Danny Jordaan has been resoundingly re-elected South African Football Association (SAFA) president by a margin of 95.12%.
Jordaan received 234 of 246 votes, two votes voted against and one spoilt vote.
Former referee Ace Ngcobo withdrew his candidature for top position, which meant Jordaan went into ballot box unopposed.
Ncobo and Jordaan were supposed to go to head at the Safa elective congress in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Police have deployed additional public order police to the Zaaiplaas area outside Groblersdal, after the school administration block at Leriane Secondary School in Holneck village was set alight on Friday evening.
Police spokesperson, lieutenant colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said the provincial commissioner in Limpopo, lieutenant general Nneke Ledwaba has ordered the deployment of additional POPS members to the Zaaiplaas area to normalise the situation.
He said police and the fire department had been notified after a passer-by had noticed flames coming from the administration block of the school.
Ngoepe said this was the second school administration building to be set alight, with the Rehlahlilwe Primary School in Keerom, also in the Zaaiplaas area, having been torched. He said a police van had also been torched and a police officer injured in a separate incident.
READ: Limpopo primary school, police van torched by residents on rampage
“It is alleged that a group of community members went on [a] rampage and torched this building before running away,” he said, speaking of the Leriane Secondary School fire.
Ngoepe said the protests stemmed from protest action, which started a week ago after a group of community members from Zaaiplaas barricaded the R579 road.
He said the protests turned violent and several cases of malicious damage to property, assault and two counts of arson were opened.
“Since these violent protests started in the area, five suspects, aged between 28 and 50, have been arrested for public violence,” he said.
Ngoepe said more arrests were imminent, with police honing in on the ringleaders behind the unrest. He said investigations were ongoing, and police were monitoring the situation in the area.
Reiterating his warning to all the communities in the Zaaiplaas area, Ledwaba said anyone involved in the recent spate of violent activity, characterized by the destruction of property, would be hunted down and brought to book.
He called on communities intending to protest to do so within the boundaries of the law.
“Destroying schools is detrimental to the future of our children and it cannot be allowed.
“Perpetrators of these barbaric acts will meet the full might of the law,” said Ledwaba.
KAMPALA, Uganda – At least 48 people including 16 children died in northern Uganda when a bus hit a tractor driving with no lights at night and then a truck, the Red Cross said Saturday.
“Evacuation teams are working tirelessly to rescue the injured”, said Ugandan police spokeswoman Emilian Kayima, adding that all three drivers had died.
“The death toll is now at 48 including 16 children,” Red Cross spokeswoman Irene Nakasiita told AFP.
The accident happened on Friday night in Kiryandongo, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) north of the capital Kampala.
The bus collided first with the tractor before hitting a truck transporting beer.
Local media said the death toll exceeded 30.
Uganda has one of the worst records for road safety, due to the poor condition of vehicles and roads as well as dangerous driving.
More than 9,500 people died in a road accident in the country between 2015 and 2017, according to figures from the transport ministry, with the situation worsening each year.
AFP
JOHANNESBURG – Public sector unions affiliated with the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) will not sign the Public Service Salary Agreement in its current form, the union said on Saturday.
“The 7 percent increase itself is not acceptable to workers as it doesn’t demonstrate the government’s own radical stance on economic transformation – considering the 15 percent VAT, over and above the generally increased costs of living. The agreement discriminates our level 8-12 members against the rest of the members, especially in subsequent years,” Saftu said in a statement.
READ: Labour analysts call for speedy public wage negotiations
“The agreement subject to another torturous three year period of stagnations and degradation than a 1-year agreement as we would have preferred. Further agreement which once again takes away the members rights to Housing Allowance, in that it gives the employer the sole right to design and implement a Permission to Occupy (PTO). We are also rejecting the Comprehensive Danger Insurance… We cannot agree to take away of any cent from our members,” Saftu added.
The union accused other public sector unions that have signed the agreement of “political opportunism”.
It warned that this was “the last round of negotiations wherein workers in the public services will be insulted in this way again.”
eNCA
The ANC has taken a hard line against disgruntled Free State members who want the party’s national executive committee (NEC) to intervene in their battle to have last week’s provincial elective conference nullified.
The group is threatening to go to court if the NEC meeting this weekend does not set aside the conference.
“We want the NEC to declare the conference null and void; they must meet with the two factions and set up a proper interim committee that is equally representative of all factions,” said Monnapule Ntamo, who is one of the complainants.
READ: New leadership elected for ANC in the Free State
The group has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the other top five ANC officials demanding a full list of delegates who attended the conference, in order to help build their case for a fresh elective conference.
In its lawyer’s letter seen by News24, the disgruntled members argue that most of the people who attended the conference did not have the mandate of their branches, or that the delegates that were present were fraudulent.
Demand for proof
They also claim that the conference that elected Free State MEC for police, roads and transport Sam Mashinini as chair and William Bulwane as deputy did not have the blessing of the ANC’s national working committee – which is responsible for the day to day running of the party.
