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Two drown in frigid water near Fochville


By Obakeng
Fochville- Two children have drowned after the raft they were on capsized at a resort near Fochville, North West province.

ER24 paramedics received the distress call and immediately responded to the nearby resort, fearing the worst. Once on scene, paramedics discovered that seven children, between the ages of 15 and 17, had been rafting when their vessel capsized. One of the children managed to swim to the shore before paramedics’ arrival.

“One of the ER24 paramedics, along with a paramedic from provincial services, immediately jumped into action, shouting to his partner to request backup before diving into the frigid water. After swimming out to the struggling children, he immediately grabbed on to four of the struggling children, assisting them slowly back to shore” Er24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said.

Once on shore, ER24 paramedics immediately began their assessment and treatment of the shivering children.

ER24 paramedics immediately began their search for the remaining two.

“After some time, emergency services found the young boy and girl near the banks with no signs of life. They were later declared dead” He said.

The four children that were rescued were treated for mild hypothermia before they were transported to a nearby hospital for further treatment. The paramedic that rescued the children from the water did not suffer any injuries.

When asked why he just jumped into the water, he later said, “I did not even think about it, I just took my flight suit off and dived in. The children needed my help. As soon as I felt the water, I was shocked as to how cold it was.”

Local authorities were on scene for further investigations and counsellors were called in to assist the fellow learners and teachers.-TDN
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MEC MALOYI TO HAND OVER 112 HOUSES IN LEEUDORINGSTAD


By Obakeng Maje
Leeudoringstad-MEC for Human Settlements Public Safety and Liaison Nono Maloyi will on Friday hand over about 112 houses to the Leeudoringstad families living in rural villages of the Maquassi Hills local municipality.

The hand over is a continuation of the departmental programme that started in the past two months.

The benefiting families are mostly those that have been living in mud houses and shacks. Most of these families are dependent on social grants and other government programmes as poverty seem to be the order of the day.

“The handover is part of celebrating twenty years (20yrs) of freedom, and also in line with the Outcome 8 of the National Development Plan vision 2030 which is intended to improve the quality of people’s lives and bring back dignity to the marginalised communities across the province” departmental spokesperson Ben Bole said.

The hand over programme is also part of the department’s service delivery initiative and reduction of housing backlog in the province.

The handover will take place as follows:

Date: 04 April 2014

Time: 10H00

Venue: Kgakala stadium 

-TDN
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Acting Premier Sebegoe condemn attacks on non-striking miners


North West Acting Premier and MEC for Finance, Paul Sebegoe has condemned violence associated with the protracted strike in the platinum belt after a non-striking mineworker was attacked at his home and another had his car set alight in villages near Rustenburg.

“Harshest sentences would be a deterrent for those perpetuating the on-going violence to know that there consequences for undermining the Peace and Stability Accord signed by role-players in the mining sector,” emphasised Acting Premier Sebegoe.
The Acting Premier called on police not to leave any stone unturned for those behind the attacks to be brought to book and for communities to assist them in their investigations.
According to police, a 38-year old man who is a non-striking employee of Anglo American Platinum’s(Amplats) Thembelani shaft in Bleskop and a former Amcu member was attacked at his home in Mfidikwe on Tuesday night.
It is alleged that the man woke up when he heard someone throwing stones at his shack.
“Upon investigation, the victim noticed that his curtains were alight. Three gun shots were allegedly fired at his shack,” Colonel Emelda Setlhako said.
He screamed for help and neighbours came to his rescue.
In a separate incident, a 38-year-old man’s car was reportedly set alight in Thekwane in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The man, also an Amplats employee, works at the company’s Siphumele mine.

“The victim was asleep at his place when he realised that his vehicle was on fire. Neighbours managed to extinguish the fire but the vehicle had already been damaged,” said Setlhako.

No arrests had been made in either incident and police were investigating cases of attempted murder, arson, and malicious damage to property.

Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) members at Lonmin, Amplats, and Impala Platinum downed tools on 23 January to push for a basic monthly salary of R12 500. They had so far rejected a wage increase of up to nine percent.

The companies, in turn, rejected Amcu’s revised demand that the R12 500 could be achieved over four years.

