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President Ramaphosa pleased with progress made by SADC

President Cyril Ramaphosa is pleased with progress made by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on a number of issues of regional importance.

The issues include the reform process in the Kingdom of Lesotho, the conflict in Mozambique, the setting up of the SADC Logistics Centre and the anti-terrorism centre.

The President was speaking at the conclusion of his working visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo where he was leading a South African delegation to the 42nd Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on 16 – 17 August 2022.

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, and Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Thabang Makwetla, accompanied the President on the visit.

On the reform process in the Kingdom of Lesotho, President Ramaphosa said he was pleased with the positive report tabled by Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro that serves as a real milestone in the lives of the Basotho.

SADC and South Africa played an important role in bringing about peace and normalcy in the Kingdom of Lesotho.

In a statement, the President said that SADC was also pleased with progress made in pushing back the insurgents in the Cabo Delgado area of the Republic of Mozambique and that SADC reaffirmed its “total commitment to supporting the people of Mozambique”.

“The pleasing thing was that the people who had fled the various areas in Cabo Delgado are now returning to their homes, with increased confidence that SADC has been helping them to bring about peace.”

President Ramaphosa said he was also pleased with progress brought about by SADC in the setting up of its Logistics Centre in the Republic of Botswana that will assist the countries in the region to deal with emergency situations.

He said he was also pleased with progress made in the already operational anti-terrorism centre that is situated in the Republic of Tanzania.

“We will be able to bring around the various assistance measures when there are either situations where our armed forces needs to intervene, so there should be a good logistics depot or where there are other forms of emergency,” President Ramaphosa said regarding the logistics centre.

The President is also pleased with SADC’s recorded progress on issues in the Kingdom of Eswatini and on challenges in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He said that he was happy that SADC is setting up a fact-finding mission on Eswatini and on its decision to send a panel of elders “to go and find effective ways to deal with the situation”.

Source: South African Government News Agency

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A 30-year-old man to appear in court for possession of suspected stolen property and drugs

HOOPSTAD – Intelligence driven operation led to a man being arrested for possession of suspected stolen property and possession of drugs at Tikwana in Hoopstad on Wednesday, 17 August 2022.

Welkom K9 Unit received intelligence driven information about drug dealing activity at residential premises. Members proceeded to the house and discovered drugs such as Chrystal Meth and Mandrax worth an estimated R5000 in street value. Upon a further search, members also found a Ryobi grinder suspected of being stolen.

The suspect was arrested for dealing in drugs and possession of suspected stolen goods. He will appear before the Hoopstad Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 19 August 2022.

Source: South African Police Service

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Armed Robber sentenced to 16 years behind bars

DURBAN – On 04 March 2021, at about 13:56, a 33-year-complainant was at his residence, in Yellowwood Park, when he was approached by an unknown male who robbed him at gunpoint of his laptop.

A few days later, on 07 March 2021, he spotted the suspect and called the police and community patrollers. The suspect, Siphamandla Mthimkhulu, aged 33, was arrested.

The case was allocated to Sergeant B.G. Dlamini of Montclair Trio Crimes for investigation.

On 11 August 2022 the accused was found guilty in Durban Regional Court and sentenced to 16 years direct imprisonment for armed robbery. The accused was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.

Acting Ethekwini District Commissioner, Brigadier V.J Cele welcomed the sentencing and further praised the excellent investigation skills of Sgt Dlamini, which ensured the accused will be placed behind bars for a long time and will not be committing anymore crime in our communities.

Source: South African Police Service

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Seven suspects nabbed, stolen property and ammunition recovered

NELSPRUIT – The alleged housebreaking kingpin and his six accomplices are expected to appear before the Mbibana Magistrate’s Court today. The 45-year-old leader of an alleged gang which has been terrorizing local residents was found at his hideout after police rounded up six of his members at his residence at Mmametlhake yesterday, Wednesday 17 August 2022.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the suspects, aged between 28 and 48 used to target schools and foreign nationals’ businesses.

A number of suspected stolen propery that include five different types of household electrical appliances, three music systems, seven laptops, grinders and eight live ammunition in addition to four pieces of the local security company’s uniform of which the kingpin is believed to have been previously employed at.

The recovered items are estimated at about R150 000.

When appearing in court, all suspects will be facing possession of suspected stolen property charge, possession of ammunition and more charges might be added as a carcass of a hyena was also found in the house.

The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has hailed the arrest made. “We are soldiering on to bring the province to a stage where criminals will find it hard to commit crime and we are in a process to dismantle all groupings of criminal syndicates focusing mostly on those areas where these kinds of gangs terrorize communities. This arrest is a clear indication that our strategy is effective” said the General.

Source: South African Police Service

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Police Constable bust for extortion and granted bail of R1 000-00

THABONG – The police Constable allegedly approached the victim and accused him of raping a female. The victim was threatened with arrest and that the sentence of rape would be 25 years’ in jail if he does not pay the amount of R100 000-00.

In June 2022, the member accompanied the victim to the bank and money that amounts to R100 000-00 was transferred to the bank account that he was given.

A case of Extortion was registered and assigned to Provincial Anti-Corruption Unit. The team arrested 35-year-old police Constable attached to Thabong Visible Policing on 16 August 2022, at 10:00.

The Constable appeared in the Welkom Magistrate Court on 17 August 2022 and was granted bail of R1000-00. The case against Constable Mosimanegape Samuel Seleke was postponed until 31 August 2022 as more arrests are imminent.

The Provincial Commissioner of the Free State, Lt Gen Baile Motswenyane said; “It’s so heart-breaking when you hear about the arrest of one of our own, but at the same time a police officer is expected to always uphold the Code of Conduct. We will continue to root out members who are alleged to have been involved in criminal activities.”

Source: South African Police Service

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Government works to ensure long term energy security

Deputy President David Mabuza says government is taking every step to make sure that Eskom is supported in its bid to stabilise the national grid and ensure energy security.

The Deputy President was answering questions in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday afternoon.

The Deputy President is the Chairperson of the Political Task Team on Eskom which was established to bring government’s key players together in order to provide political leadership in the resolution of the problems besetting the power producer.

The Deputy President said the task team has achieved several milestones since it was established including:

• Enabling and fostering greater coordination between Eskom and various government departments

• Ensuring that the power producer has a credible and transparent maintenance programme

• Fast tracking procurement of additional energy

• Addressing Eskom’s financial troubles

• Fast tracking ministerial determinations on bid window five

“The political task team was also seized with expanding the correction of plant defects at Medupi and Kusile power stations in order to ensure that the grid has an additional 1000MW of base load capacity to address the load shedding problem,” he said.

The Deputy President acknowledged that even though strides have been taken to assist Eskom in keeping the lights on, some challenges remain.

“In the main, challenges [are] set around the limitation of the aging fleet [and] inability to keep up with the demands of unplanned maintenance and repairs. Inevitably, inadequate energy capacity [has] resulted in declined energy availability.

“This led to the sustained power outages in the month of July, thereby attracting public backlash and that prompted the urgent dedicated Cabinet discussion on further extraordinary measures to immediately bring to a halt what was becoming a perennial national electricity supply challenge,” Deputy President Mabuza said.

Subsequent to that meeting, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a National Energy Action Plan aimed at achieving energy security.

The action plan includes the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM), which includes various departments.

Deputy President Mabuza said now the work of the Political Task Team on Eskom has been transitioned and will be covered by NECOM.

“The immediate priority of [NECOM] is to unlock policy and implementation blockages, streamline decision making processes and eliminating any red tape issues,” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency