Category: General

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), has described Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo as its ‘pillar of support’.

Its Executive Chairman, Malam Jalal Arabi, stated this when he received Uzodinma on a courtesy visit to the Muslims pilgrimage office on Thursday in Abuja.

Arabi, who expressed delight at hosting the governor, commended his interventions toward ensuring that intending pilgrims from Imo participated in this year’s pilgrimage.

‘You have been a pillar of support to us in the commission through your support that ensured the participation of Imo pilgrims in this year’s exercise.

‘You supported us in 2023 and did same this year in spite of the fact that you are a Christian and governor of a predominantly Christian State.

‘For us, you’re a symbol of peaceful religious co-existence and unity in the country,’ he said.

The NAHCON boss presented a letter of commendation to Uzodinma and an award of excellence for his support and promotion of peaceful religious co-existence and unity.

Responding, U
zodinma expressed sincere appreciation for the honour shown him.

He restated his firm belief in peaceful inter-faith co-existence to promote development and prosperity in Imo and the country as a whole.

Uzodinma was one of the governors that subsidised the 2024 Hajj fare which enabled intending pilgrims from his state to participate in this year’s Muslim pilgrimage.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Government says it plans to create 2.5 million jobs through the Labour Employment Enhancement Programme (LEEP) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Mrs Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, said this at the pre-inauguration ceremony for the LEEP in Abuja.

She said that the programme was aimed at actualising President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Initiative.

”The LEEP vision is to train and equip 2.5 million people.

‘In Nigeria, youth unemployment remains a pressing issue, with over 13 million young people currently unemployed.

‘According to recent statistics, initiatives like LEEP play a crucial role in providing young people with access to training, employment opportunities, and entrepreneurial support.

‘This will address the challenge of youth unemployment and promote social inclusion.

”The initiative is a comprehensive strategy aimed at addressing key challenges facing our workforce such as job creation, skills development, and migration control,” s
he said.

She said that in a rapidly evolving global landscape, it was imperative to ensure that the Nigerian workforce was equipped with the necessary tools and opportunities to thrive in the digital age.

She said that the LEEP targeted zero hunger, zero poverty economic growth and decent jobs through six strategic initiatives.

She said this included digital skills initiative, vocational entrepreneurship skills programmes, infrastructure upgrade and NELEX upgrade for employment acceleration.

Onyejeocha said that others were global remote work initiatives and labour compliance enhancement.

She urged development partners such as the World Bank, GIZ, the European Union, UNIDO and the Bank of Industry to support the drive.

She said that the support was imperative for the current administration to mitigate the hardship being faced by Nigerians due to the removal of fuel subsidy.

‘We cannot do it alone and so we need to partner with you to help us succeed in the country,’ she said.

Ms Luri Aganetto, the EU
Programme Manager, pledges the readiness of the union to support the initiative for the good of the Nigerian people.

‘We are optimistic and looking forward to cooperate with the Nigerian government on Labour market information system,’ she said. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Eskom anticipates that load shedding will likely be ‘maintained within Stage 2’ this winter period.

This is according to the power utility’s Group Chief Executive Dan Marokane, who was speaking during the State of the System and Winter Outlook media briefing held at Megawatt Park on Friday.

He said the forecast was made on the anticipation of the Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF) reaching 14 000MW during winter – down from the anticipated 15 000MW during the same period last year.

The UCLF is the rate at which generating units breakdown and do not perform optimally.

‘For winter 2024… the likely scenario from our assumptions is that load shedding will be maintained within Stage 2 at most. In the extreme case where the unreliability increases, that component may go occasionally [to] Stage 5 but we really think that on the basis of what we see, the performance of the fleet, load shedding will stay within Stage 2.

‘This is on the back of the decrease of the backline unreliability capacity reduction of 1
000MW which is what we use for our baseline assumptions,’ he said.

Marokane said although the reduction may look minimal, it is critical for managing the intensity of load shedding.

‘What is really important as we go into this season’s forecast is that the base level for UCLF number is lower by a 1000MW. When you understand the capacity that we have, it does not look as a big number but when you actually understand the implications in terms of the levels of load shedding, to be able to bank that capacity is an important aspect,’ he said.

The CEO explained that the power utility has been hard at work to lower the UCLF.

‘When you look at the time period between the last winter and now, you can actually see the reduction in unplanned losses – a 9% drop. It is mostly coming from the priority stations that were targeted as focal points.

‘We also have the benefit of the early return of the four Kusile [Power Station] units that were out. The losses are averaging around 14.2GW. Our focus on targets in this fina
ncial year is to keep this below 14GW. This is where the first capacity release is coming from. The decline… is not as fast as we want to [and] our focal point this year is to deal with six or seven key areas that causes unreliability and once we tackle them we should be able to see ourselves comfortably at lower levels than this,’ he said.

