Sekhukhune Dispatch 26 June 2015

Friday 26 June 2015Year 6 153rd Edition Tel: 013 262 4416

Three men robbed the Moteti Pick n Pay Liquor; took expensive whiskiesand money. The robbers entered the liquor shop on Tuesday 16 Junearound 14:45 pretending to be customers. While inside the shop one ofthe robbers produced a firearm pointed the security guard and com-manded him to lie on the floor.Another robber approached the cashier and told her not to make noisewhile the third robber was busy taking expensive whisky bottles loadingthem into their getaway vehicle that was parked near the shop entrance.People were walking passing the shop entrance not noticing that therewas a robbery in progress inside."The cashier complied with the robbers' instructions fearing for her lifeand just watched the robbers helping themselves with a number ofexpensive whisky bottles including Hennessy, Johnnie Walker Plati-num, Gold and Blue Label," said Moteti Pick n Pay Top Spot branchManager William Moabelo.He went on and said: "After taking the liquor, the criminals instructedthe cashier to open the till and took an undisclosed amount of moneybefore they fled with a white bakkie. A security guard who was outsidenoticed the robbery and managed to write down the vehicle's registrationnumber."Moabelo added that the cashier and the guard who were inside the shopduring the robbery shouted for help but the robbers were already gone.The police were called and the guard supplied them with the registration

Daylight robbery at Moteti Pick nPay Liquor

number of the vehicle.The robbers did not elude after the policecirculated the registration number and onesuspect who believed to be the owner of thevehicle was arrested the following day atKwaggafontein. The suspect was heavily drunkwhen the police arrested him.The second suspect was arrested on Friday 19June at Malaeneng in Dennilton. The police arestill looking for the other two suspects.

The Moteti Pick n Pay Liquor was robbed by four suspects onYouth Day. Two suspects arrested and the other two are stillon the run after robbing Moteti PIck n Pay Liquor.

2 DISPATCH FRIDAY 26 June 2015

Five concerned community members are voluntarily monitoring theElandsdoorn Cemetery Fencing Project because some community mem-bers believe that ANC members are threatening to stop the construction.Residents say ANC members want to stop the project because the wardis in control of an opposition councilor.The project was included in the 2012/2013 Elias Motsoaledi LocalMunicipality IDP budget but it was delayed after the municipalitydecided to take it to Tambo Village in ward 9. According to thecommunity, the decision came as a result of ward 9 being in control ofthe ruling party councilor.Elias Motsoaledi Ward 12 Councilor Ali ka Maloba said the municipalityrefused to appoint the steering committee and CLO in the project."I was told the municipality does not have enough money to appoint thesteering committee and CLO in the project whereas a total amount of R1.2Million was allocated by the municipality for the project. It was statedclearly in the municipality's IDP document that the funds were enoughto run the project," he said.Ali said although they experienced challenges in the project, a numberof 31 residents were employed.

ANC threats urge community to monitor the project

These women are urged to monitor the Elandsdoorn Cem-etery Fencing Project after ANC members tried to stop itfrom continuing.

A community member Sipho Msiza told theDispatch that ANC supporters in ward 12 aresabotaging the Mpumalanga Party councilor.He said the project was supposed to start in2012 but the ruling party officials demandedthat the project must be taken to Tambo Cem-etery.He said the community started to realize that thecouncilor is been sabotaged as it was not thefirst project that ANC members and officials inthe municipality demand to take to anotherward where the ruling party is in control."They want to claim every project in the wardto campaign for the coming local governmentelections. We cannot rest and just watch theseANC members preventing services that sup-posed to benefit the community. That will neverhappen and I am prepared to die for my commu-nity," he said.A concerned community member, MagdaleneTshukudu, said they make sure that they arealways available on the construction site tomonitor the situation."We want to make sure that these ANC mem-bers do not disrupt the project until its comple-tion. We come here every day to make sure thateverything runs smooth because some of theworkers claim that they feel threatened," shesaid.Another volunteer, Mrs Thebe, said the com-munity was longing for the project as strayanimals were damaging tombstones in the cem-etery."The project comes as a relief to us because wewere worried about expensive tombstones thatwere damaged by animals. I do not think theseANC members who want to stop the projectrealize the importance of having this cemeteryprotected and secured," she said.Mrs. Motaung, another volunteer, who moni-tors the situation everyday praised the councilorand said they started experiencing service de-livery by him."Despite having problems with certain commu-nity members who want to stop the develop-ment, the current ward councilor is trying by allmeans to deliver services in this ward. We areglad to have such a ward councilor and we wishthat the one who will be succeeding him canalso do the same," she said.

