Platinum Gazette Burgersfort, Steelpoort, Ohrigstad
20 February 2015
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Again
Tuesday this week it was again the R37 between Burgersfort and Riba Cross’ (road to Polokwane) turn for a service delivery protest. The main issues were again electricity, water, roads and jobs. Those not lucky enough to know the back roads, had to wait or turn around and take the extended route via Steelpoort, where a mother of a traffic jam occurred. While waiting, some of the ‘spectators’ cheerfully waived at the newspaper’s photographer (right).
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NEWS
Lowveld winners!
P
salm 113 New International Version (NIV)
1 Praise the Lord.[a] Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. 2 Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. 4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
20 FEBRUARY 2015 Tubatse Build It in Burgersfort has been announced the best Build It store in the Lowveld region after a recent regional competition. The store will now take part in the national competition in May this year. In the photograph on the left is the whole team, while the management team (fltr), Llewellyn Wolmarans, Fanie Morupane and Suzette Geldenhuys proudly displays the trophy.
Did you know? Did you know that Platinum Gazette offers a clickable advertisement service for the e-mail version of the newspaper and a QR-Code service for advertisements in the print edition. Try it out in the advertisement on page 3 (mouse over the e-mail address or other address at the bottom) and click to communicate with the advertiser! Contact Beannla Celliers on 083 543 1676 if you are interested.
20 FEBRUARIE 2015 Behold the editor’s 5 litre shower experiment. Take one large canned fruit tin, whack a couple of holes into the bottom (first open the tin and eat the fruit), suspend the tin from a washing pole and empty a container with 2.5 litres of stored water into it. Make sure you have your clothes off while doing this and get wet all over quickly (the holes must not be too many or big). Soap in, another 2.5 litres, rinse. Clean! (ja well ...)
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NUUS Platinum Gazette has been inundated with complaints about the water supply in Burgersfort over the last few weeks and especially this last week. (As we speak there is no water in many areas, including Ext. 5 and 10)Businesses are affected as well as households - no warnings are ever given and complaints centre around no communication to inaccurate communication to residents and business owners. Everyone understands that maintenance and other problems might occur from time to time, but as one complaint that the newspaper has received states “Lepelle is currently our story time service provider - every time we call there is a different story but we almost never have water pressure or proper supply over the last 3 weeks”. This person is staying in the area called Mooikloof, Burgersfort. There has also been complaints that residents who are regular callers to the Call Centre are simply being ignored. When they call from a different number, the calls are answered. Businesses are losing money - e.g. one could not bake bread due to the persistent and unexpected water interruptions. Lepelle’s contract with SDM was renewed last year and they were pressing for a long term agreement. Residents are currently not getting the promised service they deserve. Please be so kind as to forward us a formal explanation on: 1) What is the problem with the water supply in Burgersfort? 2) Why is it taking so long to sort out? 3) What steps are being taken to make sure that the fix that is being implemented is permanent? 4) How is Lepelle communicating with residents about these problems? E.g. sms, the newspapers, notices dropped off at residences and businesses etc.? 5) Why do the Call Centre not answer all calls received? 6) What steps should residents and business owners take to ensure that they are either prepared for the interruptions or no service from Lepelle? 7) When will the current interruption be restored? 8) Why are there so many stories about what is wrong with the supply? 9) How can businesses protect themselves against the losses currently being suffered due to Lepelle’s poor service/poor communication? Please feel free to add anything that might give perspective or put the situation in context. Your urgent response in this matter will be appreciated as the newspaper plans to do an article on this problem for this week. A response by 08:00 tomorrow morning would be much appreciated. Kind regards
Question to Lepelle Northern Answer By email from Lepelle: Date: 19 February 2015 at 08:43 Thanks for your email and please be informed that this office is collating information from various sources to can respond to your email. I will respond in due course and thanks for raising issues pertaining to communities on water shortage.
By SMS from Sekhukhune District Municipality: Goodmorning,kindly be informed, our artisns are changing a pump at the plant(burgersfort WTW) that supplies water to reservoirs which distributes water to Old town and there will be shortage of water for a while, until further notice. . Hi, this message is from Lepelle Northern Water.
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20 FEBRUARY 2015
NEWS
Samancor ECM delivers “Back to School”-smiles
The Samancor Eastern Chrome Mines annual Golf Day raise funds for community projects. The 2014 day’s funds was used to distribute “Back to School” gifts amongst grade R and grade 1 children at Mangabane Primary, Makgakantshe Primary and Steelpoort Academy. At Dithamaga Primary and Boerboomkraal, everybody received a gifts. ECM would like to thank everyone who made this project possible. “With this kind of support, we can only go from good to great”.
(Photographs & Information: Samancor Eastern Chrome Mines).
