Table of contents for 2021-08-06 in DFA News

Sandi Kwon Hoo CHIEF REPORTER CONSTRUCTION work on the R150 million Magareng shopping centre along the N12 near Warrenton has been delayed due to underground water that is flooding the site, where a large dam of water has accumulated. Community members have also stated that a child recently drowned not far from the site. Magareng DA councillor Jan Louw said that the land was sold to the developers, where they were advised that the municipality did not have the funds to divert the water pipes. “The network of pipes runs along the N12 and also connects Ikhutseng to the water supply. Many residents in the surrounding areas are experiencing low water pressure or no water supply. The development cannot proceed as the water is flooding the foundation and the water-logged…

Benida Phillips staff reporter IN PREPARATION for the roll-out of vaccinations for the 18-34 age cohort which will start on September 1, the Northern Cape Department of Health on Wednesday launched Tlhokomelo Thusong Service Centres as vaccination sites in the Province. The MEC for Health, Maruping Lekwene, together with the head of department (HOD), Riaan Strydom, conducted an oversight visit at the Thusong Centre in Galeshewe. Lekwene said the vaccination programme in the Province is progressing smoothly and the additional vaccination sites will speed up the process. “The Northern Cape has surpassed the 140 000 vaccination mark in both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. It was only the vaccinations in the Pixley ka Seme District that have not been progressing as anticipated. We have visited the area with the…

Lance Fredericks IT WAS bound to happen. I was expecting it to happen, I suppose that you cannot prevent it from happening, yet when it eventually happened I was crestfallen. A bird pooped on my bicycle! My brand new 29-inch mountain bike with disc brakes and a gazillion gears and rubbery knobs on the tyres will forevermore be the topic of conversation around the birdbath. “The black mountain bike? Yes, I know it well … I was the first to poop on it, you know, it was under the mulberry tree. Best restroom EVER!” I had parked my bike under the mulberry tree where a mossie with a sniper scope in his anus managed to hit a fork roughly two centimetres in diameter from a height of almost three metres,…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter THE UNEMPLOYMENT Insurance Fund (UIF) approved 68 842 normal benefit claims and paid out R312 million to beneficiaries in the Northern Cape during the 2020/21 financial year. The senior administrative officer of the UIF in the Province, Isaac Mogorosi, said yesterday that the highest claims related to unemployment benefits. The R312 million is broken down as follows: – 62 622 unemployment claims worth R270 million – 159 reduced work time claims worth R650 017 – 3 470 maternity claims worth R20.1 million – 915 illness claims worth R7.4 million – 897 parental claims worth R477 824 – 779 death claims worth R12.9 million Mogorosi said that long queues, office closures at labour centres due to Covid-19 cases and backlogs due to staff working on shift rotations…

Matthew Marcus in Cape Town IT’S been a nightmare second week at the Tokyo Games for South African Olympians. Stuck with just three medals, almal is feeling swak with the lack of real world-class performances. Up until last night, only Tatjana Schoenmaker’s gold and silver in the 200m and 100m breaststroke and Bianca Buitentag hanging ten for silver in the first Olympic surfing competition were the only medals claimed. It begs the question: what went wrong? Obviously the Covid-19 pandemic is one of the huge problems facing our athletes, with a lack of competition in the last 18 months – especially for someone like 400m Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk who was fighting his way back to fitness after a serious injury. But that was a global problem, something even…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter THE DA in the Northern Cape has given Phokwane Local Municipality until August 15 to repair the sewerage infrastructure in Jan Kempdorp, failing which the party will open criminal charges. Community members added that there has been an erratic water supply in Jan Kempdorp for over a week after a pipe burst at an intersection in Andalusia Park. “The pipe supplies Valspan, Andalusia Park and Ganspan. Water is being supplied to us in a truck and we have to bathe ourselves out of buckets of cold water.” DA Phokwane councillor Annette van Wyk stated that one of the old pump stations at the sewage plant had rusted through. “The whole asbestos pipeline from Jan Kempdorp to Ganspan needs to be replaced in order to relieve…

Sandi Kwon Hoo CHIEF REPORTER UMSOBOMVU Local Municipality has obtained an urgent interdict to prevent the implementation of the forensic investigation that was conducted into allegations of improper conduct, maladministration, fraud, corruption and mismanagement at the municipality. The interdict also applies to the chairperson of the task team as well as the chairperson of the National Council of Provinces. The report, which was released in March, implicated senior officials at the municipality and recommended that disciplinary steps should be taken against them. The municipality made an application last week to interdict and restrain the MEC for Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) from implementing the findings and recommendations of the final report dated March 29. The municipality also wishes to be exonerated from implementing the findings of the…

The Voice, Botswana GABARONE – A suspected conman who posed as a prophet, allegedly sleeping with hundreds of female followers and selling others a ‘magic’ oil called ‘Do as I say’ for P10 000 (about R13 000) a bottle, has landed himself behind bars in Botswana. Despite twice being deported by the cops for being in the country illegally, the 36-year-old Zimbabwean, Gerald Eliazer Tanaka Gapare, aka Gerald Miracle, is behind bars again having been caught in Botswana just a month after his latest deportation. His arrest came after his former fiancé, Tebo Mooki, spotted a poster advertising Miracle’s appearance at a ‘Prophetic Invasion’ in Mahalapye on 25th to the 27th June. Mooki, 40, who herself is a prophetess at God Grace International Ministry (GGIM), was in fact responsible…

