Friday 25 April 2014Year 5 126th Edition Tel: 013 262 4416

The Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)members in Elias Motsoaledi engaged in a joint venture of assisting thepeople by patching potholes on the main road between Luckau andMogaung Villages.According to Cllr Mokhine Pitje, a DA councillor in Elias Motsoaledi, thetwo parties took the initiative after too many fatal accidents took placeon that spot recently. He added that residents regard the area as a highaccident zone and reported the matter but no safety measures were takenby the government. “We voluntarily fixed the potholes after realizingthat the road is used by thousands of motorists travelling to other partsof Sekhukhune. The road has potholes everywhere and these cause fatalaccidents. It is also not safe to children as they cross the road every daywhen going to play soccer at the other side of the two villages. We

DA and EFF members assist in road maintenance

Two people died and three others were admit-ted at Philadelphia Hospital after a ruthlessshooting at Moteti Tavern. The shooting spreetook place after the suspect was involved in anargument with another male in the tavern. Theywere fighting for a woman on the night ofSaturday 12 April.According to eyewitnesses, the incident startedafter a group of men started harassing thesuspect’s girlfriend. The suspect then became

5 people shot, two died at Moteti tavernangry and a fight broke out. The unknown malesuspect pulled out a firearm and started firingshots everywhere. “It was like in the movieswhere everyone lied down when avoiding to behit by the unstoppable bullets from that guy. Hewas shooting straight at the crowd of peoplewho were busy dancing outside the tavern.Some of the people ran inside the tavern, unfor-tunately some were hit,” said an eyewitnesswho does not want to be named. “I’ve never

seen something like this in my life where every-one was running for their lives. It was shockingand I thought all five people who were shot haddied. They were all lying like bags of millies andeveryone was scared to go near them. Bloodwas all over the place and the sound of the gunwas still in my head at that time. That was a verytraumatic incident to everyone who was thereat that time,” he said. He added that after firingabout 14 shots, the suspect grabbed his girl-

friend and left. At least five people were hit andone died at the scene. The police and paramedicswere called at the scene and a man hunt wasimmediately started by the Dennilton Police.The other four injured people were taken toPhiladelphia Hospital where one of the victimswas certified dead on arrival.A case of murder was opened at DenniltonSAPS and no one is arrested. The police are stillbusy with investigations.

requested that government must at least install speed humps after livesof motorists and pedestrians were lost on that spot but with no success,”he said. He added that in some parts of Elias Motsoaledi, includingGroblersdal Town, the government is using only sand to fill the potholes.“There are reserve funds in the municipality that can be used to maintainour roads but instead, the money is being used by the ruling party forit’s out-reach campaigns when canvassing for the up-coming elections.Pothole patching is a relief measure to many motorists but it cannot bedone by sand only. If the municipality is doing such things and call itservice delivery, the governments is a joke that plays with people whocasted their votes to put them into power,” he said.Pitje concluded: “I think the government is waiting for a wake-up callwhen one of its officials are involved in a fatal accident around the area

before they can act. This is unacceptable thatlives have to be lost whereas fatalities can beeasily avoided in time.”The Limpopo Department of Roads and Trans-port promised to investigate the matter of poorroad maintenance.

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Motorists around Moutse are concerned aboutthe poor maintenance of the main roads. Ac-cording to the Philadelphia Moteti Road dailyusers, the road is full of potholes and this makesit difficult as their vehicles are getting damaged.Some community members give a hand byfilling the potholes with sand only to make thePhiladelphia Moteti Road accessible. “I hadthree punctures in only two months while driv-ing on this road. I fear that one day thesepotholes can cause serious accidents and willresult in the loss of lives,” said one of the taxidrivers.He said the roads have not been maintainedproperly for decades and that, when the raincame, it easily damaged the roads. He saidpotholes start with cracks on the road surface.Those cracks are caused by routine traffic andageing.He added that the road maintenance team onlyfills the potholes with sand and cement andleave. “The sand and cement they use to patchthe potholes do not last even a week. If the crackis patched properly, there is more protectionand heavy rain is less likely to penetrate thesurface. When we experience cracks on theroad, the water penetrates into the sub-baseand the base underneath. This is gradually

