Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Man shot and killed in Grassy Park

Western Cape police are investigating a case of murder after the body of a man was found in Grassy Park on Monday afternoon.

‘’Grassy park police responded to a complaint on Monday 17 February 2025. Upon their arrival in First Road, they found the body of a 37 year old man who sustained a gunshot wound to his body. The victim was declared deceased on the scene by the medical personnel. The unknown suspect fled the scene and is yet to be arrested,’’ said Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi, Western Cape police spokesperson.

PICTURE SUPPLIED


He said the motive for this attack is believed to be gang-related.

Anyone with information are urged to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111

 

Done By: Elona Sibunzi

Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) 2024-2025.

 Minister in the presidency responsible for Planning, monitoring and evaluation of the Republic of South Africa Maropene Ramagokpa briefed the media on Friday 10 February on the progress towards finalisation of Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) 2024-2025.

 The MTDP is a 5 year plan strategic framework for development, inclusive growth and improved living conditions It integrates the Government of National Unity (GNU) statement of intent and the National Development Plan (NDP) into government’s priorities for the next 5 years

 On Thursday 6 February, President Cyril Ramaphosa held the State of the nation address (SONA) and said that the NHI will save many lives by providing a package of services.

 The MTDP is a plan that guides government’s priorities and meet them. The plan works hand in hand with government. This Medium term development plan is the final plan before 2030.

 The MTDP will create alignment between plans and budgets and it links with NDP strategies which will have a positive outcome. The plan is founded on credible evidence, drawn from extensive research.

 Three strategic priorities were developed which are inclusivity, economic growth, end poverty, and a better economic state.

 Although the MTDP is set there are a few issues that they believe they will address these issues.

 State-owned enterprises will collaborate with developmental mandates addressing issues related to governance.

A new process was implemented for results frameworks.

The cabinet will decide whether the plan is acceptable or not and in the next meeting the outcome of the 7th administration will be finalized.

 The G20 will be hosted by Africa for the first time. The G20 will create a number of opportunities for SA.

 The minister called stakeholders, business enterprises and civil societies etc to work with government and engage into the Medium term development plan.

 

Done by: Shaneca Cupido

Teen Suicide Prevention Week

 

The Department of Basic Education is this week observing Teen Suicide Prevention Week to raise awareness about measures that can be put in place to prevent suicides particularly among teenagers.




 

The Department recognises the tragedy of children and young people dying by suicide. Suicide remains a global public health challenge, and South Africa is no exception, with the National Department of Health (NDoH) data indicating that approximately 7426 children under the age of 18 were treated for suicide attempts from April 2024 to December 2024.

 This concerning data from the NDoH highlights the need for comprehensive and coordinated efforts to address mental health challenges and prevent suicide among young people.

 This year’s theme for Teen Suicide Prevention Week is "Your Feelings Matter, Let's Talk,” emphasising the importance of recognising and acknowledging young people’s feelings, encouraging them to open up and seek help when needed. This week serves as a platform to empower young people with the knowledge and necessary skills to cope with emotional distress.

 “In keeping with the theme of this year’s campaign, we want to encourage learners to treat each other with kindness and to consider how their behaviour might affect others” said Sibongile Monareng, Director of Psychosocial Support in the Department of Basic Education. “We also urge parents and other adults to create psychologically safe homes and spaces where children can experience peace, support and acceptance,” Monareng said.

 The DBE urges educators, parents, and community members to engage in meaningful discussions with young people about their emotional well-being and to promote looking after one’s mental health. By creating safe spaces for dialogue, we can help dismantle the stigma surrounding mental health and promote positive help-seeking behaviours among young people.

Done by: Shaneca Cupido

Tafelberg Property verdict

 

The battle over the Cape Town’s Tafelberg site in Sea Point appeared in the Constitutional Court. After 373 years of land dispossession, the Tafelberg site at 355 on Main Sea Point is just the beginning of making it right.

 


The 11th February was exactly 59 years that the District Six was declared a “white area” under the Group Areas Act. Due to this forced removal it ignited one of the apartheid’s most devastating waves of tearing families and communities apart.

 Hathron said that there is a failure of implementation.

 The concern about Tafelberg is not about the legislative or policy, but rather the implementation of the policy itself. Although the policy is labelled as a failed policy the decisions that were taken caused it to fail.

 The City of Cape Town as well as the Western Cape province. No evidence was shown to say that were any housing infrastructure in Cape Town.

 Pete Hathron says the province failed to implement policies and only interacted between 2010 and 2017.

 Since the 1980’s the Tafelberg site in Sea Point has been deemed suitable for affordable housing and a portion of it was used for a purpose until the last resident of that housing was evicted in 2014.

 The longstanding hope and call since the closure of the Tafelberg School in 2010 was that the entire site would be used for affordable housing to accommodate those in need.

 The Tafeberg site is ideal, a strategic site to redress the legacy of apartheid and improve the lives of Sea Point workers who for many years were part of the community. Hathron says the obligation of the legislation is to take serious measures. He also highlights that there are a number of programmes in the pipeline for the future.

 The Good party’s secretary general Brett Heron said The Good party supports the site’s development for social housing.

