by 013NEWS Reporter | Aug 13, 2018 | News
The residents want government to fix their homes which were destroyed by heavy rainfall the past season.
A Shoprite liquor store was looted by angry residents in the KaNyamazane area.
Police confirmed the liquor store was broken into and liquor taken by protesters.
The residents are angry at government for delaying on their promises to fix homes that were destroyed by heavy-rain in May 2018.
The residents have earlier argued that it was government’s faults that the rain had destroyed the homes as the area doesn’t have storm water-drains.
The affected residents are in KaNyamazane, Tekwane and Ntokozweni and government had pledged R19 million to fix the homes of the locals.
But when the locals saw the appointed contractor taking time to fix the homes they took to the street, burning tyres and blocking roads with logs and rocks.
More than 2 thousand homes were affected by the Mbombela hail-storm.
The residents say there is a slow progress in fixing the homes and they don’t know why.
Four contractors were appointed to fix the homes of the affected residents.
The human settlement department said their contractors are already on site and are busy with renovations and were asking residents to be patient.
“One of the contractors is responsible to remove the asbestos roofing whilst the other three are mandated to fix the walls, erect trusses, roof and ceiling,” it said in a statement on Monday this week amid the protest.
The department said they believe R19 million will not be enough and as a result they are on the process of seeking more funds to help the residents.
Rubber bullets had to be used by cops to disperse the angry mobs.
The residents were so affected by the disaster that on the day it happened the government had to come and provide tents for the residents to be able to sleep.
The contractors have been on the site since the first week of July 2018.
“It must be added though that the department will intensify its inspection on the houses following beneficiaries’ complains of slow progress by the contractors,” the department said.
“In the meantime, the police are handling the protests currently underway at KaNyamazane.
“Engagements will also ensue between all stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the matter,” reads the statement.
(edited by MLM)
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by 013NEWS Reporter | Aug 13, 2018 | National News
It was found that the decision that terminated then NPA head Mxolisi Nxasana’s contract in order to appoint him was invalid, unconstitutional.
The ANC and Parliament have welcomed the judgement by Constitutional Court judge Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga that former President Jacob Zuma abused his powers when appointing Shaun Abrahams to head the National Prosecuting Authority.
Madlanga delivered a scathing judgement on Monday this week following another judgement by the Tshwane high court last year December declaring the appointment of Abrahams unconstitutional.
Chairman of Parly’s portfolio committee on justice, Dr Mathole Motsheka, said the finding by Madlanga should bring closure to “a long-drawn-out chapter”.
“This has led to uncertainty at the National Prosecuting Authority,” Motsheka said.
“The focus should now revert back to stability and certainty at the NPA,” he said.
Madlanga said Abrahams was a beneficiary of abuse of power by Zuma and President Cyril Ramaphosa has now been ordered to appoint another NPA boss.
It was also found that certain sections of the NPA Act were unconstitutional and Parliament has a year-and-a-half to amend it.
Motsheka said he’ll do everything in his powers as chair of the justice committee that this act is corrected within the stipulated period.
“I note that subsections 12(4) and 12(6) have been declared unconstitutional. I, as chairperson, will do everything in my power to ensure that an amendment of the Act happens speedily as we want to ensure a strong and constitutionally sound legislation,” he said.
Pule Mabe, ANC national spokesman, said the party welcomes the judgment and provides Ramaphosa “with the necessary space to move with speed and urgency to resolve the leadership question at the NPA”.
“What is critical for the ANC is the restoration of the independence, integrity and credibility of this key law-enforcement agency,” Mabe said.
“Anything that compromises the independence of the NPA will undermine its credibility and lead to a serious erosion of the rule of law,” he said.
He said the party has confidence Ramaphosa will handle this matter in a manner that will restore public confidence.
The DA has also asked that Ramaphosa appoints a credible person to head the NPA.
(edited by MLM)
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by 013NEWS Reporter | Aug 13, 2018 | Politics
A case of defamation has now been opened against the bishop who said it.