“Our clients instruct us that the Free State provincial conference went on despite there being any pronouncements from the national working committee on the state of readiness of the province to hold provincial conference,” the letter states.
In a previous letter, the group had claimed that they learnt at short notice – and through social media – that a conference was due to be held.
However, the ANC responded to the group’s lawyer demanding proof that the legal firm had power of attorney to represent the members and whether they were bona fide members with paid up membership.
In a letter dated May 23 2018, ANC legal adviser Krish Naidoo wrote that “bald allegations” by the members are unhelpful.
“We want to establish whether your clients are prepared to abide by the ANC constitution and exhaust internal domestic dispute-resolution remedies provided therein,” Naidoo writes.
He argued that the demand by the ANC for proof of powers of attorney before responding to the demands was reasonable.
“We remind you in another incident of threatened litigation against the ANC in December last year, your office purported to act on behalf of ANC members from South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. The ANC subsequently established from its members that they did not give your office any authority to act on their behalf,” Naidoo stated.
‘Crisis in Free State’
The same legal firm, Selepe Attorneys, was representing ANC members who claimed their votes were excluded from the final tally of the December elective conference. About 68 votes were quarantined by the party, causing an uproar.
However, Ntamo says the response by the ANC shows they are not realising the crisis facing the party in the Free State.
He claims they had no choice but to approach lawyers because they have failed to get any responses from the party.
“We have written to the ANC in the province, and at national collectively, or as individuals, but we did not get any response,” he said.
“The ANC NEC must realise there is a crisis in Free State if we still want to win elections in Free State,” Ntamo said.
Disgruntled members have demanded a more representative interim structure to lead the party to fresh elections.
The NEC is due to meet this weekend and decide whether the conference stands.
In December, the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein nullified a provincial elective conference that re-elected former provincial chair Ace Magashule.
Magashule was elected secretary general of the ANC at the subsequent national conference.
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JOHANNESBURG – Passengers with SA Express tickets will still be able to use them despite the suspension of the airline’s operating licence.
South African Airways (SAA), Mango Airlines and SA Airlink will accommodate those passengers.
The three partner airlines said this is to mitigate the impact after the Civil Aviation Authority on Thursday grounded the embattled SA Express.
An audit of SA Express uncovered severe cases of non-compliance that posed serious safety risks.
SAA will rebook, reroute or refund passengers whose travel plans have changed.
The national carrier will also compensate passengers where applicable.
Passengers travelling between 6am and 9am on Friday are advised to report to SA Express counters for more information.
eNCA
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JOHANNESBURG – No stone will be left unturned to find those responsible for the kidnapping of 13-year-old Katlego Marite, police said.
The alleged kidnappers had asked the family to pay a ransom of five Bitcoins which amounts to R1.5-million.
Marite was found unharmed on Thursday four days after he was taken.
However, police remain tight-lipped about how he was found.
A similar incident has allegedly happened in another part of the province.
READ: Alarming increase in number of missing children in Mpumalanga
“But I must say that the provincial commissioner of this province, Mondli Zuma is very happy (that) the collective, community members, the police and other organisations were keen to help and put some effort towards the whole process. This shows we are one, as a collective we can do more,” said Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Leonard Hlathi.
“It is really working. We are also saying to community members, those criminals who are doing these things or kidnapping people and making demands. We have arrested three people in KaMhlutshwa where a 53-year-old woman was kidnapped. Ransom was demanded. We activated our operatives and that assisted us because we managed to arrest the three suspects. This is a strong warning: we are doing that, we are after you.”
eNCA
President Cyril Ramaphosa is worried about deteriorating race relations in the country but believes this is a “great opportunity” for the ANC to regain its non-racial character.
“The ANC believes South Africa belongs to all who live in it. The Freedom Charter is clear,” he told a group of editors during a briefing with the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) in Cape Town on Thursday.
Asked whether he was concerned about relations between different race groups in South Africa following a number of well publicised incidents of racism, Ramaphosa said one of the ANC’s biggest weaknesses was the fact that it has lost its “non-racial character”.
All racial groups should feel at home in the country, and feel that they have a role to play, he said.
Message for white South Africans
The president had a specific message for white South Africans: “We should accept what had happened in the past where a particular racial group reaped the benefits, economic and other. They must own up and say, ‘therefore we have a responsibility to contribute so that we can build a new nation from the ashes of apartheid’.”
Asked about the role played by the now defunct British PR firm Bell Pottinger to sow racial division to the benefit of the Gupta and Zuma families, Ramaphosa said Bell Pottinger attempted to “poison the atmosphere”.
Bell Pottinger, on brief from the Guptas and former president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane, engineered the so-called “white monopoly capital (WMC)” campaign whereby journalists, politicians and activists opposing state capture were labelled agents of WMC on social media platforms.
READ MORE: #GuptaLeaks opened my eyes that the wheels were coming off
Ramaphosa said the ANC had to assist the country in ridding itself from the “poison that Bell Pottinger tried to propagate”.
