SITUATION has calmed down at Kagisano Molopo local municipality after some residents attempted to shut down operations recently. The concerned residents want newly-elected mayor, Bitsa Lenkopane to step down.

They alleged rendered her selection null and void as they claim procedural methods were not followed.

Lenkopane has assured residents that the wheel of municipal service delivery will roll out uninterrupted.

“We met with those disgruntled and addressed their issues. We also noted with regret the incident and pointed out that such exercise negatively affected the Local Economic Development (LED). The protesters forced many local businesses to shut down for two days last week.

“If the LED is affected, this will results in a setback in a fight against the triple challenges that we are facing our society. We need to address poverty, unemployment and inequality within our society,” Lenkopane said.

She added that the residents need to unite and work together with municipality. Lenkopane also warned those who supported her that their support should never in anyway be misconstrued as an ‘ace card’.

“Your support should not mislead you and think one day you could use it against me. This is just a wave that will come to an end and I will need everyone in Kagisano Molopo to join in the saamtrek-saamwerk initiative.

“We also urge you to conceptualise the reconciliation, healing and renewal (RHR) programme as some of the concretes of the 5^th administration to build the province,” she said.

Lenkopane further said plans were in place to roll out municipal service delivery programmes this week. She added that will empower and develop communities and improve their livelihoods. 

However, those who embarked on a protest refuted the claim. The Kagisano-Molopo Concern Group leader, Sino Kebotlhale said: “The mayor does not want to cooperate. We never met with her as she is avoiding us. Instead of meeting us, she calls and set police on us.

“However, we will never budge and we still maintain that she needs to vacate the mayoral seat. Her selection was invalid as we did not vote her in. There are many challenges that are still pending and she refuses to address community grievances.”- Newsnote

Picture: North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo

NORTH West Premier Supra Mahumapelo said his visited to China and India last month was an accomplishment. Mahumapelo said they will strengthen business opportunities with those countries.

“One of the agreements of business partnership was donkey business. The Chinese have capabilities in making use of donkey skin in different ways. They have the biggest Science Complex where they use it to deal with donkey skin to boost the economy. We have already identified few hectares where we will open a factory to deal with donkey skin business. We have reached an agreement that we will not send the donkey meat and skin abroad, but open a factory instead.  

“Our National Transport Investment (NTI) also engaged with Chinese government to discuss the possibilities of opening a bus factory. We will work together with all stakeholders in transport industry including taxi industry. We want to upgrade infrastructure especially in far-flung areas. The Chinese agreed to provide necessary training to our people by imparting skills,” he said.

Mahumapelo added that people need to have access to free Wi-Fi across the province. He further said they will also identify few youth who will be ferried to China, Brazil, Russia and India to be equipped with training.

“All those who will be identified, they will to go and get training abroad through BRICS countries. They will also learn the languages used in those countries. We will encourage them to visit our province frequently so that they can share their expertise while studying,” he said.

Mahumapelo said their main objectives were to eradicate unemployment, inequality and poverty which are triple challenges. Most community members need to have cooperatives to be employers rather than employees. We are targeting 70% of our youth to be employers instead.

“We will make announcement next year in 2017 regarding the deal. We also went to India to negotiate with them. The Indian economy is the most and fastest growing economy in the world thus far. They also have good infrastructure in agriculture. We have invited water specialists from India to come and assist us in addressing water challenges.

“The province has experienced water shortage through drought last year. We believe that our farmers will also benefit from that deal. They will educate them on how to reach underground water without spending more money. The Indians are using the easiest method to water their plantation too. They also have magical trees that make rain to fall and have water recycling methods through technology,” Mahumapelo said.

“We will be working closely with law enforcement authorities to address donkey-theft. We also want to applaud the police on arresting those who were involved in drugs selling in the province. We also want to highlight that most of our public servants are doing a great job. However, there are some of those who are involved in corruption and fraud. Their actions derail service delivery and we requested Provincial Government Director-General, Lydia Sebego to address that.

“Our province has reduced its wasteful expenditure from R900 million to only under R10 million currently. We have agreed with Audit General to apply PFMA and we will take drastic measures against those who found guilty. We have also completed the qualifications audit investigations,” Mahumapelo said.- Newsnote

AGRICULTURAL Sector in North West province will receive the necessary support from the World Bank. The bank representatives from United State of America visited Manamolela village on Wednesday.

A Senior Agriculture Economist of the World Bank, Dr Guo Li said: “Developing rural agricultural economies is essential. We go to rural areas to see how we can develop those areas. The World Bank sees the importance of South Africa’s Agri-parks as they offer comprehensive services along the various commodity value chains.”

Dr Li brings abundance of expertise as he worked on the bank’s East Asia Region for eight years focusing on rural development and poverty. He added that they will also visit Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Eastern Cape.  .

The programme was organized by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. The provincial head of department for Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development department (READ), Dr Poncho Mokaila said the initiative offers a one stop shop for agro-production, processing, logistics, marketing and training within district municipalities.