Boipelo Mere staff repoter THE FAMILY of a local taxi driver who died after he was allegedly forced to drink a bottle of sherry, does not have the money to bury him. Ohentse Daniel “Matorokisi” Buys died on July 27 near the taxi rank in the Kimberley CBD after he was allegedly picked up by police officers and assaulted. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is investigating the incident and stated that it would release a preliminary report once available. The family hoped to bury Buys earlier this week but did not have the money to do so. His wife, Dikeledi Motai, said her husband was scared of the police after he was arrested earlier this year and released without being charged. On July 27, Motai was called to town…

Dudley Carstens in Cape Town THE SPRINGBOKS will look to become the first team in 12 years to beat the British and Irish Lions in a series when the two teams cross swords at Cape Town Stadium tomorrow at 6pm. In a match that Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber describes as similar to a World Cup final, the scoreboard reads 1-1 heading into the finale with the visitors having won the first Test 22-17 before the Boks struck back to win the second 27-9. Nienaber knows that to get a repeat result of that second Test, Siya Kolisi and his teammates will have to play out of their skins. The coach says of the series decider: “If you take a World Cup final, I think the pressure in this game is…

THE RELATIONSHIP between Team South Africa and medals at the Tokyo Olympics has so far resembled that of oil and water. Forgive some of us, then, for expecting miracles from the athletes still to compete as the Games wind to a close. A disappointing three medals from a nation that had spoken of adding four more to their haul of 10 from Rio 2016 has left many disappointed and with a bitter taste in the mouth. And what better way to wash that off than through a surprise last minute golden performance. Not that a Gerda Steyn win would be a surprise, the golden girl of South African road running having become synonymous with victory over the last few years. In the Olympic Marathon in Sapporo tomorrow, a win by…

Boipelo Mere staff reporter A KIMBERLEY family has spoken out regarding their traumatic experience of having to personally enlarge the grave of a loved one, Derrick Doman, during his funeral service at the West End Cemetery. Doman, who was 52, died from a Covid-19-related illness after spending three weeks in ICU. The Esterhuyzen family said yesterday that the funeral service was held on Friday last week and that municipal workers had allegedly disappeared from the gravesite, leaving behind four shovels. The funeral service was conducted by Avbob, and the Esterhuyzen family said that they expected the service provider to oversee all matters related to the burial. The funeral service started at a local church at 11am and proceeded to the gravesite at noon. Doman was to be buried on top…

Benida Phillips staff reporter THE NORTHERN Cape MEC for Education, Zolile Monakali visited Grade 12 pupils at Ratang Thuto High School in Postmasburg to urge them to remain focused and dedicated during the last few months of high school. Monakali said the school’s reputation for under-performing can only be changed by the pupils who are currently enrolled at the school. “I have adopted this school, however, I was told that this is an under-performing school. I do not adopt schools that are under-performing schools. In order to change that name, we need the help of all learners. The only people who can change the name of this school back to its original is the Class of 2021,” said the MEC. “Being a Grade 12 learner in 2021 places certain responsibilities…

It’s NOT going to happen so what next? The Conversation By Shabir A. Madhi ANY NOTION that Covid-19 was going to last for just a few months was very much misplaced in 2020. Especially after it was recognised that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was largely spread through the airborne route, all indications were that it would cause repeat bouts of waves. This is what happened in the flu epidemic of 1918. In addition very few scientists predicted that we would see the type of mutations that occurred over such a short period of time. This has resulted in the virus becoming both more transmissible and more able to evade immune responses. The evolution of the virus has been so rapid that the Delta variant, which is currently dominating the world, is at…

ANA Reporter IN A BID to enhance the safety of its staff and to cut queues, the South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced that at least 12 national parks, including two in the Northern Cape, will not be accepting cash as a means of payment from September. The cash-free payment system will be implemented in a two-phased approach, with several parks implementing the system from the current 2021/22 financial year and the remaining parks implementing the system in the 2022/23 fiscal year. “From September 1 cash will no longer be accepted as a method of payment in some of the parks. SANParks clients will be encouraged to make use of pre-booking payment systems and/or speed-point payment systems in parks. All trade and tourism activities will be cash-free and therefore…

LAHORE – New Zealand will visit Pakistan in September for the first time in 18 years to play three one-day internationals and five Twenty20 matches in Rawalpindi and Lahore, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday. Top teams have avoided touring Pakistan citing security concerns after the 2009 attack on a bus carrying Sri Lanka cricketers to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. “Series against a top-ranked side like New Zealand will be a perfect start to a mouth-watering and highly exciting home season of red and white-ball cricket,” PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said in a statement. New Zealand, who last toured Pakistan in late 2003, finished runners-up in the 2019 50-overs World Cup and are also the reigning world Test champions. The visit by Kane Williamson’s team “will reinforce…