BY KAMOGELO POOE

Klerksdorp – The North West MEC for Tourism Desbo Mohono has urged her departmental management to find cohesive methods to ensure that the department diligently delivers on its constitutional mandate without fail. Mohono was addressing a convergence of managers within her department during a two day strategic review session held recently at the Rio Casino Hotel and Convention Centre in Klerksdorp.

The strategic planning session was to afford the departmental management an opportunity to review its performance and also draft new strategic objectives for the 2017/18 fiscal year. “We are all here to put a finger on the pulse of our department in terms of reviewing our performance against the set goals. We are here to measure our output for the 2016/17 fiscal year but also map a way forward by setting new strategic goals which will assist us in achieving our set deliverables for the 2017/18 financial year. We are here to put systems in place which will guide us in  finding ways on how we can do things differently in terms of what needs to be changed and what needs to remain the same”, she said.

MEC Mohono went further to plead with her team to ensure that they go through everything with a find comb and ensure that they produce a quality document. “There is no need to have a huge strategic document with poor content. We need to produce a quality document which we can all be proud of and are all able to own up to it. I rather have a 20 pages quality document than have a 100 pages document with poor content. We need to be clear and to the point while also being strategic in setting our strategic objectives, she added.

Head of Department Adv. Neo Sephoti also added on the quality of goals set and emphasized on the importance being as strategic as possible in setting the new agenda for the coming financial year. “We need to take into cognizance the way we put out key performance indicators. They need to reflect smartness while also being as strategic as possible. They need to be realistic and achievable. I will align myself with MEC’s words and also call for quality rather than quantity. We also need to measure our previous performance and see how best we can improve in the next financial year”, said Adv. Sephoti.

MEC Mohono was flanked by members of the North West Tourism Board and Its executive management when she emphasized that the department and the Tourism Authority need to work hand in glove in order to develop and grow the tourism sector in the province. “We need to stop operating in silos and start working together in order to advance the agenda of tourism in the province. We know that there are some challenges but we all need to remain focus and look at the bigger picture which is growing the tourism economy and that can only be done if both the department and the board are working together as one organization”, said MEC Mohono.

(Unedited version)

taungdailynews@gmail.com

BY ORPA MATHABE

Workers under the Contract Cleaning Sector have today pleaded for government’s protection since this is contracted mostly to government departments  than private sectors. This was expressed yesterday during the public hearing that was conducted by Employment Conditions Commission (ECC); a body which advises the Labour Minister of the minimum wage review in particular for “vulnerable sectors” which is regulated by the Sectorial Determination under the  Basic Conditions of Employment Act

Workers have pointed out that they are mostly exploited by employers contracted to government  departments  which are  issuing out tenders and desperately looking out for the lowest bidder even though it is at the cost of the workers.

“We are earning less that the stipulated amount and when we ask why we are told the department that contracted us is refusing to pay the employer as per the regulation requires; said one worker from Ketlareng Trading Enterprise who further indicated that they also do not have a proper pay date as wages comes on different dates even beyond 30 days time.

Contract Cleaning Sector is a sector in which employers and employees are associated on a fixed-term or fixed-project contract for the purpose of cleaning or washing by hand or machine, of furniture, windows, carpets, doors, floors, tools, machinery, under supervision at industrial and commercial premises, buildings, and flats that are let commercially or any airplanes, trucks, cars, buses, trains or any other vehicle requiring to be cleaned.

The ECC is this time taking a different turn from normal public hearings as it is coupling them with site visits to the workplaces in an attempt to get direct responses on the sizes of these companies as well as the ability of employers to carry on their businesses successfully, the cost of living plus wage differentials and inequality amongst others. The North West site visit was in Klerksdorp and Mafikeng and will continue Rustenburg today.

In terms of the current Sectoral Determination contract cleaning workers in the North West falls under Area C and the rate per hour of  R15,47 ( 01/12/ 2015 – 30/11/2016: R16. 41) is applicable. The public Hearing will proceed to Limpopo province after the North West and the consultations are envisaged to end on 11 November 2016 at Umthatha in the Eastern Cape.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

BY REGINALD KANYANE
The MEC for education and sport development, Sello Lehari will lead the Provincial Prayer for the Grade 12 learners. 

Lehari said the purpose of the Provincial Prayer is to invite the divine intervention before the learners eembark on their final examinations. 

“A total of 35 397 candidates from 399 examination centres across the province are geared to write the 2016 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Matric examinations that will commence on Monday. 

“The Provincial Prayer will take place at Moretele Local Municipality Hall (Mathibestad Village near Makapanstad North of Pretoria),” he said.