Marokane insisted that the power utility will be digging their boots in deeper this winter to further reduce losses at power stations.

He urged South Africans to do their part by using electricity efficiently and sparingly this winter.

‘Over the winter period, work continues and we are targeting to reduce the unplanned losses by a further 1.7GW. This will be made up of 1.3GW from partial load loss reduction but also…demand side management initiatives are also underway.

‘Our ability to beat load shedding this winter still depends on our collective collaboration and to this extent, we’ll be launching the energy saving campaign this May asking all of us to play our part i
n this regard,’ Marokane said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Former Athletics South Africa Acting CEO, Terrence Magogodela, has paid back ill-gotten gains he unduly gained from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) grant funding for a sports facility development.

According to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), Magogodela agreed to pay back some R388 733,05 after it was found that he signed a funding application to construct athletics tracks in the Northern Cape but used the money to buy property.

‘On the form, he indicated that he was the project coordinator for Inqaba Yokulinda, but he was neither the project coordinator nor a member of [non-profit organisation] Inqaba Yokulinda.

‘The funding application, the business and implementation plan, and an endorsement letter from ASA [Athletics South Africa]were submitted to the NLC. Magogodela channelled the NLC funds towards a property in Gauteng,’ the SIU said.

Following investigations, Magogodela relented to paying back the money.

The SIU also warned that the payment does not shield the former athletics boss f
rom criminal prosecution.

‘Initially, a settlement agreement was reached but Magogodela failed to honour it. This prompted the SIU to approach the Special Tribunal for an application to preserve his Gauteng home. In February 2022, the Special Tribunal granted the SIU a preservation order for Magogodela’s property.

‘Following the full payment made by Magogodela, the SIU will approach the Special Tribunal for an application to discharge his property from the preservation order. However, the settlement agreement does not constitute a full and final settlement between the parties. SIU remains entitled to join Magogodela in any future proceeding and claim appropriate relief from him.

‘The settlement with Magogodela is part of the implementation of the SIU investigation outcomes and consequence management to recover financial losses suffered by State institutions due to negligence or corruption. The settlement agreement does not absolve Magogodela from possible prosecution,’ the SIU said.

Source: South African
Government News Agency

Water and Sanitation Director-General, Dr Sean Phillips, has assured Gauteng residents that the planned closure of the Lesotho Highlands Water Tunnel for six months will not affect water supply to Rand Water and the availability of raw water.

Phillips was briefing the media in Pretoria on Friday on the planned maintenance work on transfer and delivery tunnels of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which is scheduled to start from 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025.

The tunnel system includes a transfer tunnel, linking Katse Dam with Muela Power Station and Muela Dam, and a delivery tunnel linking Muela Dam with the Ash River Outfall Works between Clarens and Bethlehem.

Phillips said the inspections and maintenance of the tunnels must be conducted at intervals between five and 10 years.

‘The last maintenance was conducted in 2019. During the shutdown of 2019 it was found that the steel liners in the tunnel urgently need extensive maintenance on both the Republic of South Africa and Lesotho side,’ Phi
llips said.

The planned maintenance work is being overseen by the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission, a joint governance body between South Africa and Lesotho and will be jointly undertaken by the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency (LHDA) and the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA), which is an entity under Water and Sanitation Department.

Phillips said the work required to be undertaken during the shutdown period includes grit-blasting the steel-lined section around the entire circumference and re-applying corrosion protection on the tunnel lining, and other maintenance and repair work identified during the 2019 maintenance shutdown.

Phillips reiterated that the work to be undertaken requires a lot of time as it is expected to protect the infrastructure for another 20-30 years.

‘This much-needed maintenance is critical to maintain the integrity of the delivery tunnels as a tunnel failure will risk the transfer of the 780 million m3/annum of water to the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), from which
Rand Water draws water to supply its customers. The six months period required to conduct maintenance is thus crucial to avoid any catastrophic event which may result from a lack of maintenance.’

On the impact of the maintenance work on the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) and Rand Water, Phillips noted that 700 million m3 per annum will be transferred in 2024, a shortfall of 80 million m3 from the normal annual transfer volume.

After the shutdown period, he said, the water transfers will be increased to enable the shortfall in transfers to be recovered.

The Director-General said an analysis was undertaken in May 2023 to assess the risk to the IVRS’ performance due to the outage, and to determine the impact of the shutdown on water availability to users in South Africa.