Last week, mining bosses said the strike had caused irreparable harm, and had caused an estimated R10bn in revenue to be lost.-TDN
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Easter brings Taung talents under the same roof


By Kgatliso Ramose
Taung-Party animals brace yourselves for the eventful Easter weekend. The URG brings ‘créme de la créme’ of art together and Dryharts is a place to be.

Rappers,deejays,designers in and around Taung will be flocking to Mogabole Pub to showcase their talents at Who Cares..Why Not Easter Muzik Easter Festival.

“The idea of the event is to organise our local industry into one and also introduce each other to our style of musical expression. From DJs to artists and the listeners in order to secure the long term goal which is to see our local artists going one-on-one with the well established artists” said Kagiso Rapati of The URG.

“We would love to see artist like Thabbz Mrapper going one on one with artist such as Pro, DJ Rickey against Oskido, DJ Lino going toe to toe with Black Coffee and G-Kash with AKA just to mention a few talent we have at home” he continued.

At the event, DJ Khelsna will be going against DJ Hot Magnet from Pta,Pure Pressure from Rusty will be up against NRT.

The is also a King Of Rap Competion that will be taking place on Saturday whereby local artists register at a price of R150.00 and stand a chance to win R1 000, studio time,a beat done by a local seasoned producer, mixing and mastering of the song.

All the local clothing brand will be available.

For more info get in touch with Kagiso Rapati on Facebook or e-mail theinfluencersnw@gmail.com
-TDN
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Motshabi attains third Dan black belt karate


Mahikeng-Her diminutive stature could deceive some into thinking she is just another beauty with long nails (excuse the pun) but Kgomotso Motshabi is an athlete of note. This karate instructor at Mmabana Arts, Culture and Sports Foundation in Mahikeng has recently passed the third Dan black belt grading conducted by SA Japan Karate Association Masters in Mandeville Sport Complex, Johannesburg.

To qualify for a third Dan black belt, a karate student must have had a second black belt for a period of at least 3 years.

From the grading where she finally get Third Degree (Dan) black belt, Sensei Kgomotso Motshabi was selected to participate at the 13th Funakoshi Gichin Cup in Japan from the 17th – 19th October 2014.

Kgomotso describes herself as a sports person from an early age where she participated in codes such as gymnastics, netball and athletics at junior schools. She started attending karate classes early in 1990 when she joined Mmabana Mafikeng Dojo (karate club) under the tutelage of Sensei Badu Mothusi. She says the reason for this was curiosity in the sport that took over from all the other sporting codes she was involved in before.

She remembers her first competitive fight as if it was yesterday, “it was during the national championships held at the then Molopo Sun Hotel. From that tournament, I managed to come out with a bronze medal, which I still cherish to this day”, says Kgomotso with a grin on her face.

She adds that, the bronze inspired her to continue with the sport in an effort to attain more medals of ‘better’ colour and eventually a black belt. In the process of ‘getting’ those better coloured medals and a race to the black belt, she completely became committed to the sport.

“Upon realizing my potential and dedication to the sport, my instructor recommended that i be sent for instructor’s courses which assisted my career a lot. That was in 1997 while still a second brown belt karate-ka, after returning from a tournament in Zimbabwe with six medals (four gold and two silver) for both individual and team performance that I started to conduct training sessions”, she added.

Among her achievements, she count being selected a national coach for the junior karate team that went to represent the country at the 10th World Karate-Do Championship in Australia in 2006; where the SA team obtained second position (silver medal) out of 163 countries that took part in the championships.-TDN
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40 people arrested for public violence in Bloemhof


By Obakeng Maje
Bloemhof-North West police allegedly arrested 40 people for public violence and malicious damage to properties in Boitumelong location in Bloemhof.

Colonel Emelda Setlhako said that the community stoned the houses belonging to the mayor and two councillors.

“The community  also burnt down the municipal office in the location and damaged the community hall. It is alleged that several tuck-shops belonging to the Bangladesh Nationals have also looted and damaged” Selthako said.

The situation is still tense and the police are monitoring the situation.-TDN
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Youth coaching an integral part of development – Mashaba


Johannesburg-South African Under-23 National Team coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba believes coaching at youth level has been the difference between the provincial teams and clubs that are taking part in the SAFA U17 Inter-Provincial Tournament at the Nike Football Training Centre. 

