NW Premier handed over wheelchairs to the needy

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Eight people living with disabilities received wheelchairs from North West Premier, Mme Thandi Modise during the Executive Council (Exco) Public Participation programme that was held at the Oukasie Sports Ground outside Brits over the weekend.

 
Accompanied by the members of her Provincial Executive Council, Premier Modise said donating the wheelchairs is part of her effort to encourage those who can give to make a difference in communities especially towards the needy in rural communities.
 
“It is heartrending to see older people suffering especially in our rural communities where unemployment and poverty are so rife.
 
It is also worrying to see a young children who still have a future ahead of them not being able to fulfill their dream or talent not because they can’t but because their parents are not able to buy them assistance devises like wheelchairs for them to move around “, said the Premier before engaging with communities on their experiences and challenges relating to service delivery.
 
There were only smiles on the faces of the recipients of the wheelchairs who explained that life will never be the same for them as they really got exactly what they needed from government.
 
Omphemetse Khunou, the mother of Karabo Khunou, from Oukasie a 12 year old child who was born with brain damage is one of the recipients of the wheelchairs.
 
Khunou said she has being struggling to get a wheelchair for his child for a long while.
 
“I am very happy that my child does have his own wheelchair because life was difficult for me as I had to be the only one moving him around every time.
 
I really appreciate the help that Mme Thandi Modise gave to me,” she said.
 
Mmamogale Segwapa, 96, from 0ukasie is another elderly amongst the recipients who thanked the Premier for the wheelchair.
 
“I will henceforth depend on this wheelchair to move around, I really thank the Premier for this important gift and wish her all the best in her work and she must continue to do all the good things for the people of my community,” she cited.
 
Another recipient, Daniel Kgwethi, also from Oukasie could not stop thanking government for remembering people like him, who have nothing and only rely on a disability grant.
 
“I really appreciate the wheelchair and I would like to ask God to give the Premier means to help other people who are also in the same situation like
 
me, ” he said.
 
The interactive engagement with communities held on Saturday was graced by the attendance of the newly elected National Chairperson of House of Traditional Leaders, Kgosi Pontsho Maubane and his wife. Other participants included the Executive Mayor of Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, Councillor Louis Diremelo, Members of his Mayoral Committee and a few councillors from Madibeng Local Municipality
 
 

Mmabana Taung to host Deaf Awareness event in style

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By Obakeng Maje

Taung- As part of its mandate, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will be celebrating the Deaf Awareness week from the September 1-7.

The celebrations around the Province will form part of the build-up programs for Deaf Awareness Week followed by the main event in Taung on September 7.

Deaf Awareness week will focus on educating people about Deafness and Sign Language.

“The aim is to draw attention to Deaf people, their challenges, capabilities as well as achievements. A number of Deaf communities around the world unite in celebrating Deaf Awareness week during this period” said mme Tebogo Modise.

 

The commemorative week was meant to educate communities about the many issues of deaf population face in their everyday life, as well as to honour their history and their culture.

Among the activities of the build-up programme, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will be hosting a Deaf Women Empowerment Seminar that will take place on September 4 at Archives Building in Mmabatho.

There will be various presentations and exhibitions by organizations such as the Human Rights Commission, Provincial Council on Aids, the South African Social Security Agency, the Departments of Social Development, Safety and Security, and other agencies.

 

The main event will be held at Mmabana Taung on September 7. It will commence with a march by Deaf Communities from around the North West Province to draw the attention of the community to issues affecting this sector of society.

 

“We want people to understand Deaf communities so that they can be able to communicate well with them, and for them to socialize with other hearing people without feeling sidelined. Government officials should also be urged to learn Sign Language in order to be able to deliver excellent service to the Deaf communities.” says MEC Mme Tebogo Modise.

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Police looking for a deceased loved ones

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By Obakeng Maje

The Police are investigating an inquest docket after a man between the ages of 48 and 59 were found dead in an open field at Schweizer-Reneke. 

The deceased allegedly use the following names as his:

 

1.Jan Gosekuang. 2.Johannes Mahlatse3.     Matlatse Mahlatsi4.     Osewang Matlatsi5.     Oujan Mokwatsi6.     Oupa Moopelwa7.     Petrus Moseki8.     Simon Motsatse9.     Willem Motseki 

 

The unidentified deceased is a black man, with a very dark complexion, short in length, slender build and he had a goaty- beard and was Setswana speaking individual.

The family of this man is unknown.

If any person could assist the police to identify this person, please contact the investigating officer, Cst Lehlohonolo Maine on Tel: 

 

053-963 9104 /  Cell: 

 

073 969 4754.

 

Your assistance will be highly appreciated and could contribute in finding his family and identifying the corpse.

Follow us on twitter@Taung_DailyNews

 

Unrest in Letlhabile as protesters on rampage

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By Obakeng Maje

LETLABILE: Another service delivery protest, started this morning, the community of Oskraal, demands electricity from the local Municipality. 

 

“This morning, about 300 people from Oskraal in Letlabile  started to barricade the road between Letlabile and Hebron with burning woods, tyres and stones” Brigadier Ngubane said.