Contestant for the Mpumalanga ANC position of chairman, David Dube, has nothing to do with comments that Premier Refilwe Mtsweni is the side-chick of deputy president DD Mabuza.
This follows comments made by bishop Max Maumela during Dube’s campaign in the Secunda township of eMbalenhle on the weekend of 28 July 2018.
Maumela told scores of ANC supporters in the area that Mtsweni, a largely unknown politician, was made the Premier by Mabuza because the two are lovers and Mabuza was using her to continue his rule in the province.
“I’ve got nothing to do with those comments. No, no,” Dube said over the phone on Saturday evening (11 Aug).
“I was burying my wife today and please speak to [campaign spokesman] Sello Shai, myself I have nothing to do with it. Please,” Dube said.
Shai said as lobbyists of Dube they condemn the comments of the bishop “in the strongest possible terms”.
“We are not embracing such remarks and pledge to continue to respect fair play,” Shai said.
“We strive for unity in both the ANC and its alliance partners,” he said, adding that Dube does not hold such a view.
“The DDD18 leadership hereby distances itself and condemns in the strongest possible terms any insinuations attributed to the distasteful and unpalatable utterances allegedly made against fellow comrades of the ANC during the hosting of the Dr Nelson Mandela Memorial Lecture on 28 JULY 2018, which was delivered by former deputy chairperson of the ANC Mpumalanga provincial executive committee, comrade David Ditlaishego Dube.
“We further distance, without any equivocation, Comrade David Dube from such utterances which are not in tandem with his personal and political character,” Shai said.
He said that Dube is quite known and experienced “with impeccable characteristics which are above reproach”.
David Dube.
“The message of support which was made is not the view of comrade David Dub nor of the DDD18 lobby team.
A case of defamation has now been opened against Maumela with the eMbalenhle police station, which police spokesman Brigadier Leonard Hlathi confirmed was indeed opened and investigations have commenced.
Maumela, who is with the Faith Harvest Bible Church, also told the crowds that Mabuza was a murderer who set aside all of his political opponents in the province to rise to power.
ALSO RELATED: New lobby group wants Mandla Ndlovu to replace DD Mabuza
Dube, who was opposed to Mabuza becoming the leader of the ANC Mpumalanga for a third-term, was defeated during the 2015 provincial congress when Mabuza got elected unopposed.
Now Dube, who was provincial deputy chair during Mabuza’s second-term in office, wants to fill the vacant position that he left when he got elected the deputy president during the ANC’s 54th national congress on 18 December 2018.
Shai said as the DDD lobbyists they respect women and cannot allow anybody to belittle them in the manner the bishop did.
He said when they hold rallies they allow leaders from other groupings to come speak but their views should not be attributed to the DDD lobby team.
“The DDD18 Lobby Team would not allow this unfortunate situation to undermine a successful event.
“The lecture was characterised by clarifying engagements and shall without doubt obviously lead to a just South Africa, Africa and the better world that President Mandela yearned to realise during his lifetime.
“This well attended event was underlined by the cutting of a colourful birthday cake, the distribution of blankets and food parcels to senior citizens as part of Nelson Mandela century celebrations,” Shai said.
“During the lecture comrade David Dube indicated that President Mandela was not just a long serving political prisoner in South Africa and later President of the African National Congress and South Africa respectively but represented what an ANC member is supposed to be.
“His humility and a selfless dedication to the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society, concern for the will and interests of the people, as captured in the principles of Batho Pele,” he said.
(edited by ZK)
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by 013NEWS Reporter | Aug 13, 2018 | Politics
Ramaphosa’s efforts to fight corruption is hampered by the background of his deputy, the analyst says.
North West University’s political and policy specialist Theo Venter has described the deputising of President Cyril Ramaphosa by David Mabuza as “demeaning” for South Africa as a nation.
“Ramaphosa had to make a deal with the devil, with no doubt Mabuza being one of the compromises he had to make,” Venter said, referring to the Mpumalanga strongman.