A 50 year old man was sentenced to life inprison at the Motetema Regional Court forraping a 13 year old victim. The accused SinkieMasome Maibelo was arrested by the MotetemaSAPS at Serithing Village after he committedthe crime in March last year. Maibelo's sen-tence was handed down at the Motetema Re-gional Court on Thursday 18 June after he wasfound guilty on a rape charge."The victim started complaining to her motherabout terrible pains in the ribs and stomach.The mother started suspecting something waswrong and took the girl to the nearby clinic,"said Constable Boitumelo Matlala fromMotetema SAPS.Matlala said it was discovered that the childwas raped and she provided the mother with thename of the accused. The police were called andthe suspect was arrested."The accused was sentenced on Thursday 18June at the Motetema Regional Court where hewill be spending his whole life behind bars. Themembers of the SAPS welcomed the sentenceas it sends the message to other criminals thatcrime doesn't pay," concluded Matlala.

Man gets lifein prison forraping a 13year old girl

DISPATCH FRIDAY 26 June 2015 3


Mpumalanga Party members were picketing inthe Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipal Officeson Wednesday 17 June. Holding placards atthe entrance of the municipal offices inGroblersdal, the demonstrators were sayingthat the council Speaker, Thoko Mahlangu isfailing as the matter of the Elias MotsoalediMunicipal Manager's irregular salary adjust-ment still needs to be discussed in the councilmeetings.The opposition party laid a charge at theGroblersdal Police Station against the Munici-pal Manager, Minah Maredi for increasing hersalary without the knowledge and concern ofthe council.

Mpumalanga Party members picketing at theElias Motsoaledi Municipal Offices

"The Mpumalanga Party has alerted not onlylocal council, but also the province and na-tional but the matter is being ignored. AsMpumalanga Party we want accountable gov-ernance within the ambit of all municipality.Now Elias Motsoaledi Local Council has vio-lated Municipal Finance Systems Structuresand Procurement Acts by not acting on theirregular salary increment done by the munici-pal manager," said Mpumalanga Party Council-lor and Elias Motsoaledi Exco member SeunMogotji.Mogotji added that the police are also draggingtheir feet in the matter as nothing was done aftera criminal case was opened at Groblersdal SAPS

against the municipal manager."The matter was reported to the SAPS inGroblersdal against the municipal manager ofthe Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality but itappears that maybe the docket is lost or misfiledbecause the case was not attended to untiltoday. We have been in the police stationseveral times to enquire but we were told by thepolice that they do not find the municipal man-ager and the mayor in the office. We are sur-prised because the mayor and municipal man-ager are always in their offices during week-days," said Mogotji.Another Mpumalanga Party Councillor in EliasMotsoaledi Local Municipality Chris Mhlangasaid they told the council speaker to call anurgent meeting to resolve the matter but shefailed."We demand the speaker to call an urgentcouncil seating where the issue of the munici-pal manager's irregular increment will be dis-cussed. A case was opened but the police failedto investigate the municipal manager sayingthey do not find her in the office whereas we seeher everyday in the municipal office. We deliv-ered a letter demanding an urgent council seat-ing in the speaker's office. Failure to do so, wewill be marching to the municipality joined byother opposition organizations and commu-nity members," he said.Warrant Officer Stanley Magaela fromGroblersdal SAPS said the matter is under in-vestigation in the police station.The Dispatch spoke to the Manager in theMayor's Office Mbusi Mahlangu who referredus to the Elias Mayor Cllr Julia Mathebe forcomment. The Mayor referred the Dispatch tothe Elias Motsoaledi Municipal Manager MinahMaredi but she was not availabe for comment.

Mpumalanga Party members holdingplacards outside the Elias MotsoalediLocal Municipality Offices.

Mpumalanga Party members picket-ing at the Elias Motsoaledi Local Mu-nicipality Offices demanding an ur-gent council seating to be called.



