Tabla de contenidos para 2021-06-11 en DFA News

Benida Phillips staff repoter THE CASE against two men, Emmanuel Uzoaga and James Ugwuuke, who are facing charges of human trafficking, has been postponed in the Upington Magistrate’s Court after Uzoaga’s legal representative recused himself from the matter. Spokesperson for the provincial National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Mojalefa Senokoatsane, said the two face several charges, including human trafficking. “It is believed the pair allegedly took the women from Upington under false pretences of possible employment in Gauteng and then allegedly forced them into prostitution. “The accused were arrested during a joint law enforcement operation involving the Hawks, Northern Cape, Gauteng and Douglasdale police. “Ugwuuke was arrested during a search that was conducted on May 29, 2021 at a Sandton apartment. During the search, three victims, aged between 19 and 24,…

Sihle Mavuso staff writer IT HAS BEEN almost three months since the Constitutional Court convened to hear arguments (Zuma refused to take part) by the Zondo commission on why former president Jacob Zuma deserves a two-year jail sentence for defying its summons. The commission first summoned Zuma in November last year but the former head of state flagrantly defied it. The commission was then forced to go to the Constitutional Court to ask it to compel Zuma to appear. On January 28 this year, the court ruled that Zuma should honour the summons and he could not exercise his right to remain silent when questioned by the commission probing allegations of state capture by the Gupta family during his nine-year rule between 2009 and 2018. That set the tone for…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi STAFF WRITER BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga has reiterated that all primary school learners will return to school when the third term begins on July 26. However, she said the date would be determined by the rate of infections in the country. Motshekga, who was addressing the National Council of Provinces during her budget vote on Tuesday, said the Council of Education for Ministers had agreed in May that all primary school learners should return to school. She said they had lost significant time of learning during the Covid-19 pandemic and had been trying to regain lost ground over the past few months. She said they would ensure that they stick to non-pharmaceutical interventions in the education sector. She said the research had shown time lost in the…

Sandi Kwon Hoo CHIEF REPORTER The Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform is intending to lay criminal charges against Sol Plaatje Municipality this week for failing to repair Gogga Pump Station that has resulted in a dam of raw sewage flowing along the R31. Sewage water is also seeping into the veld at Platfontein and parts of Roodepan. The sewage leaks have been ongoing for several years. Spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform, Zandisile Luphahla indicated that they had issued fines for the environmental hazards caused by the Gogga pump station as well as the Roodepan sewage spillages. “Despite numerous promises to fix the Gogga Pump Station, the situation has not been attended to for a number of years.…

Sandi Kwon Hoo CHIEF REPORTER THE MINISTER of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize, who was placed on special leave on Tuesday, said the vaccine roll out in the Northern Cape had been set back by the withdrawal of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines. During a visit to Kimberley on Tuesday, Mkhize stated that the Province was currently experiencing its third wave of infections. He indicated that the once off Johnson and Johnson jabs would have resulted in a bigger portion of the population being inoculated. “The Pfizer vaccine was not intended to be included in large amounts in the Province due to the cold chain storage requirements. We aim to vaccinate as many people as possible with the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Research has shown that waiting up to…

Stuart Hess in Johannesburg Dean Elgar would rather not talk about how his team will resolve its batting woes. There’s no point in talking. South Africa’s players have talked a lot – so has coach Mark Boucher – but the difference between talking, preparing, knowing what to do and actually doing it on the field, in a game, is a gap the Proteas have hitherto, for the most part, failed to shrink. St Lucia’s Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, provides another chance for the batsman to walk the walk, i.e. – score some runs, and avoid collapsing like cheap deck chairs. Elgar described a two-day inter-squad match at the venue which will host the two-match Test series, as being “very tough.” “The batters were exposed to the harshest conditions that we…

Eshlin Vedan in Durban KAIZER Chiefs’ head of technical and youth development, Molefi Ntseki, believes that new head coach Stuart Baxter is the right man to lead the club back to its glory days. The 67-year-old Baxter was officially unveiled as the new Chiefs boss on Wednesday on a two-year contract, with another two-year option to extend. Baxter will work alongside assistant coaches Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard, while Ntseki is certainly one who is familiar with Baxter, as he worked with the Englishman during his second stint as Bafana Bafana coach between 2017-19. “He is very detailed to the technical and tactical aspects of the game,” said Ntseki about the coach. “He is good in terms of man-management skills and I think it’s a good addition to the club,…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has announced an increase in the licence threshold for people to generate power from 1MW to 100MW to lift the economy. Ramaphosa yesterday announced that they were increasing the Nersa licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1MW to 100MW. This comes after Eskom implemented load shedding in the past few days. Ramaphosa said they will boost the economy and enable the country to have energy security. He denied they were taking the bread from Eskom’s mouth, saying the power utility needed competition. “Although some will argue we are taking bread out of Eskom’s mouth, no we are not,” said Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa said this was important to reduce the impact of load shedding. “Following an extensive public consultation process and a significant amount of technical…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter A 16-YEAR-OLD boy was allegedly assaulted and kicked while his head was repeatedly bashed into the wall before he was pushed down the stairs by a Covid-19 screener at William Pescod Secondary School on Tuesday. Video footage was taken of the incident. The mother of the Grade 9 pupil on Wednesday explained that her son had entered the wrong classroom and had moved a desk out of the way at the time of the incident. “My son stabbed the screener with a knife in the arm in an act of self defence. He was also previously a victim of physical violence at the school.” She added that her son was injured but was not given medical assistance at the school. “He suffered head injuries and…

