Cape Union Mart International (Pty) Ltd has been equipping South African adventurers since 1933, and is South Africa’s favourite outdoor adventure store. Stocking everything one needs for outdoor pursuits – including hiking, camping, trail running, mountain biking, snow sports, travel and more – Cape Union Mart is an essential first step in every adventure. Cape Union Mart has stores across South Africa, and in Namibia and Botswana.
An Eastern Cape municipality is broke.
Gallo Images / Foto24 / Loanna Hoffmann
The Amathole District Municipality hired more than 900 people who were not needed from 2013 to 2018, resulting in a bloated organogram and unaffordable salary bill.
Of those, 500 were hired in a single month in 2013 in what the municipality termed mass employment.
The mayor of the profligate municipality, Mkhanyiseli Maneli, and municipal manager, Thandekile Mnyimba, revealed this at a press conference in East London on Wednesday when they explained some of the factors that led to the municipality’s financial crisis.
This week, the municipality announced that it would not pay salaries to 1 670 workers, including councillors and traditional leaders, due to strained financial resources.
For the past two years, the broke council has been relying on bank overdrafts to pay its R65m monthly salary bill.
But it says the exercise is costly and unsustainable in the long run and it is begging the national and provincial government for a bailout.
READ | No pay for workers for 4 months, says bankrupt Eastern Cape municipality
On Wednesday, Mnyimba announced that they asked for an immediate bailout of R180m to pay salaries for February, April, May and June.
March will be covered when the municipality receives its equitable share from the National Treasury. It will not be enough to cover other months.
The salary freeze bombshell sparked widespread anger with the South African Municipal Workers’ Union, which called for Mnyimba to be sacked over allegations of financial mismanagement. The EFF called for his suspension and a forensic investigation.
Maneli said the people hired did not have the skills for the core business of the municipality.
The district municipality’s mandate is to provide water to six local municipalities.
But all the municipalities – Raymond Mhlaba in Fort Beaufort, Ngqushwa in Peddie, Amahlathi in Stutterheim, Mnquma in Butterworth and Mbhashe in Willowvale – have had to endure an unreliable and interrupted supply of water for the past three years.
About the bloated organogram, Maneli said: “Those people were not put in strategic positions. It was a wrong decision to take those people and put them in those positions because they were not assisting the institution in terms of the service delivery,” said Maneli.
ALSO READ | No money to pay workers: EFF wants administrator to take over bankrupt Amathole municipality
Asked why they were hired in the first place, Mnyimba said the employees were recruited in the organisation as interns and later absorbed.
This happened before the current administration took over, while Mnyimba was not yet municipal manager.
“These employees joined the institution as interns and when they were inside the organisation they were then planted across the organisation. They did not form part of the organogram. This has contributed to the situation we find ourselves,” said Mnyimba.
He added that while it was easy to hire the people, offloading people employed on a permanent basis was a tough task.
To fix the issue of a high salary bill, the municipality has asked workers to apply for mutual separation, targeting 33% of those in senior management.
In the red
However, hardly any employees have come forward.
A council document also shows that the municipality is deep in debt and owes creditors an outstanding R322m.
It also owes:
The Amathole municipality is also struggling to pay R37m annual rent for their Chiselhurst head offices in East London.
The council document also shows that the management of the municipality fleet costs the municipality R2m per month.
Eastern Cape ANC regional secretary in Amathole Terris Ntuthu said: “We are calling for the intervention of the national department of Cogta and National Treasury to investigate all the allegations in the district [municipality],including the involvement of the provincial department of Cogta in the chaos we see in the municipality, and also investigate the water blockages to our communities of Amathole.”
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John Dobson (Gallo Images)
Western Province are doing everything they can this week to ensure they are fit and firing in the Currie Cup semi-finals.
Having finished the league phase of the competition in second place on the standings, Western Province will host the Sharks in a semi-final which will kick-off at 16:30 on Saturday 23 January at Newlands.
Following the postponement of the playoffs by a week as a precautionary measure due to Covid-19, the Western Province squad’s training schedule for the week has also been adjusted accordingly.
Players are training in groups of five, without rugby balls and while maintaining social distancing, in an effort to ensure that as many of them as possible are available for selection in the semi-final next week.