Horrific Limpopo Provincial roads maintenanceforms a pothole," he said. Another motoristJohannes Moukangwe said that the province isnot doing enough to ensure the proper mainte-nance of the Provincial Roads. He said thegovernment is currently using a poor system toconstruct new roads.“That is indicative of a much bigger problem.We have poor maintenance of all infrastruc-tures including water supply systems, pipescorroding, storm water drainage, seweragesystem overloading. The Provincial Roads havesteadily deteriorated because of shortages ofskilled personnel, inadequate funding and thelack of routine and periodic maintenance. Thesehave resulted in the provincial roads beingeasily damaged and put motorists’ lives indanger,” he said.Basic maintenance includes filling potholes,cleaning drains, sealing cracks, repairing shoul-ders, cutting grass, repairing guard rails andfences and replacing signs are not done prop-erly, not only in Moutse but in the entire prov-ince. Another motorist, Thabo Mosotho fromDennilton has also voiced his frustrations tothe Dispatch regarding the state of roads inMoutse after his vehicle sustained damagefrom a pothole in the area.“The roads are a mess and are always full of

water from the rain insummer. The potholesare not visible whenyou are driving on theroad and no one cansee what lies beneathuntil your vehicle goesover one. My Hondasustained major dam-age after I drove overone of the potholes inthe area. It will cost afortune to fix. I am sureI am not the only mo-torist who is upsetover the state of theroads in the area andsurely there must besomeone who has to take responsibility forthis. I just felt that for the first time in my life, Ihad to complain about our roads to some-body,” said Mr Mosotho.He added that if the roads are repaired, therepairs are done poorly with cheap materials. Atthe first sign of rain, the potholes reappear. “It'snot just potholes that worry us, but a numberof low lying bridges have been severely dam-aged and sinkholes have emerged in some

areas. With all the rain in the last few weeksthere have been a massive number of potholesand some sinkholes emerging but the provin-cial government is not promising anything todeal with the problem,” he said. The Dispatchspoke to the Limpopo Department of Roadsand Transport’s Jimmy Machaka and he prom-ised to investigate the matter and reply throughe-mail. His response didn’t reach the Dispatchat the time of going to print.

The Philadelphia Moteti Road that is full of potholes thatcauses punctures to some of the vehicles. Local residentsare seen every day filling the potholes with sand to enablemotorists to pass.

In 2006, the government has built the Leeufontein Taxi Rank that was tobe used by the local taxi association during that year. The taxi rank wasnever handed over officially to the community.According to the community, just with general elections around thecorner, the taxi rank has been handed over to the community by theEphraim Mogale Local Municipality on Sunday 13 April. “We were toldthat this was an official hand-over of the taxi rank by the government butsurprisingly, ANC pamphlets and T-shirts were distributed. This iswrong as the ruling party is using state resources to campaign for thecoming elections,” said Thabo Malekane, a community member. Headded that during the event each and every speaker was preaching forthe ruling party’s support while they were supposed to formally present

Handover or political campaign?the project to the people. “The rank is currently not in use and somecriminals already vandalized it. The rank is also a distance away from thepeople which means the government did not consult the communitybefore they started the project. They just keep on promising us servicesand then disappear after we vote for them,” he said. The Communica-tions Manager at Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality Mr Jan Phashatold the Dispatch that the hand-over was in the municipality’s pro-gramme as part of service delivery. “The state resources were there todo government duties not for the party. The event was on our programmeand the municipality is still going to hand-over more projects to thecommunity. There was no ANC T-shirt distribution as it was a govern-ment event,” he said.

The Leeufontein Taxi Rank that wasconstructed in 2006.