Lehari added that he was optimistic about the performance of the 2016 Class.

“We are asking the Almighty God to guide them when they write their final examinations. We know that with God, the Almighty nothing is impossible. 

“I am optimistic that our children will perform to their fullest potential and make the province proud,”, Lehari said.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

To onlookers, it seems inescapably obvious that South Africa’s finance minister Pravin Gordhan has beentargeted by senior political figures who do not want him to do his job properly – with a criminal case against Gordhan the most obvious sign he is being hounded out of office.

Rest assured: the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) cannot win its case of fraud, or alternatively theft, against Gordhan. This is the opinion of legal expert Cathleen Powell, who has worked through the chargeswith a fine tooth comb. She has gone one step further, analysing the legal technicalities on the jurisdiction of the NPA and the Hawks investigative unit.

Powell comes to the conclusion, based on a careful assessment of the facts and legislation, that the law in this case is being used as an instrument for political gain. Powell’s in-depth reading of the matter underscores that is high time for an overhaul of the people who are running our law enforcement agencies. The separation of powers is critical in maintaining democracy.

Along with state capture, the lines have become blurred between the executive and legislative organs of state. – Jackie Cameron

By Cathleen Powell*

Earlier this month South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) laid criminal charges against the country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

The NPA does have the power under law to charge people with crimes – that’s its job. But do the charges against Gordhan stand up to scrutiny? And did the NPA follow the correct processes in charging him?

Closer examination shows that the NPA is bringing a case it cannot win. Indeed, the weaknesses of the case are so glaring that any vaguely competent criminal lawyer should have been able to spot them. Secondly, it is doing so in a manner which belies its claim to be protecting and enforcing the law.

This case may therefore have less to do with the law than with the pursuit of a political agenda. If so, law has ceased to be the basis of a just and fair society – and instead become an instrument for political gain.

The charge sheet brings a case of fraud against Gordhan, with an alternative charge of theft. Both charges are meant to arise from his approval of early retirement by Ivan Pillay from the South African Revenue Services (SARS), and his rehiring of Pillay as Deputy Commissioner on a fixed-term contract.

Related to this is the so-called “penalty” which SARS paid to Pillay’s pension fund, which allowed him to enjoy full pension benefits (as though he had retired at the statutory age). Gordhan was commissioner of SARS at the time these events took place.

The merits of the charges

We can dispose of the charge of theft without further ado. Gordhan cannot be guilty of theft if he did not appropriate the money that was paid out for Pillay’s benefit. There has never been any indication that anybody other than Pillay benefited from his early retirement on full benefits.

To prove the main charge – fraud – the NPA would have to establish that Gordhan unlawfully and intentionally made a misrepresentation which caused prejudice or potential prejudice to another (or to the state).

According to the charge sheet, these requirements are all met because Gordhan “unlawfully, falsely and with the intent to defraud” pretended to SARS that it was liable to pay R1 141 178.11 (US$78 000) to the Government Employees Pension Fund.

Source: http://www.news24.com

Bloemfontein – A 43-year-old Free State man is under police guard in hospital after he shot his daughter and then stabbed and shot himself, police said on Tuesday.

The incident happened on Monday night at 20:30 at their home in Leeuwenhof Street, Hospital Park, police spokesperson Captain Chaka Marope said.

“The man went to his father’s house and stole his firearm. He then went home and came across his daughter in the driveway and shot her,” Marope said.

The 17-year-old girl was shot in the neck and left thigh, he said.

“After shooting his daughter, he went into his house and held his wife and 4-year-old son hostage. He also fired several shots in the house, but both his wife and son were unharmed.”

Marope said after the man had fired several shots, he stabbed himself in the stomach and turned the gun on himself.

Both the man and his daughter were rushed to hospital in critical condition. The motive for the shooting was unknown.

Police were investigating a case of attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and pointing a firearm.

Source: http://www.news24.com

​

Platinum Stars midfielder Solomon Mathe was spotted leaving the residence of a professional prostitute this week.

Sunday World was informed of the footie’s nefarious tryst in the bordello by neighbours who disapprove of the hooker’s business on the property.

Mathe, who wedded his long-time girlfriend Sissy Naledi Tenza in 2014, was seen on August 29 visiting the apartment in Winchester Hills, south of Joburg, where a professional prostitute plies her trade.

At the hooker’s apartment, a black Jeep owned by Mathe’s friend Tlali Motsie was parked in the visitors’ parking in the townhouse complex.

After about half an hour, the former SuperSport United player, who was clad in a white T-shirt, blue shorts and brown sneakers, trudged out of the unit and jumped into the car.

He kept a straight face when he passed a group of residents standing with the Sunday World team.

