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The City of Tshwane has warned the public about scammers who are going around Tshwane charging application fees for the city’s Marabastad Townland Social Housing Project.

The city’s MMC for Human Settlements, Mpho Mehlape-Zimu, said the scammers impersonate and act as agents or officials of the Housing Company Tshwane (HCT), a housing entity of the City of Tshwane.

“The City would like to make it unreservedly clear to our residents that the application process for the Marabastad Townland Social Housing Project is free of charge. Another important notice for residents is that applications for Phase 1 opened on 20 September 2021 and officially closed on 1 October 2021,” Mehlape-Zimu said.

The multimillion rand social housing project, which is managed by HCT, consists of 1 200 mixed units, and is set to benefit Tshwane residents who do not qualify for government sponsored housing, and do not earn enough to qualify for home loans (earning between R1 500 ad R15 000 per month).

Following the opening of the application process, Mehlape-Zimu said the HCT has received an overwhelming response.

“HCT would like to inform applicants that the screening and vetting process has started in earnest and should be concluded by 26 October 2021 [and] both successful and unsuccessful applicants will receive communication relating to the outcome of their application by 28 October 2021.

“All successful applicants in the pre-screening phase will be invited to attend a compulsory information session. The details of the session will be communicated via SMS or email notification that will be sent by HCT,” she said.

The City also reminded applicants that the social housing project is “purely for rental with no option for ownership”.

Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has announced government’s plans to review the Housing Subsidy System (HSS) to improve data integrity and ensure that there is a common understanding on the housing needs in the country.

Kubayi said it is highly regrettable that there are people who have been waiting for their houses for over 10 years, while others who applied after them have since benefitted.

The Minister said this while addressing the Phakgameng community at Modimolle-Mookgophong in Limpopo.

“This creates distrust between government and the people we are meant to serve. The system has to be flexible and secure enough to allow people to update their status, including changes to areas where they live,” Kubayi said.

The Minister who had been a two-day provincial visit, which concluded on Friday, also emphasised the need to accelerate housing delivery across the country, in order to restore the dignity of people.

She further appealed to people that have received houses and title deeds to value what has been given to them.

As part of the provincial visit, Kubayi, together with Deputy Minister of Human Settlements Pam Tshwete and Limpopo Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) MEC Basikopo Makamu, handed over 201 title deeds to beneficiaries of fully subsidised government houses.

She also visited a number of housing projects in and around Polokwane.

Makamu welcomed the Minister’s visit, noting that her intervention in the provincial department’s housing challenges would go a long way in reducing people’s frustrations.

He said the province had made some headway in bolstering capacity for project management, whose lack had a visible effect in meeting housing delivery targets.

Kubayi is currently criss-crossing the country to assess progress on the delivery of human settlements. The provinces of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal are next on the Minister’s list.

Western Cape police last week scored major successes when 19 illegal firearms, 790 rounds of ammunition and drugs worth R2 million were confiscated during various operations.

Provincial SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Novela Potelwa, said the operations were executed throughout the province between Monday and Sunday.

The operations, she said, had a specific focus on identified hotspots and crime generators.

“In the main, illegal firearms and to some extent, other dangerous weapons, continue to contribute to serious violent crimes such as murder, attempted murder, hijacking and armed robbery. The seizures comprised rifles, pistols, gas guns and imitation firearms.”

On Thursday evening, members of the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) chased and arrested a 40-year-old suspect from Bonteheuwel and seized an unlicensed rifle. The next day, AGU in Bishop Lavis confiscated two pistols and charged a 34-year-old suspect with strong links to gangs.  He was charged with possession of prohibited firearms.

Meanwhile, members of the Cape Town K-9 unit on Thursday followed up on information about a vehicle, whose occupants were behaving suspiciously in the Blackheath industrial area.

Potelwa said police, upon searching the vehicle on the corner of Range and Stellenbosch Arterial roads, discovered a 9mm firearm in a black paper bag on the back seat and another 9mm pistol on one of the four occupants of the vehicle. All four suspects were subsequently arrested.

“Lockdown II forces deployed in Delft stopped and searched several persons and seized 16 knives and dangerous weapons. The same Lockdown II forces discovered an abandoned gas gun in Viscount Street at The Hague.

“Two suspects, aged 28 and 30, were arrested by police in Basboom Street in Delft South on Tuesday for possession of homemade guns (zip guns),” she said.

Meanwhile in Atlantis, a 17-year-old was apprehended by the Atlantis crime prevention unit members for possession of a 9mm pistol. In the same precinct, a 28-year-old was arrested for possession of an imitation firearm on Monday.

