BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
Bokone Bophirima MEC for Tourism Mme Desbo Mohono with Bojanala Platinum District Municipality Executive Mayor Mme Fetsang Mokati during the Bojanala District Tourism Lekgotla currently underway at the Rustenburg Civic Centre.
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Swimming South Africa is concerned about the number of children who drown each year. (REUTERS)
Swimming South Africa is calling for the Department of Education and other relevant stakeholders to take swimming lessons seriously, especially for disadvantaged children in rural areas.
This is as high temperatures are experienced in some parts of the country this summer. Due to scorching heat children are tempted to swim in dams, quarries and rivers to cool down, forgetting the risk of drowning.
According to Swimming South Africa, Mahikeng in the North West is reported to be more exposed to drowning incidents.
Recently one child drowned in a quarry in Moshawane village in Mahikeng while swimming with his friends.
According to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), from December 2015 to January 2016, there were 22 fatal drowning with about 14 adult incidents and 8 children incidents.
Over the 2015/16 festive season the NSRI rescued a total of 141 people in 123 cases.
South African experts say drowning is caused by the lack of swimming skills due to lack of relevant facilities for children in their schools, particularly in rural areas.
Swimming South Africa’s Nelly Silenp says swimming is not only a sport but it also plays an important role, more particularly during floods
The North West is one of the provinces that also experiences a high number of drowning incidents, mostly during festive seasons. However, Swimming South Africa says this is due to lack of facilities in and around the villages and townships where young people could be trained for swimming.
Swimming South Africa’s Nelly Silenp says swimming is not only a sport but it also plays an important role, more particularly during floods.
“I think swimming is a survival skill and also a recreational matter. It is very important especially now because we experience floods which we know are very dangerous when it comes to children just wanting to have some fun within the water. It is very important for children to have proper swimming lessons because it is a life skill.”
Silenp says they have tried to engage the Department of Education and Sports to come up with plans on how to bring swimming facilities to rural areas. Silenp says it is important that children should be taught swimming from a young age.
“Number one is safe swim facilities, it should be safe and it should be properly maintained and the public must have access to those facilities. These facilities must be in close distance of where children are living because if there are no facilities they go to dangerous areas, and that is where drownings take place.”
In 2015 three people drowned on New Year’s Day in different incidents in the North West. However the North West Department of Education says they have programmes in place that are aimed at averting drownings.
Departmental Spokesperson Freddy Sepeng says although the department has not yet built any facilities in rural areas, plans are ahead for such programmes.
“We having what we call learn teaching programme in partnership with swimming North West accredited by the National swimming federation and SASCOC and through this programme what we are doing, we are busy teaching members of the community including learners themselves about how to swim. What we have done is that we have identified places where there are swimming pools and then we transport those kids to such places where they can be taught how to swim.”
The World Health Organisation lists drowning as one of the top causes of unnatural deaths amongst children in South Africa, with lack of supervision playing a major role. Globally the highest drowning rates are among children between one and four years old followed by children aged five to nine.
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za
Former Motsweding FM presenter, Aldrin Segale Mogotsi passed away. More details will follow.
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The wreckage of the ultralight aircraft that Nel and Russian pilot Valeri Putin used for a scenic flight over the Himalayas in October last year has been found near Mount Machhapuchhre in the Kaski district of western Nepal on Sunday.
Chris Hattingh, a DA councillor who is supporting Nel’s family in Klerksdorp, told Netwerk24 someone in another light aircraft recently flew over the area, spotted the wreckage and took pictures.
A Nepalese rescue team we deployed to the scene on Sunday morning.
The aircraft has been positively identified as the one Petro was in,” Hattingh said.
He said the family was still too distraught to speak to the media.
The chief of Pokhara Airport, Bhola Prasad Guragain, confirmed to the Himalayan times that the remains and the wreckage were found in a gorge at an altitude of about 3 600m in a very remote area on Sunday.
The remains will be sent for forensic testing to verify the identities.
Source: http://www.news24.com
BY REGINALD KANYANE
The North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development will conduct Public Hearings on the Children’ Second Amendment Bill 2015 in Tshidilamolomo Tribal Hall near Mahikeng; Chris Hani Hall in Sarafina, Potchefstroom; Maheng Community Hall near Morokweng and Magong Community Hall, Moruleng on Friday at 10h00am.
The Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Gaoage Molapisi said the Children’ Second Amendment Bill 2015 aims to amend the Children’s Act, 2005. He further said they want to insert new definitions.
“This must provide that the removal of a child to temporary safe care without a court order be placed before the children’s court for review before the expiry of the next court day. The matter to provide for the review of a decision to remove a child without a court order, to provide for the provincial head of social development to transfer a child or a person from one form of alternative care to another form of alternative care, to provide that an application for a child to remain in alternative care beyond the age of 18 years, must be submitted before the end of the year in which the relevant child reaches the age of 18 years; and to provide for matters connected therewith,” Molapisi said.
BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
ANN7 announced that the South African of the Year (SATY) Awards 2016 will be postponed until 2017. A new date will be announced in due course.
“The postponement is due to unforeseen regulatory circumstances that have materially impacted on logistics for the event. Regretfully this has left us with no choice but to seek a new date in the near future. We look forward to confirming a rescheduled date.”
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BY BAKANG MOKOTO
Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters, supported by her counterpart in Botswana, Minister of Transport and Communications
Mr Onkokame K Mokaila will officially open the Swarkopfontein Bridge in the Swartkopfontein Border Post, North West Province on Monday.
Peters said: “The bridge was constructed by the agency of the Department of Transport, South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (SANRAL) and was constructed over the Notwane River which separates South Africa and Botswana links the two countries.”
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Orlando Pirates will be away to SuperSport United in the semifinals of the Telkom Knockout after the draw was made on Sunday.
The second semifinal will see Cape Town City host Free State Stars in the Mother City with one of those teams guaranteed a potentially lucrative cup final.
It is an immediate chance for some revenge for Pirates following their joint record 6-1 loss to SuperSport earleir this week that cost coach Muhsin Ertugral his job.
The draw was made on Sunday after Stars had ousted Kaizer Chiefs from the competition 6-5 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, while defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns were also beaten on spot-kicks on Saturday night.
For more http://www.kickoff.com
BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
Students nurses at Mmabatho College of Nursing are expected to resume their classes on Monday following the suspension of lectures at the college.
The department was forced to shut down the college and suspend lectures on October 14 following disruptions by disgruntled student nurses, who were protesting against, among other things shortage of lecturers at the college.
MEC for Health, Dr Magome Masike said measures have been taken to deal with the challenges at the college.
Masike said they expecting the academic program to continue as normal with students going back to class and attending to their clinical areas as of Monday.
“I am appealing to all students who had vacated the premises of the college following closure and students who stayed away from the academic activities due to intimidation to return to the college on Monday,” Masike said.
The Department of Health has since started the process of recruitment of additional lecturers after approval by the Provincial Treasury.
“We remain committed to the culture of learning with a view to educate and produce future nurses for our province and the country, and I am appealing to all students registered at Mmabatho College of Nursing to go back to classes, to continue with the academic program,” he said.
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BY MMUSI MAIMANE
Wednesday will go down in South Africa’s history as the day good triumphed over bad, right over wrong, truth over secrecy; the day the ANC’s downfall became inevitable and South Africans realised: we’re going to be OK.
It was the moment it became clear that constitutional democracy, with its guarantees of a free press, freedom of speech, the rule of law and an independent judiciary, will triumph over the ANC’s politics of patronage, cadre deployment and corruption.
On Wednesday, ex-Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s state capture report was released to the South African public. It confirmed what we already knew: the South African state is in the hands of a criminal syndicate who use it as their personal ATM.
President Zuma and the Guptas head up a public-private partnership that has been stealing billions of rands from our national purse, money that could otherwise be spent on tackling poverty and unemployment.
Essentially, Ajay and Atul Gupta managed to gain control of President Zuma. Once they had him doing their bidding, they were able to control the appointment of cabinet ministers and top managers of state-owned enterprises and thereby influence the awarding of state and state-owned enterprise contracts.
What does this mean for our democracy? Click here to keep reading about how I think the State Capture Report marks the collapse of the ANC and a renewal of our democracy.
Mmusi Maimane
DA Leader
(NB: What is written here does not necessary represent TDN’s views nor its associates. We do not agree nor deny views raised here. This remains DA leader, Mmusi Maimane’s views)
