Inner City Gazette

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Issue 35 - 2018

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6 - 13 September 2018

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Three Heroes G Mourned

The building was just 21% compliant with health and safety standards.

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

Firefighters comfort each other over the passing of their brave colleagues who perished while fighting the blaze

auteng MEC for Infrastructure Development Jacob Mamabolo confirmed that three firefighters died while battling a blaze at the Gauteng Health Department in the Johannesburg CBD. Officials say the fire started on the 23rd floor. It’s not yet known how the fire broke out. Mamabolo says 13 employees from the building have been taken to the hospital.

“The building did not comply with health and safety regulations.”

Sadly, as the firefighters fought the flames of the fire that started on the 24th floor, a body of one of their colleague laid on the pavement in front of the building covered with silver foil.

The firefighter, who could not be named until his family was notified. The city’s MMC for public safety Michael Sun said the firefighter slipped and fell from the 23rd floor.

Sun confirmed that two other firefighters, who were trapped in the building, also died.

He confirmed that additional eight mem-

bers of their firefighting team were taken to hospital for various injuries including burns and exhaustion.

Sun said they were still battling with the fire that started at about 10am on Wednesday. Dozens of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, descended on the busy street formerly known as Sauer.

“We are still busy with the firefighting, as you can see, the flames are now out the window.”

In a statement, City of Johannesburg Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba said, “we lost three brave firefighters in a fire that engulfed the Provincial Health Department Building in the Inner City of Johannesburg.

“Our firefighters in Johannesburg regularly have to face life threatening situations, and continue to demonstrate their bravery in their efforts to keep our residents safe.

“We regard these matters very seriously, given that this fire has led to the tragic loss of life of the three brave firefighters.”

Use of it and this requires cooperation from all stakeholders including patients who use the service.

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City collects R3‚6-billion

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For the first time in history‚ it collected a record R3‚6-billion for rates and services.

Residents queue outside the City of Johannesburg Revenue Services, Thuso House in Braamfontein as they pay rates and services to the City

T

he City of Johannesburg says last month‚ for the first time in history‚ it collected a record R3.6-billion for rates and services.

This constitutes collection of R400-million more than the budgeted revenue‚ the city said.

“Over the past four months there has been sustained improvement in the city’s billing and collections‚ with av-

erage monthly collections of R3.3-billion from May to August‚” said Mayor Herman Mashaba.

“The past administration’s highest average monthly collection reached R2.8-billion by comparison.”

“The city remains focused on targeting those who have not paid for rates and services‚ whilst clearly having the means to have done so. The success of

Operation Buya Mthetho in this regard has been excellent‚ collecting over R707-million over the past seven months. Further to this‚ the city has tackled its debtors’ book‚ which stood at over R18-billion‚ and this is now producing results.”

Mashaba said the city has also focused its credit-management work on the largest power and water users‚

which ensures a higher return of revenue for these efforts.

In developing its budget for the 2018/19 financial year‚ Mashaba said the city decided to focus on improving revenue performance as this is a critical contributor towards realising change for people.

“We must put to bed those doomsday prophets who have continued to

predict the ‘imminent’ financial collapse of the city. It has even been the false premise on which the ANC has based their flawed notion that fresh elections should be called in Johannesburg. It is now time for them to come to terms with the financial and corrupt mess they left behind‚ and the improvements that are now being achieved‚” said Mashaba.

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Inner-city Gazette

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Tshepo 1Million benefits more than 470 000 young people

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

C

reating opportunities for Gauteng youth to enter the labour market and undertake sustainable entrepreneurial activities is top priority for Gauteng Premier, David Makhura.

Since adopting the youth empowerment initiative- Tshepo 1Million, more than 470 000 young people have benefited from various opportunities offered by the programme, including skills, entrepreneurship and job placement opportunities.

Tabling the 2017/18 Annual Report at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature on Tuesday, 4 September 2018, Premier Makhura said that the provincial government was determined to reach its target of benefitting one million young people through the programme.

“The youth of our province have come out in full support of Tshepo 1Million. This programme is currently being rolled out in municipalities in partnership with the YES initiative launched by the President,” said Premier Makhura.

The Youth Empowerment Services (YES) initiative aims to see more than one million young South Africans offered paid work experience as part of placing the needs of and

opportunities for young people at the centre of inclusive economic growth.

In addition, Premier Makhura said that the provincial government’s Township Economy Revitalisation has made a huge impact in sustaining jobs and incomes for people living in townships, especially youth.

“The pioneering work we are continuing to do in revitalising the township economy receives serious

attention from respected financial journals and academic publications,” he added.

Between the year 2014 and June 2018, public procurement spend on township enterprises by Gauteng departments has increased to R20 billion.

The number of township enterprises doing business with the provincial government has also increased sus-

tainably from 640 in 2014 to 4 000 in the 2017/18 financial year.

Moreover, Premier Makhura said that the provincial government has awarded bursaries to 18 000 to students and transitioned 28 000 young mothers who used to depend on social grants into proper jobs and self-employment by providing training and skills development.

