ANC announces Geoff Makhubo as Joburg mayoral candidate

ANC has announced Geoff Makhubo as its mayoral candidate for City of Johannesburg.
Makhubo is the ANC’s regional chairperson since last year.

“The voice of the electorate must be respected therefore we are fielding a candidate. We are going to nominate comrade Geoff as the mayor of Johannesburg and we hope everything will go well,” said ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule.

Magashule said that they would also nominate Nonceba Molwele as the speaker.
Sowetan has learnt that the ANC has struck a deal with the IFP who have now agreed to vote for

Makhubo with them. The IFP has five seats in the City Of Johannesburg municipality.
The details of the deal are sketchy but one of the demands the IFP has allegedly put on the table is a guarantee of a municipality in KZN and two departments in Johannesburg.

It is understood that the ANC will let the IFP retain Abaqulusi local municipality near Newscastle when it comes to a vote.

City of Johannesburg council will today elect a new mayor to replace Herman Mashaba who resigned.

Mashaba’s tenure came to an end yesterday, a move that has left the DA exposed to a possibility of losing the metro.

The vote for mayor will be contested by DA’s Funzi Ngobeni, ANC’s Makhubo and EFF’s Musa Novela.

DA provincial leader John Moodey has said that DA was aware of the possibility of losing the mayorship today because the EFF had refused to engage with them after their divorce early this year.

If the EFF does not vote with the DA, the democrats will lose the metro.
"If the EFF doesn't vote with us on Thursday, we are going to lose the metro," said Moodey.
"There are no negotiations with the EFF. We tried to open up to them but...We are now going to go in the seating in good faith and hope that the EFF votes in good faith."

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Election of new Joburg mayor postponed

ANC's Jhb mayoral candidate Geoff Makhubo meeting EFF DP Floyd Shivambu along with SG Ace Magashule before the postponement
Image: Kgothatso Madisa

The election of City of Johannesburg mayor has been postponed to next week.
Speaker of council Vasco da Gama said that him and his legal advisors were confused by what constituted a majority vote.

The confusion was around whether a majority, which is 50% of votes plus one, gets reduced when there are absent councillors.

Da Gama assumes the role of acting Johannesburg mayor until a new one is elected.

The EFF said that they agreed with the speaker to postpone but the ANC in Johannesburg said that they viewed this move by the DA’s speaker, Da Gama, as a way of giving the two parties more time to come to an agreement.

“The speaker is correct that there is different interpretations of schedule 3 of the municipal structures act as to what majority is of council,” said EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu.

“Our interpretation is that it must be majority of all elected councillors. The other interpretations basically wants to say that whoever has got the highest vote must be elected mayor.”

ANC Johannesburg regional chairperson Dada Morero said that Da Gama was doing all he can in order to ensure the DA remains in power. He said they would therefore approach the court to stop the postponement.

“We think and believe that the DA has taken a stance that is very illegal. They actually ran away from allowing this meeting to proceed because the same majority that elected them in 2016 is the same rule book we are still using today. Why is so different today that it needs a legal opinion,” said Morero.
The council will sit on December 4.

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ANC heading to court over delay in appointing new Joburg mayor

The ANC says it will go to court over the postponement of a Johannesburg council meeting on Thursday that was meant to elect a new mayor.
The city currently has no mayor or executive and city manager Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni is now in charge.
After the postponement of the meeting by council speaker Vasco da Gama, ANC regional secretary Dada Morero confirmed the party would go to court, a move opposed by the DA and the EFF.
Postponing the meeting, Da Gama said he wanted to get a legal opinion on what the majority vote meant for the mayoral vote.
But the ANC insisted that Da Gama should have consulted and made a decision on Thursday because the council meeting had a quorum.

“We will raise the matter with the court ... So that the court can give a declaratory order in terms of the argument on the majority,” said Morero.

He said Da Gama's decision was illegal and the DA was running away because they knew that the ANC and its partners were going to win the day.

Morero said the same rules Da Gama wanted clarity on were used to elect the DA-run administration under former mayor Herman Mashaba.

But EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu criticised the ANC move, saying they would be wasting their money and would embarrass themselves in court.

DA Gauteng chairperson Mike Moriarty supported Da Gama, saying the postponement was the correct thing to do.

“The last thing you want to have is for an election to take place and then somebody who doesn't win will suddenly go to court,” said Moriarty.

He said the postponement was just for a couple of days to get clarity on ambiguity in the council rules on what the majority meant.