The protest is in connection with service delivery. 

A delegation of 10 people from Oskraal are currently in negotiations with the city councillor to address the problem.   

No one sustained any injuries and no arrests made.

 

The police are currently monitoring the situation.

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Two suspects jailed for life after rape

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On 28 August 2012, Godfrey Tshipi (20) and Michael Koboekae (25) were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Mmabatho Regional Court .

This followed after a 26-year-old lady was gang raped on 14 February 2009.  At the time of the incident there were six accused. Four were not found guilty.

The 26-year-old victim was confronted by the suspects when she left a tavern on the night of 14 February 2008 to return home.

The suspects grabbed her from behind and pulled her to the nearest trees and took turns in raping her.  The suspects were arrested by Mafikeng Detectives after they were identified by the victim. 

 

 

Malema to be arrested on charges of fraud and corruption

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A senior government official and a law enforcement official who have been briefed on the case told the Mail & Guardian the elite police unit is “ready to charge” Malema; and that warrants have been issued for the controversial former ANC Youth League leader’s arrest.

 

“It will happen before long – at least in the coming weeks,” one of the sources, who requested anonymity, told the M&G.

 

The sources said Malema would be arrested on allegations of fraud and corruption connected to the issuing of tenders in Limpopo, and possibly for outstanding tax liabilities with the South African Revenue Service (Sars), which has taken a keen interest in his rapid accumulation of assets.

 

The fraud and tax evasion allegations are also understood to be directly linked to On-Point engineering – part owned by Malema’s Ratanang family trust – which held a contract to administer part of a multibillion-rand Limpopo roads budget. On-Point allegedly owes up to R15-million in unpaid taxes to Sars.

 

Though allegations of tender fraud date back to 2010, an arrest now would likely spark claims of political or executive interference. But analysts say that would have been the case regardless of the timing.

 

“When it happens is not important. Either way questions will be asked of the ANC’s role in the matter – especially President Jacob Zuma,” said Aubrey Matshiqi, political analyst at the Helen Suzman Foundation.

 

“He [Zuma] will immediately be accused of the exact same thing Thabo Mbeki was accused of – using state organs to settle political scores.”

 

Opportunism

Malema raised the ire of ruling party leaders in recent weeks after he waded into the Marikana mine killings, and his actions have been slammed as political opportunism.

 

“Marikana was taken over and hijacked. Out of it came counter-revolutionaries to undermine our movement,” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told a Young Communist League public lecture in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni last week.

 

He strongly criticised those he said were using the strike to further their own political careers.

 

“It is always dangerous to ride on the corpses of our people.”

 

Mantashe’s comments were followed up by a stern warning from tripartite alliance member, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which warned it would “deal with” Malema.

 

“For the first time Cosatu is issuing a direct warning to Malema to stop using the Lonmin mine tragedy for his personal agenda,” Sipho Dlamini, the labour federation’s president told the same gathering. 

 

‘He is finished’

In a further dismissal of Malema’s engagement with the Marikana miners, head of the ANC economic transformation unit Enoch Godongwana told a meeting with overseas investors, organised by Merril Lynch, the young firebrand’s political career was over.

 

“Outside the ANC he is finished. The ANC towers over the individual. The ANC has had its fair share of mavericks over the year and Malema is no different,” Godongwana was quoted as saying in the Sowetan.

 

Malema, whose expulsion from the ANC was ratified by the party’s disciplinary appeals committee, addressed Marikana residents shortly after the gunning down of 34 workers by police at Lonmin platinum mine in mid-August.

 

He laid the blame for the tragedy squarely at the government’s door, and used the occasion to call for Zuma’s resignation.

 

Along with seven survivors of the shooting, he proceeded to lay charges of murder against the South African Police Service and government.

 

Malema also transformed a memorial held for the dead miners into a political rally, decrying government’s role in the tragedy and calling on South Africans to rise up against the state.

 

“The democratic government has turned on its people,” Malema told the memorial. 

 

‘They don’t care about you’

Malema also visited Grootvlei gold mine on the East Rand last week, where he addressed mine workers who haven’t been paid in nearly two years, since the mine was taken over by Aurora Empowerment Systems – a company partly owned by Zuma’s nephew Khulubuse Zuma and Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zondwa Mandela.

 

“Our leaders have lost their way and have been co-opted by mine owners and fed profits. They don’t care about you,” Malema told workers. His chants of “Phansi, Zuma, Phansi [down with Zuma]” were met with enthusiastic replies from the workers, who relayed to him their anger with government and the ruling ANC.

 

While Malema still hopes to be readmitted to the ruling party at its elective conference in Mangaung, the anger he has stoked among ANC leaders in the wake of the Marikana tragedy may have undermined his campaign. And should he be arrested and charged, his return to the fold will likely be made more difficult yet.

 

Malema ally, suspended ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu, reacted with shock when quizzed by the M&G on the supposed arrest, but vowed they would continue on their quest to bring economic liberation to all South Africans.

 

“I don’t know anything about that, but it’s intimidation – we won’t be deterred,” Shivambu said.

