By Obakeng Maje

The Executive Council (Exco) of the North West Province is to facilitate an engagement with key stakeholders to seek resolution of the impasse between COSATU and Bakwena Toll related to the price of the toll fee charged at the Swartruggens Tollgate.

The resolve to engage COSATU, the Department of Transport, SANRAL, Kgetleng Rivier Local Municipality and Bakwena Toll was taken at the forthnightly Exco meeting held on Wednesday in Mahikeng.

COSATU-North West had presented two memorandums to the MEC for Public Works, Roads & Transport, MEC Raymond Elisha alleging that the toll fee charged at the said tollgate is exorbitant, adds an additional financial burden carried by the impoverished in the area and perpetuates exclusion as no alternative routes are provided for those who cannot afford it.

 Exco is to take up the need to fast track construction of alternative routes, continous and consistent maintenance of the toll road with the identified stakeholders and also seek accountability for contribution of Bakwena’s Corporate Social Investment programme.

By Obakeng Maje

MAHIKENG- Unannounced visits to service delivery points must be conducted regularly by senior government official to ensure quality service to the people, North West Provincial Senior Management Services Conference recommended.

The one day conference, which was attended by many senior government managers across the province on Thursday, acknowledged that there are challenges in providing quality services to the people and that regular unannounced visits can help in ensuring that communities receives better services.

Key note speakers at the Conference, North West Premier, Thandi Modise and National Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela made a strong call to all senior managers in government to ensure that the people receive quality services that they deserve.

The Principle of Batho Pele (Putting People First) was one of the attitudes suggested by most of the speakers to effectively promote quality service delivery.

The Conference was a platform for managers who were deployed to conduct unannounced visits at service points as part of Public Service Week to table salient findings and challenges observed during their visits.

It was held under the theme, “How can we as public servants improve service delivery in the province” and it was centred around service delivery challenges facing the province with a view of recommending appropriate intervention and reflecting on the turnaround strategy.

Service delivery areas visited by senior managers include Bedwang Police Station, Mmamogale Segale Primary School, Kanana Clinic,Lerutlhwana Primary School, Christiana Town Clinic, Monchusi Secondary School,Victor Tong Thusong Centre, Taung Police Station, Taung Magistrate Court,Makgori Primary School and Sannieshof Community Health Centre.

Challenges found at service delivery points include that some schools do not have sports facilities, dirty government building, no fencing of government building, shortage of staff in some facilities, long queues at some points.

Even though there were challenges in other areas, some service points did show high level of being prepared.

Ga – Habedi Clinic is one of the clinics visited by a team of senior managers who were deployed in Bojanala Platinum District Municipality.

The clinic is situated at the centre of Ga-Habedi Village within Moretele Local Municipality and is the only clinic in that Village.

Okgabile Dibetso – Bodibe, Chief State Law Advisor in the Office of the Premier is one of the senior managers who visited the clinic.

She acknowledged that the clinic is in a fairly small village and generally well organized and accessible to the villagers.

Okgabile- Dibetso added that her team was impressed that there is a ramp on the side entrance for easy access for persons with disabilities and the elderly.

“During our visit there were no queues but generally there is a queue manager during Doctor’s visits and designated days for certain treatment. A State Doctor visits the clinic every fortnight.

Queues naturally become longer during the doctor’s visits to examine patients with chronics, acutes and reviews (of those he saw last time),” she explained.

She further cited that during their visit at the clinic patients visiting the clinic for treatment mentioned that queues are generally managed well and waiting time is not long.

In opening the conference, North West Premier emphasized that public servants must recommit themselves to provide services to the people through the principles of Batho Pele.

She reminded those in attendance that people will always expect government to deliver on the mandate they have committed to deliver.

“We have the responsibility to service our people with pride and passion and not seeking to impress our seniors. It must be the citizen who will praise us” she remarked.

BY Obakeng Maje

North West Premier, Mme Thandi Modise has appealed to all Senior Managers in her provincial government to improve communications with its citizens and recommit themselves to adhere to the principles of Batho Pele as they conduct their work.

“Government has got a mandate to provide services to the people and it is through us senior managers to ensure that the mandate is fulfilled.

We need to make sure that we listen to the concerns of our people nd respond to them accordingly,” said Premier Modise when addressing the Provincial Senior Management Services Conference held at Mmabatho Convention Centre in Mahikeng on Thursday.

The Conference is a platform for deployed managers who did unannounced visits at service points as part of Public Service Week to table salient findings and challenges observed during their visit.

It is held under the theme, “How can we as public servants improve service delivery in the province” and it is centred around service delivery challenges facing the province with a view of recommending appropriate intervention and reflecting on the turnaround strategy.

Premier Modise told the conference that government should inform the public on the reasons behind failure to deliver promised services.