He said there would be no collapse of the city's services because of the postponement.
The ANC attended the meeting with high hopes of taking over the city after negotiations with the IFP.
The party's regional chairperson, Geoff Makhubo, was going to contest as a candidate against the

DA's Funzi Ngobeni and EFF's Musa Novela.
The DA was likely to lose the contest after it fell out of favour with the EFF, which has kept it in power since 2016.

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Society needs to change, says minister raped on church premises

A case of rape has been opened for investigation, Eastern Cape police have confirmed.
Image: phartisan/123RF

A Methodist minister is undergoing counselling after she was raped in a church residence in Qunu, Eastern Cape, this month.
The church said in a statement: "According to the report we received, on the night of Saturday 16 November, an unidentified man broke into her manse and raped her.

“We are disappointed and dismayed that this ghastly and violent act took place in a place that is meant to be a safe haven for ministers and their families."
Eastern Cape police spokesperson Capt Dineo Koena said the minister was asleep when she felt a person on top her. The man allegedly raped the 45-year-old woman before fleeing the scene.
A rape case has been opened. No arrest has been made.
The minister has been placed on leave and is receiving counselling.

On Tuesday she spoke to the Sowetan's sister publication Daily Dispatch. She said she woke up to find a man in her bedroom, after he had broken in through a window.
“I begged him not to rape me, but he just said I must let him do what he wanted. I even offered him my car,” she said.

“It’s traumatising and my prayer is for this to never happen to anyone. Police, government, churches and other stakeholders must fight this scourge and women must support one another.

"Our societies need to change. Men must stop seeing women as sex objects. They need to be taught that women are not toys and we are all equal before God,” she said.
The church said it was looking into ways to increase security at its premises.

“We pray that the perpetrator will be apprehended soon to facilitate the minister’s healing and that of the community of Qunu,” it added.

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PE's vandalised Red Location Museum could reopen soon

The Red Location Museum in New Brighton, built to honour anti-apartheid heroes but closed by residents since 2013, may soon be reopened. But the museum has been badly damaged by vandals.

The museum, built at a cost of R22m, has won several international architecture awards. Its structure is similar to the surrounding informal settlements and is made of 12 corrugated iron boxes. It was opened on November 10 2006.

But residents closed down the museum in protest over a housing dispute. They wanted their defective 48 square metre RDP houses, built in 1998, to be rebuilt, but the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and the provincial department of human settlements said the houses could only be rebuilt at 40 square metres. Residents said this was too small and shut down the museum in protest.

As negotiations dragged on, the museum was vandalised and guards were attacked. A  guard was killed in 2014. Electric cables have been ripped out, expensive photographs of struggle heroes and the museum vehicle have been stolen, metal sheets and aluminium pipes have been taken and sewerage pipes have been removed, leaving smelly sewage leaks.

Thando Msikinya of the Red Location Working Committee said: “We shut down the museum because we deserve better living conditions. But thugs are vandalising our museum. We cannot fold our arms and let our museum be destroyed.”

Masiza Mazizi, spokesperson for human settlements MEC Nonkqubela Pieters, said negotiations over the rebuilding of the houses were now over and approvals had been signed. Msikinya confirmed that the committee had received a letter via the ward councillor that their housing demands had been approved and as a result the museum could be reopened.

Msikinya said the committee had other demands which it would negotiate with the municipality once the museum had been opened.

“We are having sleepless nights because thugs are looting our museum,” said Msikinya. “These criminals are armed and dangerous. In 2014 they shot and killed a guard patrolling the museum outside. From there they looted the power substation of the museum and left the building in darkness.”

Since then, he says, the vandals have not stopped.
“The palisade fence has been vandalised. Doors, photographs and metal sheets, air conditioners, lights and electric cables have been stolen. We saw a photo of Oom Govan Mbeki in one of the pawn shops in Dasi. We saw 15 metal sheets at one of the scrap yards in Deal Party. Then we recovered nine library chairs from one of the local taverns.

“In September this year a Mazda 323 that was used for museum deliveries was stolen. It had been parked inside the museum since its closure. The storeroom where the wealth of this museum was kept has been destroyed,” Msikinya said.
He said guards alone could not deal with the vandalism. “Our guards are not safe here. We ask them to call us when they see anything suspicious or hear any vandalism at the museum. But it is not easy to go and patrol on that side because is too dark. These thugs are armed with knives, axes and pangas. They know the ins and outs of this building.
“Kids are painting on the walls and writing rude remarks while some relieve themselves here at the museum.”

