Friday 28 November 2014Year 6 140th Edition Tel: 013 262 4416

Three cases of attempted murder were openedat Jane Furse Police Station after three bankemployees were attacked and injured by com-munity members at the Jane Furse ShoppingComplex. The victims were attacked after somecommunity members suspecting them of beingcriminals who swop bank cards at the ATMs inthe complex on Friday 21 November.The community attacked the victims and startedbeating them with sticks and stones. Morecommunity members joined in to beat the vic-tims after hearing that they were criminals whorob people of their money at the ATMs.

Bank employees or criminals

The Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality work-ers engaged on a go-slow on Monday 3 No-vember. The workers are protesting because ofa salary dispute they have with the municipalcouncil.They claim that they were told by the EphraimMogale Council that the municipality is cur-rently on grade two and all workers are paidaccording to that grade. “We were surprised

Ephraim Mogale salary dispute and R12m missing

Unconfirmed reports allege that the victimswere carrying different bank cards while theywere busy assisting people at the ATMs in thecomplex. “The victims were wearing privateclothes and that’s why they were mistaken ofbeing criminals who targets people withdraw-ing from ATMs around Jane Furse. The victimsare workers from a private company appointedby the bank to assist people at the ATMs aftercases of card theft were reported at the policestation,” said Thapelo Lesufi, Jane Furse SAPSspokesperson.He added that the victims were beaten badly

and they were later rescued and hospitalized.Lesufi went on: “Community members are urgednot to take the law into their own hands becausethey ended up hurting innocent people. Thecommunity is encouraged to dial 112 free fromtheir cell phones and ask for the nearest policestation if they witness criminal activities takingplace. The community can also call 08600 10111to report crime.”“Three cases of attempted murder were openedat Jane Furse SAPS and they are under inves-tigation. No arrests have been made at thestage,” he said.

when we saw a leaked document last yearsaying that the municipality is actually fallingunder grade three.That’s when we started suspecting that thecouncillors are hiding the exact grade of themunicipality in order to benefit themselves,”says an insider who wished to remain anony-mous.In February this year, the council resolved that

only councillors in the municipality must bepaid the outstanding money starting from May2013 until February 2014. “They tell us that thegrade will only cover councillors and not allEphraim Mogale Municipal workers.But according to the municipal laws, all employ-ees must be included in the current grade of themunicipality in terms of remunerations. Ourinvestigations shows that since 2010 the mu-

nicipality was in grade three but we were nottold. It is clear that the council knew this for avery long time but they were hiding it for selfbenefit,” he said. He added that now the munici-pal workers are on a go-slow and picketingeveryday during lunch time at the offices de-manding to be paid the outstanding fees by themunicipality.......Continue on page 2

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Ephraim Mogale salarydispute and R12m missing

......Continue from page 1He said that they discussed the matter with the Director of Cooperate Services Mr Lekola but theydidn’t reach any agreement. “He told us the same thing that we are told by the council saying thegrades include only councillors and then we decided to take the matter to the next level byengaging all workers in the g-slow,” he said.He went on and said the Ephraim Mogale CFO Mr. Romeo Mohaudi has resigned after R12 Millionwent missing in the municipality. He said the money was an increase by the CFO to the VIP budget.“It appears that the money is missing but nobody knows where it went.Now the person who has to account for the missing money has resigned and left the communityand municipal council with many unanswered questions,” he said. “A court order was issuedinstructing the council to appoint a permanent Municipal Manager after an interview with threesuitable candidates last year but they never did that. They just keep on appointing inexperiencedacting Municipal Managers for the position.It is clear that they want someone they know to fill in the vacant position but that is nepotism,”he further said. He concluded by saying: “At this stage the South African Municipal WorkersUnion is in negotiations with the council. If they fail to reach an agreement that will suit us all,we are going to down our tools for a full blown strike,” he said.The Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality Director of Cooperate Services Lekola told the Dispatchthat allegations that the municipality has two gradings are true. “The grading of the councillorsis controlled by the minister who brings limits that covers employees from councillors to the statePresident. This is done in terms of allowances as councillors do not get salaries but allowances,”he said. He added that other municipal employees are graded by the South African LocalGovernment Bargaining Council.He said both the workers and councillors are not governed by the same law. Concerning the issueof the resignation of the CFO and the missing R12 Million Lekola said. “Yes is true the CFO resignedbut I don’t know about the missing funds.”

