Table of contents for 2021-08-13 in DFA News

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter THE LESEDI soup kitchen in Florianville has been unable to operate after the chairperson resigned and allegedly left with the bank cards. Community members said that residents who were dependent on the soup kitchen for their daily meals had been left in the lurch. “The former chairperson refused to hand over the bank cards and property belonging (to the soup kitchen) when he resigned. As a result, staff have not been paid for the past three months and the kitchen is not able to purchase ingredients or manage its operating expenses. People in the area do not have access to nutritious meals.” It was stated that a new board had been appointed, but it had not been able to sort out the finance issues. The…

Boipelo Mere staff rerporter BOIKANYO Solar near Douglas has commenced its commercial operations after it reached grid code compliance earlier this year. Boikanyo is the last of six and final BW4 project to come online for shareholders. The project is located on 168-hectares of low-value agricultural land and connects to the Siyancuma 132 kV switching station, which is close by. The solar company said that the project took a year to construct and is already producing enough clean energy to power 62 000 homes each year. Boikanyo Solar is part of a portfolio of six projects owned by the same shareholders under the REIPPPP Window 4. According to the solar plant, the shareholders are African Infrastructure Investment Managers, through its IDEAS Fund, Reatile Solar Power (RF) (Pty) Ltd, Phakwe Solar…

Staff Reporter A WOMAN from the Northern Cape is basking in the excitement of beating thousands of applicants to claim a place in a US-run programme that seeks to empower women worldwide. Masego Moncho, 35, who was born and raised in Pampierstad in the Northern Cape and now lives and works in Bloemfontein, Free State, has been chosen to be part of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) South Africa 2021. AWE is part of the US government and White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity initiative. The AWE training is anchored on DreamBuilder, an online training platform for women entrepreneurs that was developed by Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Management in partnership with the global copper mining company Freeport-McMoRan. The objective of the programme is to provide women…

AS PART of Matla A Bokone Solar’s Enterprise Development efforts, a “Young Women in Business” Empowerment Initiative has been launched, in celebration of Women’s Month. The programme intends to assist 100 young women residing within the Sol Plaatje and Dikgatlong municipal areas to start up small-scale enterprises, in whatever area of businesses they wish to pursue. “The vision of this initiative is to positively impact and to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship amongst the young women within the communities that we work. The key objective being to develop and strengthen the quality of entrepreneurship and thereby work towards eradicating unemployment amongst our communities’ youth,” said Nomzamo Landingwe, chief community operations. The programme intends to assist 100 young women to successfully register new private companies and will also issue each of…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter FORMER DA provincial leader Andrew Louw has indicated that he has been exonerated by the party’s federal executive (Fedex) of any wrongdoing relating to his electricity metre that was apparently tampered with in 2019. A complaint was lodged for investigation after the electricity box at Louw’s residence was found “hidden inside the kitchen”, where it was suspected that the power usage was bypassed, upon inspection by the team leader of streetlights at Sol Plaatje Municipality in May this year. Louw yesterday indicated that the chief of staff and chairperson of the Fedex council’s office, Nicholas Gotsell, had advised that the DA Fedex chairperson, Helen Zille, had considered the complaint lodged against him, as well as correspondence referred to the provincial chairperson, Isak Fritz, where,…

Thobeka Ngema TWO MONTHS ago BP and Pick n Pay were celebrating the launch of a wine to-go offer through the Pick n Pay Express store, but today the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in SA (SAAPA SA) and its affiliates are calling for the immediate stop to the issuing of liquor licences to retailers based at petrol stations. SAAPA SA and its affiliates made their concerns clear during a webinar this week. BP Radiokop in Johannesburg was the first site after being granted a liquor licence. BP planned to roll out the offer to selected BP sites throughout the country. BP said the key was strictly adhering to laws governing the sale of liquor. SAAPA SA director Maurice Smithers said they had conversed with the Department of Trade, Industry…