Sandi Kwon Hoo CHIEF REPORTER MURDER accused Christopher Ortell, entered into a plea agreement where he admitted to his involvement in the death of Ridhwaan Mackay, as well as the theft of his Samsung cellphone that was sold to obtain money to purchase drugs. Mackay's body was dumped in the veld next to the R31 road near the Kimberley mental hospital and set alight in April 2017. The post mortem indicated that the cause of death was smothering and smoke inhalation where a bundled sock that was covered by a partially burnt cloth belt with two metal buckles was shoved into his mouth. Northern Cape High Court judge Sibongile Nuxmalo yesterday sentenced Ortell to 18 years imprisonment on charges of murder and theft, of which five years will be suspended,…

Benida Phillips STAFF REPORTER The Prieska police are investigating an inquest after a 69-year-old man was found hanging in the kitchen on Sunday, June 6, 2021. Police spokesperson, Captain Sergio Kock said no foul play is expected. “The man was found hanging in the kitchen of his home in Smartie Town in Prieska. “The deceased was discovered by his family members at about 8pm on Sunday night. “No foul play is suspected at this stage. Anyone with information regarding the incident can contact Detective Constable Benjamin Mphulayana on 082 495 4868. The investigation continues,” said Kock.…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter THE POLICE confiscated drugs with an estimated street value of R15 000 on Wednesday June 9 during an intelligence operation that was conducted in Jan Kempdorp. Police spokesperson Captain Sergio Kock said five men were arrested on charges of dealing in drugs and dagga. “The Frances Baard district detective team, Hartswater K9 unit, Hartswater Crime Intelligence, Kimberley and Hartswater highway patrol pounced on the suspects at 2am after a series of transactions were conducted by undercover agents in and around Valspan in Jan Kempdorp.” He stated that the police confiscated 403 Mandrax tablets, 20 zips of tik, two kilogrammes of dagga and an electric scale with an estimated street value of R15 000. “The suspects were detained and will be appearing in court soon.” The…

Lance Fredericks HERE’S a riddle for those who like useless trivia. Where are you if you find yourself north of Iran, south of Georgia, east of Turkey and west of Azerbaijan? I’ll bet you were tempted to say Armenia, but the actual answer is that you will have found yourself in the angriest country in the world. According to a 2019 global emotions report by Gallup, Armenia ranked as the angriest country in the world with 45 percent of people claiming to have experienced a lot of anger. Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, Estonia ranked as the least angry population in the world with only six percent of people experiencing regular fits of rage. I have to admit that over 400 days of lockdown, a range of…

Neville Motlhabakwe Sports Reporter RICHMOND Ladies slid into the top eight of the National Women's Soccer League over the past weekend on the back of a single goal against Mahikeng’s Golden Ladies. The central Karoo team has shed its status as the whipping girls of the national women’s league. The combination of a new team sponsor in the form of the renewable energy company Longyuan Mulilo Wind Projects and an experienced coach such as Edwin “Motale” Lisene has helped the club turn the corner in the league. Sunday’s win at home against Golden Ladies was the club’s third victory out of seven games played this season. Richmond United are sitting pretty at log position seven with 10 points after the club has seemingly also found its scoring boots. The league…

Staff Reporter THE long-awaited Euros kick off tonight after a year’s delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The continent’s top stars will be out for glory, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal looking to make it back-to-back wins and the man himself looking to break the world record for most international goals. Out to stop him are favourites France, Germany, England and Belgium. But don’t write off others. Here we size up the titans of Europe. France Hot favourites France come into the tournament as world champions and with virtually no weaknesses. Armed with the experience of winning on the biggest stage of all, almost any of Didier Deschamps’ squad members can be a starter. Stars like Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante are match winners. But Olivier Giroud can’t…

Mike Greenaway in Durban The Sharks have been disrupted by injuries and Springbok resting protocols ahead of their crunch clash with the Bulls at the Shark Tank in Durban tomorrow but have nevertheless put together a formidable side for the Rainbow Cup decider. It is in the forwards that coach Sean Everitt has had his options decimated but his backline for the match is as powerful as he could hope to muster. Among those that Everitt cannot pick up front are props Thomas du Toit and Ox Nche; locks Ruben van Heerden and Reniel Hugo, hookers Fez Mbatha and Dan Jooste; and flank James Venter. Everitt has not yet named his bench as he waits to see if some of the above get over niggles or become available. On a…

