Sekhukhune Dispatch 25 September 2015

Friday 25 September 2015Year 6 159th Edition Tel: 013 262 4416

A group of heavily armed robbers got awaywith money during an armed robbery at ChoppiesSupermarket in Groblersdal Town. A gang ofmore than six robbers entered the supermarketon Thursday 17 September 18:00 producedfirearms and pointed the employees and cus-tomers."A gang of more than six armed men entered theshop around 18:00 pretending to be customers.We did not suspect anything is going to hap-pen until they pulled out guns and startedpointing them to our cashiers and instructedthe customers to lie on the floor. They closedthe door to make sure that passer-byes do notnotice anything," said the store manager,Sajeesh Kumar.He said they then started emptying the tills andothers went to the office pointing the firearmsat management.The robbers ran sacked the safe and the tillsbefore they fled the scene towards Middleburg."All in all they took more than R50 000-00 fromthe tills and the safe. When the police arrived,they were already gone," he said.Sajeesh said that the staff is still traumatized by

Groblersdal ChoppiesSupermarket robbed

the robbery but they are coping at the stage.Warrant Officer Stanley Magaela fromGroblersdal SAPS said a docket of armed rob-bery is under investigation at their station andno one is arrested."I can confirm that a group of robbers enteredthe supermarket and stole money on gun pointbut no one was hurt during the robbery. Thepolice were called but the robbers were gone attheir arrival. A white Jetta and silver Audi wereused by the robbers as their getaway vehicles.An investigation is underway," he said.

2 DISPATCH FRIDAY 25 September 2015

Thousands of rands were stolen at Groblersdal Nedbank by unknown suspects. The suspectsgained entry through the roof during the weekend between Saturday 19 and early hours ofMonday 21 September. The employees at the Nebank in Van Riebeeck Street, Groblersdal CBD,saw that it was broken into when opening on Monday 21 September. The police were immediatelycalled and Van Riebeeck Street was completely closed when declared a crime scene. Other policeunits including the K9, Criminal Record Centre and the detectives rushed to the scene. TheNedbank private investigators were also deployed to the scene. It took the police almost all dayat the scene to gather evidence that can lead to the arrest of the suspect(s). Warrant Officer StanleyMagaela, Spokesperson of Groblersdal SAPS said the criminals used a sharp object to gain entrythrough the roof of the bank. He said they then entered into the main safe where they stole moneyand left. "It was discovered that plus minus R500 000-00 was stolen from the bank's main safeduring the robbery. The robbers deactivated the alarm and the CCTV cameras before they stolethe money," he said. The bank employees realized that something was wrong when opening onMonday morning and they immediately informed the police. "A docket of burglary was openedat the Groblersdal Police Station and is under investigation. No one is arrested at this stage andan investigation is underway," he said.

R500 000 stolen fromGroblersdal Nedbank main safe

A Tafelkop resident has made a gruesomediscovery. He found a dead man inside awaterhole on Tuesday 22 September. The dis-covery was made by a community member atMatlala residence who was at the hole to fetchdrinking water around 11:00. The police andemergency people were called at the scenewhere the victim was certified dead. It is allegedthat the deceased is from Ga-Matsepe Sectionin Tafelkop and he disappeared three weeksbefore he was found floating inside the hole.The worst thing is that people were drinkingwater from the same hole where the body of thedeceased was discovered.A community member who wishes to remainanonymous said this is the fourth incidentwhere a person is found dead inside the hole.He said it seems like the man was murdered andthen thrown into the hole. The hole is about 30cm in diameter on top and it cannot be easy fora grown person to fall accidentally in it. He saidsome previous incidents involved children."We struggle to get water and these holes are

Gruesome discovery,deceased in waterhole

our only source of getting drinking water. Weare now shocked that some residents weredrinking water without knowing that there wasa body floating inside," he said. A TLB wasused by the police and emergency personnel toremove the body of the deceased from the hole.

DISPATCH FRIDAY 25 September 2015 3


The nursing school's mobile offices at St Ritas Hospital in Jane Furse were set alight during aprotest on Wednesday 16 September. Residents in the area complained that the college wasexcluding locals in favour of people from other areas. The public order Police was dispatched tothe area to disperse the angry crowd but the mobile offices already burned to ashes when theyarrived. The roads were blocked with old public phone containers bringing the traffic to astandstill. A passing truck was also set alight. The campus is one of five campuses under theLimpopo College of Nursing that has been part of the government's initiative to recruit more nursesamid severe shortages in the profession. The Limpopo Department of Health SpokespersonMacks Lesufi said they would meet community leaders and conduct a full assessment of thedamage. Lesufi said only the offices used by lecturers were destroyed while classrooms remainedintact. "We find this very disturbing and we see this as an act of irresponsibility on the part ofthose who torched the facility," he said Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa(DENOSA) provincial organiser Jacob Molepo said the community misunderstood the recruit-ment policies of the college. Molepo dispelled allegations that people in the area were not recruitedfor nursing studies. "All learners are afforded equal opportunity to apply. It is not true that all ofthem are coming from districts outside of Sekhukhune," he said. He said the government wantedto promote cultural exchange by placing people in districts outside of their own. "We have learnersfrom Sekhukhune in Vhembe and Mopani Districts. They must learn the different cultures becausethey will be working with those communities. "Student nurses are now frustrated because theyare about to start their exams. This is going to affect their preparations." Limpopo health MECPhophi Ramathuba said: “I’m disappointed and hurt because it is a huge setback. We are tryingto establish a campus to train the nurses and then the campus gets torched, it means we must lookfor resources to fix that campus.” Classes at the college have been suspended. The Limpopo PoliceSpokesperson Colonel Ronel Otto said no arrests were made and no one was injured.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) leader in Limpopo, Jacque Smalle says the municipal boundarychanges announced by the Demarcation Board are irrational and will harm communities. Thiscomes after the demarcation board delimitated the wards and the municipalities around theprovince. This caused a tension between the government and the opposition parties in themunicipalities when claiming that the decision was made in favour of the ruling party. In othermunicipalities including Elias Motsoaledi and Makhuduthamaga, oppositions objected but untiltoday the Demarcation Board did not come with feed-back about their objections. Smalle said theDA has filed papers in the North Gauteng High Court seeking an urgent review of the board'sdecision to amalgamate and redefine some municipalities. He says the Department of Co-operativeGovernance Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) did not do financial viabilitystudies of all affected municipalities. “Once you form a new municipality or disestablish amunicipality one has got to do a financial viability study to determine if that municipality will beviable.” He said this should be done even in the case of Mookgopong and ModimolleMunicipalities. “Certain municipalities have debts, so you need to understand where those debtswill be going. People working at those municipalities are paid according to the grades of thatmunicipality.” Smalle says the Municipal Demarcation Board's consultative processes were notsufficient as there was only one public hearing. " In certain instances municipalities had only twopublic processes and it is clear that is not sufficient.”