“As we look at the challenges that we have today in the public service, we need to ask ourselves whether we are communicating with our citizens enough.

We can avoid most of the service delivery protests in our province if we understand our constitutional mandate and communicate effectively with our people,” she said.

She emphasized that public servants must recommit themselves to provide services to the people through the principles of Batho Pele also adding that people will always expect government to deliver on the mandate they have committed to deliver.

“We have the responsibility to service our people with pride and passion and not seeking to impress our seniors.

It must be the citizen who will praise us after delivering services to them in a manner that we have promised,” she cited.

Echoing Premier Modise’s sentiments, Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela said government must prioritize its citizens first when it carries out it work.

“The state must at all the time check if they are fulfilling the promises they have made to the people. They must always see if the people have got water, electricity, houses and other services that must be provided.

Our people have got the right to complain if they do not get the services that are due to them,” she said.

Madonsela also raised a concern that many people in government do not listen to the concerns of the people hence continued service delivery in the country.

She encouraged delegates to listen to the citizens to remedy the situation

BY Obakeng Maje

Eight more referees who have successfully passed the fitness retest that took place in Gauteng, Western Cape and Tanzania have been included into the 2012/2013 official list of the National Panel of Referees.

The officials that passed are Lwandile Mfiki, Victor Hlongwani and Daniel Volgraaf who underwent retesting in Tanzania. They have been officially included into the FIFA panel and can now officiate in international competitions. Others who passed are Jerome Damon and Buyile Gqubule.

They are joined by new female referees in the panel, Sebabatso Malope, Beverley Nemagovhani and Noleen Daniels; this brings the number to six female referees in the National Panel of Referees.

SAFA’s Head of Referees, Adeel Carelse said that the effects of Project Equity are beginning to pay off since its inception in January 2011. Project Equity primarily focuses on the development of female referees.

The new Eight successful referee candidates are:·         Sebabatso Malope

·         Beverley  Nemagovhani

·         Jerome Damon

·         Noleen Daniels

·         Buyile Gqubule

·         Lwandile Mfiki

·         Victor Hlongwani

·         Daniel Volgraff

BY Obakeng Maje

The Executive Council (Exco) of the North West Province has approved dissolution of the North West Parks & Tourism Board (NWPTB), MEC for Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism, Motlalepula Rosho announced on Thursday.

The resolution adopted by Exco in its fortnightly meeting chaired by Premier Mme Thandi Modise in Mahikeng yesterday approved that MEC Rosho should proceed with the appoint an administrator to both North West Parks and Tourism Board and Dirapeng until the new board is appointed on the 1 November 2012.

The Exco resolution empowered MEC Rosho to appoint an accounting authority for both NWPTB and an administrator for Dirapeng until the new Board is appointed.

 The North West Parks and Tourism Board Group of Companies had in direct contradiction and non compliance

  with the Public Finance Management Act(PFMA) not been able to submit the annual report for the period ended March 2011 and had not been able to so within the prescribed time for the year March 2012.

While the NWPTB had for the past few years submitted its annual financial statements on time for auditing by the Auditor General as prescribed by the PFMA, the group had not submitted financial statements of Dirapeng and Golden Leopard Resort for 2009/10 and 2010/11 respectively.

Interventions by the NWPTB to assist with consolidation including its deployment of two board members to the Dirapeng Board to assis with consolidation of annual financial statements were met with hostility and rejected despite the fact that the Board of Dirapeng reports to the NWPTB by law.

According to Rosho the Auditor General had on the Monday indicated that Dirapeng is to get a disclaimer as it had again failed to provide the Auditor General

  with all the required information. The subsidiary of Dirapeng, Golden Leopard Resort (GLR) had also not cooperated with the Auditor General in submitting the relevant documents for audit. The same board members of the Dirapeng are broad of directors for GLR..

 The MEC took the decision to recommend to Exco the withdrawal of the extension of the term of the board as the consolidation of annual financial statements was long overdue and there were no reasons to believe that Dirapeng would meet their own deadline on the matter. This was despite the fact that Dirapeng had had the matter on its agenda for the past meetings.

Exco concurred that the sad state of affairs at Dirapeng calls on the MEC to take drastic intervention steps to address the problem in the future and that this is despite the fact that the term of the Board is coming to an end ;and had sought Exco’s approval to extend the period of the board to ensure that there is Consolidation of financial Statement in order for the New Board to start on a clean state.

BY Obakeng Maje

The Sasol League, the premier women’s club football competition played in all nine provinces in SA, will kick-off in February 2013 running through to November of next year.

The South African Football Association (Safa) have made the change from the August kick-off to April finish, in order to accommodate the needs of the schools and tertiary institutions, who contribute many players to the Sasol League clubs.

“The schools and tertiary institutions run their leagues and competitions according to a normal calendar year,” said Safa CEO Dr Robin Petersen.