Sekhukhune APC leadershipclaims party president is a sell-

out to the ruling partyThe leader of the African Peoples Convention (APC) Themba Godi is facing a determined forceof members from the leadership structures who oppose his antics of turning the party into a OneMan’s Pyramid Scheme.Godi is faced with an increased pressure of opposition from within the ranks of the party. Theseare members who are opposed to his sell out position and counter revolutionary remarks he alwaysmakes both in Parliament and outside Parliament. Among others he is trying to remove theSekhukhune Regional Chairperson Isaac Mkhaliphi and the party's Deputy President HlabirwaMathume from Mamone in Jane Furse. According to Mathume, Godi has now become sodesperate he even resorted to bully boy tactics of trying to intimidate and silence oppositionvoices by unilateral and unconstitutional suspensions and victimisation. "We are opposed to himbecause he unilaterally supported the Nkandla Adhoc Committee report without consulting theleadership collective of the APC.He sold the party's programmes in exchange for money. This includes amounts of R605 000 andR500 000 deposited into APC accounts to buy the Party out of programmes that threaten certainpeople, in particular the ANC," said Mathume."Now he abused his powers and appointed his friends into two leadership structures of the party.By this Godi is trying to unilaterally eject from the party those who differ with him in views. He

is doing all this to try to avoid confrontationduring the National General Council to be heldrecently and to prepare for the 2016 APC Elec-tive Congress. He is pro-actively removing apossible leadership challenge before the 2016Elective Congress," said Mathume.Hlabirwa concluded: "We have prepared ourmembers and structures to wage a determinedwar to save the APC from Themba Godi who wesent to Parliament as a party deployee but hearrived there to become other people’s PoliticalZombie and lost his political identity. Our mem-bers are determined to save the soul of the APCand realise a dream of being a viable, credibleand progressive alternative governing party."The Sekhukhune Regional APC ChairpersonIsaac Mkhaliphi said the issue is currently inthe hands of the Constitutional High Court. Hesaid he is still a member of the APC and waitingfor the court to rule on the matter.APC General Secretary Paseka Moshwabubawas not available for comment. His cellphonewas on voicemail.

APC President Themba Godi is beingaccused by the party’s Sekhukhuneleadership for being a sell-out andtaking bribes from the ANC.



The police have appealed to anyone with infor-mation to come forward after a search for amissing seven-year-old girl from Nebo nearJane Furse, proved unsuccessful.The seven year old Leago Mohlahla, a Gradeone learner at the Petlwane Primary School,went missing on Saturday 6 June. Her motherput her to bed and attended a wedding at ahouse in the area. When family checked on thechild later on, she was missing and the matterwas reported. Police and community membersstarted searching for her without any success.On Wednesday 10 June the police's dog andairing units searched for the girl who wentmissing on Saturday.Limpopo Police Spokesperson, Colonel RonelOtto, says they have tried everything for daysbut have not found the girl. Otto said none ofthe girl's personal belongings are missing fromthe bedroom."Her mother went to attend a wedding cer-emony and some family members thought sheleft with her," Otto explained.Otto said the child was last seen wearing greytrousers, a pink shirt and grey boots. Thesearch team consisted of members of the po-lice's K9 unit and as well as search and rescueteam continues searching for the missing girl.Her mother, Linah Mohlahla says her daughterLeago is a lively child. She says she enjoyedplaying with her friends and walking with themto school. She expressed her pain in having no idea whereher daughter is and feels that she may not havethe energy to continue looking for her andbelieves that God will help her to bring her back.

Missing girlnot found

The Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko addressedthe young people during his visit in Moutse..The Minister told the youth at Waalkraal Vil-lage in Moutse Central that taking drugs de-stroys the nation during a Youth Month Cel-ebration. "The decision to take drugs is similarto take a decision to die," he said.The young people from the area Moutse weregiven the opportunity to voice their grievancesto the Minister of the Police Nathi Nhleko, andgovernment officials and other community lead-ers who were present. The Minister said he wasimpressed with the level of debate of the youngpeople and conceded that many of their griev-ances are valid. He said government, in particu-lar his department, will take youth matters intoconsideration and they will try and resolve thematters facing young people and empoweryouth programs in the country. "I heard veryimportant points, the point about young peo-ple programs instead of food parcels. That's avery critical point. Now that's a policy debatewe should have in this country. In fact I agreewith you. Programs must actually empower ourpeople," Nhleko said. He warned young people against drug andalcohol abuse and he said: "The manner inwhich you approach the question of thingssuch as drugs I must tell you it is not aboutentertaining yourself and it is not about beingclever or something like that. It is about killingyourself." He addressed the issue of xenopho-bia that took place in the area as inhuman.The Minister also urged people to stop tribal-ism and treat each other with respect. He urgedthe community in particular young people torespect themselves and develop their commu-nities.

