Pietermaritzburg – An advert for trainee positions at the KwaZulu-Natal transport department specified that a stringent physical assessment was required, a commission of inquiry heard in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday.

Applicant Njabulo Manqele had been quick to criticise the KZN government for giving only two days’ notice of the fitness test, Ravenda Padayachee SC, for the transport department, said during cross-examination.

However, the advertisement stated that applicants had to be physically fit, he said.

The commission was established by Premier Zweli Mkhize to probe the deaths of eight job applicants during a fitness test in Pietermaritzburg in December.

The job requirements were a senior certificate, a valid code B driving licence, and physical fitness.

Fitness

“Please note that successful candidates will be subjected to full medical examination to determine fitness before confirmation of appointment,” the advertisement read.

Applicants also had to have no criminal record and not be older than 35.

Padayachee said if Manqele had read the advert, he would not be criticising the government.

The fitness test formed part of a process to select Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) job applicants.

More than 34 000 people qualified to apply for 90 advertised trainee posts.

A total of 15 600 applicants attended a fitness test at Harry Gwala Stadium, in Pietermaritzburg, on 27 December, and a similar number on 28 December.

This week, Manqele told the commission he had travelled from Adams Mission, south of Durban, to Pietermaritzburg with his friend Sibonakaliso Mhlanga to participate in a 4km run.

Mhlanga was one of the applicants who died after participating in the fitness test.

Manqele and Mhlanga were in a group which ran at 19:30 on 27 December.

Manqele said his group was referred to as a “tsumani”, because it had more than 500 people. He could not remember whether it consisted of men and women.

On Monday he testified that groups were split into manageable numbers and that men and women were separated.

The commission continues.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The government expressed dismay on Wednesday that there were still citizens who did not want to integrate into a democratic South Africa.

“This disintegration is extremely disappointing as it perpetuates the ills of the apartheid era,” Government Communication and Information System CEO Phumla Williams said.

“Such acts were the main causes of a divided South Africa,” she said.

She was reacting to a report in The Times that residents of a settlement on the farm Kleinfontein, near Pretoria, had vowed that only Afrikaners would be allowed to live there.

According to the newspaper, all the settlement’s residents, from the security guards at the gate to the gardeners, were Afrikaans.

Government services

Williams said all South Africans were governed by the Constitution, which catered for people of all races and religions. She said Kleinfontein residents benefited from government services.

“We strongly discourage them from lobbying for the town to be declared independent from the Tshwane municipality, as this will be contrary to the Constitution of this country.”

The Times reported that the Kleinfontein’s controlling body’s chairperson Jan Groenewald said it would lobby the Tshwane municipality for the settlement to be declared independent.

“Eventually, the African National Congress government will have to approve what we are doing here,” he was quoted as saying.

Groenewald told the newspaper a resident had to be “an Afrikaner with Voortrekker heritage, a Protestant Christian and abide by the Blood River covenant”.

“We do not think in terms of race, we think in terms of culture… [but] you cannot ignore the fact that we have different races. That is the reality,” he reportedly said.

Residents included the leaders of several rightwing groups, but the community’s directors kept them in line, he said.

“We do not fly the South African flag because [South Africa] is a unitary state – the reason we find ourselves in this situation.”

– SAPA

Cape Town – Around 80 foreigners, including an Australian tourist, were detained on Wednesday for not having their documents on them.

Michael Camacho, an Australian tourist, was arrested while shopping for curios in Hout Bay, the Cape Argus reported.

“I was really flabbergasted, I didn’t know that carrying your passport was a requirement,” his brother-in-law, Oliver Potgieter, told John Maytham on Cape Talk.

Camacho was held at Caledon Square for around two hours.

Around 20 friends and relatives from across Africa waited outside the Cape Town police station for their loved ones.

They told the Argus that police arrested people without asylum-seeker papers during a raid.

Gesel Mpeta said she waited for almost four hours for her husband after being detained for two hours herself. She told the Argus she didn’t know they needed their papers on them at all times.

The raid was a joint operation between the police, department of home affairs and law enforcement, Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut told the Argus.