“The shift will benefit the students, rather than the old system which saw scholars and tertiary institution members moving to other areas of the country for career or other opportunities at the end of December. This weakened several clubs playing in the Sasol League and after pondering all the angles, it has been decided to move back to the more conventional calendar approach.”

It is envisaged that the men’s competitions run under the auspices of Safa, will follow suit in due course.

“The Sasol League is the main source of talent supply to the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana and other national age group women’s football teams and we look forward to working in conjunction with Safa for the betterment of women’s football, as we have been doing since the sponsorship started four years ago,” said Sasol Sponsorship Specialist, Football, Dumisani Mbokane.

Shortly, the Safa Competitions Department, headed by the national football body’s Director: Competitions, Balebetse Monnakgotla, will meet with the Sasol League clubs in the provinces in order to discuss ways and means to make the 2013 football season into an even smoother-run affair for all involved.

The meetings will be held as follows:

Saturday, 15th September 15h00 Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces at the Southern Sun Steve Biko Street (Ex-Beatrix), Tshwane

Sunday, 16th September 15h00Free State and Northern Cape provinces at the Garden Court Hotel, Kimberley

Tuesday, 18th September 11h00Gauteng and North West provinces at the North West University – Sports Village, Potchefstroom

Saturday, 22nd September 11h00KwaZulu Natal province at the Southern Sun Hotel, North Beach, Durban

Sunday, 23rd September 11h00Eastern Cape province at the Garden Court Hotel, East London

Monday, 24th September 11h00Western Cape province at the Southern Sun Hotel, Cullinan

BY Obakeng Maje

North West Premier Mme Thandi Modise has assured the arts industry that her administration does not want to neglect them. Premier Modise was responding to an allegation that the strategy currently being followed by the North West Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the Mmabana Foundation is sidelining And disadva ntaging arts produces who are essentially the arts and culture industry.

The meeting held by Premier Modise and MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Tebogo Modise with writers, dramatists, film-makers, arts intellectuals, visual artists, arts managers and other practitioners in Mahikeng on Wednesday afternoon was a follow-up to complaints raised by arts producers to the Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela recently during her provincial road show.Presenting on behalf of the group, Tswagare Namane said that it is their conviction that in this democracy it is their right to participate in the governance of their industry and proposed a policy conference as a platform that will inform the Mmabana turnaround strategy and address concerns and challenges facing them as arts producers.

“Some of us get hot under the collar when we talk about arts and culture because they define who are. We want to market the province as an artistic destination and a happy province and open up for artists even those out of the province. Mmabana Foundation is supposed to be at the pinnacle of directing talent identification and development of arts in the North West Province. It should not be an employment agency that spends 81% of its budget on staff salaries but an institution that is supposed to add to the identity of the province,” highlighted Premier Modise in responding to the proposals.  The Premier said that artists have a role to play towards informing the Mmabana Turnaround strategy and reviving the moral regeneration and also proposed that a provincial art gallery needs to be established to showcase and give expression to the work of artists.

“

Lack of pride in ourselves is reflected in the pittance we pay our artists. Artists should be paid within 30 days after delivering services” added Premier Modise in responding to complain that local artists are offered little for their services to sustain themselves.

The meeting resolved to reconvene in two weeks time to follow through on proposals made. Mahikeng FM Community Radio Station was singled out as the only Radio Station in the province that strives to promotes local artists by playing their songs on its programmes.

Forty-two year old Tonic Dichaba, a former fine arts lecturer at North West University , painter and graphic artist welcomed the Premier’s proposal for establishment of an art gallery and said that it would 

 serve to promote recogntiion of artists and create employment for those responsible for its upkeep.

Establishment of art cooperatives and resuscitation of fine arts department by the University of the North West was also mooted. 

Johannesburg – The trial of the alleged “Sunday rapist”, Johannes Jacobus Steyn, was expected to continue on Thursday.

The case was postponed on Wednesday after Judge Sita Kolbe was absent in the High Court, sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court, in Alberton.

Steyn has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, 11 of rape, 10 of sexual assault, 10 of kidnapping, one of attempted sexual assault, and one of attempted kidnapping.

Previously, two alibi witnesses denied Steyn’s claims that they were with him on the days some of the crimes were committed. Kolbe ordered that the witnesses be not identified.

The first, a woman who worked with Steyn at the Yusuf Dadoo Hospital in Krugersdorp during his community service, testified that she never went to his home. She was asked if she ever had sex with him at an abandoned holiday resort in Maropeng, where murdered teenager Louise de Waal’s body was found.

“Definitely not… Maybe in his dreams,” she answered.

Steyn had claimed he was with her on October 31, 2010 when an 11-year old girl was abducted in Krugersdorp and raped in Magaliesburg. She denied she was with him or ever had sex with him. – Sapa