Three suspects between the age of 31 and 56years were arrested for possession of sus-pected properties on Monday 24 November thepolice said. According to Constable LethunyaMmuroa from Marble Hall SAPS, the suspectswere arrested on the N11 Road between MarbleHall and Roedtan.Mmuroa said the suspects were arrested aftera police patrolling car spotted them carrying a

Men arrested with suspected stolen propertyPlasma TV set.“The police approached and questioned themand they failed to explain where they took thetelevision. The suspects were arrested on thescene and charged with possession of stolenproperty.They will appear before the Marble Hall Mag-istrate’s Court soon. Police are still busy withthe investigations,” he said.

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Denel Land Systems have continued to sup-port Jesus Is Lord Christian School with theirbuilding project. Where possible Denel LandSystems endeavors to make a difference in the

Denel Land Systems assist Jesus Is LordChristian school

local community to the best of their abilities andto lend a helping hand where needed. Thecompany has recently donated building mate-rials to Jesus is Lord Christian School in Moteti.Denel aviation has enjoyed a long standingrelationship with Jesus is Lord Primary School.Last year alone, Denel donated 600 bags ofcement to complete the new building of theschool. Now Denel continued its support to theschool by donating building materials and la-bour costs for the 16 block toilet building.These flushing toilets are expected to be com-pleted before the opening of the new school inJanuary next year.

The new Jesus isLord Schoolbuilding that willbe open its doorsin January nextyear. The schoolwas completedafter a number ofdonations doneby Denel LandSystems.

Jesus is LordChristian SchoolLearners and edu-cators gather af-ter receivingbuilding materi-als from DenelLand Systems.

The Deputy Principal at Jesus is LordChristian School Mrs. Ngwerumehandshaking with a Denel representa-tive to appreciate the donations.

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Paying for non working toilets atHome Affairs

Volunteer toilet minders use buckets to flush the broken toilets at a Home Affairsdepartment office in Groblersdal. Clients seeking help at the centre are faced withhaving to use the toilets at a fee.

By DAN MDLULIBeing in long and snaky queues for hoursunder rainy weather or scotching heat is notthe only hitch hundreds of clients seekinghelp from the Groblersdal Home Affairs of-fice in Limpopo are forced to stomach.A nasty stench hovers above the centersending queuing clients into total dismay asthey fear for their health under the unhy-gienic condition. Toilets at the offices have not been workingfor more than a year. Volunteering toiletcleaners have taken control. They are charg-ing the Home Affairs clients a fee to use thefacilities at the center. Minders of the brokentoilets fetch water from taps using bucketsto give to clients for flushing purposes afterusage.A volunteer toilet minder who did not wantto be named told Dispatch: “We are onlytrying to help. Imagine what the situationwould have been like if we did not make surethe toilets were clean. It could have beendisastrous.”A security guard at the offices, who also didnot want to be named, added that the stenchat the premises resulted from most clients’peeing against walls and fences as theycould not afford to pay the charge the toiletminders wanted to allow them to use thefacilities.The toilet minders required the reporter topay R2 to use the facility at the department’soffices. Dispatch saw rolls of toilet paperpacked orderly inside a box. The rolls aregiven to those who have already made theirpayments to use the toilets.Semakedi Moreila, who came to fetch hissmart-card ID last week, told the paper theconditions clients were subjected to at thecentre were appalling. Moreila who is in hisearly seventies, said he had been queued atthe centre since 5am. The Dispatch metMoreila around 2pm still in the queue. Headded that he avoided drinking any liquidsbecause if he did he would be forced to usea toilet which he couldn’t afford.“When we come here we make sure we don’tdrink, even tea in the mornings. If you drinksomething you run the risk of needing atoilet. We cannot afford to pay the fee theycharge to use their toilets. We only havetransport money to go back home,” saidKoko Magabane in her late sixties who hadalso come to centre to collect her smart-cardID. In a response to the paper’s inquiry onthe matter, Florah Motsitsi, Limpopo HomeAffairs provincial spokesperson, thankedthe paper for bringing the matter to the de-partment’s attention. Motsitsi promised forthe matter to be investigated. She furthersaid if found to be reported urgent remedialaction would be taken.

Clients bear the brunt of broken toilets at the Home Affairs department offices inGroblersdal as they remain exposed to health hazards.