Morgan Bolton THE LAST time the Springboks faced Argentina, a matchday team consisting largely of squad-based players beat the Pumas 24-18. That match, played on August 17 at Loftus Versveld in preparation for the 2019 World Cup campaign, afforded coach Rassie Erasmus an opportunity to test his depth and strength for world rugby’s premier tournament. Lood de Jager, captain Siya Kolisi, Cobus Reinach, Elton Jantjies, Jesse Kriel, Sbu Nkosi, Wilco Louw, Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith and Frans Steyn – all of whom will play tomorrow at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Gqeberha (kick-off 7pm) – were part of the 23 that beat the Pumas then. Moreover, Damian Willmese, Eben Etzebeth, Malcolm Marx, Trevor Nyakane, Vincent Kock and Hershel Jantjies – also selected for this clash – were all a part…

Loyiso Sidimba Political Bureau THE NATIONAL Treasury wants directors-general, heads of government departments and chief financial officers (CFOs) who fail to pay suppliers’ invoices worth billion of rands within 30 days to be disciplined. Yesterday, Treasury released its latest annual report on non-compliance with payment of suppliers' invoices within 30 days. The report revealed that the total value of invoices paid after 30 days by provincial departments during the 2020/2021 financial year was R25.9 billion, which is an improvement of R1.3bn compared to the 2019/2020 financial year, when the amount was R27.2bn. Provincial governments also failed to pay invoices older than 30 days to the value of R5.3bn by the end of March this year. In national government departments, the total value of invoices paid after 30 days between April 2020…

Zintle Mahlati POLITICAL BUREAU QUESTIONED on multiple allegations of corruption by former State Security Agency (SSA) leaders, President Cyril Ramaphosa says he awaits the completion of the Zondo commission report before he takes action. Ramaphosa took the stand at the inquiry yesterday and faced several questions about the state of the State Security Agency. Evidence leader for the commission advocate Paul Pretorius laid statements on the evidence heard about the agency and specifically its former leader Arthur Fraser who served as director-general until 2017. Fraser had run the Principal Agent Network, an intelligence operation with a budget of R600 million, which was allegedly used to fund illegal and political operations. He was later appointed as national correctional services commissioner in 2018 – a move that raised concerns. The inquiry had also…

Staff Reporter FOOD bloggers are trying to cancel the word ‘curry’. They believe the term should no longer be used due to its links to British colonialism. It all started when food blogger Chaheti Bansal called on her followers to stop using the “umbrella term”. In April, Bansal shared a video recipe where she urged people to “cancel the word curry”. Her call has since gone viral. While there are many different explanations for where the word curry came from, the most popular is that it was invented by the British who misheard the Tamil word 'Kari, which means “sauce”. Its first use dates back to the mid-18th century when members of the British East India Trading Company were trading with Tamil merchants in Southeast India. According to Bansal and…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku CIVIL society organisations, while welcoming President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of the GBVF (gender-based violence and femicide) Private Sector Response Fund pledges, have also raised concerns over the fund’s insufficiency and the potential for mismanagement. In his Women's Day speech, Ramaphosa announced that the GBVF Private Sector Response Fund had so far received R141 million in pledges. The fund, launched earlier this year, is aimed at financing and supporting the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on GBVF and expanding the government's work in fighting GBVF. Ilitha Labantu spokesperson Siyabulela Monakali said the amount raised thus far was insufficient judging from the fact that GBV costs the country between R24 billion and R42bn annually. “In order to fully realise the rights and dignity of women in South Africa, more…

Dudley Carstens in Cape Town AFTER being branded ‘boring’ in the series win over the British and Irish Lions, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has come out in defence of their game plan. With their playbook making provision for an aerial assault and forwards battle, the Boks are playing to their strengths and will continue to do so when they face Argentina at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium tomorrow at 5.05pm in their first Rugby Championship match since 2019. Having missed last season’s tournament because of Covid-19, Nienaber says when asked about their approach to rugby: “That’s the beauty of rugby. There are different styles, it would have been boring if everybody played the same style. “If you take the World Cup, we played the team that probably play the most…

Mihlali Baleka Opinion THE NEW Premier Soccer League (PSL) season will, again, begin behind closed doors this weekend, resulting in deafening silence at the stadiums. But if the hype around the preparations of the “big three” during the off-season is anything to go by, then we are in for a blockbuster campaign. Well, this is not only a gut feeling. In fact, far from it. It’s been a while since Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns spoke with one voice: “We have what it takes to challenge for all the top honours compared to the previous seasons.” Each team, one way or the other, had an excuse. Chiefs recently complained about a one-year transfer ban. Pirates bemoaned how they were still in a building process. Sundowns lamented the struggles…