Other firearms were seized in operations in Nyanga, Gugulethu, Delft, Steenberg and Khayelitsha.

On Saturday evening, the Breede River K-9 unit members arrested three suspects – aged 20, 23 and 26- in Roodewal Flats, Worcester, for possession of stolen vehicle batteries.

Three suspects were arrested by Lockdown II forces on Saturday in Nyanga at a vehicle checkpoint with house breaking implements. The vehicle the suspects were in was discovered to have been stolen in September in Harare, Khayelitsha. The vehicle has since been linked to several house robberies.

The three suspects – aged 17, 23 and 24 – have been charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and house breaking implements. As investigations continue, the suspects could face additional charges.

On Sunday morning, members of the George Public Order Police, deployed in hotspots in the Cape Town metropole, discovered during a routine stop and search on Lillian Ngoyi Street, Samora Machel, a vehicle reportedly stolen in Indwe in the Eastern Cape in June 2021. A 33-year-old suspect was henceforth arrested.

On the drug front, Eden and Central Karoo rural flying squad members intercepted drug consignments worth over R2 million in two major seizures during the week.

All suspects arrested over the weekend will appear in various courts on Monday.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development says it has made strides in recovery after its IT systems experienced a ransomware attack last month.

During the attack, the department’s IT systems were encrypted and unavailable to officials and the public and affecting all of the department’s electronic systems.

The department now says the spread of the malware – or malicious software – has been contained and some online services have been restored.

According to the department, a team comprising of departmental officials, industry specialists and advisors from organs of State is working to ensure as little disruption as possible to child maintenance payments in particular.

“Another critical area that has been given high priority is the electronic recording of court proceedings to ensure that courts are able to operate as normal. Most of the recordings are intact, and able to sync back to the central repository.

“Where courts are still experiencing challenges, a special capacity has been deployed to attend to queries on a case-by-case basis. The web portal that is used by transcribers to download court recordings for transcription purposes was successfully restored,” the department said in a statement.

Progress has also been made in the restoration on its Integrated Case Management System – an administration system used in the courts.

“Parts of the system are already accessible, such as curatorship, and the online portals used for historic searches. More work will be done in the next few days to complete the process of bringing back online functionality in respect of Trusts, Deceased Estates and Insolvencies, among others,” the Justice department said.

The department added that a high-level assessment on the 1 200 files containing personal information that may have been compromised during the attack has been finalised.

“The department has strengthened security measures to protect sensitive personal information under its custodianship. Measures include upgrading our ICT security infrastructure and ensuring more stringent access control electronic and physical,” it said.

South Africa has administered 197 698 COVID-19 jabs in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of doses to 18 285 920.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health said 9 364 725 adults are now fully vaccinated, of which 141 865 people were jabbed with Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine or the two-dose Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday.

In addition, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said the country logged 768 new infections, pushing the number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 907 619.

The majority of new cases were reported in KwaZulu-Natal (193), followed by Western Cape (151) and Gauteng (127).

“This increase represents a 2.7% positivity rate,” the NICD said, adding that the seven-day moving average daily number of cases continues to decrease.

The dashboard also shows that 103 more people succumbed to the respiratory disease.

This means the official death toll now stands at 87 922 since the outbreak.

The information is based on the 17 828 983 tests, of which 28 549 were conducted since the last reporting cycle.

In addition, there were 110 new hospital admissions in the past day, which means 6 036 patients are currently receiving treatment for COVID-19 in both public and private health institutions across the country.

The public health institute has reminded citizens to adhere to preventative measures such as getting vaccinated for COVID-19, wearing masks, opting to gather in ventilated spaces, avoiding unnecessary gatherings, keeping a social distance of one meter or more and washing hands regularly with soap and water.

“This helps to limit your risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19,” the NICD said.

According to the World Health Organisation, as of 5 October 2021, there were now 235 175 106 globally confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4 806 841 deaths.

Global view

According to the WHO’s weekly epidemiological update, the number of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to decline.

“This is a trend that has been observed since August,” the agency explained.

Meanwhile, the WHO reported that over 3.1 million new cases and just over 54 000 new deaths were recorded during the week of 27 September to 3 October 2021.

The report shows that cases this week dropped by 9% as compared to the previous week, while deaths remained similar.

All regions reported a decline in the number of new cases this week apart from the European region, which remained similar to the week before.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States (760 571 new cases, similar to the previous week), the United Kingdom (239 781 new cases, similar to the previous week), Turkey (197 277 new cases, similar to the previous week), Russia (165 623 new cases, 13% increase), and India (161 158 new cases, 21% decrease).

