Table of contents for 2022-03-04 in DFA News

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za FORMER DA provincial leader Andrew Louw has resigned from the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature to pursue business interests. Louw, in reply to social media posts, stated that he would remain a DA member and had no interest in joining ActionSA, as was widely rumoured. He also denied on Facebook that any charges of maladministration were laid against him. “Please get your facts right. It seems like it is unbecoming for a black person to leave an organisation without a dark cloud. Remember that your information is very close to defamation and spreading rumours about any person that is inaccurate can be dangerous.” DA chairperson of the federal council Helen Zille also rubbished any suggestions on social media that Louw would be leaving the party. Zille indicated…

Boipelo Mere boipelo.mere@inl.co.za PUPILS from a school hostel in Delportshoop embarked on a peaceful march to the Dikgatlong Local Municipality yesterday morning to demand water. The hostel has apparently been operating without water since October last year due to an electric cable that burnt. The pupils, who are from four different schools around Delportshoop, returned to the hostel for the 2022 academic year to find blocked and stinky toilets and drains. There are currently also staff members and teachers staying at the hostel. The pupils have had to walk over half a kilometre on a daily basis to fetch water for themselves from an “unsafe” community centre, sometimes at night. A temporary electric connection was reportedly made for the electricity to be restored in order for the hostel to function…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za THE NORTHERN Cape MEC for Education, Zolile Monakali, the MEC for Social Development, Nontobeko Vilakazi, and the MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Nomandla Bloem, visited Dithakong Village on Wednesday following the recent rape and stabbing of two Grade 12 pupils from Dibotswa High School in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District. The spokesperson for the Northern Cape Department of Education, Geoffrey van der Merwe, stated that the pupils were dragged into an open field after their homes were broken into while they were asleep on February 22. “These two pupils suffered and endured severe pain. The young women were repeatedly raped, stabbed and left in the veld,” said Van der Merwe. “Fortunately, they survived the ordeal and were hospitalised after sustaining injuries.” Van der Merwe added…

Neville Motlhabakwe neville.motlhabakwe@inl.co.za TAFEL Lager Griquas have settled for ‘continuity and consistency’ in their player selection for tomorrow’s Carling Currie Cup clash against the Vodacom Bulls who they host at their Tafel Lager Park stronghold this weekend. Griquas head coach Pieter Bergh said as much during a media Zoom meeting ahead of the match. “This time we looked at players who obviously did well and performed consistently during our outings against the likes of Pumas and Western Province and so on and considered them for selection,” the coach said. The Kimberley team were expecting the full Bulls squad including all its international players to arrive in the Diamond City after the Pretoria side had completed their assignment last week in the United Rugby Championship which they played overseas. “Maybe they…

Neville Motlhabakwe RICHMOND United Ladies FC of De Aar will this weekend be involved in a four-team pre-season, privately-sponsored football tournament in Bloemfontein as they await the restart of the national Women’s Soccer League in April. On Wednesday Edward Lisene the Richmond United coach merely confirmed the four-way off-season fixture they will be involved in before dashing off to supervise his team’s preparations for the tournament. Team manager Amichand Amsterdam confirmed that his side will be part of the four-team tournament, saying the idea behind it was to give the players enough game time in the interim while they await the restart of the Hollywoodbets sponsored National Women Soccer League. The other teams that have been confirmed for the fourway tournament are: Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies, First Touch Academy and Thunderbirds…

Eshlin Vedan HAVING firmly established himself as a goalscoring midfielder of note in recent times, Orlando Pirates’ newest star Bandile Shandu insists that the team should always come first before he chases any personal accolades. The 27-year-old has found the back of the net in three out of his team’s last five games in all competitions. Notably, he struck a brace in their 3-2 Caf Confederation Cup win over Al-Ittihad two weeks ago. And he believes he did not do it without the help of his teammates. “For me, it’s about the team. The scoring is just a bonus. I will work to see where I can assist. I want to work to make sure that we can get a good result against Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday. If we get…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za THE KIMBERLEY Action Group believes that senior administrators at Sol Plaatje Municipality are “a law unto themselves” and are continuing to victimise women who report incidents of sexual harassment involving their superiors. Boyce Makodi from the Kimberley Action Group stated that despite being called to a meeting at the municipality this week, after the deadline for a response to the community group’s demands had expired, there was still no feedback from the local authority. “It's evident that the municipality is mandated to protect perpetrators,” said Makodi. He stated that one of the victims “had her private parts touched” without her consent, while she also received lewd and sexually suggestive WhatsApp messages. “The municipality saw fit to accept a sanction of a 10-day salary cut that was…