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Loving Tubatse Chrome Club on Valentine’s Day Tubatse Chrome Club hosted a Valentine’s Day dinner with live music by Doane Smith. Couples enjoyed the delicious three course meal and regularly stepped onto the dance floor.
A festive Valentine’s atmosphere was part of the evening.
Showing love at Tubatse Chrome Tubatse Chrome spread some love through the Plant with some Valentine’s Day cookies last week. Employees were all smiles as they loved their heart shaped cookies with a Valentine’s Day message. (Photographs & Information: Tubatse Chrome)
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NEWS
20 FEBRUARY 2015
Your reaction to the 2015 Last week Thursday Parliament’s opening and the State of the Nation Address (SONA) turned into chaos with the DA and the UDM walking out of the proceedings after the EFF were removed from Parliament by police officers in plain clothes. EFF leader Julius Malema insisted on asking President Jacob Zuma when he will pay back the money they believe he owe the taxpayers for his home – Nkandla. Malema and other members of his party were forcefully removed when they refused to let the issue go. The DA ‘s parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane then asked the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete whether it was Parliament’s own security or police officers who removed EFF members from the building. When a clear answer could not be given the DA members walked out of proceedings with the UDM joining them. The DA is now set to challenge the constitutionality of certain sections of legislation surrounding the powers and privileges of Parliament in the Western Cape High Court. To add to the chaos at the SONA, the cell phone signal in Parliament was jammed. This infuriated journalists attending the event. They were unable to tweet or make use of the Internet to file their stories for their various media houses. The journalists chanted “Bring back the signal, bring back the signal” while waving their cellphones at a black box which they believed was jamming the signal. The signal was restored after the Speaker asked the secretary to Parliament, Gengezi Mgidlana to look into the matter. On Wednesday this week the State Security Department announced that the problem with the signal was due to an operational error of a device in Parliament. They denied that there was political motivation for the signal jamming. This week Parliament resumed a little more peaceful with a debate on the President’s State of the Nation Address. Political parties had sharp reaction on both what happened last week at the opening of Parliament and the speech itself. On Wednesday Maimane criticized President Zuma’s reaction to the chaos: “You laughed. You laughed while the people of South Africa cried for their beloved country”. By the time of going to press yesterday, President Jacob Zuma was due to give his reaction to the debate and accusations in a 60 minute response. Platinum Gazette asked readers what they think about the chaos surrounding the SONA last week.
Mr. Doctor Masinga said: “Everyone acted wrong. The ANC wanted to hide things, that is why there were signal problems. It was wrong of the EFF not to listen to what the President had to say. They should all have listened and then engaged afterwards. Other countries saw on TV what happened. We let ourselves down”.
Mr. Steve Makamu said: “There is no respect. The EFF and the DA acted wrong. If people can respect each other there will not be scenes like this. We are going to be like Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Mozambique if it is going like this. Like it or not – that is where we are heading”.
Mr. Promise Mmopane said: “The people don’t show respect for Parliament. It will affect this government. All the parties just work for themselves and not the people – that is why there is so much corruption and things like this happens. The rest of the world will now think bad of South Africa”.
Mr. Russel Maahlo said: “The parties like the EFF were doing the right thing. It was totally wrong to throw them out. The President should simply have answered their question. South Africa is now looking very bad to the rest of the world”.
Right: Mr. Collen Mojela said: “Malema does not have respect for Parliament. How can he expect people to follow him when he disrupts the National Address? No matter the weakness of the leaders, we should respect them. He should not only be suspended from Parliament, but banned from it. The DA tried to support Malema – that is why they walked out. They planned it. I don’t support them. Zuma laughed at what was happening because he is a good leader who is always ready for action. They must investigate the problem with the signal. People are worried if things like this happen in Parliament. South Africa have dignity, but things like this take us down”.
Mr. Michael Mnisi said: “It was not right. We have to respect Parliament. We know there are problems with some of our leaders, but we must respect the President’s speech. People have judged the President already. The signal jamming? Technology is a devil – you cannot blame the lack of signal on anyone. I don’t think investors will be put off by what happened last week’.
Right: Mr. Joseph Mashaba said: “We should be embarrassed. People must respect Parliament”.
Mr. Oupa Moela said: “We were embarrassed by what happened. The problem is the President. He was also late. Malema asked questions instead of listening so that was wrong. The DA did the right thing because the police has no place in Parliament”.
Left: Mr. DJ Zwane said: “The EFF did not do right. They are even fighting amongst themselves – I’ve seen that on TV this week. I am worried about Parliament. There should be peace so they can make good decisions for us. They must respect Parliament. What will other countries think of us?”