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Recently, Elias Motsoaledi Local MunicipalityMayor Wendy Matemane launched a plant andmachinery program across all 30 wards to fixinternal roads after they were washed away bythe heavy rains. The program of roads re-graveling was introduced as an emergencyproject by the Mayor to ensure safety amongstcommunity members.Some community members in the ward seemednot to be welcoming the project in their villagesas they turned away the grader that was sup-posed to maintain the internal roads in MotetiLiberty, Elias Motsoaledi ward 7. According tothe community, these people stopped servicesdue to its political motivation. They knew thatthe Mayor was going to visit the area and the

Unhappy residents stop service delivery at Moteti Libertycommunity. “A consultation is needed betweenthe government and community to make surethat the incident is not repeated. This will bedone in community meetings that will be organ-ized to address the community about servicedelivery programs,” he said.

The damaged roads at Moteti Liberty Village where agrader was turned away when it was sent by the municipal-ity to fix the roads.

SuccessfulEaster

Campaign bySDM

After Sekhukhune District Municipalitylaunched a successful Operation Thibela Kotsifor the recent Easter Holidays, the number offatal accidents has dropped. The district haslaunched its Operation Thibela Kotsi which isa part of the Easter Arrive Alive on the 16 April2014 at Burgersfort, Tubatse Crossing Mall.Sekhukhune District has previously experi-enced more fatalities than other districts in theprovince during previous Easter holidays andthe aim of the campaign was to ensure that thenumber of accidents dropping rapidly in thedistrict.This was also done by the district in embarkingon a journey that was redefine traffic law en-forcement and increase safety on the roads.Speaking on behalf of the Executive Mayor,MMC for Community Services Ms DaisyMokoka said: “We wish to send out a very clearmessage, we will not tolerate irresponsiblebehaviour on our roads. We will show the truevalue of what we are made of in realizing ourgoal of eliminating the carnage on our roads.We have initiated yet another targeted cam-paign under the battle cry ‘Operation ThibelaKotsi’ (OTK) as our rallying theme to ensurethat this Easter becomes the safest ever. Thiscampaign is based on an old adage, preventionis better than cure.”Mokoka added that with this campaign, theyencourage road users to do their best in avoid-ing road crashes than to live with the horrors ofthe after crash.“We call upon everybody to help us preventthe echoing sounds of a cry of an orphan childwho lost a mother and/or father, the cry of adevastated parent who lost a son or daughter,the heart wrenching cry of a widow or widowerand the harrowing cry of a family member, afriend, a brother, a sister, a neighbour and acolleague as a result of road fatalities.”She concluded by saying that through Opera-tion Thibela Kotsi they deployed traffic offic-ers out in full force manning the roads andevery entry and exit point into and out of thedistrict including major roads.“We will be visible all over the ports of entry,byways and streets showing no mercy to thosewho disregard road rules. We implore uponroad users to operate within the parameters ofthe law,” she said.

road maintenance was only to make the roadsaccessible for the Mayor and other municipalofficials.The actions were condemned by other commu-nity members when saying that these individu-als have no right to stop services.“When receiving the news, we went to inves-tigate and stop those people but it was too lateas the grader had already left. The roads aredamaged and as local motorists, we struggle toreach our homes,” said one of the communitymembers Mr Morudi. He added that they arenow planning to go back to the municipality torequest the grader to come back and fix theroads. Elias Motsoaledi APC Councillor MrIsaac Mkhaliphi has also condemned the actsand said no one is allowed to stop services toreach the people. “We are now in a situationwhere people need services such as road main-tenance and it is disappointing to see some ofthe people behaving that way. This is an emer-gency service and it is needed with immediateeffect to make our roads accessible.” he said.Mkaliphi added that people must stop makingservice delivery a political dispute amongst the

Lavios Nkadimengfrom Elias MotsoalediLocal Municipalityconfirmed that thegrader was turnedaway by some of thecommunity membersin Moteti Liberty.“The municipality de-cided to stop thegrader from maintain-ing the internal roadsfearing for damage toproperty by the un-happy communitymembers of MotetiLiberty. At the stagethe grievances of theindividuals are not

known. We will engage with the unhappy com-munity members to resolve the matter. Themunicipality is going to send the grader back tothe village for road maintenance. We will in-volve law enforcement if people try to stopservices to reach the people,” he said.