“Government says the initiative will contribute to developing 300 000 new small holder farmers and 145 000 jobs in agro-processing. The National Developmental Plan (NDP) sees agriculture as having the potential to create close to one million jobs by 2030.

“It states that commercial agriculture has the potential to create 250 000 direct jobs and a further 130 000 indirect jobs. The Agri-parks programme is just one way towards realising these jobs targets,” he said.

Bokone Bophirima’s Department of Rural Environment and Agricultural Development (READ) recently invested R50m on rehabilitation of the silos in Springbokpan near Itsoseng last year.

A processing plant and warehouse is also being built there. The department also has another park in Makapanstadt.

Bokone Bophirima’s premier, Supra Mahumapelo says agriculture is very important in developing hard to reach areas and is a way of fighting unemployment, poverty and inequality.

He added that it affirms some of the fifth administration’s concretes which are; Agriculture, Culture and Tourism (ACT), Villages Townships and Small Dorpies.

“The Launch of the 2016 Letsema Le Bolotse cropping season at Manamolela did not only see farmers receive mechanisms, but it was also an opportunity to discuss the economic benefits of agriculture.

“(VTSD) and Saamtrek Saamwerk which means working together with white farmers to build a brighter future for our country,” Mahumapelo said.-Newsnote

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Barely half a day into Mamelodi Sundowns’ stay in Egypt, and CAF Champions League opponents Zamalek have already started their shenanigans in attempting to derail Masandawana’s chase for African glory.

The Brazilians jetted out of Johannesburg on Wednesday evening, landing in Egypt’s capital Cairo in the early hours of Thursday morning before taking a connecting flight to Alexandria, checking into their hotel just after 9am.

Yet a planned training session with the squad had to be called off after their hosts failed to issue the Absa Premiership champions a venue.

“We were expecting to go to training, but were still waiting for Zamalek to confirm a training ground for us, as per CAF rules,” Sundowns Communication Co-ordinator Thulani Thuswa tells KickOff.com.

When they came to South Africa, we gave them a training ground on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But unfortunately they did not give us a training venue today, so we had to cancel training and alter the plans a little bit. And now we have to wait to see if they’ll give us a training ground tomorrow.”

The players were given the day to rest at the hotel, which is under visible police presence.

“Today was meant to be day of light training, stretching, tactics and so forth, but we’ve been unable to do that, so the players have just rested,” Thuswa added.

Sundowns hold a healthy 3-0 lead heading into Sunday’s final, which is set to kick-off at 8.30pm at the Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria.

Source: http://www.kickoff.com 

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New Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has started her term with a bang.

Mkhwebane briefed Parliament’s Justice Portfolio Committee on her office’s annual report, for Madonsela’s last year in office.

EWN’s Parliamentary correspondent Gaye Davis says Mkhwebane is putting her stamp on the institution.

In her first public engagement since assuming office three days ago, Mkhwebane announced that donor funding would be a thing of the past in her office.

This after it emerged in Parliament that her predecessor Thuli Madonsela secured 500 000 US Dollars from government agency USAID, raising some concerns.

Mkhwebane also said that she would abandon the use of consultants as far as possible, after revealing that academics and firm PwC had helped with compiling the state capture report.

Mkhwebane said she’s going to be looking for a different caliber of investigator.

— Gaye Davis, Parliamentary correspondent for EWN

She said she’d also be chasing Madonsela about the amount she owes after her son crashed an official vehicle.

Davis suggests that Mkhwebane was “throwing shade” at Madonsela during her first briefing today.

Source: http://www.702.co.za

BY REGINALD KANYANE

Farmers in the North West province are ready to hit the ground running. This follows the department of Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development (READ) launching the 2016 cropping season. 

North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo said the launch was set to provide a platform for government to debut the planting season and to announce its assistance to subsistence farmers in the province. 

Mahumapelo lauded the department initiative and emphasised that the Manamolela community and other local communities needed it. 

He said it was imperative for the province to be robust in its Villages, Townships and small dorpies. 

Mahumapelo further said he was hopeful for more rain and more opportunity for produce and as this was going to create more jobs. 
“The department entered into service level agreement with beneficiaries. It is hoped that farmers would embrace the agreement which truss beneficiaries to cease 10% for storage.”

About 500 farmers from Tswaing local municipality assembled to witness the event held at Manamolela village on Wednesday.

“We joint forces with the national Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. We have also set aside R38 million on Crop Massification programme for the 2016/17 financial year. 

“Each famer is set to receive crop inputs for both Sunflower and Maize (Seed, Fertilizer, Chemicals and fuel) for 50 hectares of land each. This is equivalent to R350 000 spend on each farmer, Manketse Tlhape said. 
Some of beneficiaries of the project, Lydia Setlhare and Badirwang Lekgetho who have been in farming for over a decade said they were grateful at the support. 

Setlhare said government has been doing a lot to help farmers and urged her colleagues to begin to do things for themselves. She further said the rain received also motivates them to prepare for a cropping season hoping for a better harvest. 