Minister ofPolice

addressesyoung people

in Moutse

Executive Mayor of Sekhukhune District Mu-nicipality together with Minister of Small Busi-ness Development Mme Lindiwe Zulu andDeputy Minister in the Presidency ButiManamela interacted with young people in theSeklhukhune Youth Opportunities Expo heldon Friday 12 June. The national theme, 'YouthMoving South Africa forward' was used tounify the youth month campaign. TheSekhukhune District theme, 'Youth in Businesstowards job creation and poverty eradication',was also used during the day. This multifacetedstakeholder engagement popularised a rangeof opportunities and interventions availablefrom private sector, public sector and even civilsociety programmes that facilitate careers, en-trepreneurship, enterprise development, fund-ing and business compliance.

Youth Opportunities Expo held to uplift youth businessesThe vision of the expo was to consolidate allyouth empowerment and development initia-tives by civil society, government and privatesector into a high impact and multifaceted op-portunities platform that comprehensively en-able the youth to tackle the triple challenges ofunemployment, poverty and inequality iso-lated by the country's National DevelopmentPlan. In keeping with the vision of a develop-mental local government and the ethos of de-velopmental communication which advocatesfor popularizing opportunities to citizens, theOffice of the Executive Mayor has designed theYouth Opportunities Expo as a platform toempower, promote and inspire the youth toplay a meaningful role in the development of thedistrict. Other activities that took place duringthe expo were business start-up workshops

where CIPC Commission registered and facili-tated start up exercises for youth businesses.Digital Free Market through which small busi-nesses were assisted to setup their websites,credible e-mail accounts and other digital pack-ages that will give their businesses an edge forcompetitiveness and marketing.Pitching for jobs through visiting a dedicatedexhibition stand where companies were ac-tively recruiting young people of different skillslevels to pitch their CVs. Successful candidatesand interested employers were encouraged toshare the results with the rest of the expoattendees. Pitch to succeed session which wasin a competition format where a panel selectedthe best youth enterprise business was heldwhere the winner was exhibited and awarded astart-up money.



A family of seven was left homeless after theirone room shack caught fire on Monday 15 Juneat Malaeneng near Ntwane in Moutse. Theflames destroyed all the Magane family belong-ings in the shack including clothes, importantdocuments and school uniforms for the chil-dren. Their cellphones were also destroyed inthe fire.

Family left homeless after shack caught fireAccording to the family, the fire was startedwhen a candle that was left burning fell on theblankets. Luckily the rest of the family includ-ing children were outside when the shack caughtfire. "The couple was outside with their fivechildren when the fire started. Everything wasburned including the sheets that were used tobuild the shack. We managed to donate blan-

kets and other material to the family as theyhave nothing left but the clothes they werewearing during the time of the incident," saidElias Motsoaledi Ward 8 Councillor DanielMzinyane. He said the incident happened sofast that the family was not even able to savetheir belongings."The Elias Motsoaledi Disaster Management

donated blankets tothe family. Social Serv-ices was also alertedand food parcels weredonated to the family.

Pep Store donated school uniform to the fam-ily," said Community Development Worker inElias Motsoaledi Ward 8 Granny Rakgalakane. She said she assisted the family to apply fortheir important documents including IDs andbirth certificates at the Department of HomeAffairs."The children are getting social grants and wewill assist the family withthe grantapplicationsafter the documents are issued from the Depart-ment of Home Affairs. The family is currentlystaying with Mrs Magane's parents for shel-ter," she said.

Some of the com-munity membersat the Magane'splace just aftertheir shack wasburned to ashes.

The Magane fam-ily showing off thematrasses andblankets donatedby the EliasMotsoaledi Disas-ter Management.


On Sunday 14 June South Africa’s wheelchairtennis champion of all time Lucas Sithole fin-ished the 2015 Daegu Open with two titles. Thetournament was held at Daegu in the KoreaRepublic.Another country’s top male wheelchair tennisace Evans Maripa produced arguably his mostfocused performance in the tournament butwas unlucky after he slipped to Dutchman TomEgberink in the men’s final on Saturday.The 28 year old Lucas Sithole quads champproduced a tactical masterclass to defeat Ja-pan's Mitsuteru Moroishi 6-3 6-2 in the final andclaimed a third quads singles title at DaeguOpen in Korea Republic.The former US Open champion Sithole went onto win his second Daegu Open doubles title as