MMC for Community Services MsDaisy Mokoka addressing the peopleduring the Operation Thibela KotsiEaster Campaign.

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Striving to reinforce the Ndlovu Care Group’sCHAMP model, which includes building self-esteem towards self-actualisation amongst theyouth of Elandsdoorn, Ndlovu was delightedby the interest that the annual Career Exhibitiongenerated this year.Ndlovu Care Group in co-operation with theBantwana Youth Initiative (BYI) presented theexhibition with the support of the Departmentof Education. The event was attended by morethan 1000 learners and teachers from surround-ing schools. The attendance showed a gratify-ing increase in interest since the previous year’sexhibition. Career consultants from variousuniversities, banks and other corporates, ex-tended advice and invitations to access courses,bursaries and job opportunities for this year’smatriculants. The exhibition created a revived optimism anddetermination to succeed amongst learners.The opportunities that exist were an eye-openerfor learners and teachers alike. Most learners inthe Moutse district have restricted access tothe social media which provide the urgent pur-suit of career advice and support.The Ndlovu Chill Hub, where learners accessafter school study support, collaborates withschools to identify the needs of learners andoffers assistance where possible. The substan-tial increase in the matric pass rate of schoolsin the Moutse area in the past year is givingevidence of the positive outcome of this initia-tive taking by the Ndlovu Care Group.Mr Stuart, the Circuit Manager of Moutse Eastsaid: “Initiatives like this, where old graduatesof our schools plough back into the communitymotivate our children to strive for good matricresults; the youth of the Bantwana Youth Ini-tiative are also playing a major role and are alsorole models to other young people.”

Career Day at Ndlovu’s Miracle Theatre

The battle between Better Education for All (Befa) and the Departmentof Basic Education will continue on Wednesday 30 April in the HighCourt in Pretoria. BEFA, an NGO Section 27, took the Department ofBasic Education to court over the alleged shortage of text books inLimpopo. Thousands of undelivered textbooks were found in a collegewarehouse in Jane Furse.The court has heard that the department is yet to deliver over 150 000textbooks to 39 schools. BEFA said in a statement that the court shouldgrant them an interdict as they cannot solely rely on the department todeliver the books on the set dates.The department has however acknowledged there was a shortage ofbooks in the province due to budgetary constraints, but have sinceattended to the matter and promises to deliver all text books by June9.

Textbook delaymatter now in

court

Some of learners from Moutse enquiring from EkurhuleniWest College representative at the Ndlovu Miracle Theatrein Elandsdoorn.

A number of universities including University of SouthAfrica (UNISA) offered exhibition to learners.

A case of theft was opened in Groblersdal after a male victim wasrobbed of a rifle in his parked vehicle in Groblersdal Town.According to Warrant Officer Stanley Magaela from GroblersdalSAPS, on Tuesday 22 April around 10:00 am, the victim parked hisvehicle at Van Riebeck Street in Groblersdal Town and went forshopping. He came back to find that his rifle was missing.He reported the matter to the police and the search was startedimmediately but the suspect(s) was not found. A case of theft wasopened at Groblersdal SAPS. The police appeal to motorists aroundtown to make sure that their vehicles are locked before entering theshops. “Car owners must re-check that their vehicles are lockedproperly after they used mobilizers.Criminals use their own devices to make sure that your mobilizerdoesn’t lock the vehicle properly to gain access and steal your items,”said Magaela. The police are investigating.

Rifle stolen fromparked vehicle

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On Wednesday 9 April, seventy seven disadvantaged studentsfrom the boundaries of Elias Motsoaledi received bursaries fromthe Mayor Cllr Wendy Matemane. The beneficiaries were awardedthe funds to further their studies in a prestigious event held atSekhukhune FET College’s CS Barlow Campus in Motetema. Thebursary fund is a part of Elias Motsoaledi Mayor’s initiative toassist disadvantaged students who applied for assistance at themunicipality.Some of students who received bursaries were already studyingbut could not afford to pay for their fees in various tertiaryinstitutions for the 2013/2014 academic year.The goal of the external bursary programme is to maximise thedevelopment opportunities for the residents of Elias MotsoalediLocal Municipality as the municipality makes educational progresspossible in the community.“This administration recognises the crucial role education playsin filling job opportunities. Not only do we invest in skillsdevelopment for our staff, but we also invest in opening upbroader opportunities especially for the youth and lesser advan-taged communities. Which is why we ensure that those who areunable to study further are given a chance to do so,” said the

EMLM Mayor awards bursariesDirector of Community Services in Elias Motsoaledi Koporo Tshesane.Of the seventy seven selected students awarded the Elias MotsoalediLocal Municipality Mayor’s Bursary Fund for 2013/2014, 49 of them haveenrolled at Sekhukhune FET College CS Barlow Campus and the other28 enrolled at various institutions in the country.

Director of Community Services in EliasMotsoaledi Koporo Tshesane addressing thestudents at Sekhukhune FET College CSBarlow Campus.

The Sekhukhune FET College CS Barlow Campus hallwas full with students who were going to receive bursaryfunds.

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Nedbank and the Sekhukhune District Munici-pality donated a mobile library to RammupuduPrimary School in Tafelkop on Wednesday 16April. The bank has also donated a mobilelibrary to Segole Primary School at RamatataneVillage in Limpopo in partnership with the De-

Nedbank donates library

partment of Correctional Services. The officialhand over of an estimated R100 000 worth of amobile library was attended by Kgoshi BoleuRammupudu, Circuit Manager Mr PR Matlala,educators, learners and community members.The donations are part of Nedbank’s R2.7 mil-

lion investments towards mobile libraries andlaboratories in 2014 as part of the bank’s FundisaHolistic Programme. The programme builds ef-fective schools through infrastructure devel-opment, teacher training, leadership capacityand provision of classroom based support.

The mobile equipment will be distributed toschools across South Africa. R1.7 million willgo towards mobile laboratories, while R1 mil-lion will be used for mobile libraries, says KoneGugushe, Divisional Executive for CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) at Nedbank.

Ms Mmashadi Makwana from Nedbank Ms MW Skhosanaand Grade 4 learners showing off the new donated libraryat Rammupudu Primary School in Tafelkop.

Ms Rhulani Lehong from Nedbank, Mr J.Z Masina Prin-cipal of Rammupudu Primary School, Kgoshi BoleuRammupudu II and Grade 1 learners in the new mobilelibrary donated by Nedbank.

Three suspects were arrested by the Groblersdal Police after breakingin at Edgars clothing shop the police said.The incident took place on Tuesday 22 April around 20:00. Accordingto Warrant Officer Stanley Magaela of Groblersdal SAPS, the suspectswere caught after the police noticed the sound of an alarm coming fromthe shop.The police rushed to the scene and managed to arrest two suspectsinside the shop. During the arrest, the suspects already opened the safeand also packed new cell phones.The other suspects fled the scene and the police later arrested the thirdsuspect in Motetema. An undisclosed amount of money is missing fromthe shop and the police are still looking for other suspects.A case of house breaking and theft was opened at the Groblersdal SAPSand investigations continue.

