The Welkom Digital Hub, a partnership between the Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA), Sibanye-Stillwater, and Rand Mutual Assurance, officially opened its doors on Friday.
The hub aims to equip community members with digital and Artificial Intelligence skills, empowering youth and women from mini...
Police have confirmed that Molefe and his hitmen are now charged with two other cases.These include the murder of popular Soweto businessman Hector Buthelezi, popularly known as DJ Vintos.
There have been some major developments in the case against the suspects arrested in connection with the murder of musician Oupa Sefoke, popularly known as DJ Sumbody.
Two more high-profile cases have been linked to controversial businessman Katiso KT Molefe and the hitmen he’s been charged with.
Molefe returned to the Alexandra Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Sefoka was killed in November 2022 with two of his bodyguards in Woodmead.
Police have confirmed that they are now charged with two other cases
These include the murder of popular Soweto businessman Hector Buthelezi, popularly known as DJ Vintos.
*This article was first published by Eye Witness News
‘DO NOT ACCUSE US OF OVERREACH WHEN WE ACT AGAINST FAILING MUNICIPALITIES’ – PREMIER LETSOHA-MATHAE
Action will be taken against failing municipalities and the Premier will not entertain talk of interference from the leadership of the affected institutions.
Following a bruising 2 days of fielding difficult questions from members of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae made a promise to Dr. Zweli Mkhize, the chairperson of the committee, that the rot in local government will be rooted out.
The Premier further committed that consequence management against officials found to be in contravention with the law will be applied. And when it is, added the Premier, no one should cry foul.
“People often resort to the same old tired excuse that political battles are waged against them when they are supposed to account. That will not fly and we will act, and act hard, against anyone found to have contravened the law.
Mayors, municipal managers, speakers and the entire leadership of our municipalities will be expected to account to the Executive Council. People are receiving salaries with nothing to show for it and we cannot be expected to keep quiet. Action will be taken,” said Premier Letsoha-Mathae. The Premier further said she too was not happy with municipalities, adding that she had already initiated engagements with those at the helm of the institutions.
“As the Premier of this province, I, more than anyone else, am deeply incensed by the state of our municipalities. Since we took office, this administration has had engagements with the leadership of all our municipalities with the aim of getting to the root cause of all the problems we are confronted with,” she said.
“The people of the Free State care little about what happened in the past, all they want is for services to be provided to them.
At the level of provincial government, we have taken action against some of the officials in various municipalities across the province. We have dismissed some and laid criminal charges against the others. This administration has been advocating for individual officials in municipalities to personally be held liable for their transgressions and that is what we are doing,” she said.
Premier Letsoha-Mathae concluded by decrying the lack of empathy from some in the leadership of local government.
“For the longest, some people leading our municipalities have done so with arrogance and little regard for our people because they were not held to account. Their arrogance knew no bounds and as a result, services stalled and the quality of life took a fall. I want to once again remind them that the days of earning salaries with very little to show for it are nearing an end,” she said.
The Department of Community Safety, Roads and Transport of the Free State Province rejects with the contempt the latest slanderous fiction peddled by City Press under the guise of journalism. What has been presented to the public is not reportage but a cheap piece of political theatre, authored by those who are masquerading as journalists, whose pens drip not with ink but with venomous malice. It is a cowardly attempt to assassinate reputations, distort reality, and undermine the very work being done to bring roads and dignity to our communities.
The so-called “abandoned dust bowl” they describe is in truth a living worksite where progress is evident and measurable, with four kilometres already overlaid with asphalt, 1.2 kilometres sealed, ten kilometres strengthened with a G5 subbase, and 28 000 cubic metres of seal stone delivered to camp, ready for the next phase.
Contrary to the article that R214 Million has been paid to the contractor, only R23,743,617.24 million has been lawfully expended, a mere fraction of the R214 million contract, whose 22-month programme is on track. Yet these self-styled watchdogs, blinded by choice, bark about R269 million vanishing into thin air. These imaginary tales are hilarious to say the least, these claims are not merely false; they are the intellectual equivalent of mud-slinging in a cathedral.
We remind the public that road rehabilitation is a phased and deliberate engineering process. The department accepts that:
tar was indeed removed, but not as sabotage, but as preparation for a stronger, safer surface. Dust, the temporary companion of progress, has been deliberately miscast by City Press as decay. But what do they care for technical truth when scandal sells better than science? They would rather peddle panic than facts, preferring the theatrics of doom to the discipline of evidence.
The grotesque insinuations that the Honourable Premier and her family traded public contracts for luxury cars and campaign funds are not journalism; they are libelous gossip, concocted by a bitter failure of a contractor whose own track record is littered with collapse and incompetence. This is a man once cloaked in the livery of “Madwala” and now in the tatters of “New Beginnings”, a flashy tenderpreneur who, when stripped of the State’s patience after dismal failure, chose revenge through poison-pen letters instead of reflection through honesty. That City Press lends him its pages is proof not of his credibility but of their desperation.
