Table of contents for 2021-10-15 in DFA News

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za COMMUNITY health workers (CHWs) have threatened to shut down all clinics in the Frances Baard District due to the non-payment of social grants, including child support, foster care and disability grants, to CHWs. The gates to Ma Doyle Clinic in Galeshewe were closed on Wednesday, while protests continued at the Galeshewe Day Hospital yesterday. Health workers threatened yesterday that protest action would spread to all clinics in the Frances Baard District. “If we don’t get any satisfactory answers, we will also shut down Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital. ANC mothers should not give birth at Galeshewe Day Hospital because we are hungry and are not able to feed our dependants. We depend on the grants because we get paid so little. Some of us have children with…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za THE NATIONAL Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the DA in the Northern Cape have called for the suspension of the deputy-director general in the Premier’s Office, Steven Jonkers, following his arrest by the Hawks last week. Jonkers and two directors from Defensor Electronic Security Systems, Gert van Rooyen and Claudius Petterson, were charged with fraud, contravention of the Public Finance Management Act, contravention of the Security Act and contravention of the Private Security Industry Regulation Act 56 of 2001. The charges relate to a R453.6 million security tender that was awarded by the Northern Cape Department of Health to Defensor Electronic Security Systems in 2017. Jonkers is a former HOD for the provincial Department of Health. Jonkers received R50 000 bail while his…

– kidnap gang suspects arrested in Bloemfontein Lee Lawler staff writer SOPHISTICATED multinational criminal gangs with tentacles that span Africa, Asia and Europe are behind the upsurge in kidnapping cases in South Africa, crime experts and police sources say. Over the past few months, several business people have been kidnapped and their families contacted by the gangs who demand several million rand for their release. This week, KwaZulu-Natal police swooped on a premises in Bloemfontein and arrested two men believed to be behind the kidnapping and extortion of a 60-year-old Durban businessman. The gang, who had held him hostage for seven days, had demanded a R10 million ransom for his release. Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said a multidisciplinary operation led to the arrest of the two suspected kidnappers on…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za THE NORTHERN Cape High Court has prohibited a company, Zinvomax (Pty) Ltd, and a contractor, Bernard Markram, from demolishing a business property in Voortrekker Street in Kuruman. The property was owned by Transnet/Portnet and was previously utilised as the Kuruman bus station. The companies were instructed to return the possession of the properties of the four informal traders that have been conducting business in the area, including Kuruman Propshaft and CV Centre, Friendly Fruit and Veg, Bismillah restaurant and a hairdresser. They have also been interdicted from dismantling and demolishing and/or removing the buildings structures and/or attachments on erf 2564, fencing off, cordoning off and/or interfering with the applicant’s access to the erf. The small informal traders subdivided the building with the use of corrugated iron…

Soraya Crowie and Sandi Kwon Hoo WHILE Kimberley residents came out to see ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa in their numbers on Monday, many are still disillusioned when it comes to issues of service delivery and job creation. Ramaphosa was on the campaign trail in Greenpoint, Homelite, Kagisho, John Daka and Donkerhoek on Monday as he sought to woo voters ahead of the local government elections on November 1, and he stated confidently that the ANC would win Wards 3, 8 and 22. ANC T-shirts emblazoned with Ramaphosa’s face were handed out as he conducted door-to-door visits. Greenpoint residents were surprised to see that a gravel road had been cleared to allow Ramaphosa to walk with community members in Thompson Avenue. “The rubbish that was piled on the side of…

Our city has come to the point where one has to go to extraordinary lengths to barricade and fortify businesses and homes against thieves who believe it’s OK to take other people’s property writes Lance Fredericks. I HAPPENED to drive through the Kimberley city centre just around sunset recently, and it was not a place that I would like to visit very often – no thank you! It was a sad sight. Practically every shop was shuttered up behind steel roll-up doors, I assume to keep the thieves out. I thought back to what was formerly known as Jones Street used to be like when I was younger. That was the street you’d bring your friends from out of town to so that you could impress them. Call me dark,…