Lekgetho said: “It was good that government was proceeding with support despite drought. We trust that this year is better than the previous one.

“We are happy that government has come back to offer its much needed assistance,” he concluded      
240 farmers across the province are set to benefit from this provincial initiative. In all, the Letsema Le Bolotse 2016 cropping season programme covers 10 000 hectares of land.

MEC Manketsi Tlhape also encouraged farmers to yearn to grow to greater heights. She said the assistance was meant to give them a start with an anticipation to have them grow to commercial level. 

“Letsema le Bolotse was to urge farmers not to expect government to be lone contributors. Farmers need to be key partners in growing agriculture and making it a key economic factor in the province,” she said.

Tlhape further urged the farmers to use silos for grain storage.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

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Former public protector Thuli Madonsela has accepted an offer to take up a chair in social justice at the University of Stellenbosch.

The university said in a press release that Madonsela will take up her position in 2018 after a sabbatical.

Madonsela said that she was “supremely honoured” by the offer of the chair in the law faculty.

“I hope to work with my colleagues at the law faculty to play our part in accelerating the pace of achieving the constitutional promise of an inclusive society based on social justice, shared prosperity, friendship and peace. 

“I am also looking forward to working with young people at the university and beyond on these matters.”

The dean of the law faculty at Stellenbosch, Professor Sonia Human, said the decision by Madonsela to join the faculty was “a tremendous honour and one that will contribute significantly to the faculty’s continued commitment to champion the realisation of a constitutional vision for South African society”.

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

Zamalek’s charismatic president Mortada Mansour has been searching for answers this week as to why his side capitulated in Pretoria and lost the first leg of their African Champions League final 3-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns.

It appears he does not believe the simplest reasons available – that they were outplayed by a better team on the day – and has turned his attention to claims that Sundowns‚ or disgruntled former Zamalek players‚ used muti or “magic” in the goal of keeper Ahmed El-Shenawy.

Mansour‚ known for his outlandish statements‚ told a press conference in Cairo that Sundowns had defeated his side using non-footballing means‚ leading to the own goal from Islam Gamal‚ especially as Ali Gabr had also scored an own goal in the same net during the pool phase.

“I want to tell everybody to not make fun of our claims that there was something suspicious in Islam Gamal’s own goal‚” Mansour said.

“It is abnormal that Islam Gamal scores an own goal in the same way Ali Gabr scored with before with the same foot and in the same net.

“It is not necessary that it is Sundowns who have used magic‚ look for the former Zamalek players who were expelled from the club.”

Mansour added that he has invited Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to Sunday’s return leg in Alexandria‚ along with the ambassadors of Algeria‚ Morocco‚ Saudi Arabia and Tunisia in a show of Arabic solidarity against the South Africans.

Mansour‚ who it would appear could pick a fight with his own shadow‚ has a long-standing feud with the club’s Ultras fans and this week appeared to dismiss a call for reconciliation from the group‚ who he claims have tried to kill him in the past.

Meanwhile‚ Zamalek coach Momen Soliman has included goalkeeper El-Shennawy in his squad for the second leg.

The Egypt international went off in the second half of the game at Atteridgeville with what appeared to be a muscle injury‚ and was replaced by Mahmoud Gennesh.

A call on his fitness will be made later in the week. – TMG Digital

BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

A STUDENT constable, 30 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for two cases of robbery. Northern Cape police spokesperson, Lieutenant Col Dimakatso Mooi said Kabelo Godffrey Setlhabi (who was a student constable in the South African Police Service) sentence will serve as deter to other criminals.

“It will also show that no one is above the law regardless of where you are employed. Setlhabi was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by Taung Regional Court for two cases of business robbery on Tuesday.

“At the time of the robberies, Setlhabi was stationed at Delareyville Police Station as a student constable. The robberies happened on February 2012 at Pampierstad and Sekhing village respectively. The accused used a firearm on both robberies and was arrested through intelligence gathered information,” Mooi said.

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The MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements in Bokone Bophirima Galaletsang Gaolaolwe has restored calm in the residents of Ntsweletsoku and Dinokana which are few kilometers outside Welbedachgt township after they went on a rampage demanding clean drinking water. The residents accused Ramotshere Moilwa local municipality of failing to deliver services and maintenance of boreholes.

The residents embarked on a two day protest to voice out their dissatisfaction with water tankering services, indicating that the arrangement which was initially supposed to be a short term intervention, has not been beneficial for over three months.� They complained that they have not been experiencing water shortages for a very long time, until recently.

MEC Gaolaolwe called on all residents to abide by the law and make use of legitimate channels to address any grievances and to allow officials from the district municipality to attend to the malfunctioning boreholes.“I agree that one of the problems that led to this protest is non-communication or lack of feedback by our councillors”, she said when addressing residents of Ntsweletsoku, recently.

She requested them to remain calm and allow stability to prevail whilst their issues were being attended to.

(Unedited version)

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