The Youth Empowerment Services (YES) initiative aims to see more than one million young South Africans offered paid work experience

SAPS striving for a safer SA

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

P

lans are afoot for the South African Police Services (SAPS) to establish a crime detection academy, as police intensify crime fighting efforts in response to criminal networks reigning terror.

This was revealed by National Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, at the conclusion of the threeday Crime Detection Conference.

The theme of the conference was “repositioning crime detection for excellence and synergy in the South African Police Service’s Service Delivery Value Chain”.

During the conference, the police’s top police brass resolved on this and various other resolutions.

Addressing reporters at the conclusion of the conference, Sitole said the academy would assist the police to stay abreast of criminal modus operandi used by criminals.

“We have challenges were crime is committed through deep-web transactions and our investigators are expected to investigate,” he said.

The academy will not only offer short courses but also offer medium to long-term programmes.

“We do not intend to just train peo-

ple in short courses on crime detection but we want to invest in short, medium and long term investment. What has become a wake-up call for us is that when criminals come up with new modus operandi, our training standards immediately get outdated and we are no longer able to respond. This particular academy will also do what we call a continuous and sustainable human resources development research,” he said.

During the conference, he said, the SAPS leadership conceded that the academy would address challenges in crime detection, strategic collaborations with crime intelligence, forensics and other components.

He said the SAPS would strengthen relations with role-players such as the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation, Financial Intelligence Centre, National Prosecuting Authority and the Department of Health.

“We have engaged robustly on our shortcomings and emphatically on how we are to respond to these,” he said.

Sitole said there should be proper engagements with communities regarding their cases and complaints to build trust and strong relationships with them as core partners in crime fighting initiatives.

During the conference, he said, it was resolved that combatting gender-based violence, taxi and gang violence, kidnapping, political killings and stock theft needed to be a priority.

“The conference has among others reaffirmed the Organised Crime Approach, root cause analysis and modus operandi, cybercrime strategy, recruitment, reenlistment and retention strategy. We will seek to reenlist former members to enhance the capacity and capabilities of the Crime Detection environment,” he said.

The crime detection capabilities needed to be capacitated, said Sitole, if the ratio between visible policing and the detectives service were to be addressed. In addition to this, police were also prioritising the strengthening of the informer network.

“Tracking units should resort to optimise the tracking of wanted suspects,” he said.

The National Commissioner said it was agreed during the conference that governance should be revisited and re-training of officers should be considered to enhance procedures to revive the importance of, among others, the critical need to oppose bail.

“We have resolved to develop an internal strategic marketing plan for indicating Crime Intelligence tools and

services to enhance crime detection,” he said.

Cold case teams will be established in all provinces and would report to the Provincial Investigation Units.

Despite there being risk in providing timelines for the investigation of dockets, he said the conference had resolved that there were certain timelines to be adhered to.

Chief among these was that compulsory investigations by detectives be concluded in 72 hours. Another resolution with regard to this was for senior officers to visit all serious and violent crime scene cases.

National Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole

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Joburg Municipality withdraws away from SALGA Johannesburg has cancelled R13m annual payments to Salga

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.com

T

he City of Johannesburg Council has approved the non-payment of subscription fees to the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) on account of SALGA’s dereliction of duty to the City.

SALGA’s mandate is to represent the interests of all member local governments, however, recent conduct by the organisation suggestions that it is politically aligned at worst or grossly negligent of its members at best.

Following the 2016 Local Government Elections, the country experienced a shift in political leadership across numerous municipalities, including 3 of the largest metros.

The membership structure of SALGA – which affords one seat to each municipality – is however not proportional to the population of each municipality.

Subsequent to the 2016 Elections, the various multi-party government configurations – particularly those in Gauteng – engaged SALGA regarding its membership structure in order to raise concerns regarding the fact that SALGA leadership does not reflect the political change stemming from the elections.

Indeed, critical leadership roles within the organisation consists predominantly of the individuals aligned to the ANC. This has resulted in a misalignment between the political composition of

SALGA, and the political composition of its member municipalities. This is not the first time these concerns have been raised with the organisation. Disappointingly, representations made by the City on these matters have fallen on deaf ears. Two major instances are illustrative of this.

SALGA, whose mandate is to represent municipalities as an impartial Employer’s Organisation, has instead become a politicised structure failing in its obligations towards the City of Johannesburg.

Since 2015, internal divisions within SAMWU have resulted in two conflicting factions within the organisation claiming to be the legitimate representatives of SAMWU. This continued conflict within SAMWU has negatively affected labour relations in the City and our municipal entities – impacting negatively on service delivery.

It should be noted that the SAMWU dispute and factionalism experienced locally is not limited to the City of Johannesburg, but is problematic in the national, provincial and most local structures of SAMWU. This is a problem that effects the majority of municipalities and demands SALGA’s attention.