Neville Motlhabakwe neville.motlhabakwe@inl.co.za KIMBERLEY’S own Rhythmia Gymnastics Club has once more made the City proud. The club returned to Kimberley from last week’s South African Gymnastics Games which were held at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria between October 1-5. Rhythmia Gymnastics head coach Tazmia Francis told the DFA that they were pitted against all the top clubs coached by elite national coaches from all over the country at the Pretoria event. “We represented the Northern Cape at the annual SA Gym Games,” Francis said. “We participated in all our levels from level four to level eight and we took part in the High Performance category two to senior Olympic gymnast slots. “We were 26 athletes (from Rhythmia) in all including one other gymnast from Starlet Gymnastic club,” she added. The…

Staff Reporter LEICESTER are sniffing blood ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League clash against injury-hit Manchester United at 4pm. The 13th-placed Foxes are looking to reignite their campaign, having won just one of their last six games in all competitions. And with United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer missing his first-choice centreback pairing, Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane through injury, Foxes midfielder Boubakary Soumare is keen to take advantage. He says: “It’s true that it’s a good opportunity to get back on track after some disappointing results recently. “I think it will be a tough encounter, but a big game where two big teams in the Premier League go head to head.” The Foxes will be buoyed by reports that coach Brendan Rodgers has snubbed any talks of taking over at moneybags…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za THE CONTRACTOR who is installing sewerage and water pipes in Ivory Park will cover the costs of the funeral of Frans Bosman, 45, who slipped into a water-filled trench and drowned on Sunday, October 10. Residents said they felt helpless as they were unable to assist Bosman when he fell in just before midnight as the ditch that was dug last week was too deep and the area was not lit. The Roodepan police opened an inquest into the death, where it was stated that the deceased was walking home with his girlfriend at around at 11.30pm. The police search and rescue team retrieved the body from the ditch at around 2.30am. Roodepan resident David Kok said that Bosman’s girlfriend was expecting a baby. “They stay…

Sandi Kwon Hoo A 32-YEAR-old Northern Cape man was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Mothibistad Regional Court following his conviction for raping two teenagers. Police spokesperson Captain Olebogeng Tawana said the accused, Mojalefa Metse, was found guilty of raping two teens between the ages of 16 and 18 in 2017 and 2019 and was sentenced on Tuesday, October 12. “During the court proceedings Metse’s modus operandi was revealed, where he accosted both victims, robbed them of their cellphones at knifepoint and dragged them into vacant and derelict premises before raping them,” said Tawana. Tawana said the first incident took place when the woman was on her way home from a tuck shop in Mogajaneng village near Kuruman in December 2017. “He robbed her of her cellphone, dragged her into…

Sandi Kwon Hoo THE ROODEPAN SAPS Detectives arrested 11 suspects on various charges including attempted murder, robbery, assault GBH, domestic violence, house-breaking and theft on Wednesday at around 4am. Police spokesperson Captain Sergio Kock said the suspects were arrested at their homes in Roodepan and surrounding areas during a tracing operation. “The suspects – nine males and two females between the ages of 22 and 36 years old – should be appearing in court soon,” said Kock.…

Benida Phillips benida.phillips@inl.co.za A 30-YEAR-old inmate, Aaron Moduone, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court for raping a 25-year-old fellow inmate. Police spokesperson Captain Sergio Kock said the incident occurred in the storeroom at the Kimberley Correctional Facility. “Moduone was serving a previous rape sentence that he received in 2009. Moduone threatened the 25-year-old male inmate and raped him in the storeroom. The incident occurred on April 12, 2020, at about 3.20pm,” said Kock. “Muduone was found guilty and sentenced to an effective 10 years for rape on October 11, 2021.” Kock added that the investigative team was applauded for their “sterling work” in the matter. “The commander of the Kimberley Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit, Captain Harriet McKenzie, lauded Detective Sergeant Juanita…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za STAFF employed at state mortuaries in the Northern Cape have embarked on a go-slow as they believe that the facilities do not meet occupational health and safety standards, where they say they are forced to work in “shocking” conditions. Forensic mortuary officials stated that they were unable to perform their duties as they did not have the necessary tools of the trade and were severely understaffed. “Ten out of the 20 refrigerators at the mortuary in Kimberley are not working. Therefore, a number of the bodies cannot be kept in cold storage. Some of the doors of the fridges do not close properly, so rats enter the facility in search of food and gnaw on the bodies. There have been unclaimed bodies lying in the fridges…