Angry protestors burn nursing college offices

DA Limpopo objects municipal boundaries


Elias Motsoaledi rugby teams performed well atthe Regional Championships held at GroblersdalRugby Stadium on Sunday 13 September.Stones Rugby Club from Tafelkop Village hasmade the Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipalityproud when crowned Sekhukhune RugbyChampions in both male and female categories.The Stones Rugby Club males managed todefend their title and were crowned the 2015rugby champions in the district. The Stonemen’s team played their first game with EphraimMogale Local Municipality and won with a 45- 5 score. The second game was played withFetakgomo Local Municipality where theymanaged to win with a 65 - 0. In the final matchthey faced Greater Tubatse Local Municipalityand won by 7 - 0 to be crowned champions.The Stones Rugby Club ladies team also didwell on the other side when they managed towin their matches and be crowned the new 2015champions. The ladies played their first matchwith Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality with

EM Stones crownedSekhukhune Rugby Champions

a 15:15 draw. But they managed to trash Feta Kgomo Local Municipality with a 78 - 5 score andthey were crowned the new district champions.

The Tafelkop Karate Training Academy will be hosting their grading on Saturday 10 October. Thegrading is scheduled to take place at Matsepe Primary School in Tafelkop Village. The karategrading is where students compete to get promoted to higher ranks by displaying their karate skillsduring the day. According to the co-ordinator of the academy Jeffrey Walker, the gradings weresupposed to take place in June but they were postponed as most of their students went to initiationschools. "The majority of our students are looking forward and are confident that they will bepromoted to higher ranks. Here they will be displaying their skills they acquired since they startedtaking their lessons at the academy," he said. Walker said they aim to encourage and reward theirstudents for their hard work and commitment they have shown while taking karate lessons at theacademy. "Our students now have full knowledge and understanding of Kyukoshin kai-kan andwe are glad that they can display it properly. The gradings are long overdue and students can’twait to be promoted to become Kyu first (White belt) and Kyu second (Yellow belt)," he said.Walker said some of their students have been honoured with certificates and promoted to higherranks after completing the six months’ probation period. "They have now acquired the basicknowledge of karate as a way of life," he concluded.

Gradings for Tafelkop Karate students


Primary schools from Monsterlus and surrounding villages took part inthe Build It soccer tournament that started in July this year. The knock-out competition was organized by Moratiwa Build It to encourage youngpeople to take part in sport and stay away from bad things. Thetournament was played at Living Waters Primary School Sports Groundsin Monsterlus.Former Bafana Bafana Coach Clive Barker and former Bafana Bafanastriker Pollen "Trompies" Ndlanya were invited for the soccer clinics thatwere held on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 September.This year Build It decided to reward all teams who participated in thesemi-finals. The winners of the tournament Lehlakeng Primary Schoolwalked away with a full soccer kit, a trophy and a R2 500-00 Build Itvoucher. The second place was obtained by Mafeta Tshubela PrimarySchool and they took a trophy, Build It sporting bags and R1 500-00 BuildIt voucher home. The school that came in the third place, KhawusimePrimary walked away with sporting bags and water bottles. QhubaniPrimary was in the fourth place and walked away with water bottles.Moratiwa Build It branch manager Johan Stemmet told the Dispatch thata total of 36 schools participated in the tournament this year."This is an initiative by Build It across the country and aims to develop

Moratiwa Build It ploughs back in Socceryoung soccer playersto become successfulsoccer stars in future.He said this year theydecided to bring theformer South Africannational team coachClive Barker for soc-cer clinics and to scoutplayers for his team,Mpumalanga BlackAces where he is atechnical coach. Johan added that Barker managed to scout three boyswho will be taken for trials in his Mpumalanga Black Aces."As Build It we want to ensure and promote the culture of sports aroundthe villages. We believe if young people engage in sporting activities,they will get exposure and become successful athletes in future," he said.Johan thanked all who contributed to make the tournament possibleincluding Moratiwa Super Spar, medal paint, Sephaku Cement, PPC, RealPeople Finance, Jojo Tanks, Eurolux, Handok and Academy Brush Wear.

Sekhukhune Dispatch 25 September 2015

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