As a result of the local impasse regarding the legitimate leadership of SAMWU, the City of Johannesburg wrote to SALGA requesting their guidance and intervention. Despite their responsibility to the City as the Employer’s representative, SALGA failed to come to the City’s aid and provide any guidance on the matter whatsoever.

Following SALGA’s failure to intervene, the City approached the courts – with SALGA as a second applicant – to seek clarity from the Court regarding which SAMWU faction was legit-

imate. This was necessary as their continued infighting was having an adverse effect on the functionality of the City’s collective bargaining structures.

As a second applicant, the City expected SALGA to support its position and file documents in support of the City’s application. This assistance was not forthcoming from SALGA, who failed to file any supporting documents to the City’s application.

Subsequent to the ruling by the Labour Court, the matter was taken on appeal to the Labour Appeal Court.

The City, as well as the respondents, continued filing either for or against the appeal. Throughout this process SALGA remained silent and disinterested. In the second instance, as of March 2018, SAMWU shop stewards and office bearers’ terms of office came to an end rendering the positions effectively vacant.

In spite of this, SALGA has continued to engage the previously elected shop stewards and office bearers through the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC), in so doing effectively undermining the election of new shop stewards and office bearers.

The continued engagement with the previously elected leadership is at odds with the democratic principles associated with good governance and places the City and SALGA in untenable situation regarding labour issues.

Further to this, while SALGA has continue to engage with the unions and their defunct leadership, municipalities have been kept in the dark on all consultations and negotiations on matters of mutual interest that are conducted under the auspices of the SALGBC. The negotiations regarding the Wage Curve and the Salaries and Collective Agreements are a good example of this. Whereas the unions provided regular feedback to their members, communication from SALGA to the City has not been forthcoming.

The failure to engage the City in good faith, and on an ongoing basis, undermines the City’s position and generally serves to comprise municipalities’ planning processes.

It is the City’s considered view that by undermining the role of the City, SALGA is in gross dereliction of its roles and responsibilities as an Employer’s organisation.

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Defending champion Mosiako set to take on course record holder

80 Helen Joseph and Polly Johannesburg 011 333 1107 084 220 6622 / 078 277 5215

Neat and clean rooms from R100 singles, Two people R200. We have twin, double, luxury and 3 or 4 sleepers.

We are very close to the Carlton Centre and major shops and factories.

Food outlets are also nearby.

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

D

efending champion, Thabang Mosiako will take on the course record holder, Namakoe Nkhasi in the 2018 version of the FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN on Monday, 24 September (National Heritage Day).

Nkhasi blew away the favourites in the inaugural race in 2016, showing the likes of Stephen Mokoka, Elroy Gelant and Sibusiso Nzima a clean pair of heals, scorching to a winning time of 29:48 on a course that takes no prisoners. A year later the unfancied Thabang Mosiako went with Stephen Mokoka after 5km and then with 2km to go on the long downhill to the finish at Mary Fitzgerald Square, put on the after burners and dropped the fancied Mokoka to win by almost 30 seconds (29:51 to 30:15) and narrowly missing the course record held by Nkhasi.

Mosiako and Nkhasi are back in 2018 to offer a duel that could be of the most intense battles seen in South African road running. Both athletes have a propensity for tough courses, and the FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN is tough. Neither athlete fears taking the race to their more fancied counterparts, and both are looking to end 2018 with a bang.

“I like the tough courses, the hills, I am strong on them. So the FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN is a course that suits me,” says Mosiako. “I am racing

FLATS TO LET

Thabang Mosiako will take on Namakoe Nkhasi at the 3rd annual FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN on Monday, 24 September (National Heritage Day)

the SA Cross Country Championships in PE on 8 September in the 10km to try and secure my place at the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, so I have been training hard for the national championships. That training will suit me well for Joburg, as cross country training is tough and you need to do a lot of strength based training, which will come in good stead to defend my title.”

Mosiako threw out a cautionary note though.

“The guys are all running well, Precious (Mashele) is in form, Joel (Mmone) has had some good results, so has David (Manja). I train with Elroy (Gelant) and he has recovered well from his hernia operation. So it will be tough. And Namakoe is a fighter, that’s why he holds the course record.”

Contact Peter or Frans Tel : (011) 404 - 1353/4 Fax: (086) 699 - 4371 Email: admin@vukajozi.co.za

The 23-year-old Mosiako is showing no ill effects from the horrific attack on him in February this year that saw him hospitalized and came close to costing him his racing career. Recently he finished fourth in the Nelson Mandela Day Marathon 10km in 30:53.

“I wanted a top ten, so the fourth place finish was really good for me and show’s I am coming back into the form I had when I won the SA 5000m title last year and the SA Cross Country Trials in January this year. I am confident, but wary. The guys are all in form.”

Nkhasi was being a bit cagey on his chances. The Lesotho athlete was 8th in the half marathon at the Nelson Mandela Day Marathon, clocking 64:02 on a course that sees a steady climb 15km to the finish.

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