Day: October 5, 2021

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Premier Bushy Maape hosts consultative session with leaders of faith based organisations, 6 Oct

Premier of the North West Bushy Maape accompanied by Members of the Executive Council and Mayors will host a Consultative Session with Leaders of Religious and Faith Based Organisations in Klerksdorp in the Matlosana Local Municipality.

The primary objective of the session is to find a lasting solution to challenges of service delivery bedeviling many municipalities across the province and to pray for strength in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. These include praying for families who lost their loved ones as well as those suffering from Covid-19 related illnesses.

The session is also aimed at establishing working relationships with Leaders of faith-based organisations to promote ethical leadership and good governance in the North West.

Since his election the Premier has been crisscrossing the province meeting with different stakeholders to share his vision.

Later in the afternoon the Premier will hand over title deeds at Alabama Extension 4. Over four hundred families will benefit from this initiative. Over the years the provincial government has been on a mission to confer title deeds to residents who were previously disadvantaged by unjust laws in relation to property ownership.

The North West provincial government is also hosting its EXCO Planning Lekgotla to assess the performance of the province in the last six months and prepare for the 2022/23 financial year. This also includes accelerating the delivery of services in the next six months of the current financial year .

Source: Government of South Africa

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Suspects arrested for business robbery

Two robbery suspects were arrested shortly after they allegedly committed the crime on Monday, 04 October 2021 in Lady Frere.

It is alleged that a business owner was robbed and kidnapped during the early hours of Monday morning. The Tactical Response Team, Organised Crime detectives and Flying Squad members were activated to search for the suspects. According to the information received, the suspects entered the shop posing as police officials. They searched the place and took an undisclosed amount of money and firearms and left the scene with the victim

The team arrested the two suspects and recovered the firearms in the East London Area.

A case of business robbery and kidnapping is under investigation and the suspects will appear before Lady Frere Magistrate Court soon.

Source: South African Police Service

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Minister unveils four bridges in the North West

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has unveiled four bridges connecting the North West province with the Free State across the Vaal River.

Addressing the launch of October Transport Month on Tuesday in Vermaasdrift, North West, the Minister said the first bridge is located on Road SD860, with a span of 180 meters and is located approximately 20km southwest of Klerksdorp.

“The second bridge is located on Road D836, with a span of 180 meters and is situated southeast of Orkney. The third bridge is located on Road D642 also with a span of 180 meters and is situated southeast of Stilfontein.

“The fourth bridge is where Road P89/2 crosses the Vaal River approximately 34km southeast of Potchefstroom and has a span of 246 meters,” Mbalula said.

The bridges will enable the farming communities to transport their various produce from the farms to the local markets.

The four bridges forms part of the labour Intensive S’hamba Sonke programme, aimed at addressing the maintenance backlog in the secondary network and contribute to sustainable livelihoods through job creation initiatives.

The Minister said the initiative allows that national and provincial spheres of government work towards common road maintenance targets while augmenting funding through the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant.

“The conceptualisation of the S’Hamba Sonke Programme was premised on the reality that while South Africa’s national road network is in good to very good condition, this is not the case with our secondary road networks, or provincial roads.

“Over the medium term, the maintenance of provincial roads, largely funded through the provincial roads maintenance grant, is set to receive R37.5 billion over the MTEF period,” Mbalula said.

The Department of Transport will use the Transport Month campaign to showcase flagship projects intended to create more jobs in South Africa.

The S’hamba Sonke programme is one of the projects that will accelerate efforts to meet the government’s target of creating 11 million job opportunities by the year 2030 as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP).

Source: South African Government News Agency

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Man arrested for house robbery

The Acting Station Commander of Upington Colonel Gert Jobs lauded the members for a swift response to a house robbery case, securing the arrest of a 31-year old man.

It is alleged that a 36-year-old woman was alone at home on Sunday, 03 October 2021 at about 11:30 when the suspect entered her residence. He tied her up and robbed her of cash and jewellery.

The police were alerted about the incident and responded immediately. Upon arrival the suspect had already fled the scene, however the police launched a manhunt in the vicinity.

The suspect was found hiding few houses from the crime scene and preliminary investigations revealed that he could be linked to other burglaries in the area.

The suspect is in police custody and will soon appear in court.

Source: South African Police Service

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Cash reward offered for information on suspects in Ngqeleni murder and attempted murder cases

The Provincial Organised Crime Investigation (OCI) are appealing for assistance from the public and are offering a cash reward of R100 000-00 for information that could lead to the arrest and successful prosecution of suspects allegedly involved in a murder and attempted murder that took place at a holiday resort along the Wild Coast close to Ngqeleni on 17 September 2019.

It is alleged that on the mentioned date at about 00:05, the couple were accosted in their chalet by two unknown men in their room. They were both attacked and stabbed by the assailants. Due to her injuries sustained, the woman later passed away while her husband was admitted to hospital for treatment. Their 2-year-old son was safe. Nothing was taken from the chalet.

The investigating team has gathered evidence and taken statements from all witnesses as to the events that unfolded on the evening however efforts to trace the suspects fail to produce any positive results hence the cash reward is offered to any individual who can provide information that will lead to the arrest and successful prosecution of the suspects.

Anyone who may be able to assist in the investigation or may have information that will lead to their arrest and positive identification of the suspects is asked to contact the investigating officer, D/Sgt Ntsikelelo Sambudla on 082 442 0615 or Crime Stop 08600 10111.

Source: South African Police Service

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SA surpasses 18m COVID-19 vaccine shots

South Africa has now crossed the 18 million mark for administered COVID-19 vaccine doses.

This comes after government distributed 184 324 in the past 24 hours.

According to the Department of Health, this means the country has now given 18 073 784 vaccines since its rollout programme.

Meanwhile, as of Monday, the number of fully vaccinated adults now stands at 9 213 503, of which 129 539 people were jabbed by Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine or the two-dose series made by Pfizer in the last 24 hours.

The dashboard also shows that 57.16% of vaccinees are females, while 42.84% are males.

Meanwhile, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported 429 new COVID-19 cases and 39 fatalities.

This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 906 851 and 87 819 for the death toll.

According to the NICD, the vast majority of new cases were logged in the Western Cape after 93 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The province is followed by 90 infections in KwaZulu-Natal, 82 in Gauteng and 41 in Free State.

“This increase represents a 2.6% positivity rate,” the public health institute said, adding that the seven-day moving average daily number of cases has decreased.

In addition, there were 52 new hospital admissions in the past day, which means 6 166 patients are currently receiving treatment for COVID-19 in both public and private health institutions across the country.

The information is based on the 17 800 434 test conducted since the last reporting cycle, of which 16 514 were conducted on Monday.

As of 4 October 2021, there have been 234 809 103 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 4 800 375 deaths and over six billion administered vaccines reported to the World Health Organisation.

Source: South African Government News Agency