Author: Silver Sibiya
The three Diepsloot community leaders out on bail after being charged with public violence, intimidation, and damage to property among others, say they are not backing down and are going ahead with their protests against violence and crime in their area. The trio Loyiso Toyiya, Lefa Nkala and Jack Hlongwane were addressing their supporters outside Randburg Magistrate’s Court shortly after their release on R500 bail each after spending six days in custody. The accused were arrested last week during protests over crime in the area where angry residents barricaded roads and called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to visit the area.…
There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for Diepkloof Hostel residents as City Power on Tuesday began electrifying the area following weeks of violent protests by the residents who went as far as barricading the N1 to Joburg with rocks and burning tyres. The residents even got the City of Joburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda to come on a walkabout to see first hand what their grievances were about. After the tour and consultations with Hostel Induna, Gwamanda acknowledged that the hostel needed an upgrade and proper sanitation and electricity. In welcoming the new developments at the…
More young people must be deployed to the National Assembly and other Provincial Legislatures, says newly elected president of the ANC Youth League, Collen Malatji, who was briefing the media yesterday at Luthuli House in Johannesburg. Malatji was elected unopposed over the weekend at Youth League’s 26th conference in Nasrec over the weekend and he said he’ll prioritise the deployment of youth to parliament. “We are not going to accept anything less than 50% of young people in Parliament and Legislature,” he said. The league’s 2nd Secretary-General Olga Seate, said they will fight for the ANCYL’s relevance ahead of next…
City of Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda on Monday promised to improve service delivery to the Diepkloof Hostel in Soweto on Monday while speaking to the residents who have been rioting and blocking the roads for the past few weeks in protest for electricity, sanitation and houses. After an inspection of the hostel, Gwamanda, accompanied by Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) Public Safety, Mgcini Tshwaku and Human Settlements, Anthea Leitch, confirmed that basic services didn’t exist at the hostel.. He promised to do away with the bucket system and replace it with proper sanitation. “With the growing cases of disasters…
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula, has rejected Ace Magashule’s attempts to reach out to him saying in his usual crowd-rousing rhetoric that “Magashule will not even see (the) slightest (sic) of me. He can meet up with those he wants to meet up”. Mbalula was speaking during the party’s Letsema Campaign rally in Tumahole, Parys, in the Free State on Tuesday and he spoke at great length about how Magashule failed to condemn the actions of those who were burning ANC T-shirts. He said to the cheering crowd: “Magashule is not a branch secretary member he is a former secretary-general of the…
Chairman of the Soweto Investment Conference 2023 Thato Mothopeng says the two-day event gave business people an opportunity to sell their products to the broader market with great networking opportunities to investors between local and private businesses. The conference was hosted by the Soweto Tourism and Business Development Association at Nasrec Expo Centre Johannesburg. This was the second conference expo to be hosted at Nasrec and government officials were conspicuous by their absence although they were invited. But they did however send representatives. The expo was lively and interactive as entrepreneurs exhibited their products ranging from traditional food, paintings, loans,…
Mystery surrounds the origins of expensive wireless headsets costing about R1 029 each and handed out to the 270 councillors in the City of Johannesburg Council seating on Wednesday. The DA’s Mohammed Alex Christians told Newsnote it is concerning that no one seems to know how the headsets landed on their desks when even the Speaker seems unaware of the source or the donor. “When we arrived at the council we were given a piece of paper with a name on it and headphones that we needed to sign for it. In terms of the Code of Conduct when we…
Angry Diepsloot residents on Tuesday played a cat-and-mouse game with the police as they went on a rampage forcing local shops to close while attacking and trying to demolish houses allegedly used by criminals as hideouts. The residents have alleged that foreign nationals were behind the crimes that have led to the death of six people including a Community Police Forum (CPF) Chairperson John Makola who was shot and later died in hospital. Community leader Loyiso Toyiya said the six people were killed after the community had protested “peacefully” and went around demolishing homes and shacks belonging to criminals. “You…
The President of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) , Zizamele Cebekhulu, calls for all traffic officers to be under the Department of Transport. Cebekhulu said this when addressing union members at the Johannesburg Correctional Centre where he expressed concerns about the placement of officers in some provinces where he also engaged on challenges experienced by public sector employees. “We are dealing with nationalisation of traffic officers under one Traffic Act. Different traffic officers have different salaries. Traffic officers in Mpumalanga belong to the Department of Safety, others belong to the Department of Public Works. What does Public…
It seems even children are not spared in the orgy of violence as police crime stats show that more than 60 children were killed in Gauteng alone in the first three months of 2023. Gauteng Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela confirmed that 61 children have been murdered between January to March this year while releasing crime statistics in Joburg on Wednesday. The provincial statistics show that for the same period 1 556 people were murdered, the highest number of homicides recorded in the last five years. “Although our overall crime increased by 2 129 counts, translating to a 2.0% increase as…