‘The analysis indicated the impact of the outage on the overall IVRS will be insignificant considering that dams in the IVRS such as the Sterkfontein Dam and others are relatively full.

‘This means that the closure of the tunnel for ma
intenance will not result in any disruption of water supply to Rand Water, and to the municipalities in Gauteng and other provinces which are customers of Rand Water.

‘The standard operating rule is that Sterkfontein Dam releases water to the Vaal Dam when the Vaal Dam reaches a minimum operating level of 18%. The department’s analysis indicates that this is unlikely to occur at any probability level in the 2023-2024 operating year. Hence, releases from Sterkfontein Dam to support the Vaal Dam are not envisaged for the current 2023-2024 operating year and Sterkfontein Dam remains full to date,’ Phillips explained.

He said further analysis will be undertaken in May 2024 to ensure there are no likely risks to water supply from the IVRS in the 2024-2025 operating year.

‘The fact that the Sterkfontein Dam is full means that it can provide a reserve supply of water to top up the Vaal Dam as needed.

‘The shutdown will also not have any significant water supply implications for domestic users along the Liebenber
gsvlei River and its tributaries in the Free State during that period.

‘Licensed irrigators along the Liebenbergsvlei River and its tributaries will be provided with notices to restrict their abstraction during the shutdown period to certain days of the week, so that they abstract water from rivers fed by the Saulspoort Dam in a sustainable way during the tunnel closure,’ Phillips said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The sentencing of nine people for a cumulative of 10 939 years for committing various crimes including money laundering, fraud and forgery, has been welcomed by National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya.

The sentence was handed down at the South Gauteng High Court for 391 counts of money laundering, fraud, forgery, uttering, assisting another to benefit from unlawful activities and acquisition, possession or use of proceeds of unlawful activities.

They also contravened legislation in relation to birth and death registration, the Identification Act as well as the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

‘It is reported that during 2009 and 2016, the accused were members of various entities registered in terms of the Close Corporations Act, No 69 of 1984 and/or the Companies Act, No 61 of 1973 and thus also registered their companies for Value Added Tax (VAT) in terms of the South African Revenue Services Act.

‘A total of 23 cases
were opened at the Johannesburg Central police station against the accused for investigation. These cases were referred to the Gauteng-based Serious Corruption Investigation for in-depth probe,’ the DPCI said on Thursday.

The accused, while acting in furtherance of a common purpose, submitted fraudulent VAT returns for and on behalf of the said close corporations and/or companies claiming undue VAT refunds from the South African Revenue Services (SARS).

‘In support of their claim, the accused forged and uttered invoices to SARS. The undue VAT refund was then paid by SARS into various bank accounts of the said various entities, and were then transferred into various other accounts, which were under the control of the accused or withdrawn.

‘The entities in question were not trading or conducting any business during the period they claimed the undue refund which is from 2009 to 2015 and did not incur any input expenses to warrant a refund from SARS therefore prejudicing SARS R300 million,’ the DPCI said.

In
itially, 13 people were charged in the case, however, two passed away during the course of the trial while the other two turned state witness.

The accused were sentenced as follows:

Jeremiah Nyasha Musiwacho Dube (59), a Zimbabwean male, was sentenced to 3 376 years’ imprisonment. The court ordered that the accused should serve only 65 years having taken into consideration mitigating circumstances.

Rebecca Dube (51), a South African female, was sentenced to 1 596 years’ imprisonment. The court ordered that the accused should serve only 25 years having considered mitigating circumstances.

Mavudzi Maxwell Ndlovu (59), a Zimbabwean male, was sentenced to 3 272 years’ imprisonment. The court ordered that the accused should serve only 65 years having considered mitigating circumstances.

Moliehi Constance Ramone (44), a Lesotho female, was sentenced to 953 years imprisonment. The court ordered that the accused should serve only 15 years having considered mitigating circumstances.

Edward Shoniwa (56), a Zimbab
wean male, was sentenced to 168 years imprisonment. The court ordered that the accused should serve only 15 years having considered mitigating circumstances.

Zamaswazi Audrey Radebe (51), a South African female, was sentenced to 73 years imprisonment. The court ordered that the accused should serve only 5 years having considered mitigating circumstances.

Bongani Mbonani (42), a South African male, was sentenced to 57 years imprisonment. The court ordered that the accused should serve only 5 years having considered mitigating circumstances.

Sello Atlone Rathethe (52), a South African male, was sentenced to 1557 years imprisonment. The court ordered that the accused should serve only 15 years having considered mitigating circumstances.

The last accused, Christopher Dube (56), a Zimbabwean male, absconded just before conviction and his warrant of arrest has been authorised by the court.

Source: South African Government News Agency