Mashaba is one of the talent scouts on the lookout for upcoming stars taking part in the tournament. He says he has been impressed by the kind of football played by the invited clubs and also from some provincial teams.

“This tournament is long overdue, but what has become evident at these games is the level of coaching. I think our coaching department still has a lot of work to do in terms of finding more coaches and I know there is a plan in the pipeline that SAFA earmarks developing coaches over a certain period. I think those will be the coaches who will help with the problem that we are sitting with,” said Mashaba.

“Some of the players are doing things instinctively and this shows us that we need to tighten up the side of coaching as well to give these players what they deserve – the basics for playing football. We speak of players having ‘football brains’ and this you can pick up mostly with teams from the clubs. There is a lot of difference if you look at the teams from the likes of Kaizer Chiefs, Bidvest Wits and Mamelodi Sundowns – they have qualified, experienced coaches and there is some consistency in the coaching of these boys. Once we collectively start taking that route of uplifting our coaches, our problems will be solved.”

Mashaba, who led the Men’s U17 and U20 National Teams to victory in the COSAFA Cup, said theirs is an important task at the SAFA U17 Inter-Provincial Tournament.

“The ultimate purpose of us being here is to obviously look at selecting players who will form a base for some of our junior national teams so that we have a pool of players we can select and also have on standby. We will also look at recommending some of these players to the academies until such time we have enough academies in the country where we can select the best in each province. I think that is the route that we have been missing all the time,” added Mashaba.

“One other thing with events like these is that players pick up as the tournament progresses, but we just hope that fatigue doesn’t derail that progress.”

Meanwhile, Kaizer Chiefs continued where they left off on Day 1 to register another huge victory – beating Mpumalanga 5-0 in the opening game of the day.

Free State recorded their second victory of the tournament with a hard fought 2-1 win against hosts Gauteng. The host province got the consolation goal through Samuel Nkomo while Felix Noge and Kamogelo Pheleu scored for Free State.

KwaZulu Natal got the better of Mamelodi Sundowns with a 3-2 win while Bidvest Wits proved to be the better side as they defeated North West 2-1.-TDN
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Barca faces trouble over transfers


Barcelona – Barcelona was banned by FIFA from signing any new players for next season after being found guilty on Wednesday of repeatedly breaching transfer regulations.

The heavy sanction, which covers the summer and January transfer windows, followed an investigation over the past year into the Spanish champion’s signing of players under the age of 18 from 2009 to 2013.

FIFA found the signing of 10 un-named players to be in breach of its rules covering the protection of minors. A fine of 450 000 Swiss francs ($509 000) was also imposed on Barcelona, which was given 90 days “to regularize the situation of all minor players concerned.”

The Spanish Football Federation was also found by the world governing body to have violated the rules covering the registration of minors and fined 500 000 Swiss francs ($565 500).

Further details of the case were not provided, but Barcelona

said in February that FIFA had sent a communication instructing it not to select six players who are under 18 for its youth matches – South Korea’s Lee Seung Woo, Paik Seung-Ho and Jang Gyeolhee, Theo Chendri of France, Nigerian-Dutchman Bobby Adekanye and Patrice Sousia of Cameroon.

The international transfer of players under the age of 18 can only go through if their parents move to the country for non-football reasons. Players between 16 and 18 can move within Europe if certain standards of education and living conditions are met.

The punishment, which prevents Barcelona from signing any players until the summer of 2015, leaves recent agreements with Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Croatian teenager Alen Halilovic to join the club in July in limbo.

Barcelona, which has not commented on the sanctions, has three working days to inform FIFA of an intention to appeal and then a further week to provide its reasons for challenging the punishment.

Premier League club Chelsea had a one-year transfer embargo imposed after being found by FIFA to have induced teenager Gael Kakuta to leave Lens, but it was overturned in 2010 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

FIFA tightened its rules on transferring minors in 2010, to help end what global players’ union FIFPro described as the equivalent of “child trafficking.” FIFA sought to close loopholes which allowed clubs and agents to bring youngsters to Europe on the promise of getting a lucrative contract, only to abandon them without a job or education.