Neville Motlhabakwe neville.motlhabakwe@inl.co.za THE 2021-22 CSA Provincial T20 Knock-Out cricket championship has entered the crucial quarter-finals stage minus one of the host teams after the Northern Cape Heat were eliminated in the pool stages of the competition in their own backyard. The Northern Cape Heat could not come up the mast thanks to three consecutive defeats in the pool stages, ending bottom of the log. Yet, despite the less than favourable performances by the hosts, their executive management remained four square behind them and sounded upbeat about the fact that the tournament would still reach its climax at Kimberley’s Diamond Oval. Northern Cape Cricket (NCC) CEO Eugene Jacobs told the DFA how excited they were to be hosting the play-offs and final. “It is a huge honour and privilege for…

Benida Phillips benida.phillips@inl.co.za A 31-YEAR-old Groblershoop man, Renaldo Remacio van Wyk, was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment for the murder of his 52-year-old father, David Malo, and his friend, Johnny Ntlokwana, following an altercation. Northern Cape police spokesperson Captain Sergio Kock said that Van Wyk was sentenced by the Groblershoop Regional Court following an incident in February this year. “On February 6, 2021, at about 10pm, in Wegdraai in Groblershoop, Van Wyk and his father got involved in an altercation, where the accused fatally stabbed his father twice in his back. “Van Wyk, in his rage, then also stabbed his friend, Ntlokwana, once in his chest. Both victims died on the scene,” said Kock. “The police arrested Van Wyk hours later and he remained in custody up until his sentencing…

Sandi Kwon Hoo A FOETUS was found amongst bags of trash that were off-loaded at the landfill site on the Griekwastad road on Tuesday. A waste compactor had apparently driven over the foetus before waste pickers saw it and notified Sol Plaatje municipal workers. Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesperson Sello Matsie said the driver of the waste compactor was immediately instructed to stop the vehicle after the foetus was spotted. “The police were informed, as this is a criminal case. It is a very inhumane and horrendous act. We warn the public against discarding of human bodies at the dumping grounds – people must not think that they can hide their crimes at the site. We appeal to members of society to seek help if they have an unwanted pregnancy,” said…

Vernon Pillay staff wrter BUSINESS REPORT THE ROAD Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has launched a new payment gateway, enabled by First National Bank (FNB), allowing motorists to register, renew and pay for their licence discs through the NaTIS online platform. With over 2.4 million motorists renewing their licence discs annually, this service will enable them to save time by avoiding long queues, fines, penalties for late renewal and help to mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the RTMC says. The entity said on Tuesday that there was already an increase in online activity with more than 6,700 motorists having used the NaTIS online crash reporting platform since its introduction in 2019. Sipho Silinda, FNB Public Sector CEO said: “We are delighted to partner with the Road Traffic Management Corporation to…

Benida Phillips IN A BID to bring services closer to residents, the Northern Cape Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison opened a new Regional Licensing Office in Springbok. The opening took place during the launch of October Transport Month by the MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Nomandla Bloem, in Okiep on Wednesday. Bloem said that the new office will not only make services more accessible to residents but also save them the costs of having to travel long distances in order to access the services. “When we take into consideration the vast distances people have to travel to access service points. The residents in the Namakwa District could do without having to spend large amounts of money on travelling to Kimberley for this service. The objective of this decentralisation…

Boipelo Mere boipelo.mere@inl.co.za FIVE families in Snake Park have been left out in the cold after being “temporarily” moved from their plots to make way for development in 2016. The families’ five shacks are among 33 that were moved from the then overcrowded Snake Park, in a move that was supposed to be temporary, but they have now been left out of the second and third phases of the development of the settlement. They have apparently been “blocked” by fellow community members from occupying empty plots and replacing ghost shacks after, they claim, being granted permission by their ward councillor and the Sol Plaatje Municipality to do so. The aggrieved families believe that their relocation has been blocked due to “political interference”. The families erected five shacks at the dumping…

Matthew Marcus in Cape Town OMG! It's been a long time since mense believed in Bafana Bafana. But here we are. They are 11 games without tasting defeat. And it's almost too good to be true. Well that's the reality for the national football team. And you better believe it. It's been way too long for us to have any belief in our football. But at the same time, it's too early to truly believe. Since Hugo Broos took the reins in May, the only way has been up for South African football. We won the Cosafa Cup in July, with our new-look youthful side beating Senegal in the final. It didn’t work out so lekker for the Olympic squad, as they lost all their games in Tokyo. But in…