igesund with regards to his contract because that item ‘is not on the agenda’.

“We are aware of the media reports doing rounds about Gordon’s future,” said Nematandani. “One thing must be made clear here, the coach’s future is not under discussion. He (Igesund) is the Bafana Bafana coach and we have a contract with Gordon until next year and I don’t know where the media is picking the story that we would meet the coach to talk about his contract. There is nothing like that.”

Bafana Bafana trail Ethiopia by five points in Group A of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers with one match to go (against Botswana).

The SAFA president said it was important to stay focused on the challenges at hand which included the outstanding World Cup match against Botswana.

“We still have that (Botswana) match to play and also the Cosafa Cup next month. Once we are done with that we have to start looking at the CHAN as well as the qualification for the 2015 Afcon,” Nematandani said.

The SAFA President said he was very impressed with the fighting spirit and commitment shown by the players despite some travel logistics nightmare in Cameroon.

“We have to commend Bafana Bafana for their fighting spirit against CAR and Ethiopia. If anything, our players can never be accused of not trying especially against Ethiopia. They went down fighting and were just unfortunate on the day. We have to give credit to Gordon and his technical team for instilling that kind of fighting spirit,” said Nematandani.

Meanwhile, the SAFA President said he was aware of reports that Ethiopia is facing Fifa sanctions after fielding a suspended player in their qualifier against Botswana. “In all fairness, this has nothing to do with us,” he said. “It is a matter between Botswana and Ethiopia, but we will wait and see.”

Ethiopia vs. Bafana Bafana (Gallo Images)
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Addis Ababa – Ethiopia soccer officials have admitted that they fielded an ineligible player in a World Cup qualifier against Botswana by mistake and said they would not appeal any FIFA disciplinary rulings made against them.
“We have evaluated the situation and we came across the issue that we made a mistake,” said Sahlu Gebrewold, chief executive of Ethiopia’s Football Association.

“We accepted the allegation that this was inappropriate.

“There won’t be an appeal from us being lodged.”

Ethiopia are now almost certain to be docked three points, meaning South Africa would get a reprieve and may still be able to qualify for the 2014 finals in Brazil.

FIFA match records have also confirmed that Togo, along with Ethiopia have fielded suspended stars in 2014 World Cup qualifiers during June.

Midfielder Manyahile Beyene played for Ethiopia in Botswana instead of serving a one-match ban having been cautioned in Group A games away to South Africa and at home against Botswana.

Another midfielder, Alaixys Romao of Togo, committed a similar offence, starting in a Group I home game against Cameroon when he should have been sidelined following cautions in two earlier matches.

World football governing body FIFA issued a statement last weekend saying they were probing games involving Togo, Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea over the alleged use of ineligible players, but did not name them.

The standard punishment for a team guilty of using an ineligible player is that their opponents are awarded a 3-0 victory, with Sudan, Burkina Faso and Gabon already punished during the 2014 qualifying competition.

Sudan played suspended Eldin Adris, Burkina Faso used Cameroon-born Herve Zengue, and Gabon picked Charly Moussono, who represented Cameroon at the 2006 Beach Soccer World Cup.

Should Togo, Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea be found guilty, it would have a major impact on three groups with eliminated countries South Africa and Botswana (Group A) and Cape Verde Islands (Group B) coming back into contention.

Cameroon, who trail Libya by two points with a home fixture against them to come during September, would take a one-point advantage, leaving them needing a draw to reach the play-offs.

The matches being investigated are Togo 2 Cameroon 0 on June 8 in Lome, Botswana 1 Ethiopia 2 on June 7 in Lobatse, and Equatorial Guinea 4 Cape Verde Islands 3 on March 24 in Malabo.

On Tuesday, FIFA said in a separate statement they were also probing whether Equatorial Guinea contravened the competition regulations when they lost the return match against Cape Verde 2-1 on June 8 in Praia.

An undisclosed decision was reached by FIFA regarding the Equatorial Guinea-Cape Verde game in Malabo, but the part-island state must have been found guilty as they lodged an appeal.

It does not appear yellow card-related as match reports show Ben Konate was the only Equatorial Guinea player to receive two cautions and he served a one-game suspension.

A probable cause of the probe is the use of foreign-born players by the Equatoguineans with the side that started against Cape Verde including no footballer born in the country.

Five were born in Brazil, three in Spain and one each in Ivory Coast, Liberia and Ghana. Malabo-born Konate was among the three substitutes used with the others born in Brazil and Colombia.

FIFA rules state that if a footballer is not born in the country he wishes to represent, a parent or grandparent of his must have been born there, or he must have lived there continuously for at least five years.

Respected London-based magazine World Soccer has regularly reported that some players fielded by Equatorial Guinea, who co-hosted the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations and reached the quarter-finals, meet none of the criteria.

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