The Red Location Museum won several architecture awards.
Image: GroundUp/Mkhuseli Sizani

Msikinya said New Brighton police had been failing in their duty. “We arrest the criminals and call them. But they release them the following day. We have several cases of vandalism that have been reported at the police station. But there is no progress with them,” Msikinya said.

New Brighton police spokesperson Capt Andre Beetge confirmed that many cases involving vandalism had been opened at New Brighton Police Station.

“This year alone we opened about four cases, ranging from malicious damage to property, to attempted theft and burglary. Some of these cases are still in court and suspects were arrested. Some were withdrawn due to the lack of information.

“We are doing our best in patrolling the area and assist when we are called by the guards.”
He said a murder case had been opened after the death of the guard but he was not able to check on progress with the case.

Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral spokesperson George Geleba said the budget to repair the museum had been approved and work would start soon. A budget of R21m had been approved to reopen the museum, including R4m for the Red Location Art Gallery, R8m for the digital library, R1m for the “re-curation” of the museum and R8m for a Rivonia trial sculpture.

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Mokwena convinced Motshwari is good enough for a place in the Bafana midfield

Ben Motshwari of Orlando Pirates during the Absa Premiership 2019/20 match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at FSoccer City, Polokwane, on 09 November 2019.

 

Orlando Pirates coach Rulani Mokwena is convinced that Ben Motshwari is good enough to make a strong challenge for a place in the Bafana Bafana midfield.

Mokwena has so much confidence in Motshwari's ability that he has communicated his views to national team coach Molefi Ntseki.

“Look‚ the coach (Ntseki) knows (how he feels)‚” said Mokwena.
“I speak to coach Molefi Ntseki and I think he knows my stance on that.

"And he knows how I feel about Ben Motshwari not being in the national team.

“If you ask him he will confirm to you that we’ve discussed Ben Motshwari at length‚ but sometimes these conversations must be left for coach to coach."

The Pirates player is yet to earn a Bafana cap but came very close to earning a place in the side that participated in the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt a few months ago after he was included in the provisional squad.

Mokwena said he was happy that Bafana have a coach like Ntseki.

“We’ve had lengthy conversations with regard to the national team‚" he said.

"We’re fortunate to have a national coach that is very open.

“He phones‚ he picks up the phone and he discusses when he wants information on players he wants.

"He even discusses his call ups and things like that.

“So when you got a colleague that’s respectful to your opinions‚ I mean‚ you’ll wish them well and you’ll give them as much support as you can.

“But now he knows that Ben is fully fit.

"He’s fully fit and he’s definitely a national team material.

“I think we all know that. He’s definitely a national team material.”

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Parliament welcomes SIU raid over failed Giyani water project

Parliament's water and sanitation committee on Monday welcomed a raid by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on the Lepelle Northern Water Board offices in Polokwane.
The raid comes amid allegations of corruption in an incomplete multibillion-rand water infrastructure project in the Giyani area. 

“All allegations of corruption must be investigated and concluded so that if there is any unlawful activity, adequate consequences are meted out. It is unacceptable that the project has not been concluded since its launch in 2014, which robs residents of much-needed water,” said committee chair Machwene Semenya.

At least one person died as a result of the incomplete project. The boy was alleged to have been fatally injured when he fell into a trench dug by a contractor earlier this year.

The Democratic Alliance also welcomed the raid.

“The R3.5bn project was intended to supply water to Giyani and surrounding villages, but for the past eight years, around 50 villages around Giyani have had no clean drinking water,” said DA spokesperson Jacques Smalle.

“Currently residents have to walk for up to 5km to carry contaminated water back to their houses,” he added.

Smalle blamed the government, saying corruption and irregular expenditure had left the people of Giyani suffering.

“It’s clear the department of water and sanitation has failed the people of Giyani.
"Lepelle Northern Water Board’s mandate was the implementation of the regional bulk infrastructure, operations and maintenance thereof,” he said. Instead, the project was abandoned after the department allegedly failed to pay the contractor.

Smalle expressed confidence that the SIU investigation would yield results.
Southern Sky earlier spoke to SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, who explained how they were forced to conduct the raid.

"We are here to look for a list of documents that will assist us in completing our investigations. We have been asking for the documents and Lepelle Northern Water has been refusing to give them to us, hence we obtained a court order for raid and seizure," he said.

The state water implementing agency was not co-operating with the investigation, he said.
"Some of the senior officials even went to court in an attempt to stop the investigation."

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