Author: Thabang Morutloa

Nine North West Municipalities may not receive their much-needed infrastructure grants from the Treasury because of their failure to spend previous budgets fruitfully. The municipalities that the Treasury has threatened with sanctions include, Ditsobotla, Ratlou, Mamusa, Rustenburg, Jb Marks, City of Matlosana, Moses Kotane, Madibeng local municipalities and the Dr Ruth Segomosti Mompati District Municipality are set to collectively lose tens of millions of rands. In a letter seen by Newsnote, the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana, informed the North West MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nono Maloyi, that the municipalities’ grant allocations were reduced in the 2022/23…

Operations at the Kalgold mine in Kraaipan in the North West were affected when residents took their grievances to the streets. Residents of Kraaipan, Madibogo and Setlagole barricaded the N18 and accused the mine, which falls under Harmony Gold, of not complying with its Social Labour Plan (SLP). Community leader, Justice Macucwa, accused the mine of failing to comply with the Mining Charter by falsifying documents every five years which state that they have done projects to develop the communities when they haven’t. “We found that in their report they claim to have been complying with their Social Labour Plans…

Opposition parties in the North West have accused the African National Congress (ANC) of using state resources to campaign for support. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) claim a series of mass-based meetings are being convened by State institutions under the guise of public consultation when they are actually meant to galvanise support for the ruling party. The most recent event named “taking the legislature to the people” is alleged to have cost the provincial law-making body a whopping R5 million. The EFF’s provincial secretary, Papiki Babuile, said none of the so-called public consultation meetings have…

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Small Businesses said they were not aware that small businesses in the North West received only a portion of the funds meant to support emerging businesses allocated by the national government. The small business owners told the Committee members they received R3 500 instead of the R10 500 from the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) set up by the government as the vehicle to support small businesses. This emerged during an oversight visit by the Committee that was accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Small Business Dipuo Peters. The…

The Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in the North West is seeking intervention from the national government to resolve water challenges in its municipalities following a recent North West High Court judgement brought by Sakeliga. Sakeliga is a non-profit organisation which went to court to force the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality to ensure that water services are delivered to Ditsobotla, Tswaing, Ramotshere Moiloa and Ratlou municipalities that are struggling to supply residents with water. Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality has currently taken over reticulation at the Tswaing Local Municipality. But said it intends challenging the court order granted to…

A Civil Organisation called Go All Out whose campaign called Pad the Way Campaign is trying to force the government to supply learners with free sanitary pads at schools. The organisation in partnership with the North West University’s (NWU) Mahikeng campus on Saturday, took part in an attempt to break a Guinness World record for the longest line of sanitary pads, spanning a distance of 4 kilometres. Go All Out Representative, Thabang Ramabodu, said sanitary pads must be freely available for all women who need them. “One of the cases we came across was of a woman who was at…

The LGBTIQA+ community in the North West is concerned about the increasing number of cases of violence targeted against their members. This emerged at the annual Mahikeng Pride March, which was led by the Gay Umbrella North West on Saturday. The pride March organiser from Gay Umbrella North West, Lerato Fleming, said the justice system is failing to address cases of homophobia in the country. “There is institutionalised violence, especially when looking at the Transgender and Intersex individuals, with regards to intersex. It is reported that 1 in 400 people in South Africa is intersex, the practice of performing surgeries…

While the country celebrates water week, residents of Mabule village in the North West, have been without water for the past two weeks. The most affected residents in the Ratlou Local Municipality are complaining that lack of water is a health hazard which makes them vulnerable to diseases and they are appealing to the government for help. Their representative Kebonemodisa Kgwele said it has been two weeks since the community had running water. “The question here is, how can one live without water? We need water to drink and to bathe. It seems the government has forgotten about our village.…

North West Premier Bushy Maape has assured traditional leaders that his administration will provide them with what they have asked for during former Deputy President, David Mabuza’s visit. Traditional leaders are demanding improved stipend and vehicles among other benefits and Maape told the provincial House of Traditional Leaders and Khoi-San in Mahikeng yesterday that some issues require budgetary allocations. “There are some issues that are implementable, like ensuring that we establish the council for initiations. We are in the process of doing that. The issue of traditional councils to be elected. We are in the process of doing that. “Some…

The EFF in the North West has come out and accused the police of violating their right to freedom of assembly and protest. The North West red berets were taking part in the EFF’s National Shutdown as they gathered at the party’s regional offices in Mahikeng, before marching to Eskom’s offices in Mmabatho, where they picketed outside the premises. North West’s EFF secretary Papiki Babuile, has alleged that police fired rubber bullets at some of their members, participating in a peaceful protest. “The law enforcement are agent provocateurs. They have been provoking our members throughout, and we have tried to…