Suspectsarrested at

crime scene inGroblersdal

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On Wednesday 16 April Dennilton SAPS FChosted Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality FCfor a Groblersdal Cluster soccer league match.The match was organized at Philadelphia SportsGround and started at 16:30.The match started with the hosts dominatingthe match in the entire field. SAPS scored theiropening goal by Thabo in the 8th minute aftera counter in the box when the ball deflected onthe goalie and went straight into the net, 1-0 itwas to Dennilton SAPS. After the opening goalSAPS had another good scoring chance whenLouis Choshi make a counter and penetratedthe defenders but his shot went slightly offpost when he tried to beat the goalie in the box.In the 14th minute Thabo scored a second goalwhen he sent the goalie to the wrong way tomake it 2-0 to Dennilton SAPS.After SAPS extended the lead, the visitorsstarted losing their balls to the opponents at theback and they were nearly punished afterManyaka grabbed a ball from the defender buthe missed facing the goalkeeper.After dominating the match from the referee’sfirst blow, Dennilton SAPS extended the leadwhen scoring a third goal by Ntshwane, abeautiful finisher in the box after a square passin position 7, 3-0 it was. After being pressured,the municipality tried to make a comeback whenTau make a strike out of the box trying to beatthe goalie from a distance but his shot wentwide.SAPS scored a fourth goal by Choshi when hepenetrated the defenders to beat the goal-keeper making it 4-0. A few minutes later justbefore the end of the first half, Manyaka scoredSAPS’ fifth goal. It was 5-0 to Dennilton SAPSduring break.

Dennilton SAPS’ easy win against EMLMIn the second half Elias Motsoaledi started the match by creating scoringchances but they were denied by the defenders. By being denied to enterthe box, the municipality started using sides to penetrate the defendersbut failed to make good square passes to enter the box.A sixth goal for SAPS was scored by Madida, a long range out of the boxhanging the goalie. The municipality managed to score their first whenattacking in position 7 where a deep square was played into the box tofind Tau who scored the first goal for his side, 6-1 it was. After their firstgoal, Elias Motsoaledi started pressurizing to score more goals but theirattempts were fruitless when most of their scoring opportunities wentwide.Madida scored SAPS’ 7th goal in the 78th minute, a close range beatingthe goalkeeper in the box after a counter attack. A few minutes later,Dennilton SAPS’ Bongani scored an eighth goal one-on-one sendingthe goalkeeper to the wrong way. The match ended 8-1 to DenniltonSAPS FC defeating Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality FC in theGroblersdal Cluster Soccer League match.

Dennilton SAPS’ Bongani denying an Elias Motsoalediplayer to penetrate during the match.

Lepelle FC has been disqualified in theGroblersdal Cluster Soccer League.According to the Public Relations Officer of theleague Mr Madida Ndala, the club was disquali-fied after failing to play at least three leaguematches.“The team’s representative knows very wellthat it is in our rules that if you fail to play threeleague matches you are disqualified from theleague. As the management we decided to pullthe team out of the league because they are notparticipating” said Madida.He added that at this stage they have not yetfound a team that will replace Lepelle. “Any

Soccer fixturesinterested team that can participate in the league on Wednesdays iswelcome to contact me on 083 487 5706,” concluded Madida Ndala.The fixture of Wednesday 30 April is as follows: Epilepsy SA V/SMotetema SAPS at Kgothala Secondary Sports Grounds in Elandsdoorn,Department of Roads and Transport V/S Department of Education atLeeufontein Sports Ground,Philadelphia Hospital V/S Department of Agriculture at PhiladelphiaSports Ground,Groblersdal Hospital V/S Pick n Pay Groblersdal at Chris Wiid Stadium,Dennilton SAPS v/S Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality at PhiladelphiaSports Ground and Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality V/S SekhukhuneDistrict Municipality at Chris Wiid Stadium.Matlala Hospital’s match was postponed as they were supposed to facethe disqualified Lepelle.

SAPS were playing very well at the back to deny EliasMotsoaledi from scoring goals in the first half.