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We visited Concordia, where 29 people were arrested for protesting against a mine
Police appeal for cooperation in apprehending suspects
Police in Mpumalanga are appealing to members of the public to assist by providing information that can lead to the arrest of suspects involved in the shooting of patrons at a tavern in Kanyamazane on Sunday.
Two people died and scores others were injured as a result of the shooting.
One patron died at the scene, while another died in hospital later in the day. Two other people are said to be in a serious condition in hospital.
All the deceased have not yet been identified.
According to police, two armed men wearing balaclavas stormed into the tavern just after midnight and opened fire indiscriminately. After the shooting, the suspects fled the scene.
A team of investigators has been assembled under the leadership of the provincial commissioner of SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela.
Manamela has strongly condemned the incident.
“We are very concerned about crimes that are being committed at liquor outlets, including crimes that are carried out near these liquor outlets.
“We trust that our communities will come on board and share information that will assist in this investigation,” she said.
A case of murder and attempted murder has been opened. The motive for the shooting is still unknown.
The investigation continues, and police have urged members of the public to come forward with information that may assist in the arrest of the perpetrators. The public is urged to use the Crime Stop number 08600 10111 or send information via MYSAPSAPP.
All received information will be treated as confidential and callers may opt to remain anonymous. – SAnews.gov.za
Edwin
Mon, 09/18/2023 - 11:59
In the age of technology, our living spaces are filled with a myriad of devices, each with its own remote. The coffee table cluttered with remotes for the TV, sound system, DVD player, and even the lights can be a common sight in many households. But what if there was a way to consolidate all …
Jozi runners and walkers have one last chance to warm up with PUMA and the Absa RUN YOUR CITY (RYC) JOBURG 10K Team before race day at the action-packed Absa RYC WARM UP RUN #4 fueled by PUMA NITRO that will take place on Thursday, 21 September 2023 at Marks Park (Emmarentia). “The event week …
SA stories are cultural endowments for future generations
South African stories are cultural endowments for the benefit of future generations and are integral to the ongoing task of forging national unity, inculcating national pride and promoting respect for diversity.
“There are so many stories to be told, both of the past and the present,” President Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter today.
President Ramaphosa said one part of the country’s story that has not been fully told is that of peaceful transition to democracy.
“It is a complex story with many different perspectives and competing narratives,” he said.
President Ramaphosa said one of the most remarkable aspects of the South African society today is the “commitment to maintain peace among ourselves and our neighbours, and preventing tribalism and ethnic chauvinism from sowing discord between us”.
“Even when acts of racism occur, these provocations are rejected by South Africans, who won’t let them be used to exacerbate tensions in communities.
“This eternal vigilance is born of bitter experience that has its roots in the political violence of the 1980s and early 1990s, and how South Africans worked together to overcome differences, pull our country back from the brink and achieve peace.
“As we revel in our cultural pride and celebrate our roots with art, dance, cuisine and music, we must remember that the struggle for peace and reconciliation is a vital part of our heritage. We remember that the children born into democracy are able to take pride in their heritage today because of the peaceful democratic transition, which produced a Constitution that guarantees rights and freedoms for all, including the right to express one’s language and culture,” President Ramaphosa said.
He said today artists and cultural workers are able to exercise their right to freedom of expression in how they chronicle both the past and the present without fear of censure, banning or imprisonment.
“These are the fruits of freedom, but also the fruits of peace. With so many countries and societies around the world today beset by conflict, we are fortunate that the project of national reconciliation is ongoing and has not been abandoned,” the President said.
He called on all creative practitioners to play a more prominent role in nation-building through work that highlights the uplifting, inspiring and enduring aspects of society and its history.
“Contributing to maintaining peace and to advancing reconciliation is our collective responsibility as South Africans. It is the greatest gift we can bestow on the generations to come,” he said.
President Ramaphosa said the success of the 'Shaka iLembe' production and many other local productions should encourage creative professionals to apply their talents to the production of more such work. – SAnews.gov.za
Edwin
Mon, 09/18/2023 - 15:36
Jozi runners are invited to join the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Series Team at a fun ‘City Clean Up’ at the Absa Towers West on Saturday, 23 September 2023 in the build up to SA’s largest Heritage Day Celebration, the 6th annual Absa RUN YOUR CITY JOBURG 10K. “We’re thrilled to wrap up the 2023 …
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Inspired Education, in partnership with The Royal College of Music, London and Forte, have launched Pathways to Performance Programme specifically designed to provide unprecedented access to world-class private music lessons Pathway results in a certificate of attendance from The Royal College of Music Inspired Education sets a new music standard in private education. With a …
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Provincial departments commit to remove bottlenecks in housing delivery
Human Settlements provincial departments have committed to remove bottlenecks that may result in project delays and blocked projects in housing delivery.