Globally, the Delta variant, which is by far the world’s most dominant Coronavirus variant, has been reported in 192 countries.

Investing in small businesses is critical to stimulating the country’s economic growth and alleviating poverty.

This is according to Eskom Development Foundation Chief Executive, Cecil Ramonotsi.

In support of small businesses, Eskom is encouraging small business owners to enter the power utility’s Business Investment Competition which closes at the end of this month.

The annual competition targets black-owned small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

“This year, as many young black entrepreneurs as possible with registered businesses that are two years or older are encouraged to participate. Youth-owned enterprises require major investment and mentorship. Thus, Eskom focuses on boosting, rewarding, and empowering growing businesses.

“In the South African context, development of black entrepreneurs is key to bolstering the country’s socio-economic growth and alleviating the prevailing poverty, crime, domestic violence, and other challenges within our communities,” Ramonotsi said.

Entry requirements for the competition include 100% black owned small businesses that operate in the engineering, construction, manufacturing, agriculture and agri-processing or trade and services sectors.

Prize money of at least R300 000 is up for grabs for the overall winner with R131 250 for winners in different sectors.

The first and second runners-up will each receive R75 000 and R50 000.

Ramonotsi added that public and private investment in SMMEs would go a long way to “ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth, particularly in the townships and other marginalised communities”.

“Eskom is well aware of the concerted effort required to ensure inclusive economic participation. Our 2021 Business Investment Competition is intended to support black youth entrepreneurs with access to finance, as well as through skills and capacity building so that they are able to pivot the harsh economic environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

The Business Investment Competition is open for entries and will close at midnight on 31 October, 2021.

Enter at www.eskombic2021.co.za or email Grounded Media at bic@groundedmedia.co.za for support and assistance.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has encouraged teachers to make winning a habit not just for one’s individual satisfaction, but for the pursuance of excellence in teaching.

Motshekga was addressing the 21st National Teaching Awards (NTA) at Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park on Wednesday.

The annual awards are hosted by the Department of Basic Education to recognise and celebrate outstanding educators who, often under challenging circumstances, remain committed to their noble craft and produce extraordinary outcomes.

Motshekga has applauded all teachers in the public sector and beyond for making the task of raising conscientious children possible.

“Your relentless commitment to the national cause of educating the young ones gives all of us strength and, of course, pride. I hope this glitzy NTA affair of today will spur more excellence in the sector, especially in the foundation phase teaching of literacy and numeracy,” the Minister said.

Motshekga said teaching has to be done right to avoid a generational catastrophe of adults without a future.

She said a review by the World Bank (2012) showed that teacher effectiveness is one of the most critical school-based predictors of student learning.

“Interestingly, research confirms that experience is irreplaceable. Several years of teaching by outstanding teachers can offset the learning deficits of disadvantaged students.

“A range of studies exploring what makes school systems effective has looked for common characteristics in the top-performing education systems. All found that the key is well trained and motivated teachers,” Motshekga said.

The Minister said the key strategies that researchers have identified for improving student outcomes centre on developing a quality teacher workforce.

“As a sector, through various initiatives, including the much-vaunted Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme and our world-class research intensive universities, we do offer the best in initial teacher training. There are also many opportunities to further university studies while in employment, and I am happy to say our teachers are truly lifelong learners,” she said.

Mosthekga said during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers have shown sustained resilience.

The Minister saluted and praised teachers for always going beyond the call of duty to succeed amidst social ills and socio-economic challenges.

“Most teachers tell me that they play the role of caregiver, mother, father, counsellor, friend and godparent on any typical day to many of our learners from troubled homes and communities. Your toils in the service of our nation cannot go unnoticed,” Motshekga said.

With the date for the municipal elections rapidly approaching, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA/the Authority) is readying itself to ensure equitable treatment for the election messages of all political parties and independent candidates on both public and community broadcasting platforms.

“In line with Section 57 of the Electronic Communications Act, the Authority will allocate timeslots for party election broadcasts (PEBs) to ensure fair coverage for all political parties and independent candidates during the election period,” ICASA said on Wednesday.

The allocation of PEB slots will take place on Friday at the Protea Hotel, Midrand from 9am.

The Authority will apply a hybrid model of engagement to allocate PEB slots to contesting political parties and independent candidates. The allocation will therefore be held both virtually and in-person (with a limited number of political party and independent candidate representatives in attendance).

“The elections are a very important event in the history of the country, and it is very critical that, as the Authority, we should ensure that the public is able to make informed decisions in terms of who they want to elect as their political representatives especially at the local sphere of government which plays a key role in the delivery of essential services to communities,” ICASA Chairperson, Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng, said.