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According to community members, about R8Million has been spent in Tafelkop to repairburst pipes in order to supply the communitywith running water. Residents say the millionshave been spent but there is no progress in the

Water project, millions gone for no progress doneproject. Residents in Tafelkop and other vil-lages say the construction dug trenches but nowater pipe has been repaired until today.Tafelkop Village was included in the ongoingR28Million Groblersdal to Luckau water project

being implemented by Lepelle Northern Watercommissioned by Department of Water andSanitation. The project was expected to becompleted in September this year; hence nopipe has been repaired in Tafelkop yet .The Sekhukhune District Municipality an-nounced that they will implement a projectcalled Tafelkop Reticulation during the 2014/2015 financial year. The project will costR36Million and the municipality said it is ondesign stage and it is expected that it will beimplemented in October 2014. Dispatch haslearned that the project was never implemented.Collin Shai, a community leader in Tafelkop saidthat a number of fruitless meetings were heldwith the municipality and the main contractor.He said the shortage of water is still a mainproblem to people in the villages as they endedup sharing drinking water with animals.

“Millions are gone but there is nothing show-ing that we will end up getting accessible drink-ing water. The contractor seems to drag his feeton this project and there is no progress at all,”he said.Shai said the project includes Refurbishment ofold booster pump stations, replacement of acpipes with steel where there were frequentbreakdowns, construction of valve chambersfor control purpose and installation of gate andair valves, installation of additional pump setsdedicated to stadium view. The refurbishmentof booster pump station, erection of a steel tankand construction of fencing was supposed tobe done by the project at this stage.He added that in some parts of Tafelkop villagewhere the community receives water, the pipesare still leaking and this results in water short-ages to many households in the village.

Two male suspects named Thabo Moukangwe (25) and Nick Makgopa (36) were arrested by theMarble Hall police after they were found in possession of stolen property. The suspects werearrested on Monday 24 November at Leeuwfontein Village near Marble Hall Town.According to Constable Lethunya Mmuroa from Marble Hall SAPS, it is alleged that the suspectsbroke into the house in Leeuwfontein and stole clothes and shoes estimated to the value of R8500-00.Mmuroa said according to the property owner, the family left to Gauteng on Wednesday 5November. When they come back on Sunday 9 November, they found that the thieves broke inand stole their items.“The property owner immediately drove to Marble Hall Police Station to report the matter. On theway to the station he saw one of the suspects wearing his shoes. He called the police immediatelyand he was arrested,” he said.Mmuroa said that the suspect pointed another suspect who helped him to steal. All items wereidentified and given to the owner. Both suspects were arrested and they will appear at the MarbleHall Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday 2 November.

Man nabbed wearingstolen shoes

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A contractor who was appointed to build RDP houses was turned awayby the community at Ntwane after they accused him of practicing cheaplabour. Now unemployed residents at Ntwane say they will not allow theproject to run unless the contractor is able to pay reasonable paymentto community members who are employed in the project. The project wasscheduled to commence on Thursday 20 November.According to a community member, Mohlamme Mathebe, the contractorwas turned away by the community after he announced the labour pricefor the RDP project.“The contractor says he will be paying R1 200-00 per slab but previouscontractors were paying R2000-00. He says he will be paying R2 500-00for building and he will pay R1 200-00 for complete roof and plastering.We tried to convince him to raise the money while we were in a meetingbut he refused,” he said. He added that as the community they suspectthat local ANC members have sub-contracts in the project which is whythe contractor reduced the money he’s supposed to pay to the labourers.“Now the very same ANC supporters visit the beneficiaries telling themthat the contractor will leave for good if they don’t convince us to workfor that little money. These people are employed and earn fat chequesbut they also want to benefit unlawfully from a project that is meant forthe poor,” he said. He further said that the community appointed theirown Chief Liaison Officer (CLO) but the contractor refused working withthat CLO. He brought his own CLO instead.“We demand that the main contractor must pay R2000-00 for slab, R3000-00 for the building, R1 200-00 for roofing and R3000-00 for plastering. Theproject will be on hold until the contractor agrees to pay the amount wewant,” he said.Elias Motsoaledi Ward 8 Councillor Daniel Mzinyane said that thedisagreement started when some of the community members demandedthat the payment must be raised. He said that those people are notregularly working in community projects and this may be the cause thatthey don’t agree with the contractor’s payments.“We are going to check with the Department of Labour to determinewhether the payments are according to the law. We assume thateveryone has the right to raise their views and we will not underminethese community members. We will engage them until the matter isresolved,” he said.

Contractorturned awayafter cheap

labour claimsby community

Some of the community members who claim that thecontractor appointed to build RDP houses at Ntwane ispracticing cheap labour.

