Picture: The area where Wolmaranstad car crash took place/Selloane Khakhau

By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI 

NORTH West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo has conveyed a message of condolence to the bereaved families  following a fatal accident that occurred in the Wolmaranstad/Ottosdal R505 road last night.

Mahumapelo said the police are investigating a case of a culpable homicide after a fatal head-on collision occurred about 10km outside Wolmaranstad at about 20:45 on Saturday.

“A Quantum Taxi and a Toyota Land Cruize SUV vehicle collided head-on, after which the taxi caught fire on the scene and its occupants were burnt terribly. Reports reveal that 13 people including both the driver of the Quantum Taxi and the Toyota SUV died.

“Meanwhile the four survivors who were badly injured were rushed to the nearby Hospital to receive medical attention,” he said.

He said unconfirmed report indicates that people in the Quantum were members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) who were returning home to Wolmaranstad from a church service in Mahikeng when they met their untimely death.

Families of victims have been contacted. SAPS is conducting further investigation as to the actual cause of the accident.

 “This is extremely sad when we consider that this tragedy happens at a time when the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management recently initiated the  Easter Season Road Safety Campaign Activation in Rustenburg.” said Mahumapelo.

Mahumapelo has appealed to motorists to always drive safely, reduce speed, avoid reckless overtaking, share the roads wisely and ensure that vehicles are in good working conditions.

“Those travelling to various destinations must corporate with Law Enforcement Agents, Traffic Officials and operations along all major and minor roads as visible traffic control has been stepped-up during this festive season,” he said.

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MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements in Bokone Bophirima, Galaletsang Gaolaolwe is adamant about improving service delivery and ensuring that the back to basics ten point plan is fully implemented.  
Gaolaolwe met with ward councillors of Matlosana local municipality in Orkney early in the week to discuss the challenges facing ward councillors in various wards.

She said:  “These engagement sessions with municipalities are necessary in order to narrow the gap between government and community as well as to cement issues of economic development in municipalities. 

“These engagements are necessary and beneficial in terms of building and strengthening the working relations amongst ward councillors’ and members of the community.” 

Gaolaolwe further said that they need to take local government to higher developmental level in pursuit of national priorities and realization of National Development Plan (NDP) goals.

She said continued support of Back to Basic (B2B) programme in municipalities is a building block of what the NDP defines as developmental local governance. 

“We urged the ward councillors to always engage with their communities of issues of service delivery in order to reduce the number of the community protests.

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Cape Town – The newly appointed police minister’s first order of business should include getting a new permanent national police commissioner, police committee chairperson Francois Beukman has said.

JOHANNESBURG –  Parliament has confirmed that former transport minister Dipuo Peters tendered her resignation as its member.

Peters was removed from her position as transport minister during the recent cabinet reshuffle.

She was replaced by Joe Maswanganyi, a former MEC of Sports, Arts and Culture in Limpopo.

More on this story to follow

– eNCA

(Picture: By Reginald Kanyane)

The statue of the late freedom fighter John Beaver “JB” Marks should benefit the economy of Ventersdorp through tourism. This is the view of Bokone Bophirima Premier, Supra Mahumapelo, who unveiled the six metre bronze statue of JB Marks last weekend.

“The Local Municipality of NW 405 … please make sure that you develop a programme that will ensure that South Africans and the world know about this heritage site.

When the people come here please tell them about the struggles of South Africa led by freedom fighters such as uncle JB Marks,” Mahumapelo said during the unveiling ceremony of the JB Marks statue. The history of the Tshing township and the Ventersdorp town should form part of the history lessons shared with the tourists, he said.

The Premier said for the country to successfully preserve its history, the current generation must package it accordingly and tell it like it is to the coming generations and the world.

“As the current generation we must make sure that we get older and younger people to work together in packaging our history and culture in a creative and interesting way.

We need to get on board young people into the tourism sector, arts and culture to do book writing, singing and acting more about our freedom fighter who has sacrificed a lot for this country,” he said, emphasizing that this work alone would create jobs for the locals.

Executive Mayor of Ventersdorp/Tlokwe NW 405 Local Municipality, Kgotso Khumalo, said his municipality will indeed use the statue to promote tourism in the municipality.

“I believe that this statue will create opportunities for many of our people in the municipality because of the tourists from different parts of the world.

The hospitality industry will get even better because of this magnificent statue of uncle JB Marks,” he said. Khumalo said the statue will even play a huge part in uniting the people of different colour in an area previously characterized by racism.

Asked about proposals to rename the merged Ventersdorp/Tlokwe NW 405 Local Municipality the JB Marks Local Municipality, Khumalo said the process that involves public participation was still underway and should be given a chance.