WP coach John Dobson says that the focus this week is on keeping the players conditioned while taking every precaution to ensure that any potential Covid-19 impact is minimised.
“We have earned the right to host a Currie Cup semi-final at Newlands and we want to do everything we can to put out a strong team for that game next week,” he told the WP Rugby website.
“We are fortunate that we had done a lot of technical analysis on the Sharks in preparation for our final league game against them which was cancelled.
“The players are doing a lot of analysis of their own this week and we are holding regular meetings online, but we are limiting physical interaction as much as we can.
“SARU deserve enormous credit for how they have got rugby back on the field and to the sharp end of this great competition. I think we are very grateful for that, as unusual as it’s been,” he said.
The WP mentor added that the entire squad was looking forward to getting back together as a group next week and building towards what should be a great occasion at Newlands.
“This week we are working on conditioning and technical analysis so that we can give it a full crack next week for the semi-final.
“Our players and coaches cannot wait to get stuck in next week and ensure that the team that runs out at Newlands is as well-prepared as possible,” he said.
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Posted on 13 Jan 16:40
Cape Union Mart International (Pty) Ltd has been equipping South African adventurers since 1933, and is South Africa’s favourite outdoor adventure store. Stocking everything one needs for outdoor pursuits – including hiking, camping, trail running, mountain biking, snow sports, travel and more – Cape Union Mart is an essential first step in every adventure. Cape Union Mart has stores across South Africa, and in Namibia and Botswana.
Cape Union Mart International (Pty) Ltd has been equipping South African adventurers since 1933, and is South Africa’s favourite outdoor adventure store. Stocking everything one needs for outdoor pursuits – including hiking, camping, trail running, mountain biking, snow sports, travel and more – Cape Union Mart is an essential first step in every adventure. Cape Union Mart has stores across South Africa, and in Namibia and Botswana.
| Remuneration: | Market related |
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Teddy Mafia, alleged Durban drug kingpin.
Screengrab
Police have seized about R130 000 worth of drugs from three houses belonging to a family member of slain alleged Durban drug kingpin Yaganathan Pillay, known as Teddy Mafia.
This includes about 25 000 capsules of the antidepressant Xanax, which is allegedly used as a date-rape drug, as well as colour-tinted cocaine.
On Wednesday morning, police conducted a raid at a house in Shallcross near the home where Mafia lived and was shot dead.
News24 understands one person who was seen fleeing one of the houses has been arrested. The other houses were not occupied – apart from dogs being chained outside in “disgusting” conditions – and are seemingly being used for storage.
Sources described the houses as “cluttered” and added that the cops “may have found more drugs if we took sniffer dogs”.
OPINION | Forget the expensive coffin and charity, this is the real legacy of people like Teddy Mafia
Pillay was shot twice at his house by unknown attackers and died en route to hospital. Shortly after his killing, two people were decapitated nearby.
Mafia was laid to rest in an opulent ceremony and his R300 000 “diamond-encrusted” coffin was escorted by people playing bagpipes.
At the time of his death, he was facing a charge of unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
He has been described by family members as a generous person who did a lot for his community.
Packets of colour-tinted cocaine allegedly seized from a home belonging to a family member of Teddy Mafia.
Supplied
A selection of drugs allegedly seized from a home belonging to a family member of Teddy Mafia.
Supplied
Bottles of Xanax allegedly seized from a home belonging to a family member of Teddy Mafia.
Supplied
Members of the Hawks in Pietermaritzburg and the police received information about a house in Shallcross allegedly being used for drug dealing, a source said.
READ | Teddy Mafia’s love-hate relationship – the violent past of Shallcross’ ‘go-to guy’
They obtained search warrants for the premises and raided it on Wednesday morning.
They found:
News24 has seen photographs of the drugs, including cocaine tinted pink and green that is seen as a trademark of the sellers.
The drugs are estimated to have a street value of R130 000.
READ | Why was ‘Teddy Mafia’ still out there despite being ‘known drug dealer’? Bheki Cele asks
The man allegedly found fleeing the area was allegedly caught with heroin capsules, mandrax, cash and loose coins, a source said.
News24 reached out to the KwaZulu-Natal police for a comment and their response will be added once received.
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Posted on 13 Jan 09:30