A 34 year old woman suspect was arrested and charged with assault withintent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) the police said. The suspectwas arrested on Monday 17 November at Rooibokkop Farm near MarbleHall.According to the police report, it is alleged that the suspect assaulteda 21 year old woman with a crowbar beating her repeatedly on the chest.The injured woman was taken to Groblersdal Hospital for treatment aftershe sustained serious injuries.The suspect will appear at the Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court soon. Thepolice are still busy with investigations.

Woman arrested forassault GBH

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Limited academic skills children from Moutsearea are now equipped with training skills byAchine Fountain of Life and Skilled Develop-ment Centre. The centre is situated at MotetiLiberty and it is surviving with a little contribu-tion from the parents and donation by thedirectors.According to Achine Director, Pastor AnywayChimbuya, the centre currently has 13 studentsfrom the Moutse area. He says the aim of theinstitution is to unfold hidden talents from slowlearning children in schools. He said instead ofturning to bad things such as crime and drugabuse, the centre decided to accommodatethese children to make them better people in thefuture.“Our objective is to reveal their various creativetalents using their own hands and mind. We areworking with the Department of Education toidentify slow learners from Moutse area andother nearby villages and take them on board.We train students to become qualified carpen-ters, welders, mechanical and civil engineers.We also offer arts and crafts to our students,”he said.He added that people living with disabilities areon top of their list as they are disadvantaged.He said some of the students have never beenat school before. “Some of our students livewith disabilities but we manage to unlock theirabilities here at our stimulation centre. They willbe trained for the full three years in order to bequalified in different fields of trainings. At themoment we are in the first stage that we callstimulation. During this stage students attendboth classes and practical work. We offer themmathematics to know the sums that we use inmeasurements. We also offer English so theycan present themselves after completing thetraining,” he said.

Achine equips youthwith skills

Chimbuya went on and said the second stagewill be protective where they will be doing morepractical training.He said, in that stage, students will be able toproduce more products on their own and we willallow them to start and complete their ownproducts. “Then we have the last stage calledvocational. Here we will be engaging our stu-dents to different companies to showcase theirwork and products. We will deal mostly withassessments of our students so they can beawarded their certificates,” he said.He further said that they have an agreementwith the Department of Environmental Affairswere they will be training unemployed youngpeople around Moutse about environmentalhazards in the communities.He said they are in the process of offeringlearners from surrounding schools afternoonand holidays classes. He said although thecentre is facing challenges such as shortage offunds, they are busy in negotiations with theElias Motsoaledi Local Municipality seekingtechnical support. A student, BonganiMahlangu (19) said his parents enrolled himafter hearing about the centre. “I gained manyskills since I arrived here. I am able to use agrinding machine and I am also perfect in car-pentry,” he said.Thabang Lepota (16) also a student at Achinesaid: “I was taken from Sibisi Primary School inDennilton after I was repeating every grade atschool. Now I have welding skills I achievedthrough the training. I am grateful and I can seethat I am still going to achieve a lot, I am gratefulto be in this institution,” he said.“After completing the training, our studentswill be grouped to form co-operative compa-nies as they will be qualified entrepreneurs whocan stand on their own,” he said.

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Peterson Kgaphola(42) was sentenced to 12years in prison at Groblersdal Regional Courtafter he was found guilty on four counts ofcriminal charges. According to ConstableLethunya Mmuroa from Marble Hall SAPS, theaccused was found guilty of rape where he wassentenced to 12 years imprisonment. He rapeda 22 year old at Leeuwfontein Village on Tues-day 29 April 2014. The victim was with her 27

12 years in prisonyear old boyfriend when they approached bythe accused. He accused the victim’s boyfriendof walking with his sister during the night whileit is not safe to do so. He produced a knife andstabbed him in the chest. The victim collapsedand he forced the woman to go with him to hishouse. She refused and the accused stabbedher with a knife in both arms. They walked toKgapola’s place where she was rapped without

a condom. After few hours she was releasedand she shouted to the community for help. Thecommunity responded and assembled insidethe accused’s yard and called the police. Hewas arrested and the woman reported to thepolice that the man has stabbed her boyfriendwith knife and left him lying on the street. Thepolice managed to go and rescue him. Theaccused was charged with four charges rang-

ing from rape, attempted murder, kidnapping toassault with intent to cause grievous bodilyharm (GBH). He applied several bail applica-tions but they were denied by the court.In the first count the accused was sentenced 12years for rape, 4 years for assault with intent tocause grievous bodily harm sentence, 5 yearsfor attempted murder and 4 years for kidnap-ping. All sentences will run concurrently.