 The regulation in which the restructure of housing was designated and is being overtaken by new zone.

 Hathron says once land is identified social housing will take place which may take place in the next 10-15 years due to a number of constraints.

Done by: Shaneca Cupido

UCT students strikes again

 Over 600 students marched from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) main campus in Rondebosch yesterday. Some entrances to the campus were blocked by students not allowing lecturers or staff to enter. Lectures were disrupted, forcing some classes to start the academic year online.




 

Students are protesting against issues related to financial exclusion, student debt and accommodation.

 Marching to the Bremner building on the lower campus, students sang struggle songs and held placards.

 This year also marks 10 years since the rise of the Rhodes Must Fall and subsequent Must Fall movements. The #FeesMustFall movement was led by students across South Africa in 2015, calling for affordable education. It started at Wits University and quickly spread nationwide, highlighting issues of inequality and financial exclusion in higher education.

 Reading out the memorandum to a cheering crowd, SRC president Thando Lukele said they are demanding more student housing and that students with outstanding fees still be allowed to register or graduate, among other demands.

 She warned that if UCT did not respond to their memorandum, protests would intensify.

 Done by: Shaneca Cupido

Monday, February 17, 2025

Child from Wesbank killed by stray bullet while sleeping

Residents in Wesbank, Mfuleni are reeling in shock after another innocent life was lost. The latest victim is four-year-old Davin Afrika who was killed by a stray bullet whilst sleeping on Friday night.

Monday would have been his fifth birthday.

Mom, Undean Koopman, 38, says this incident opened deep wounds for her after losing a second child to gang violence. Kelly-Amber Koopman, 12,  was shot and killed in November 2023 during load shedding to unknown gunmen

Western Cape police confirmed the incident.

‘’The circumstances surrounding a shooting incident on Friday evening, 14 February at about 10.30pm in Happiness Street, Wesbank, where a boy was shot and fatally wounded and a 30-year-old male shot and wounded are under investigation. Police members responded to a complaint of a shooting and upon arrival on the scene they found the victims with gunshot wounds to their bodies,’’ said Sergeant Wesley Twigg, Western Cape police spokesperson.

“The four-year-old victim was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel, while the other victim was taken to a medical facility for medical treatment. The motive for the attack is yet to be determined. The suspect/s fled the scene and are yet to be arrested,’’ he added.

Koopman says a birthday party will still go ahead in Davin’s memory.

“On Monday it would have been Davin’s 5th birthday and we all prepared for a Spiderman party because that is what he asked for. On Monday we will host the party in his memory. They caught the men that shot Kelly and we know they will go on trial soon.”

 

Done by: Mitchum George

Minister of Basic Education donates sports shoes to underprivileged learners in the Western Cape

 

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube is set to hand over sports shoes to underprivileged school learners in the Western Cape this morning.

The initiative is set to kick off at a school in Gugulethu, followed by visits to schools in Khayelitsha and Tafelsig.

  The department’s Terence Khala said this aims to ensure that children who cannot afford sports shoes are not excluded from participating in sports activities due to financial constraints.

 This forms a part of the department’s efforts to ensure that no child is hindered from participating in sporting activities due to a lack of appropriate footwear.

Done by: Shaneca Cupido

Gay imam killed 11 days before Ramadan

 The Muslim Judicial Council of SA (MJC) and the Cape Town Ulama Board have condemned the murder of imam Muhsin Hendricks and called on authorities to establish the motive behind the attack.

 



Hendricks, who was dubbed the world’s first openly gay imam, was gunned down in an apparent hit in Gqeberha over the weekend.

 The shocking shooting was caught on CCTV cameras and shows the vehicle he was travelling in being blocked off in Bethelsdorp where a gunman is seen walking towards the passenger window and firing several shots at him.

 At the time, claims arose on social media that Hendricks had travelled to Gqeberha for a wedding. Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the motive for the shooting is unknown.

 She says “The police are seeking information to solve a murder case that was reported at SAPS Bethelsdorp following a shooting incident that took place at Extension 24, Bethelsdorp, early on Saturday, 15 February 2025.

In a statement the MJC called on cops to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to book, noting the alleged motive behind the murder was hatred towards Hendricks for his views.

 It has been alleged that the killing may have been motivated by hatred towards Muhsin Hendricks due to his views on same-sex relations.

 The Cape Town Ulama Board has called on citizens not to speculate. The scholarly group said: “We maintain that Islamic teachings firmly condemn violence, murder or such actions that undermine the rule of law and destabilise society.

Done by: Shaneca Cupido

Friday, February 14, 2025

Deadline for SASSA Card transition Extended

South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries has been given an extended lifeline after the the Ministers of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi and Social Development, Nokuzola Tolashe, announced that the deadline for beneficiaries to swop their gold SASSA card for the black Postbank card has been extended from 28 February to 20 March 2025.

‘’We have listened to the deep concerns and frustrations from our social grant beneficiaries and we trust that this extension will provide much needed time for grant recipients. We strongly encourage our beneficiaries to make sure that they change to the black Postbank card as soon as they can, and well ahead of the 20 March 2025 deadline,’’ read the joint statement.