“The process of changing the name of the municipality is a sensitive matter and it must therefore be treated with care in consultation with the masses of our people in this municipality. We are currently in the consultation process and our people are throwing in different names. Once the process is done we will be able to tell the public our final name before July this year,” he said.

Moipone Tomeletso, a resident of Tshing Township, said her biggest wish is for the statue to create the much needed employment for local young people.

“We welcome the statue in our area. It is encouraging and making us understand the importance of this democracy and that great people like uncle JB Marks came out of our dusty small town.

“My hope is that this heritage site will create more opportunities for the majority of us young people because unemployment and poverty is unacceptably high here,” she said.

She urged the municipality to create hype about the statue so that investors can also be attracted to build big infrastructure projects such as hotels and malls in their area.

Source: http://www.semphete.co.za 

BY REGINALD  KANYANE
NEWLY-appointed minister, Joe Maswanganyi will officially activate the 2017 Road Safety and Law Enforcement Easter Operations. 

Maswanganyi will be joined by MEC for community and transport managememt, Dr Mpho Motlhabane during the event that is scheduled to take place in the Rustenburg Municipality.

They will be joined by Faith-Based Organisations who will conduct prayers in four different areas identified as accident hotspot areas.

“Eight people recently collided with a cement truck on the N4 road. The activation of the Road Safety and Law Enforcement Operations is an annual campaign aimed at intensifying road safety education and increasing traffic officers’ visibility on the roads. 

“The operations are meant to reduce road accidents and fatalities across all major roads across the province. These are also informed by the global UN Decade of Action for Road Safety campaign aimed at reducing fatalities by 50% by 2020,” Motlhabane said.

He said that Maswanganyi will further address the law enforcement and road safety officials who form part of the provincial Easter Road Safety and Law enforcement operations. 

“During these operations, the Department joins forces with all stakeholders in the transport sector to ensure that the citizens of the province enjoy road accident and crime free Easter period,” he said.

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The Department of Local Government and Human Settlements in Bokone Bophirima cemented these alliances on Friday last week during the Human Settlements Indaba held in Rustenburg. It signed a social contract for sustainable integrated human settlements.

The province’s traditional leadership, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), North West University, the private sector, developers and contractors, the mining sector, building material manufactures and suppliers, the banking sector and civil society organizations form part of this social contract.

Signatories of the social contract jointly undertook to work together with the provincial government towards the delivery of 1.5 million housing opportunities, and undertook to free blocked projects, as well as eradicate the backlog of title deeds for the pre- and post-1994 housing stock.

Local Government and Human Settlements MEC, Galaletsang Gaolaolwe, said her department is driven by the provincial government’s five concretes of Agriculture, Culture and Tourism (ACT), Villages, Townships and Small Dorpies (VTSD), Reconciliation, Healing and Renewal (RHR), Setsokotsane as well as Saamtrek-Saamwerk to fast track the delivery of integrated human settlements.

“The delivery of sustainable human settlements can be achieved by bringing all stakeholders together in a rapid provision of decent and dignified human settlements to move the province forward through the Saamtrek-Saamwerk philosophy,’’ said the MEC.

The department will, on a continuous basis, intercact with all social contract signatories to assess the implementation of the agreements in the contract.

The department would also prioritise the provision of human settlements to senior citizens, people with disabilities and child-headed households as a special focus, Gaolaolwe said.

Source: http://www.semphete.co.za

Cape Town – Ratings agency S&P Global Ratings on Monday downgraded South Africa to sub-investment grade and said a massive Cabinet reshuffle shortly after midnight on Friday has put policy continuity at risk.

The decision follows a Cabinet reshuffle which claimed the jobs of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas.

Barely 24 hours into his new job as Minister of Finance, Malusi Gigaba clarified two important aspects of his new appointment which represent major shifts from his predecessor. Both aspects of the new Gigaba era should leave South Africans concerned and calling for greater scrutiny than ever before on government, political analyst Daniel Silke earlier wrote on Fin24.

“Firstly, Gigaba unambiguously placed the highly contentious nuclear power build project firmly back on the agenda.

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“The second aspect of the first 24 hours of Gigaba’s reign is perhaps more worrying. At his first media briefing, Gigaba expressed a more populist view of not only economic policy but also his world view,” Silke wrote.

The rand reacted immediately to trade at R13.71/$. By 17:53 it changed hands at R13.67 to the greenback.

S&P said the executive changes initiated by President Jacob Zuma have put at risk fiscal and growth outcomes.

“We assess that contingent liabilities to the state are rising,” the global ratings agency said in a statement.