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The Ndlovu (NCG) and the Bantwane YouthInitiative (BYI) received a warm welcome at theElias Motsoaledi Local Municipality’ s May-oral Office on Friday 14 November. The twoorganizations visited the Elias MotsoalediMayor Cllr Julia Mathebe to discuss youthprograms focusing on enhancing the future ofyoung people in Moutse. “Our aim was to visitthe Mayor to discuss health and social issuesfacing young people in the municipality. Thecontribution of the Ndlovu Care Group to thefight of HIV/AIDS in the community was alsoaddressed,” said the Secretary of BYI, ThabisoMathabathe. He added that the two organiza-tions will engage the municipality to give ahelping hand to child headed households.“Some child headed families are poverty strickenand in need of school uniforms and other learn-ing resources. Currently we assist them withtheir homework at the Ndlovu Chill hub. Wealso assist in academically related issues suchas career expos and online registrations to

NCG and BYI’smeet mayor

different tertiary institutions.” he said. He saidanother issue that was on the table with themayor is recreation through sports. He said BYIand Ndlovu have currently identified soccerplayers to form Moutse United FC. “The play-ers were taken from different soccer teams andschools in the villages around Elias MotsoalediMunicipality. Player selections were done ac-cording to the individual’s passion in sports, inparticular soccer,” he continued. Thabiso saidthat together with Ndlovu Care Group theyformed a production house whereby youngpeople will be assisted in recording their music.“The name of the production house is DNTProd. and we hope that it will play a major rolein exposing young people to the music indus-try. Our intention now is that we need to createa solid relationship with the municipality tomove forward. Mutual support, goodwill andendorsements for NCG and BYI by the mayor'soffice were established at this very successfulmeeting,” he said.

Representatives from the Bantwane Youth Initiative, Ndlovu Care Group and EliasMotsoaledi Local Municipality at the Mayor’s office. With them is the Mayor OfElias Motsoaledi Local Municipality Cllr Julia Mathebe.

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A friendly soccer match was organized at Molepane Senior Sports Grounds when Molepane FChosted Shoprite Jane Furse on Sunday 23 November. The match, that was aimed at gaining fitnessstarted at 15:00.The match started with pressure by the hosts and they managed to score an early goal in the fifthminute. The hosts continued pressuring Shoprite but missed chances that should have beenconverted into goals.The visitors started playing well towards the 30th minute when they attacked, demanding anequalizer but they were denied by the defenders. A few minutes before the end of the first half,Molepane United attacked entering the box but they failed to extend the lead when their forwardplayers were playing their shots wide. This led to the first half to end with a 1-0 score to MolepaneUnited FC.In the second half the visitors retained the domination and they equalized in the 52nd minute. Afterthe equalizing goal by the visitors, the hosts made substitutions trying to balance the mid-fieldbut the visitors continued dominating the match.A second goal was scored by Jane Furse Shoprite in the 74th minute to grab the lead. The visitorslowered their pace after grabbing the lead. This led to the host starting to make frequent attacksbut the outstanding goalie managed to deny them from scoring goals.Three minutes before the end of the match, Shoprite scored their third goal and paved their wayto victory. The match ended 3-1 to Shoprite Jane Furse, defeating Molepane United.

Shoprite Jane Fursecame from behind to

bury Molepane United

Some of Molepane United FC players warming up just before the start of the match.The visitors, Shoprite Jane Furse FC, were seen dominating ball possession for therest of the match when playing with Molepane United FC.

The indomitable Esther Vergeer graced Ndlovuagain this year. The international tennis playervisited the Ndlovu Care Group to encourageand coach wheelchair tennis players. EstherVergeer, the Dutch wheelchair tennis player,combining singles and doubles, she has won 42Grand Slam tournaments, 22 year-end champi-onships and 7 Paralympics titles.Ndlovu Care Group provides opportunities,with the kind co-operation sports stars likeEsther Vergeer, for sports enthusiasts to buildself esteem and to excel. The Ndlovu CareGroup has learned that opportunities for peo-ple living with disabilities are few in underservedcommunities such as Elandsdoorn. Now theorganization has decided to invite national andinternational athletes to come and motivate thecommunity in the remote rural areas.The Ndlovu Care Group has proved that nowthere is room to surpass such difficulties withenthusiasm and perseverance.

Ndlovu CareGroup saysthanks to

EstherVergeer

Esther Vergeer (Front left seated) vis-ited Ndlovu Care Group to encourageand coach tennis players.