For more details go to http://www.mg.com

 

 

Ramaphosa business credintials questioned

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He is treated as a saviour, as a messiah of a nation listing as it sails the choppy seas that often mark the 20-year anniversary of democracy.

 

This view of him is misplaced and his tenure as director at Lonmin Platinum is a telescope through which to look at this erstwhile warrior.

 

The reason Ramaphosa is so valorised is because of his past and not for anything he has done recently. He was an illustrious leader, a man among men who deserves his legacy as co-architect of the South African democratic edifice.

 

His early work – as leader of the mine workers, as the first democratic-era ANC secretary-general, as negotiator of our grand Constitution and then as the first-generation black business leader who stormed the Bastilles of downtown Joburg capital – was all in path-blazing roles. 

 

But for the past decade or so, what has Ramaphosa achieved that was transformative and of superior leadership capability, either in business or in politics? 

 

Nothing really.

 

The last significant work he was assigned was the disciplinary inquiry into former ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and his colleagues. 

For more details go to http://www.citypress.co.za

Murder charges against Marikana miners withdrawn

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Pic: (Constable Segosapelo on duty)

Johannesburg – The Justice Ministry on Sunday welcomed the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to withdraw murder charges against 270 Lonmin mineworkers.

 

“We welcome the decision, but will await formal report as requested,” said Justice Minister Jeff Radebe.

 

The workers were initially charged with murder, attempted murder and public violence following the unrest that left 34 people dead and 78 others injured on August 16.

 

The NPA said the group would be issued with warnings concerning the murder charges at their next court appearance on September 6.

 

The other charges would remain.

 

The African National Congress has also welcomed the move.

 

“This decision will allow the Commission of Inquiry established by the president (Jacob Zuma) to do its work and for police to continue with their investigations,” said party spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.

 

Meanwhile the Friends of the Youth League, which is associated with axed ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, blamed the Lonmin tragedy on the country’s leadership.

 

Floyd Shivambu of the group said : “If there was leadership in South Africa, the lengthy unreasoned, horrible and inhuman incarnation and imprisonment of mineworkers who survived the massacre would have been avoided.”

 

The Friends of the Youth League group has vowed to stand behind the workers, who continue to demand higher wages. – Sapa

Shock result for Pistorious

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London – Brazil’s Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira stunned defending champion Oscar Pistorius to win the men’s 200m T44 title at the Paralympic Games on Sunday.

 

South African Pistorius streaked into an early lead and was almost ten metres ahead as the athletes came into the closing straight.

 

The Brazilian, however, struck back in the closing stages to eat up the ground and surge past Pistorius in the final few metres to claim gold.

 

Oliveira finished with a time of 21.45 seconds, seven tenths of a second ahead of Pistorius (21.52) with American Blake Leeper (22.46) in third.

 

Fellow South African Arnu Fourie, a single leg amputee, finished fourth – setting a new T44 world record of 22.49 in his own category.

 

Earlier, swimmer Charles Bouwer pocketed his second medal at the Games, coming second in the 100m freestyle S13 final on Sunday evening.

 

With a gold medal already tucked away from the 50m freestyle S13, Bouwer was beaten by Ihar Boki of Belarus, who broke the world record for the second time in one day, touching in 51.91 seconds.

 

Bouwer was a second behind him in 52.97, followed by another Belarussian, Aleksandr Golintovskii, in 53.45.

 

“I knew from the beginning, when Boki went out so quickly this morning, that it was going to be a tough final for me,” Bouwer said after the final. “I went out too slowly and if I’d just gone out half a second faster, I would have had the gold, because I came back really strongly.

 

“These things happen and I got a silver medal so I’m really happy.” Bouwer would be back in the pool on Monday in the 100m backstroke S13 heats.

 

Earlier on the track, Hilton Langenhoven won his men’s 400m T12 heat and qualified fastest for Tuesday’s semi-finals clocking 49.86 seconds.

 

With each runner being visually impaired, two lanes were allocated to each runner in this event – one for the athlete and one for their guide.

 

South Africa now have ten medals – three gold , three silver and four bronze medals, and are in 19th position on the table with one more week of the Paralympics remaining.

AP

Manqele out as McCarthy comes in

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By Obakeng Maje

It never rains but pours for Bafana Bafana coach, Gordon Igesund whose newly-assembled squad has been hit by a spat of injuries.

 

Hardly hours after he had called up Mamelodi Sundowns striker Edward Manqele to replace Siyabonga Nomvethe, did the former Free State striker himself pull a hamstring in the Absa Premiership match against Maritzburg United on Sunday afternoon, forcing the Bafana Coach to make yet another change.

 

“I have called up Benni McCarthy to replace Manqele who in turn had replaced Nomvethe,” said Igesund.

 

The veteran Nomvethe was carried off injured on Saturday evening during Moroka Swallows match against Orlando Pirates prompting Igesund to name Manqele as his replacement on Sunday morning.

 

Few hours later, Manqele himself pulled a hamstring forcing Igesund to turn to the veteran McCarthy.

 

Bafana Bafana leaves for Sao Paolo on Monday morning to play five-time FIFA World Cup champions Brazil on Friday, 7 September 2012.