S&P lowered the long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on the Republic of South Africa to ‘BB+’ from ‘BBB-‘and the long-term local currency rating to ‘BBB-‘ from ‘BBB’.

It also lowered the short-term foreign currency rating to ‘B’ from ‘A-3’ and the short-term local currency rating to ‘A-3’ from ‘A-2’. The outlook on all the long-term ratings is negative.

In addition, S&P lowered the long-term South Africa national scale rating to ‘zaAA-‘ from ‘zaAAA’, and affirmed the short-term national scale rating at ‘zaA-1’.

“The downgrade reflects our view that the divisions in the ANC-led government that have led to changes in the executive leadership, including the finance minister, have put policy continuity at risk.

“This has increased the likelihood that economic growth and fiscal outcomes could suffer. The rating action also reflects our view that contingent liabilities to the state, particularly in the energy sector, are on the rise, and that previous plans to improve the underlying financial position of Eskom may not be implemented in a comprehensive and timely manner.

“In our view, higher risks of budgetary slippage will also put upward pressure on South Africa’s cost of capital, further dampening already-modest growth.”

Source: http://www.fin24.com

BY BAKANG MOKOTO

The PEC of the African National Congress in Bokone Bophirima held its ordinary meeting in Moretele sub-region on Friday. The provincial secretary, Dakota Legoete said the PEC meeting received a political overview from its chairperson, Supra Mahumapelo and discussed amongst other issues the state of the organisation, preparations for regional
conferences, preparations for the June national policy conference as well as current political developments.

“The PEC also welcome the Cabinet reshuffle as announced by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. We congratulate the new appointees and support them in their new
responsibilities. We acknowledge the prescription as stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic,” Legoete said.

He further said the provisions of Section 91 solely gives the State President the prerogative to appoint and relieve Cabinet Ministers in order to ensure that the mandate of the ANC government as given by the electorate is implemented successfully.
“It is our belief that the decision to reshuffle Cabinet is in the best interest of the country. This will assist the government to further strengthen the radical socio-economic transformation programme through the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP).

“We hope that this decision will benefit the people of our country, especially on the provision of quality and sustainable services. We have confidence that all the new deployees in their respective portfolios will perform their responsibilities with diligence and selflessness. The Constitution of the country and its mandate will be fulfilled as outlined in the ANC’s 2014 Election Manifesto,” he said.

Legoete added that the PEC discussed the recent developments that took place at the funeral of stalwart, Ahmed Kathrada, who originates from Schweizer Reneke in Mamusa Local Municipality. He said Uncle Kathy as Admed Kathrada was affectionately known, has been an embodiment of the principles and values of the ANC.

“We are however, concerned that what transpired at his funeral was contrary to what he stood for and what he taught us. The conduct of some speakers, in particular the former Deputy President, was an abuse of the platform. They blatantly disrespected the legacy of Uncle Kathy and used his funeral to plough seeds of division in the organization.

“They launched an attack on the President instead of using the relevant organisational protocol to air their grievances. We have mandated the PEC Officials to engage our National Officials on the recent developments instead of raising them through public spats. The  PEC pleads with all members and leaders of the ANC to refrain from playing to the gallery because that only succeeds in strengthening the agenda of the opponents of the National Democratic Revolution,” he said.
Legoete added that all ANC members and structures need to focus on the organisation’s
policy discussion documents in preparation for the June conference and on service delivery to the people.

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BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

The Portfolio Committee on Tourism and Rural Environment and Agricultural Development will be conducting pre-public Hearing Stakeholder Workshop on the MINERAL AND PETROLEUM RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT AMENDMENT BILL [B15D – 2013] from the 03 – 10 April 2017 in the Rustenburg Local Municipality.

North West Provincial Legislature spokesperson, Namhla Luhabe said: “The bill aims to amend the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002, as amended by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2008 (Act No.49 of 2008).

“So, as to remove ambiguities that exist within the Act, to provide for the regulation of associated minerals, partitioning of rights and enhance provisions relating to the regulation of the mining industry through beneficiation of minerals or mineral products, to promote national energy security, to streamline administrative processes, to align the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act with the Geoscience Act, 1993 (Act No. 100 of 1993), as amended by the Geoscience Amendment Act, 2010 (Act No. 16 of 2010),”  Luhabe said.

She further said the workshop will to provide for enhanced sanctions, to improve the regulatory system and to provide for matters connected therewith. Luhabe added that the Committee is conducting workshops on the bill with communities in mining areas to solicit impressions on the Bill and to inform them on how the Bill affects them, as well as get valuable inputs from these affected communities.

The Workshops are scheduled as follows (four areas per day):

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