Platinum Stars spokesman Tebogo Mochadibane declined to comment and referred us to the team coach Cavin Johnson.

Mathe begged us not to publish the story. “Grootman please, don’t publish that, this thing will affect my marriage and my career, please.”

The residents complained that the tenant, known to them as Meikie, was selling sex and Mathe was one of her regular Johns.

“There are too many male visitors coming here every day. We investigated and discovered that this woman is selling sex in that unit. We complained to the unit owner who told us her tenant insisted the people who were visiting were her friends,” said a resident who did not want to be named.

Another resident, who also asked not to be named, said they discovered the unit was used as a house of ill-repute early this year when they heard “funny noises” coming from the house whenever there was a male visitor in it.

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

​

BY REGINALD KANYANE

A dream of owning a fully fledged bakery has come true to ten residents  who used to sell scones and cakes along the
streets of Huhudi outside Vryburg. 

Mathew Gaonakala, a former bread manager at
the Erstwhile Score retail said they had for many years dreamt of owning a
bakery in Huhudi to provide fresh bread to the residents. 

He said the new
bakery which has started to operate in less than five month will save residents
travel costs to access bread from town. 

“We
are a group of 10 residents. At the time of starting this primary cooperative
we were not working at all. We used to sell scones, biscuits and wedding cakes to
the residents. Many people who had weddings here in the township used to place
orders for wedding cakes.

“We registered Redirile bakery cooperative to beat poverty and unemployment
in our township back in 2009,” Gaonakala said.

He said that they would work hard to create job
opportunities for unemployed people at Huhudi.

They
supply bread, cakes, scones, biscuits, swiss rolls to local schools, and
tuckshops in the area.

Gaonakala said transportation is the main challenge that hinders the delivery of bread and
cakes to other areas in Naledi local municipality.

Addressing
the residents  Acting  MEC for Social Development, Fenny Gaolaolwe
said her department has invested more than R1.3m in Redirile project. 

Gaolaolwe said the project team has undergone training on baking, project
management, book keeping and financial management.

“We
will monitor this project and ensure that it is sustainable. We also call on
the residents to support this business by buying bread here,” Gaolaolwe said.

She
added: “In the fifth administration we have vowed to spend 70% of our budget in
procuring goods in villages so that we develop and grow local economy. Creches, community home based care, tuckshops in this are supposed to buy bread here.”

taungdailynews@gmail.com

BY REGINALD KANYANE

IT’s all systems go at Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati district municipality. The beleaguered municipality scooped two Institute of Municipal Finance Officers IMFO awards recently showing some improvements.

The mayor at Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati district municipality, Boitumelo Mahlangu said they scooped Improved Municipality on Audit Outcome (IMOAO) and most Risk Management Function (RMF) awards respectively during Institute of Municipal Finance Officers’ Annual Conference (IMFO) 2016.

The event was held at the International Convention Centre, in Durban.

“The new administration is aiming to take the municipality to the greater heights. It is of paramount importance that both political and administrative arms must maintain the status quo and improve to the highest level.

“We will continue to pull together in one direction as guided by the philosophy of saamtrek-saamwerk initiative. We also want to obtain the first position,” Mahlangu said.

IMFO is the recognized professional body for finance, audit, risk management, performance management and related professionals in the public sector.

The Institute was founded in 1929, and is dedicated to establish and maintain high standards of professionalism among practitioners by providing a framework for them to collectively enhance, maintain sustainable financial management and good governance in the management of public finances.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

It is rumoured “Heavy K”, real name Mkhululi Siqula, couldn’t hide his excitement after allegedly getting engaged to his girlfriend, Innocentia Morolong.

The producer, who is popularly known as the “Drumboss”, posted a picture on social media with the caption: I liked it & then putted (sic) a ring on it.

A source close to the couple said the proposal was long overdue.

“They started dating last year and since then, they’ve been all over each other. They’ve tried to keep their love life out of the spotlight, but it’s hard as they’re inseparable,” said the source.

The source said when Heavy K bought Innocentiahis new fiancee a car, it was clear the ring was next on the list.

Another source said Heavy K worships the ground Innocentia walks on.

Said the source: “He hasn’t been the same since they met and has hinted she’s the woman he’d spend the rest of his life with.”

Last year Sunday Sun reported they were lovers, but the couple denied it.

When called for comment, Innocentia couldn’t confirm or deny she was engaged.

She said: “That’s a thing I can’t comment on. Not in the bad way, I prefer not to talk about my love life.”

Heavy-K asked the SunTeam to send him an email, but he hadn’t replied at the time of going to press.

Source: Sunday Sun