The provincial departments made the commitment during a meeting between Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and Members of the Executive Council (MINMEC) of Human Settlements, Members of the Mayoral Councils (MMCs) of Human Settlements and Executive Mayors held at Bojanala Platinum District, North West, on Friday.
The meeting heard that from a target of 300 000, the sector is at 69.5% delivery, with 208 358 fully subsidised houses on the ground.
Kubayi said this is no mean feat in the face of budget cuts the department has faced.
She said about 172 066 serviced sites have been delivered from a projected number of 190 437.
“First home finance has surpassed the 20 000 units mark, as targeted in 2019. To date, there are 22 035 units that have been delivered. The current delivery is against the budget cuts the Department of Human Settlements has faced over the years.
“We are making inroads in ensuring that we bring more people into the housing market and thereby assisting the so-called ‘missing middle’ with home ownership,” Kubayi said.
The MINMEC received a report on the current fiscal environment and reflected on the response by the human settlements sector.
While the sector understands and supports the efforts by the Finance Minister to stabilise the fiscus, MINMEC emphasised the need to find a balance between service delivery priorities and fiscal consolidation.
It was noted that the sector has so far had a mixed bag of performance during the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) for 2019 - 2024 period.
However, for the current financial year, concerns were raised about provincial spending, and provinces were urged to deliver in accordance with their business plans or face redirection of funds to performing provinces.
The sector is currently at 32% spending, with eight months left in the financial year.
The meeting also noted major improvements made by the human settlements sector in ensuring that all claims are paid within 30 days.
With the mandatory allocation of 40% set aside for first quarter performance, the provincial departments were acknowledged for making improvements in ensuring the budgets and contracts are set aside for businesses and companies owned by women, youth and people with disabilities.
Over 100 houses handed over to beneficiaries
Meanwhile, ahead of the meeting, the department handed over house keys to beneficiaries of Moses Kotane Community Residential Units (CRU) - one of the affordable rental housing projects in the North West.
The CRUs include 110 units with bachelor and two-bedroom rental accommodations. It supports the upgrading of government-owned communal rental accommodation.
As one of the departmental housing programmes, the CRUs are aimed at facilitating the provision of secure and stable rental tenure for lower income earners. – SAnews.gov.za
GabiK
Mon, 09/18/2023 - 10:44
Home Affairs in court over profound damage caused by its practice of “blocking” IDs
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is celebrated on 18 September each year. The South African Department of Water and Sanitation, under the slogan; “Enhancing accountability and sustainability for every drop!” says that World Water Monitoring Day is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness of the importance of protecting water resources around …
Residents of Hooggenoeg and Scotts Farm say the sewer system has been dysfunctional for over a decade
Introduction In the digital era, the importance of data can’t be overstated. Whether it’s customer information, business plans, or financial records, effective storage and backup are critical for any business. Traditional storage methods are slowly becoming obsolete due to several factors, including scalability and risk management. One solution gaining traction, particularly in South Africa, is …
FPB CEO appointed as Vice Chair of Global Online Safety Regulators Network
Film and Publication Board (FPB) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Mashilo Boloka, has been appointed as Vice Chairperson of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network (GORSN).
Boloka’s appointment as Vice Chairperson, was made by the Global Online Safety Network during a meeting hosted by the UK’s Communications Regulator, the Office of Communications (OFCOM) in London.
His one-year term will run until 2024.
Welcoming the new leadership, outgoing Chairperson and eSafety Commissioner’s Julie Inman-Grant, said they are happy to hand over the reins to OFCOM under the capable stewardship of Gill Whitehead.
“The 2024 Vice Chair will be the incredibly energetic Mashilo Boloka, CEO of the South African Film and Publication Board. We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder in working together to work towards creating a safer, more positive online world,” Inman-Grant said.
Boloka’s appointment follows the FPB’s acceptance as a member of the GORSN earlier in July 2023.
The network was established in November 2022 to promote online safety and share information and good practice around online regulation.
Dr Boloka said the network represents a collaborative initiative to fight the borderless online harms, pursue harmonisation to avoid fragmentation of online safety legislation and coordinated online safety measures.
“As the Film and Publication Board of South Africa, we are excited to be a member of this Network. As the only representative on the African continent, we will ensure that voice of other regulators on the continent and the other developing worlds is heard.
“We will persuade other regulators on the continent to join the Network so that they can seize the opportunities it provides, information sharing on experiences and best practices so that we can together promote a safer online environment and fight online harms wherever it exists,” Boloka said.