We know why this is done. When political cowards cannot match the government’s service delivery, they vouch for smear campaigns. When their failures echo in the silence of empty promises, they conjure scandals. But the truth is stubborn: Tau Pele has not abandoned the site; the Department has not misused a cent; and the Premier has not sold her soul for trinkets. What has been sold, however, is journalistic integrity that is lacking facts by City Press.
It is not surprising that City Press, a once respected newspaper has lowered its once high standards. South Africans, fed up with gossip and half-baked stories; have correctly turned their backs on this publication. Dwindling sales, partly informed by poor journalism, have relegated the once respected publication to a digital only paper.
Their latest stunt will do very little to salvage the little that is left of their fading dignity. While the department supports the freedom of press, the media equally has a responsibility to report fairly and factually, something City Press has spectacularly failed to do. Let it be clear that the people of the Free State are not fooled. They see the asphalt being laid, they see their sons and daughters rotating through transparent community job opportunities, and they see a government committed to completing this project with diligence and honour. They also see, with equal clarity, the charlatans who hope to profit from lies and the newspapers that rent out their mastheads as billboards for falsehoods. We will continue to build, kilometer by kilometer, while the authors of this drivel continue to scribble from the sidelines, their words as empty as the promises of those who pay them. And when the R709 gleams complete, it is not their ink but our tar that the people will drive upon.
ISSUED BY: DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY SAFETY, ROADS AND TRANSPORT
EFF leader Julius Malema has offered KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi a political home should he be axed for exposing alleged corruption within the SAPS and judiciary.
The door is open for KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to join the EFF if he is fired from his position within the SAPS. That’s the invitation made by the red berets’ leader, Julius Malema, to the top cop.
Malema has thrown his support behind Mkhwanazi, who made damning allegations of corruption and collusion among senior SAPS officials, the judiciary, and criminal syndicates.
An ad hoc portfolio committee, which the EFF is part of, has been established in Parliament to investigate the claims.
This comes after Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was placed on special leave by President Cyril Ramaphosa, following the allegations made by Mkhwanazi that top police officials are involved in corruption.
Ramaphosa has since appointed Wits University law professor Firoz Cachalia as acting police minister, effective August 1, and established a judicial commission of inquiry into the allegations.
Addressing thousands of supporters at the party’s 12th anniversary rally on Saturday at the Khayelitsha Rugby Stadium in the Western Cape, Malema hailed Mkhwanazi as a hero.
“We say to Mkhwanazi, do not be shaken, because if they fire you, there’s a position for you in the EFF so that you can continue to fight corruption in South Africa,” said Malema.
“General Mkhwanazi should know that there’s only one hope for the fearless - and that hope is the EFF.”
Malema said the ad hoc committee must investigate all those implicated in the allegations.
“That ad hoc committee is going to investigate all the allegations levelled by Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, and every other relevant piece of information that exists in society must come to Parliament,” he said.
The red berets' leader also called on more police officials to fight crime syndicates and drugs in communities.
“We want the people of Mitchells Plain to come to Parliament and tell us who the drug lords are, and who is protecting them, because we need to start fighting drugs.”
Malema also called for action in communities grappling with gun violence.
“We want to know where the guns come from in the Cape Flats, in Khayelitsha. You, the people, know the truth. This is the time, this is the platform to expose the rot. Do not be scared,” he said.
“The killing of our children must be stopped now. Mkhwanazi opened the way, and we must join him to restore peace and order in South Africa.”
The party said this would save the country more than R1 billion a year.
ActionSA has introduced the Constitution Twenty-Second Amendment Bill, which, if passed, will see the removal of all current deputy ministers.
The party said this would save the country more than R1 billion yearly.
This follows President Cyril Ramaphosa's appointment of Professor Firoz Cachalia as acting police minister.
ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said South Africa has the biggest Cabinet in the world.
“We have seen that deputy ministers are for all intents and purposes glorified doormen and doorwomen for the ministers. We’ve seen now in this case with the police incident that they are not good enough to be promoted to become ministers.”
Trollip said they want more levels of vetting.
“We believe that obviously the president has the right to select who he wants on his Cabinet, but we believe there must be some kind of screening. We’ve seen Justice Zondo this weekend saying how it pains him to swear ministers into Cabinet that he had found against in the Zondo commission.”
*This article was first published by EyeWitness News
This follows a recent credit downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, which cited high debt levels, negative cash flow, and Transnet’s growing reliance on government support.
The National Department of Transport said it will work closely with Transnet to improve the state-owned freight and logistics company’s operations and financial stability.
This follows a recent credit downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, which cited high debt levels, negative cash flow, and Transnet’s growing reliance on government support.
In response, the department has committed to a total of R94.8 billion in additional financial support to help manage the impact of the downgrade on Transnet’s existing debt.
“Government has approved an additional R48.6 billion guarantee for Transnet to ensure that all debt redemptions will be covered over the next five years and that the entity also maintains sufficient liquidity levels,” said department spokesperson Collen Msibi.
“Government has also considered the impact of the credit downgrades on Transnet's existing debt and has therefore also approved R46.2 billion for it to mitigate the risk of such ratings.”
*This article was first published by EyeWitness News