In the Barcelona case, FIFA stressed the “interest in protecting the appropriate and healthy development of a minor as a whole must prevail over purely sporting interests.”

“The disciplinary committee emphasized that the protection of minors in the context of international transfers is an important social and legal issue that concerns all stakeholders in football,” FIFA said in a statement. “Above all, the committee highlighted that while international transfers might, in specific cases, be favorable to a young player’s sporting career, they are very likely to be contrary to the best interests of the player as a minor.”

Barcelona potentially needs to sign a replacement goalkeeper, with Victor Valdes out of contract at the end of the season and ruled out for seven months this week following knee surgery. Gerard Pique is in need of an assured partner in central defense with the impending retirement of Carles Puyol.

The FIFA case threatens to further damage the image of a Catalan football institution that is owned by its members and prides itself as being “more than a club”. It is currently grappling with the fallout from last year’s signing of the 22-year-old Neymar.

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell abruptly quit in January as he fights a lawsuit alleging he misappropriated funds by hiding the real cost of Neymar’s signing from Brazilian club Santos. In February, Barcelona paid 13.55 million euros (then $18.6 million) to Spanish tax authorities to cover any potential irregularities over the transfer, while maintaining its innocence of fraud charges.

Barcelona have indicated that they plan to appeal the ban.

Sapa-AP

How zebra earned its stripes


London – Scientists think they know how zebras got their stripes – but the answer is far from black and white.

Although usually thought of as camouflage, the stripes more likely evolved to keep disease-carrying flies at bay, they believe.

Bizarre as this sounds, flies find it harder to land on stripes, particularly thin ones. With the zebra, its stripes are thinner on areas known to be attractive to biting flies – on the lower legs and the head.

Writing in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at the University of California said the zebra’s short hair and lack of a winter coat makes it especially susceptible to bites, ensuring it needs extra protection. It also shares habitat with lots of biting flies. The scientists concluded: “A solution to the riddle of zebra stripes is at hand.”

The idea that stripes act as camouflage by making zebras harder to spot in changing woodland light has been discounted because the animals spend so much time in the open.

Another theory that they confuse predators is discounted by the fact that lions are particularly good at catching zebras. – Daily Mail

Chiefs go clear at the top


Johannesburg – Goals from Erick Mathoho and Kingston Nkhatha took Kaizer Chiefs to a 2-0 win over Golden Arrows in an PSL clash at FNB Stadium on Wednesday night.
 
Chiefs dominated possession from early on and forced the visitors onto the back foot. However, the Soweto giants found Arrows’ defence to be a stubborn barrier and they created few clear chances from which to test goalkeeper Arthur Bartman.
 
The Durban side, though they spent most of their time inside their own half, posed some threat with their pace on the break, but pushed too few players forward and the Amakhosi were always able to outnumber them and win possession back before stand-in goalkeeper Brilliant Khuzwayo could come under fire.
 
Chiefs’ Siboniso Gaxa had the best chance of the first half about four minutes before the interval. The overlapping right-back beautifully controlled a perfectly-weighted ball over the defence from Willard Katsande, but he hesitated with only Bartman to beat and ended up dragging his shot wide of the target.
 
The Amakhosi upped their game early in the second half and opened the scoring in the 53rd minute. Siphiwe Tshabalala provided a perfect in-swinging cross from the right flank and tall defender Erick Mathoho glanced home a header to make it 1-0.
 
Kingston Nkhatha doubled Chiefs’ advantage in the 69th minute. George Lebese and Tsepo Masilela combined down the left to set up the Zimbabwean striker, who guided a left-footed shot into the net via the inside of the post.
 
Scorers:

Kaizer Chiefs (0) 2 (Mathoho 53’, Nkhatha 69’)
Golden Arrows 0
 
Teams:

Kaizer Chiefs: Khuzwayo, Gaxa, Mathoho, Mashamaite, Masilela, Maluleka, Katsande, Nkosi (Lebese 46’), Tshabalala, Parker (Mphela 78’), Nkhatha (Rusike 85’)
 
Golden Arrows: Bartman, Zwane, Musonda, Nene, Ntombayithethi, Shange (Bester 75’), Sikhakhane, Moholo (Khuboni 78’), Mlotshwa (Ntuli 56’), Mngwengwe, Katongo
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