Benida Phillips staff reporter AS THE national vaccination roll-out is set to include those aged 18 to 34 years, the Northern Cape Department of Health has noted that only 52% of the Province’s population has been vaccinated thus far. Department spokesperson Lebogang Majaha said that 173 219 people in the Province have been vaccinated, of which 89 896 are fully vaccinated. The vaccination programme commenced last year, where the roll-out was first aimed at front-line workers in the health system. The programme was then rolled out to the elderly and later included residents with comorbidities. The programme progressed to include those in the education sector, the police and those in the social development department, which included officials from the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa). The vaccination programme was then rolled…

Boipelo Mere staff reporter THE MOTHIBISTAD Regional Court sentenced an Northern Cape man, Tshepo Editious Paul, to life imprisonment for rape. The incident happened on September 1, 2015, at around 8pm. The then 20-year-old female victim wanted to warm herself at a fire in Heuningvlei village, where she was approached by Paul. Paul requested her to accompany him to an unknown house, where he forcefully undressed her and raped her several times. He was interrupted by the victim's aunt, who reported the incident to the police. Paul was arrested on the same evening and remained in custody until his sentencing on Tuesday. Paul was also declared unfit to possess a firearm. The acting provincial commissioner of the Northern Cape, Major-General Joey Kers, welcomed the life sentence that was handed down…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief repoter A FORMER manager of Country Hotels in Springbok, Andre Vermeulen, 49, was granted bail of R10 000 in the Springbok Magistrate’s Court after he was arrested on charges of fraud. Hawks Northern Cape provincial spokesperson Nomthandazo Mnisi said Vermeulen was arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in Strandfontein in the Western Cape on Tuesday, August 10. “It is alleged that during May 2019 the accused submitted claims for payment of salaries on behalf of employees. He failed to pay out all the money to the employees and allegedly used it for his own personal gain,” said Mnisi. “Upon further probing, the team discovered that the money was deposited into the accused’s personal bank account. The Country Hotels suffered a loss amounting…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter IT IS NOT yet time for residents of the Northern Cape to pack away the winter woolies. The South African Weather Service has issued a warning of cold conditions in the Province, as a second cold front hit the Western Cape last night. This cold front will result in a significant drop in temperatures over the weekend with icy rain predicted for Kimberley tomorrow. The first cold front hit the Western Cape yesterday morning. Last month Kimberley experienced snowflakes for the first time in many years. Now possible light snowfall, wet, windy and very cold conditions are expected in Kimberley, De Aar, Griquastad, Groblershoop, Prieska, Hopetown, Victoria West, Danielskuil, Upington, Petrusville, Noupoort, Barkly West and Vanwyksvlei today and tomorrow. The temperature in Kimberley today is…

Given Majola BUSINESSES and households have been urged to reduce food losses significantly as a study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) found that 45 percent of the available food supply in South Africa was wasted, which pointed to issues with the food value chain. The findings of the recently released study showed that about 10.3 million tons a year of food earmarked for human consumption did not reach the stomach. This was equivalent to 34 percent of local food production, but because South Africa is a net exporter of food, the losses and waste were equivalent to 45 percent of the available food supply in the country. The results pointed to a high level of inefficiency in the food value chain at a time when there…

Nick Mulvenney NEW Zealand coach Ian Foster has rejigged his backline to bring Will Jordan in on the right wing in the only personnel change to his starting line-up for tomorrow’s Rugby Championship opener against Australia at Eden Park at 9.05am. The return of the prolific try-scorer, who sat out last week’s 33-25 Bledisloe Cup win over the Wallabies because of a hamstring strain, means a switch to the left wing for Sevu Reece and a return to the centres for Rieko Ioane. Midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown drops out of the matchday squad with TJ Perenara coming in as backup scrumhalf in place of Brad Weber in the only change to the replacement backs for the second of two successive Tests at Eden Park in Auckland. All Blacks head coach Ian…