Lance Fredericks HERE’S how it worked: Sunday lunch – that glorious feast, the highlight of the weekend – was preceded and followed by the lowlights of the entire week. Everyone knows that after lunch the dishes had to be washed, dried and packed away. And if you’re wide awake and counting, that’s three unpleasant jobs all rolled into one. I hated, with a capital HATE, doing post Sunday lunch dishes … but not as much as I hated the pre-lunch torment. Sorting the rice! Every Sunday before lunch, it was the children’s duty to sit around a pile of grains sorting out the ones that were discoloured or that had obvious black specks. And because Sunday’s were feast days, there were usually two cups of rice to sort. And I…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za ATTEMPTS to take action against officials at Phokwane Municipality for a “non-existent” R1.59 million tender that was awarded for emergency repairs on two major wastewater pumps in Pampierstad have been hindered by a court judgement that found a meeting to appoint the most recent acting municipal manager, Mpho Mojaki, invalid. According to an audit trail, the municipality paid R1.59 million to a contractor in October 2021 for mechanical repairs, electrical pump cable joints and installation, PVC pipes testing pressure flow and hiring of an excavator tipper truck. A deviation was authorised after complaints were made regarding wastewater that was flowing in the street in residential sites in Pampierstad and flowing down the Kolong River. The technical department indicated that two main pumps did not have enough…

Zaahier Adams THE PROTEAS women’s team begin their quest to ultimately be crowned world champions today in Dunedin. At no time has any senior South African cricket team achieved this feat. That is the sheer weight of history that Suné Luus and her team carry on their shoulders in New Zealand. Add in the expectation that this Class of 2022 has the potential to deliver the “Holy Grail” and the stakes are raised even higher. This is not just patriotic optimism. Luus’ team is ranked No.2 on the ICC’s one-day international standings – only below the tournament’s perennial favourites Australia. They boast a squad that is laden with talent – both bat and ball – which is currently at the peak of its powers. It is Bangladesh’s misfortune to be…

Herman Gibbs in Cape Town THE ADAGE goes “every dog has its day” and tomorrow Kaizer Chiefs midfielder-cum striker Bernard Parker, aka “Die Hond”, hopes it will be his on hostile territory at Orlando Stadium. Parker had a glorious introduction to Soweto derbies at the fabled FNB Stadium in September 2011 when he helped Chiefs to a 2-0 win over traditional rivals Orlando Pirates. It was Parker’s first Soweto derby. Eleven years later, he has not lost his appetite for the match that after many decades, remains the blue riband game of South African football. For the uninitiated, the nickname “Die Hond” goes back many years when as a boy he played soccer in the streets of Boksburg. He excelled and was referred to as the “top dog”. Over time…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za THE SA Liberated Public Sector Workers Union (Salipswu) intends to close down all trucking companies that are not complying with the basic conditions of employment. Salipswu provincial organiser Thapelo Thole stated that truck drivers were dying on public roads as they were over-fatigued and were falling asleep behind the wheel. “They are expected to drive long distances of up to 18 hours per shift without any sleep before embarking on their next trip,” said Thole. “A co-truck driver was left severely traumatised after he witnessed his colleague dying in an accident, where no counselling was offered to him.” Thole added that the union would be visiting “every company in the country” that was not complying with the basic conditions of employment, starting from next week. A…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za SOL PLAATJE University (SPU) says it will prioritise the placement of students who have been given temporary university accommodation. Students protested recently over a shortage of accommodation, mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations and food that is “not appetising in the least”. The senior manager in the office of the vice-chancellor, Kashini Maistry, said the vice-chancellor and principal of SPU, Professor Andrew Crouch, together with the chief operating officer, David Kanguwe, and the adviser in the vice-chancellor’s office, Rathnum Naidoo, met with a delegation from the student representative council (SRC), led by SRC president Rantsiekane Mosiane, to discuss the issue of first-year students who have been placed in temporary university accommodation. “The vice-chancellor has placed an embargo on moving any first-year students who have been placed in temporary university…

Boipelo Mere boipelo.mere@inl.co.za A DISTRAUGHT Roodepan mother, Elizabeth Jones, is looking for her daughter, Charnice Jones, 26, whom she last saw on January 26. Charnice disappeared after she apparently “snuck out” of the family home in the middle of the night. Her three-year-old daughter was found sleeping alone in bed. Elizabeth said her daughter had moved in with her for four months after growing up under her grandmother's care in Verwoerd Park, Kimberley. According to Elizabeth, her daughter “has a habit of keeping bad company”. “After starting to search for her we learned that she went to one of her aunt's homes and she has since disappeared. “We got tired of following false leads from people who claim to have seen her. “Some said they spotted her somewhere in Galeshewe…

Matthew Marcus in Cape Town IT’S never just a game, is it? Nelson Mandela famously said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.” Here in South Africa, we know the power of sport. We know the good and the bad. We’ve experienced its power to unite, just look at the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup triumphs of 1995 and 2019. And we can point to how sports boycotts played a role in ending Apartheid. But we also know just how bad it can be. In the past, Gary Player used his…

Eshlin Vedan in Durban AMAZULU coach Benni McCarthy criticising the state of football officiating in South Africa appears to have become a regular theme this season. The Usuthu mentor once again slammed the officials after his side played out a 2-2 draw with Stellenbosch FC at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday. The draw was AmaZulu’s 14th in the league this season, which is the most out of any side in the division. What will be worrying AmaZulu is that they are now without a win in their last three league games. The last time that they tasted victory was when they downed Mamelodi Sundowns 1-0 in late December. This, to date, is the only defeat that the runaway league leaders have experienced in all competitions this term. “We feel…