Author: newsnote correspondent

Mpho Galetshitse Residents of Ward 23 in Madibeng Local Municipality voted with heavy hearts on Monday after years of living without essential services including water shortages. They were hoping that their lives would change for the better after they had cast their votes for a party of their choice. The ANC has not had the most successful term after winning Madibeng municipality in 2016 as its councillors turned on each other, creating instability in the council. Opposition parties are hoping the divisions and poor record of service delivery will influence voter choices. Hundreds turned out to vote at voting stations…

South Africa remains on alert level 1 lockdown despite concerns about increasing COVID-19 infections that point to a looming 4th wave and the detection of a new variant of the novel coronavirus. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in a national address on Sunday night that the country will instead work harder to get more people vaccinated. This might even translate into mandatory vaccination, he said. “Government has set up a task team that will undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory for specific activities and locations. The task team will report to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Vaccination chaired by the Deputy President, which…

The occupational therapy department at the Witrand hospital in Potchefstroom, North West, has been inundated with inquiries from surrounding schools and parents worried about hyperactive children, which has left the majority of them struggling at school. Parents were advised to monitor their children’s behaviour, especially if they are between the ages of six and eight. Occupational therapist Melandi van Zyl said the condition is called Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She said that although it is not a rare condition, parents need to know how to handle it. “We do get many parents coming in to ask questions. Some things…

Transport minister Fikile Mbalula is on a mission to roll out a national project where his department will be working on fixing potholes across the country. Mbalula said this during his second visit to the North West in Wolmaranstad, where he had set aside R45 million to fix the pothole-riddled N12 road. Mbalula said that even though significant improvements have been made on the N12, there will be a bigger road maintenance project to redo the road. “The people of this town, the drivers, I told them that this was not a pothole, it was a dam; I told them…

By Mpho Manyaapelo The water affairs department and Magalies Water have promised to make sure that shortage of water in the North West’s Madibeng Local Municipality becomes a thing of the past. This was revealed on Friday at the Brits Water Treatment Works project upgrade in Brits, North West. Acting General Manager for project management at Magalies water, Jimmy Leburu said an additional 20 mega liters would be provided by the state utility. He believes that will alleviate the area’s water challenges. ” The project commenced in 2015 and is to update the plant from a sixty to eighty megaliter…

The Jerusalem faction of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) said an official split of the church is not imminent. This despite three factions leading different branches of the church. The Jerusalem faction is led by Michael Sandlana, Leonard Modise oversees the Zuurbekom branch, and Tshepiso Modise is the leader of the East Rand faction. The church was divided into three factions after the death of IPHC leader Glayton Modise in 2016. The spokesperson of the IPHC Jerusalema faction, Vusi Ndala, said the courts will determine the legitimate heir of the Modise church. “The other two contesters claim to be…

The North West Department of Education has been critisised for the dilapidated state of Maano Secondary School in Masutlhe 2 near Mahikeng. The school’s roof, which was already in poor condition, was blown away by the severe winds on Wednesday. School Governing Body chairperson, Malefatshe Seiphepi, said pupils had no option but to utilize the school before it was swept away by the wind. “The school was not in good condition even before the Wednesday incident. But learners have been attending there, despite the danger that the buildings might fall on them and injure them because we had no choice.…

The Cultural and Creative Industries Federation (CCIFSA) in the North West has accused the provincial department of Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation of failing to offer support to local artists to go and showcase their talent at the National Arts Festival held in the Eastern Cape. CCIFSA said the department had committed to assisting 13 groups who wanted to attend the three-day event that started on Thursday. CCIFSA’s provincial chairperson, Bruce Lizwe, said there was an agreement with the government, but the department did not deliver on its promises. “What has been happening over the years is that artists will…

Residents of Taung in the North West called on the government to build more police stations to help fight crime in the area. According to the residents, Taung which comprises 136 villages and a population of more than 600 000 residents has four police stations in Kgomotso, Reivilo, Taung CBD, and Pudimong. One of the community leaders, Bakang Mankuroane, said the four police stations in the area were not enough. “Let’s just assume that each station has 250 officials. It means in Taung; we have thousands of police officials in general. Are we saying that a thousand police officials are…

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) called on the National commissioner, Fannie Masemola, to probe Human Resource processes in the police force. Popcru members were picketing outside the SAPS office in Tshwane on Wednesday. South African Police Service(SAPS) recruited about 5000 police trainees to capacitate the force earlier this year. Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the union has since learned that over 545 members have not received their stipends. “Just two days ago, we learned that there are more members, around 30, who have not been captured within the SAPS system. So that raises a lot of discrepancies, and…