Dennilton's Lucas Sithole claims two world titleshe teamed with Great Britain's Anthony Cotterillto beat Japanese duo Shota Kawano/MitsuteruMoroishi in straight sets 6-1 6-2 to claim thetitle.Sithole returned home on Tuesday 16 June torest before the start of the BNP Paribas Open deFrance, a Super Series event, one of the six topwheelchair tennis events on the UNIQLOWheelchair Tennis tour starting in Paris soon.Sithole lost to his doubles partner Dylan Alcottof Australia in the semi-final round in last year’stournament and he is hoping to do better thisyear. “Korea has been great and I am excited forwinning the three titles as this is a boost for megoing into the French Open. I am happy with myperformance at this stage and I am looking for

a win in Paris”, said Sithole.Sithole will be the only South African repre-senting the country in the top-flight SuperSeries event which takes place in the FrenchOpen.The tournament is one of six top wheelchairtennis events on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Ten-nis tour, and has attracted eight of the world'stop 10 quad players in a draw of 24.Sithole believes he could not have possiblydone anything more to prepare himself for theevent.“I have been on tour for over four weeks andthat to me serves as the best preparation aheadof the French Open. I am in a good form and Ilook forward to the challenge in Paris”, saidSithole. “I really want to do well. I love playingin the French Open and I am hoping to do betterthis year,” Sithole added.

Maripa stunned top seed Takashi Sanada 7-5 7-5 to deny the world number 8 a place in the finalsat Daegu Open on Friday 12 June. The resultwas another significant milestone for Maripa,who has beaten Miki for the first time. After thescintillating display by Maripa eliminating topseed Sanada in men's semi-final, Dutch-ManTom Egberink stopped Maripa's winning streakwhen he defeated the 24-year old 7-6 6-3 inSaturday's finals to claim the Daegu Open men'ssingles title.Evans Maripa, Leon Els, Mariska Venter andBongani Dlamini will go on to play the BusanOpen, an ITF 2 Series event to be staged inBusan City, Korea Republic. The team will bewithout the country’s top women player,Kgothatso ‘KG’ Montjane who is coming hometo recover after a severe throat infection thatattacked her while in Korea.

Lucas Sithole participating in the Daegu Open, Korea Republic where he claimedtwo wheelchair tennis titles.


The Karate Against Nyaope Academy was established in Tafelkopaiming at giving young people a platform to spend their time usefullyafter school hours and in holidays.According to the academy instructor William Mohlala, the idea ofstarting the academy came after he realized a shortage of recreationalactivities in the village that leads to a high usage of nyaope amongstyoung people in the community."We are all aware that nyaope has taken over our young people whomare the future of this country. The government is also struggling to dealwith the matter. We can all join hands and help the government in thefight against nyaope," says William.He says the academy caters children from 7 to 15 years and the trainingis free of charge."We provide them with free karate training lessons on weekdays from16:00 to 18:00. The training is full of educational, fun and entertainingactivities through karate demonstration. It is also about to expose theskills, talent and intellect of young people from rural areas where thereis a serious shortage of recreational facilities," he said.He added that karate is all about self-defence and it also gives everystudent a chance to achieve their best through training and learning ofthe Kyukushinkai-kan, meaning the way of life which based on respect,discipline and commitment."At this stage we are based at Tafelkop Gymnasium and we would liketo extend our programme to other communities and adopt certain schoolsas karate training centres after school hours and holidays," explainedWilliam.He added that Kyukushinkai-kan principles have elements that aremissing from young people who end up being drug addicts. William sayskarate demonstration at school and areas that are frequently use by theyoung people as nyaope hot-spots such as taxi ranks, shopping centersand malls will attract more students to join the academy and stay awayfrom the streets and drugs.He says the academy's methodology is to teach the physical aspects ofthe students and mind development through strict discipline moralphilosophy and spiritual introspections. William appeals to the commu-nity members to send their children to the academy to be equipped withkarate skills. William says in conclusion: "We are aware of challengesahead of us but we still need more students to come and join the academy.

Free Karate Training Lessons in Tafelkop

We are currently training 18 students but our aim is to register 100 or more students. We are lookingfor sponsors, meaning companies or business people to come forward for assistance as we arestill in need of basic training materials including clothes used during training sessions. We havealready advertised our free karate training academy at many schools and local businesses."William Mohlala can be reached on 076 788 1595.

Some of the young people taking the karate lessonsat the Tafelkop Gymnasium.

The academy accepts young childrenas young as seven years for karate.

According to the academy instructorWilliam Mohlala,karateKyukushinkai-kan principles have el-ements that are missing from youngpeople who end up being drug ad-dicts.

Documents

Sekhukhune Dispatch 26 June 2015