“Having him as a deputy president is demeaning for South Africa. People are talking and writing about him worldwide, how will the country sustain itself?” Venter said.
He said it would be hard for Mabuza to be the President as the ANC is currently “divided”.
“Look at the ANC right now, it is divided so much that they won’t be able to elect anyone as President,” he told the Citizen newspaper.
“It was a very positive thing for South Africans to have Ramaphosa as President and to have gotten rid of Jacob Zuma, then to have Mabuza as deputy president has made some South Africans start losing hope. The people are disappointed that Ramaphosa is not dealing with corruption,” says the analyst.
Mabuza is currently wading off attacks from detractors, who are accusing him of being a corrupt leader.
On 4 August 2018, the New York Times ran a damning report on its front page charging Mabuza was undermining Ramaphosa’s efforts to end corruption and maladministration because of his questionable past as leader of the ANC and government in Mpumalanga.
During the time he was education MEC, Mabuza was involved in a matric results scandal and investigation into it never materialised.
ALSO RELATED: Mabuza formed PRET as his mass weapon
He is also accused of being behind a spade of assassinations of opponents in the province over a period of 20 years but the ANC in the province believes this is a revised version of old attacks on the leader and have vowed to defend him.
“The people who are making allegations against him were told to lay charges against him and no one has submitted any evidence,” Mpumalanga ANC spokesman Sibusiso Themba said.
ALSO RELATED: Refilwe Mtsweni is DD Mabuza’s girlfriend
“These are stories that are being written, we have seen them and heard them before, but they have never added the evidence,” said Themba.
Of the New York Times article, Mabuza’s spokesman Thami Ngwenya said it is “rejected with the contempt it deserves”.
“The article is viewed in the same way as previous attempts of political smearing against the name of the deputy president,” he said.
(edited by MLM)
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by 013NEWS Reporter | Aug 10, 2018 | Politics
Mabuza is being accused of using her to continue his rule in the province.
Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtsweni is allegedly the side-chick of ANC deputy national leader David ‘DD’ Mabuza.
This was said by a bishop who was addressing ANC members during David Dube’s campaign to become Mpumalanga ANC chair in the Secunda township of eMbalenhle a past weekend, Mpumalanga News has reported.
Bishop Max Maumela of the Faith Harvest Bible wants Dube to fill the Mpumalanga ANC position left by Mabuza when he got elected the deputy president on 18 December 2018 and was given the opportunity to speak at the Dube event.
The newspaper said the bishop said Mtsweni is Mabuza’s lover and that was the reason he got the position – used as a proxy for him to continue ruling Mpumalanga from Gauteng.
David Dube Who wants to be ANC Mpumalanga chairman.
The bishop further said that Mabuza is a murderer, according to the reports.
But the Mpumalanga ANC finds these comments belittling women, defaming Mabuza and is now fighting them back.
A case of defamation against the bishop has now been opened.
“Having a female Premier was supposed to be celebrated,”
ANCWL provincial secretary Lydia Moroane said during a press briefing held at party provincial headquarters in Mbombela on Monday this week (6 Aug), “and especially by bishops”.
“He accused us of using our bodies to get positions. He is undermining us,” Moroane said during the briefing.
SEE ALSO: Mtsweni speaks youth unemployment
Mtsweni, who was largely unknown and who is not an ANC regional or provincial executive committee member, was hand-picked by Mabuza in February 2018 to become the acting Premier when President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Mabuza the deputy president, following the forced resignation of Jacob Zuma as President on the night of 14 February.
She was the MEC for traditional affairs in the province – a position she got in 2014 when Mabuza returned to power as the Premier for a second-term. In March 2018, Mtsweni was elected the Premier having acted for almost a month.
“The role of the bishop is to pray, to ensure that the ANC can continue to lead, revolutionise our people and to better the party,” said Moroane of Maumela.
“And I do not know if he forgets his role,” the provincial women’s league leader said.
(edited by MLM)
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