Weekend Argus Saturday Saturday, August 22, 2020

PROVINCE EDUCATION TOP JOB DRAMA Provincial head’s contract extension deemed ‘irregular’ TSHEGO LEPULE tshego.lepule@inl.co.za IAN LANDSBERG African News Agency (ANA) THE Western Cape government’s decision to extend education department head Brian Schreuder’s contract has been deemed irregular. This was one of the findings of a report by the Public Service Commission, following complaints that Premier Alan Winde granted the extension last year, which will end when Schreuder is 69 years old. The report, seen by Weekend Argus, was signed off on July 31 after a complaint was lodged with the commission in February to probe the second two-year extension of Schreuder’s initial five-year contract. The first contract was extended in 2017. He is now 68 years old. The Public Service Act of 1994 does allow for people older than 65…

COVID-19 The lowdown on lockdown level 2 fines SHANICE NAIDOO shanice.naidoo@inl.co.za LEAVING home without your mask could set you back up to R1000 under the Disaster Management Act. And for more than 20000 South Africans the mask faux pas has already proven costly. Police Minister Bheki Cele said since the National State of Disaster was first declared, 22815 people had paid admission of guilt fines. In terms of the act, South Africans can face hefty fines varying between R1000 and R5000. The fines also vary from province to province. Western Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said police had been mandated to hand out fines to taxi owners or operators, managers or owners of a building and employers. In the Western Cape, an admission of guilt fine of R500 will…

FEMICIDE ‘No one is safe here’ Women gather at body dump site ASANDA SOKANYILE asanda.sokanyile@inl.co.za AYANDA NDAMANE African News Agency (ANA) MORE than 100 women dressed in black gathered yesterday at the spot where murdered 22-year-old Nomvuzo Atoli’s body was dumped. The group then walked about 100m to a pool of blood, allegedly where Atoli was murdered, before she was dumped in a garbage container on Thursday. Atoli’s voice was allegedly heard by people in homes along the narrow path where she is said to have been fighting off her assailant, screaming “kill me, it is what you do anyway so just go ahead and shoot me”. The aspiring musician, who had hopes of becoming a police officer, was found just metres from where 17-year-old Amahle Quku’s body was found…

DISAPPEARANCE Missing girl’s family pleading for Cele to intervene in search ALMOST two months on and there is still no trace of missing 12-year-old Lunamandla Sithonga who was last seen boarding her school transport 45 days ago. The Sithonga family is now calling on Police Minister Bheki Cele to intervene and assist in the search and safe return of their child. Though thankful for the assistance of the police and Pink Ladies, Ntomboxolo Sithonga, the little girl’s aunt, said the searches have yielded no results. “We just want her safe return, we are appealing to anyone who has her to bring her back to us, we ask the minister of police to help us find her. We need to have her back with us please,” she pleaded. Lunamandla was last…

RENEWABLES Solar project costs ‘prohibitive’ TSHEGO LEPULE tshego,lepule@inl.co.za THE City of Cape Town said developing a renewable power project using solar PVs would set it back R750 million while only producing 1% of the annual power they purchase from Eskom. This came out during a webinar hosted by Nedbank, EE Business Intelligence and the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering on the prospects of self-generation and its impact on the national grid. Last week the City lost its court bid to purchase electricity from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) following a dispute with the Department of Energy and National Energy Regulator of South Africa. At the webinar, the City’s Leila Mahomed-Weideman said the court bid came after the city attempted to engage with the department for a determination to build their own…

P R O B E Hawks set to arrest alleged PPE looters SIYABONGA MKHWANAZI LAW enforcement agencies are hot on the heels of those implicated in the looting of Covid-19 funds to procure personal protective equipment (PPE) with the Hawks expected to make arrests soon. But the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the Special Investigating Unit and the auditor-general appealed for more resources to crack the cases. Head of the Hawks Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya said yesterday they were sitting with 23 dockets and would be making arrests by next week. He said the arrests would come as early as Tuesday, but he did not indicate how many people involved in Covid-19 corruption would be arrested. Police Minister Bheki Cele said he agreed with MPs that they need to arrest…