“Some of the people are still there, there were about 80 arrests. It was carried out throughout the city and we have these operations on a regular basis.”
For more http://www.news24.com

Rustenburg – Families of miners shot dead by police in Marikana last year walked out of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, in Rustenburg, on Wednesday when a senior police officer conveyed his condolences to them.

Major General Charl Annandale, who headed the police’s tactical response team during the unrest, was testifying about the events at Marikana.

Speaking about the role of the police in the violent unrest, he asked if he could address the relatives of the deceased.

Annandale told the commission he was not sure if he would ever get a chance to address them again.
“My heart goes out to each and every family of anyone who lost their lives… I’m aware of the gap that this leaves in everyday lives,” he said.

Broke down, left

Some of the family members broke down while Annandale was speaking. Almost all of them left the auditorium.

Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) members also got up and left the proceedings.

“My wife always refers to this as a ripple effect… I know that this is so much broader than a lover missing a loved one,” Annandale said.

“I know there were breadwinners, fathers, sons, brothers and also husbands.”

He told the commission the lives of police officials were also deeply affected by the incident.

Dali Mpofu, for the injured and arrested miners, and Dumisa Ntsebeza, for the families of the deceased, noted the families’ grief.

Similar reaction

They agreed that the commission was not the appropriate platform for Annandale to have delivered his condolences, and suggested that this should have happened in a private meeting.

They said the commission saw a similar reaction when national police commissioner Riah Phiyega delivered her condolences to the families.

The commission, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people during the wage-related unrest in Marikana last year.

Police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers in Marikana on 16 August. Ten people, including two police officers, were killed in the preceding week.

– SAPA

Mahikeng-In restoring ‘the human dignity’ of people of the North West Province, the Department of Human Settlements Branch has increased the pace of service delivery and exceeded the 2012/13 financial target of housing units.
“During his budget vote for the financial year 2013/14 at the North West Provincial Legislature yesterday, MEC for the Department, Nono Maloyi reminded the august house that last financial year he committed to build 11666 housing units” said Department spokesperson Simon Mmope.
However, during the closure of the financial year, the department has recorded a success of 14424 housing units delivered which was 2758 more from the initial target.
“These houses have clean running water and sanitation. This is an extraordinary achievement with evidence of our indelible commitment to restore the dignity of our people,” said MEC Maloyi.
He said that over achievement is attributed to Human Settlements Development Grand (HSDG) that was allocated to the department. According to the MEC, this included the disaster funding that was rolled over in the previous year and money that was recovered from Thubelisha homes after the parastatal was closed down.
With the new allocation of R1.4 billion for this 2013/14 financial year, the department committed to deliver about 5053 sites and constructing 15 000 new housing units with access to clean water and descent sanitation.
Following the last financial year commitment to assist those who earn too much to qualify for low cost housing and earn too little to qualify for bond stock, the department committed to market and effectively implement the Financially Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) during this financial year as outline by President Jacob Zuma during the state of the nation address, with special focus on Seraleng project in Rustenburg.
“The Department has set aside an amount of R27 million for the implementation of the programme in Rustenburg” Maloyi said.
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(Edited by Obakeng Maje)

North West Premier Thandi Modise is to table the 2013/14 Departmental Policy and Budget Vote Speech for the Office of the Premier in the Provincial Legislature at 9:00 am tomorrow.

Premier Modise’s speech to commence at 9:00 am is expected to highlight achievements, challenges, programmes and interventions to eradicate poverty, create employment reduce inequalities, fight the scourge of rape, corruption and building partnerships towards moral regeneration.

It would also reflect on human resource development, implementation of the National Development Plan, Strategic Infrastructure Plan (SIP) 4 to facilitate further economic growth in the province through the acceleration of the roll out of water, road, and rail and electricity infrastructure.
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A Pretoria sex worker has accused two Tshwane Emergency Services personnel of raping her in the back of an official municipal vehicle and then dropping her off in veld near the N4 highway this past weekend.

The sex worker, whose name is known to the Pretoria News but who may not be identified as she fears for her life after reporting the incident to police, said she was threatened with death before being raped by the men.
For more http://www.iol.co.za