PICTURE: SASSA


Many beneficiaries scrambled to get the new card, enduring long queues and having to travel long distances to get to the nearest collection point.

‘’To make sure that we are able to assist beneficiaries to swop their cards as efficiently as possible, our departments and entities are working together to add more human capacity and are working with retailers to increase the number of sites across the country. Mobile offices will also be dispatched to focus on rural areas and to ensure that we assist as many people as possible,’’

The joint ministries said that grant payments will continue as per usual, even after the 20th of March deadline. If beneficiaries haven't exchanged their cards by then, their grants will still be paid, but they will need to visit their nearest Post Office branch to access their funds.

‘’Furthermore, the 20th of March deadline marks the date when the SASSA Gold Cards will stop working, not the last day to apply for the new card. After the 20th of March, beneficiaries will still be able to apply for and receive their Postbank Black Cards.’’

 

These are the sites SASSA people can replace their cards at:

·        Boxer Langa

·        Boxer Philippi

·        Boxer Mitchells Plain

·        Checkers Hyper Parow

·        Usave Bellville

·        Shoprite Bayside Mall

·        Shoprite Eerste River

·        Shoprite Khayelitsha CBD

·        Shoprite Gugulethu

·        Shoprite Adderley Street

·        Shoprite Thembalethu

·        Shoprite George

·        Shoprite Paarl

·        Shoprite Vredenburg

·        USave Caledon

 

The Western Cape’s Social Development MEC, Jaco Londt, welcomed the announcement of the extension.

‘’My office has been inundated with queries and complaints from SASSA grant beneficiaries across the Western Cape, even though SASSA is a national entity and does not fall within the powers of the Western Cape Government. Many of the complaints are centered around the lack of Postbank sites in rural areas. It is unacceptable that the majority of service points in the province are in the Cape Metro, with only a few in George, Vredenburg, and Caledon (although we have received reports that the sites in Vredenburg and Caledon do not seem to be operational). The offices also need to be adequately staffed to deal with the influx of beneficiaries. ‘’

‘’We have been pressuring SASSA and Postbank to address the flaws we have found in the card migration process, such as the lack of service points and adequate staffing. This is still a huge concern, as we cannot leave vulnerable residents living in rural areas behind in this process,’’ he added.

Londt says he will be raising these issues during a meeting with the National Minister of Social Development and MECs from other provinces next week.

 

Done by: Elona Sibunzi

Man arrested in Muizenberg for illegal abalone

A 22-year-old suspect was arrested in Muizenberg on Thursday, after he was caught with abalone worth about R120 000.

COURTESY: SAPS


‘’The vigilance of members of the Cape Town K9 Unit resulted in the arrest of a Malawian national when he was caught with abalone on Thursday morning. The members followed up information about a driver of a Toyota Corolla who is en route from Simon’s Town and is transporting abalone. The vehicle was spotted and stopped at Sunrise Circle in Muizenberg. They searched the vehicle and found 562 units of abalone with an estimated street value of R120 000,’’ said Sergeant Wesley Twigg, western Cape police spokesperson.

The suspect will soon appear in the Muizenberg Magistrates’ court

 

Done by: Mitchum George

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Deadline looms for spaza shop owners to register before deadline

The deadline is looming for spaza shop owners and other food handling facilities to register their businesses with municipalities to ensure they are compliant with the law.

The deadline for registration is 28 February 2025.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, last year, called for all spaza shops and food-handling facilities to register with their respective municipalities as part of decisive measures to address recurring foodborne illnesses. When the pronouncement was made last November, all spaza shops and food-handling facilities had to register with their respective municipalities within 21 days. However, the deadline for registration was extended to 28 February 2025.

“The registration is open on business days only and excludes public holidays and weekends. Business owners who are eligible to register for this purpose are urged to visit their registration centres in their respective municipalities,” the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS)  said on Thursday.

In the previous registration period, government observed that some of the spaza shop owners and food handlers did not have adequate information and knowledge regarding issues of compliance with health and safety requirements for running a business.

“This is also true regarding compliance with municipal by-laws and other requirements regarding the registration of their business establishments. In this regard, government has put together a training and support programme to assist all eligible owners to comply with these requirements,” NATJOINTS said.

“The end of the registration period, on the 28 February 2025, does not in any way suggest that the foodborne illness challenges have been fully addressed as more work still needs to be done to ensure that this sector is fully regulated and that it adheres to applicable legislation and health regulations.

“A lot still needs to be done in the value chain of business registration and compliance processes. This includes a sustained campaign on multi-disciplinary enforcement interventions, continued awareness campaigns, support and training for business owners, regular sustainable nationwide cleanup campaigns to deal with the challenges of waste management across the country,” the NATJOINTS said.

NATJOINTS said there will be zero tolerance for non-compliance with health, environmental and food handling regulations and other requirements.

 

Done by: Shaneca Cupido

Man shot and killed in Grassy Park

Western Cape police are investigating a case of murder after the body of a man was found in Grassy Park on Monday afternoon. ‘’Grassy park...