Benida Phillips IN AN ATTEMPT to ensure Grade-12 learners continue with learning and teaching during the pandemic, the Northern Cape Department of Education will handover one-hundred tablets to Grade 12 learners at Gariep High School in Prieska on June 11, 2021 . Department of Education spokesperson, Geoffrey van der Merwe said the handover is done in partnership with network service provider, MTN and will serve as a pilot programme for the provincial department of education in line with its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy. “The provision and utilisation of this resource will provide an invaluable platform for educators to strengthen content knowledge and classroom pedagogy and, ultimately, stimulate and enhance learners’ grasp of especially abstract and problematic content. “The tablets come preloaded with a complete content repository of Grade…

Sisonke Mlamla STAFF WRITER TEACHERS’ unions have confirmed that teachers, cleaners and other support staff at public schools could be vaccinated against Covid-19 this month. ‎National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa executive director Basil Manuel said at least 500,000 Johnson & Johnson (J&J) doses have been secured for the education sector, and the vaccine was still awaiting approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Initially, the vaccine was expected to arrive in the country last Saturday. He said the challenge was that the doses have a window of three weeks for distribution and administration. “It is anticipated that the vaccination process will commence tomorrow,” said Manuel. He said beneficiaries would include all teaching and non-teaching staff in the public sector, including school governing body-funded personnel and…

Sandi Kwon Hoo CHIEF REPORTER THE PABALELO police are investigating an inquest into the death of a 50 year old man who died in a shack fire. Captain Sergio Kock said the fire started at about 6.40pm on June 4. “The fire brigade was called out to assist with the extinguishing of the blaze. The man died on the scene. The investigation continues.” He advised communities not to fall asleep beside a fire inside a shanty or house during the cold weather or to leave gas or electric heaters burning overnight. Kock warned against overloading plugs with extra heating electrical appliances or to leave candles burning unattended. “Do not smoke cigarettes in bed and be extra careful when using electric blankets. Rather dress warmer and use extra blankets during the…

Sandi Kwon Hoo THE JAN Kempdorp police are investigating an inquest after the body of an unknown man was found in a water pool filled with sewage in Jan Kempdorp. Captain Sergio Kock said the body of the deceased was found next to the main road by a passerby on Monday June 7 at about 8am. He said the deceased had not been identified yet. “He is dark in complexion, about 1.7 metres tall, approximately 30 years old and was dressed in blue jeans, takkies and a grey jersey.” Anyone with information is requested to call detective Captain Johan Terreblanche on 0614476507. “The investigation continues.”…

NOVAK Djokovic set up a 58th meeting with Rafael Nadal on Wednesday when he reached his 40th Grand Slam semi-final. World number one Djokovic defeated Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 to book his place in the Paris semis for the 11th time. Nadal, the 13-time champion, beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 to make the semi-finals for the 14th time. With Djokovic’s match extending beyond the national 11pm curfew, play was halted for around 20 minutes at 3-2 in the fourth set so that 5,000 fans could be funnelled out of Court Philippe Chatrier. Djokovic eventually claimed the match on a third match point but only after he had kicked out at an advertising board in frustration at missing the first two. He said: “It was…

Neville Motlhabakwe Sports Reporter BUSH Bucks football club have won the Covid-19 adapted Sol Plaatje Local Football Association’s Promotional league title for the 2020/21 football season. Mzwandile Mgoma, LFA second deputy chairperson, elaborated that Bush Bucks won the new styled league with a format changed to cater to the new Covid-19 pandemic reality. For the season just ended the LFA had broken up the single format union and installed three clusters of clubs into three streams – A, B and C. The teams then competed within that cluster for the group honours thereafter the winners tested themselves against their peer group winners via a round robin play-off system. This latter round robin portion lasted for a period of three weekends. The outcome was that stream A was won by Hope…

Dudley Carstens in Cape Town A NEW-LOOK Stormers team will take the field against the Lions in their Rainbow Cup SA clash at Cape Town Stadium tomorrow at 4pm. Without captain Steven Kitshoff and fellow Springboks Damian Willemse and Frans Malherbe, who are rested as per request from SA Rugby, as well as Blitzbok Ruhan Nel, coach John Dobson is set to shake things up ahead of today’s team announcement. Props Ali Vermaak and Neethling Fouché are a shoo-in to replace the two Bok props, while scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies, who is a doubt because of illness, could be replaced by Godlen Masimla. What they do in terms of leadership remains to be seen with Pieter-Steph du Toit an option as captain, while they could also bring in loose forward Ernst…