During the London meeting, the Network discussed the need to promote regulatory coherence and underscored the importance of collaboration on shared issues, including industry engagement and new and emerging technology.
It also agreed on creation of a technology and public education working group. – SAnews.gov.za
GabiK
Sun, 09/17/2023 - 09:24
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Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn win 2023 Nat Nakasa Award for Thabo Bester prison escape story
In a heart-warming testament to the transformative power of education and community, Life Skills Teacher, Mrs. Rose Nkwane from Retlilepele Primary School in Pretoria, has stepped forward to share an extraordinary story of how the Rama Good Breakfast Programme went far beyond teaching children about making better nutritional choices. Instead, it became a catalyst for …
Prince Buthelezi described as a brave leader
Mourners have described the late Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader and Traditional Prime Minister of the Zulu nation, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, as a brave leader who stood for what he believed in.
This as the funeral service for Buthelezi, who passed away on 9 September 2023, at the age of 95, is currently underway at the Prince Mangosuthu Stadium in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal.
In a moving tribute, daughter of the late Prince, Princess Phumzile Buthelezi said, she never thought that she would one day bury the man she honoured and looked up to.
“I don’t think I will ever come across a kind man as my father. He taught us to love unconditionally.
“He taught us to be humble, and that humility is a sign of greatness. I hope that we as his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, will take away some of these good qualities that he instilled upon us,” she said on Saturday.
Prince Zuzifa Buthelezi said his father was the anchor of the family.
“It is difficult to express the depth of our pain. He was the anchor of our family [and] a giant amongst men. Our father was first and foremost a Christian [and] second, he was a husband father and thirdly, a patriot of this nation and beyond,” Buthelezi said.
He added that his father leaves behind a legacy of service to the Zulu nation and South Africa.
Meanwhile, IFP President Velenkosini Hlabisa said there’s tremendous pain following the loss of a “father, master, hero, mentor, our leader, and giant of Africa.”
Hlabisa said Buthelezi was the IFP’s “greatest treasure.”
“His integrity and immovable principles blessed us with a sense of stability. We always knew he would do the right thing and trusted his judgement, and it never failed.
“Buthelezi was able to look into the soul of ordinary people, he treated us as the leaders he believed we could be. [He] walked with us until we became those leaders. He showed us how to empower the vulnerable, he honoured women, and he believed in inclusive participation.”
Buthelezi founded the IFP in 1975.
In his address to mourners the former President of Nigeria, Dr Olusegun Obasanjo described Buthelezi as a hero and conqueror, who worked for the dignity of people.
“We are here to celebrate a life dedicated to making other peoples’ lives better. The death of Buthelezi is a great loss for the whole of Africa,” Obasanjo said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the eulogy at the funeral.
President Ramaphosa has honoured Buthelezi by declaring his funeral a Special Official funeral category 1. The President is also expected to deliver the eulogy at the funeral.
Buthelezi served as South Africa’s first Home Affairs Minister.-SAnews.gov.za
GabiK
Sat, 09/16/2023 - 15:05
Fed up Isipingo transit camp residents say they are the rightful beneficiaries of houses in Kanku Road
Minister calls for improvement in system that identifies talent in sports
While efforts have been made to transform the sports fraternity, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa has called for the development of a framework for the early identification and development of sporting talent.
“We still preside over a divided and ill-defined sports system characterised by fissures of our past. We have no universal access to facilities,” the Minister said on Thursday in Johannesburg.
Addressing the School Sport Indaba, he said by identifying talent early in school, the youth can have the needed support, mentorship, and resources to make it as a professional sportsman or sportswoman.
“This implies the government and other stakeholders making budget available to support identified initiatives. When looking internationally, it is common to see sports stars in their teenage years making their mark in the upper echelons of world sport,” Kodwa said.
According to the EPG 2018 report, the School Sport competition system is currently indicating that there are three streams from which talent is identified and competition is staged.
The Minister said this system is currently not integrated and has some challenges.
“The system shows that there is a government-run school sport system, then there is one model where former Model C schools and private schools compete, this is where most athletes are identified, and then there is a system which the Federations use to stage the tournaments and select national athletes.
“The athletes competing in the Government-run school sport system, come from more 23 000 public schools, majority of which are previously disadvantaged with poor or no sport facilities in place.
“These are the athletes whose system of competition is poorly organized and do not have proper coaching support. The second group are athletes, from the former Model-C schools, including private schools which are properly resourced, with world-class sport facilities and proper coaching support,” the Minister said.
The last group are athletes competing in Federations-staged tournaments, most of whom must have means to attend these events with the majority being from the former Model C schools.