All groups should feel valued in South Africa, and diversity must be applauded. Racial polarisation was “anti-ANC and militates against the Constitution,” Ramaphosa said.
City Press editor-in-chief Mondli Makhanya urged Ramaphosa to “rise above the noise” and do something about racial polarisation, which he described as “very bad”.
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2018-05-23 12:01
ANC secretary general Ace Magashule is briefing the media ‘on the developments’ in the troubled North West province, where it is widely expected that the province’s embattled premier, Supra Mahumapelo, will finally tender his resignation under mounting pressure.
For the latest updates, follow News24 reporters:
– Tshidi Madia: @tshidi_lee
– Mahlatse Mahlase: @hlatseentle
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(Courtesy of SABC)
Last Updated at
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Supra Mahumapelo expected to finally resign today
Embattled North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo is expected to finally tender his resignation on Wednesday.
News24 has learnt that Mahumapelo will officially submit the letter to the speaker of the North West legislature, following a media briefing by ANC secretary general Ace Magashule, which is scheduled for noon.
The ANC earlier released an alert, saying that Magashule would brief the media “on the developments” in the troubled province.
Mahumapelo’s expected resignation follows a meeting between the party’s officials and the provincial leadership on Monday.
“The provincial working committee was asking the ANC leadership: ‘why don’t you speak to us as a structure when discussing Mahumapelo because he did not put himself there’,” a source who attended the meeting said.
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ICYMI:
Supra Mahumapelo death threat claims ‘fake’
Hawks officers investigating the case laid by Supra Mahumapelo – who claimed a hitman was paid R250 000 to kill him – now believe the allegation is fake.
Although the Hawks are officially investigating a case of conspiracy to commit murder, two sources close to the investigation told City Press this week that they “are not buying” the version given by the North West premier’s source.
Mahumapelo has come under increasing pressure to leave office. Last week, he took indefinite leave instead of resigning as he had promised.
His entire provincial government was placed under administration this week after an assessment by an interministerial task team, as well as due to allegations of widespread corruption and maladministration, and the near collapse of provincial health services.
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ICYMI:
North West put under administration: What happens now?
The interministerial task-team (IMTT) will this week head back to North West as the province has been put under administration.
Last week Cabinet decided to invoke Section 100 (1) on the Constitution, effectively putting the whole provincial administration under administration after Cabinet put the province’s health department under administration two weeks before.
In a letter to acting North West premier Wendy Nelson, chairperson of the IMTT, Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said the IMTT will return to the province to assess the state of affairs and assist the province to “recover and stabilise the situation”.
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ICYMI:
OPINION
Why the ANC in North West could be heading into groundbreaking territory
(By Ralph Mathekga)
The latest instalment in the ongoing North West saga is the decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to place the province under administration.
It is very clear that Premier Supra Mahumapelo has no plan to listen to anyone calling for his removal, including his political bosses in Luthuli House. The move by Ramaphosa is aimed simply at cutting off Mahumapelo’s oxygen so he can begin to cooperate with Luthuli House.
With all major decisions about spending money and making payments now left to the task team that would take over key functions in the province, Mahumapelo will begin to run aground and possibly abandon ship in the province. This is how it is all expected to unfold unless Mahumapelo launches a fightback campaign, which I think he is likely to.
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ICYMI:
Supra Mahumapelo: ‘The people love me’
Supra Mahumapelo insists that he is still popular among the people of North West and that he has the best plan to ensure the ANC improves its support in next year’s election.
People “resonate well” with him during his visits to the villages and only a small group of ANC members don’t want him to remain the province’s premier.
In an interview with City Press on Wednesday, Mahumapelo said his detractors feared that under his stewardship, the provincial ANC would do so well “that it would be difficult to justify why you must not retain certain people [after the elections]”.
Mahumapelo had been expected to remain premier if the ANC won the province.
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ICYMI:
More North West powers taken away from Supra
More departments in the North West are expected to be placed under administration by the national government as the interministerial task team led by Minister in the Presidency Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma returns to the embattled province to give feedback on its findings.
Highly placed insiders in the provincial government and ANC told City Press that plans were underway to increase the number of ministers participating in the task team, which has been seen as an indication that national government was likely to take more powers away from the province.
Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa placed both the provincial health department and treasury under administration in a bid to stabilise service delivery in the province after social unrest erupted in the capital, Mahikeng, and other parts of the province.
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ICYMI:
Cabinet ‘satisfied with the progress’ made by task team in North West
Cabinet is satisfied with the progress made by the inter-ministerial task team in the North West province.
What exactly that “progress” entailed, Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane kept mum on when she presented a media briefing on Thursday, following Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.
“Cabinet was presented with the report by the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) on North West. The report provided the preliminary work that has been done in the last two weeks,” reads the Cabinet statement presented by Mokonyane.
“Cabinet was satisfied with the progress made by the IMTT in its efforts to stabilise the province.”