Modimoeng has urged all political parties and independent candidates contesting the upcoming municipal elections to work with ICASA on this allocation process and to comply with the regulations.

“Our regulations are carefully crafted to ensure equitable treatment of political parties and independent candidates during the election period, and we urge all stakeholders, including broadcasters, to support this process and comply with the regulations. The regulations are a basis on which we would ensure that every contesting political party and independent candidate receives coverage, and that they are able to share with the electorate what they can do for them as their representatives at local government level,” Modimoeng said.

The Chairperson will be on SABC Morning Live, DSTV Channel 404 on Thursday, at 8:40am to unpack how the allocation process will unfold.

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, has established a Project Steering Committee to ensure the country meets its deadline to complete the broadcast digital migration project.

Addressing a media briefing on Tuesday, the Minister said the committee is constituted by chief executive officers and technology executives of all affected and participating stakeholders.

The Steering Committee is chaired by the Minister and meets on a fortnightly basis to lead the switchover process.

“I have also appointed a project manager to oversee the digital migration and analogue switch off (ASO) process. We will report to the Cabinet on a monthly basis and update the nation about the progress at least once a month,” Ntshavheni said.

Cabinet recently approved the revised integrated analogue switch-off implementation plan, which is a schedule to complete the remaining areas by March 2022.

“Cabinet has approved the adoption of a Managed Integrated Model that actively involves all broadcast media players to contribute to ramping up the Set-Top Box (STB) installation capacity through the use of their boxes to ensure rapid reach.

“The broadcasters and Sentech will continue to use local installers as part of the small, micro, or medium enterprise (SMME) development. The department has started engagements with industry players and enterprise development entities including funders on additional opportunities and enterprise development support that could be made available to these installers amongst others,” the Minister said.

Government has shifted from a staggered provincial approach towards a consolidated national approach, where STB installations and ASO will happen simultaneously in all nine provinces.

“The government undertook to assist beneficiary households (households earning total salary of less than R3500 per month) with installation of set-top-boxes to ensure universal migration,” the Minister said.

The process of registering beneficiary households to be supported commenced in 2015. To date 1.184 million qualifying households have been registered out of the estimated 3.75 million qualifying households (as per Stats SA 2018 data).

“Since the inception of the Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) programme, 556 954 beneficiary households have been migrated from the current total of 1.184 million. In addition, almost 10.5 million households out of just over 14 million TV households (2018 Stats SA estimates) self-migrated through private satellite boxes,” the Minister said.

To date, Sentech has been able to switch off all (84 sites) Multichoice analogue transmissions, 105 out of 288 (37%) South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) analogue transmissions and four of the 95 (4%) eTV analogue transmissions.

“South African citizens who are still receiving television services directly from an Aerial/Antenna that get mounted on a pole and do not have set-top box or smart TV set, should find themselves a set-top box or a smart TV to be able to receive digital television

“A set-top box is a device that enables you to receive digital television services, they can be accessed from the South African Post Office and various retailers across the country,” the Minister said.

Cabinet approved a last call for registration with a cut-off date of 31 October 2021, for government assistance with the STB installation.

“We call upon all eligible households to register at the nearest Post Office on or before the 31st October 2021 to receive government assistance for your STB installation. We are also finalising a registration app and the details will be announced in the near future.

“You will not be affected by the analogue switch-off, if you are already receiving your television through DSTV, OVHD, Telkom-One, StarSat and any other streaming platforms or you have a digital tv,” the Minister said.

A former Eastern Cape senior educational specialist is expected to appear in the Gqeberha Magistrates’ Court for numerous allegations of fraud and money laundering.

This comes after she was summoned by the Gqeberha-based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Hawks said: “Between January 2009 and November 2010, the suspect, who was employed by the Eastern Cape Department of Education as a senior educational specialist and the coordinator of the Early Childhood Development Learning Programme, allegedly processed various fraudulent applications accompanied and supported by false documents, which resulted in the irregular appointment of persons and payment of salaries of Grade R practitioners by the department.”

It is alleged that she induced the officials of the department to approve the appointments of the said persons as Grade R practitioners and to further approve the payment of monthly stipends in various amounts. The practitioners are reported to have been given an instruction by the suspect to withdraw the monies and hand them over to her.

The Hawks said the department, acting on the false information given by the suspect, paid a collective amount of more than R1.2 million.

“The summons were served after an intensive investigation since the complaint was lodged with the Hawks in December 2010. She is expected to make her first court appearance on 25 October 2021,” said the Hawks.