Upon successful competition, these athletes are awarded the National colours and may be eligible for selection into academies and underage national teams.
“Dare I say, we as all stakeholders have failed learners and young people at school and out of school, and we need a theory of change? We need to clearly spell out how School Sport is supposed to work, why it will work, and the conditions required for its successful implementation,” the Minister said.
He said the School Sport Indaba is government’s intervention to revitalise school sport in South Africa.
The Minister noted the need for investment in the development of local expertise, through running of sports academies from foundation phase as well as the establishment of bilateral agreements with other governments for the creation of development opportunities for studies in the different sporting fields like Sports Science.
Kodwa also called for the creation of internship opportunities for graduates in schools and sports clubs.
“The National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP) contends that provision and maintenance of facilities forms the foundation of the entire sport and recreation system, therefore if facilities backlogs are not addressed it will be difficult to achieve transformation, sport development and increased participation objectives in sport.
“This situation or reality, therefore, requires all stakeholders to put all hands-on-deck for the future of sport in our country. Only when we all collaborate, will we be able to develop athletes that can successfully compete internationally, and reach our goal of being a winning nation!
“The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has already undertaken to address the challenge of talent identification by building multipurpose sports courts and outdoor gyms in rural and township communities, which have historically lacked these facilities,” the Minister said.
As part of the legacy projects of the Netball World Cup, multipurpose courts have been built in several communities around the country, including in Hammarsdale in KwaZulu-Natal.
Work is also being done to build netball courts in Cala Secondary School and Mchewula High School in Cala, Eastern Cape.
“There is much being done and much more to do in the country. As I have said, Government cannot do it alone. I would like to applaud all the commercial and community partners that support the work of Government to develop sport at grassroots level,” the Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za
nosihle
Fri, 09/15/2023 - 08:54
The delegation of the North West's permanent delegates to the NCOP has unequivocally expressed its discontent regarding the slow pace of the completion of the construction and refurbishments of the bulk wastewater development infrastructure projects in the North West Province.
North West Province is one of the water scarce provinces in South Africa. The province has the potential to develop top-notch modernized bulk wastewater treatment plants if the provincial and the local government can all focus on turning the current poor state of affairs in many district and local municipalities.
The delegation received a briefing yesterday in Madebeng Local Municipality on the state of wastewater treatment plants in the province from the provincial government. The delegation heard that several bulk wastewater treatment plants in the province have reached their design life span and are failing to cope with the increased demand for water and sanitation services to the local communities.
The delegation heard that across the province, this has resulted to many bulk wastewater treatment plants to constantly experience sewer spillages, burst water pipes and leakages, malfunctioning pump stations and contaminated natural water sources among other things.
Throughout the week, the NCOP delegation received briefings on the province's identified bulk wastewater infrastructure development treatment plants under the theme of this year's NCOP Provincial Week: “Building viable provincial and municipal infrastructure for effective delivery of services to communities.”
The plants were the Groot Marico Water Waste Treatment Plant, Zeerust Water Waste Treatment Plant, Potchefstroom Bulk Water Supply and Moretele South Bulk Water Supply Project. Notwithstanding the challenges that include funding, stop and start of the contractors on site, shortage of machinery and construction, shortage of prerequisite expertise and experience, the delegation was provided with completion and hand over dates that will take place early in 2024.
Most of the contractors have reported that they have increased capacities regarding the required resources needed by the projects to accelerate the pace with which the projects move to complete them within the revised target dates.
The delegation stated its concerns regarding the commitments made for completion and handing over of the projects as some of them took more than ten years to be completed and so the sudden change and the guarantee to conclude these projects within the short space of time is raising eyebrows as it seems impossible to complete them within the targeted timelines, in particular for the bigger projects.
The delegation is also concerned about the low local employment figures in these infrastructure projects despite large sums of funds being invested by the province which include the outsourcing of the work to external contractors who do not transfer skills to the province and depriving the local small-to-medium enterprises. The delegation is particularly concerned about the growing trend of building new infrastructure projects without maintaining the existing ones.
With all these concerns, the delegation requested the provincial government to provide an updated report on the completion timelines for all the bulk wastewater projects. The report should include an update on employment and skills transfer plan for local SMMEs and individuals to be submitted to the NCOP on or before 31 October 2023.
‘'It is clear that there are problems in all the wastewater treatment plants and other related projects and we are unhappy with the stumbling blocks, fraud and corruption reports, and no consiquence management. Water is life and so we must all be concerned with the slow pace in completion of the projects. However, we are inspired by the commitment of the provincial government to overcome all these challenges.” Said the leader of the delegation, Mr China Dodovu.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.