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Matric paper leak

Posted on Thursday 22 October 2009 at 07:28 AM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Johannesburg - Three people were arrested in Nelspruit after they were found in possession of leaked 2009 matric examination papers, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday.

Two matric pupils and a teacher were found in possession of examination papers for Mathematics Paper 1 and 2, Physical Science Paper 1 and 2, and Accounting, said pearl beads Captain Leonard Hlathi.

He said one pupil and the teacher were arrested on Tuesday and the other pupil was arrested on Wednesday.

"We have charged them with breaching the Control Access Information Act of 2000. They will all appear at the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court on Thursday."

Hlathi said the examination papers were now held as evidence by the police.

Mpumalanga education department spokesperson Jasper Zwane confirmed the arrests. He said the three were in possession of examination "material" that they were not supposed to rope pearl necklace possess.

"Investigations are ongoing to verify the type of material, the spread and if it can be linked to the coming examinations," said Zwane.

Zwane commended the police for their swiftness in handling the matter.

Matric examinations will commence on October 26.

'Zero tolerance' in Standerton

Posted on Thursday 22 October 2009 at 07:24 AM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Johannesburg - The ANC said on Wednesday that the firing of the mayor, mayoral committee, the speaker and the chief whip of Mpumalanga's Lekwa municipality was done in accordance with its "zero tolerance" policy.

The decision comes after the party's NEC member Fikile Mbalula, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza met the leadership of Standerton following service delivery protests which turned violent.

The party says it has implemented a "zero tolerance" policy for officials who do not deliver services.

"The ANC is committed to bringing a lasting stability to freshwater pearl Lekwa and firmly believes that the unrest we have seen in the past weeks can be traced to the scramble for power and state resources in the local council.

"The ANC subscribes to the principle that people come first."

All councillors to resume duties

Lekwe municipality incorporates both the town of Standerton and neighbouring Sakhile township where the protests occurred.

The municipality will be put under administration by the Mpumalanga provincial government for a year "to freshwater pearl address concerns of mismanagement, weak administrative systems, charges of fraud and corruption".

However all councillors, including two that resigned last week, would resume their duties, despite calls for their resignation.

Community activist Phanuel Manana told Sapa: "The NWC [ANC national working committee] did not recommend that councillors resign.

"But we are happy because they will not enjoy the powers that they used to pearl jewelry wholesale have as they will be reporting to the province."

Sakhile residents broke out in song to celebrate the ANC's decision.

"We are now going to the [Sakhile] stadium to report back to the masses," Manana said.

'Punish, then forgive Reitz 4'

Posted on Thursday 22 October 2009 at 07:22 AM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Cape Town - The students at the heart of the Reitz hostel racism row should be punished before being forgiven, an international jurist said on Wednesday.

"You must punish, and then [reconcile]. You don't start by reconciling.

"Because if you don't punish, what are you doing? You are developing impunity. It will be repeated again and again," Michelo Hansungule told an Africa Human Rights Day meeting in Cape Town.

Hansangule teaches law at the University of Pretoria and is a member of the International Commission of Jurists.

His remarks followed the decision by the university's new rector, Jonathan Jansen, to pearl necklace withdraw disciplinary charges against four white students behind a 2007 racist incident.

The students videotaped three Reitz cleaners eating meat which had been apparently been urinated on.

Jansen's decision aroused the ire of the ANC and the higher education ministry, but was supported by archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, who said Jansen had "done us proud".

The SA Human Rights Commission said this week it would still pursue civil action against the university and the students.

The four are expected to leisure chairs appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on October 26 on charges of crimen injuria.

Govt mulls single election

Posted on Thursday 22 October 2009 at 07:18 AM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Johannesburg - The idea of a single election will be discussed at a local government meeting in Boksburg, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka said on Wednesday.

This year national and provincial government elections were held in April, while local government elections are scheduled for 2011.

"This matter was raised by the people on the ground... They believe we must be able to pearl wholesale align and simplify our system of government," Shiceka said.

The idea would be put to the delegates at the indaba and would then go to the various levels of government for further discussion.

Watershed meeting

Shiceka described the indaba as a "watershed meeting" aimed at answering the questions raised by President Jacob Zuma regarding local government.

Possible constitutional changes and a possible review of certain laws may result from the meeting.

SA Local Government Association chairperson Amos Masondo said local government enjoyed powers and functions spelt out in the Constitution.

"... We had to go back to silver pearl necklace the drawing board and ask questions around what's working and what's not working," he said.

Masondo said functions, for example the delivery of housing, currently located at provincial and national level, could be delegated to local government level.

He said that capacity existed at local level to accomplish this and where it did not exist the capacity could be built.

'Unprecedented' system of governance

The indaba comes in the wake of protests against lack of service delivery across the country with many turning violent and seeing the destruction of property.

Shiceka said a turnaround strategy would be put together by December and go through Keishi pearl the various levels of government for discussion and implementation early next year.

"When you buy services you must get value for your money.

"We are going to have a system of local governance that is unprecedented in South Africa."

A report on the state of local government was released at the conference, which indicated that 30% of the protests from January to July this year took place in Gauteng.

North West experienced 17% of the protests, 15% were in the Free State and 12% in the Western Cape.

64 municipalities in dire straits

Posted on Thursday 22 October 2009 at 07:14 AM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Johannesburg - At least 64 municipalities were on the financial distress list, a report on the state of local government in South Africa revealed on Wednesday.

"From evidence to date, it is clear that much of local government is indeed in distress, and that this state of affairs has become deeply rooted within our system of governance," the document said.

The assessment, carried out in all nine provinces, found that there was an overall vacancy rate of 12% for senior managers in local government.

The Northern Cape had the highest vacancy rates and Gauteng was the only province that had all chief financial officer (CFO) posts filled.

Gender equity in senior positions was also poor with playground equipment only 9% of municipal managers nationwide being women.

Removing bad apples

The document stated that procedural mechanisms "must" be in place to remove those who were not performing and those involved in irregularities.

Municipal managers of eight Western Cape municipalities were suspended, three in Mpumalanga and two in Limpopo.

"The regularity with which senior managers and municipal managers find themselves suspended by councils is an urgent issue to be addressed in respect to pearl jewelry wholesale the separation of powers in municipalities."

The national report was an initiative by Sicelo Shiceka, Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The assessments were designed to ascertain the root causes of distress in many of the country's 283 municipalities in order to inform a national turn-around strategy for local government.

Lack of skills

Insufficient municipal capacity due to lack of scarce skills was one of the department's main challenges, along with poor financial management, corruption, and service delivery delays.

The report found that skills scarcity was deepened by the decline of municipal professional associations and poor linkages between local government and the tertiary education sector.

"Functional overreach and complexity are forcing many municipalities into wholesale pearl jewelry distress mode, exacerbated by the poor leadership and support from other spheres and stakeholders."

Service failures by municipalities were attributed to elements of "uneven and unstable" governance.

Few financial resources

"There is evidence of a high incidence of irregular or inappropriate appointments, coupled with low capacities, poor skills development programmes and weak institutional management.
"Those municipalities in remote areas experience the added challenge of access to pearl jewelry Chian skills and little understanding of their spatial and economic realities."

Weaker and more vulnerable municipalities also faced complex rural development problems while more stable municipalities dealt with increased urban growth.

The report found that the distressed municipalities lacked financial and human resources to deliver on their mandate and citizens' expectations.