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opening of parliament
Ms. Snowy Magabe and Ms. Phillies Selepe said: “What happened at the SONA was not good at all. The country had to listen to what the President has to say. The EFF was acting irresponsible. They have to respect Zuma. I think the DA is angry with Zuma. They are angry because of that expensive house he built - that Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal. We don’t think it will look too bad for the outside world”.
Mnr. Frans du Plessis sê: “Dis nie ‘n ding om op trots te wees nie. Kyk meer na die mense van Suid-Afrika se belange en minder na politieke gewin. Dit was kommerwekkend dat daar nie selfoonsein was nie”.
Mr. Joseph Molopo said: “It was wrong to remove the EFF and it was bad that there was no cellphone signal. It is good the DA walked out. What happened in total is not good and nobody should smile about it. It is very bad they even brought police officers into Parliament”.
Mnr. Wim en Me. Bettie van Rensburg sê: “Dis swak. Almal kyk na ons. Dis soos ‘n kind na sy ouers sal kyk, so kyk die land na die leiers in die parlement en dan is dit hulle optrede. Hulle is veronderstel om ‘n voorbeeld te stel. Daar is kommer daaroor dat daar nie selfoonsein was nie. Dis of hulle nie wou wys wat gebeur nie”.
Mr. Morris Riba said: “As a country we should be worried if it goes like that in Parliament. Zuma should just have answered the question – when will he pay back the money? I don’t think the EFF should have been removed. The ANC used their power to rule and organize everything the way they want. We as a country should be embarrassed at what the world thinks. Most investors will now pull out of here”.
Mr. James Sathakge said: “They were right to remove the EFF. That day was not the right time to discuss the President paying back the money. On 11 March they’ll get their turn to ask that question. People wanted to listen to the President. The signal problem in Parliament was just a network problem. We are worried because there must be order in Parliament. I also think that the DA and the EFF met before the SONA to plan their disruptions. The DA also did not want to eat the food Parliament was preparing”. Left: Mr. William Malatji said: “It is not good. Parliament is a big thing. People must have respect for it. Some of the EFF members were being pushed and having the DA walk out is not showing respect. Nobody should have laughed – it was a serious matter!”
Mr. Samuel Masilo said: “Parliament did not handle the situation properly last week. The EFF and others should respect Parliament. I hope the order in Parliament will be improved for the sake of South Africa”. Mr. Michael Mabela said: “The guys who walked out – that was their right. Without the EFF and the opposition in Parliament South-Africa will not improve”. Mr. Lesley Ndou said: “I think the ANC and EFF were wrong. They both expected what happened there. The EFF should not have been allowed inside in the first place because they were making threats of disruption. People are tired of their tactics. The DA and UDM were supposed to stay. I find it wrong that they walked out. Indirectly they supported the EFF. It’s not a good reflection of Parliament. I am ashamed that the rest of the world saw that. Shame on us, especially when we say the economy has to grow”.
Ms. Lesedi Mashego and Ms Sharon Mnisi said: “We as South Africans should be ashamed. We are playing with our freedom. We understand Malema must fight, but not that way. Many people hate Zuma, but they don’t hate the ANC. The signal cut was planned. The Speaker was also too emotional. When she deals with the DA she is formal, but she is emotional with the EFF. Zuma did not laugh at what happened there. He was embarrassed. It was really bad”.
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20 FEBRUARY 2015
NEWS
Atlete sweet by Laerskool Burgersfort Atlete van Laerskool Burgersfort, Laerskool Ohrigstad, Laerskool Atokia en Steelpoort Akademie het verlede Saterdagoggend by Laerskool Burgersfort aan ‘n vriendskaplike atletiekbyeenkoms deelgeneem. Die dag was besonder warm, maar dit het nie kinders afgesit nie. Hulle het hul bes gegee in beide veld- en baanitems. Daar het selfs ‘n rekord of wat gespat. Die skool het hulle borge wat gehelp het om die dag moontlik te maak bedank. Hulle bedank ook elke ouer, onderwyser en atleet wat deelgeneem, gewerk of kom ondersteun het. Dié jaarlikse byeenkoms is reeds ‘n hoogtepunt op die plaaslike skole-atletiek kalender en die skool hoop om dit selfs nog beter te maak in die toekoms.
Die top presteerders het elkeen ‘n medalje ontvang. Die borge het dit help oorhandig terwyl die kinders ‘n beurt in die kalklig gekry het.
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Atlete presteer op Burgersfort Vanaf bladsy 8... Laerskool Burgersfort se jaarlikse Vriendskaplike Atletiekbyeenkoms was weereens ‘n groot sukses. Die atlete het in goeie gees deelgeneem en die dag sommer baie geniet. Baie ouers het op die dag hul kinders kom ondersteun, dit het as goeie motivering vir die meeste atlete gedien.
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Platinum Gazette
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4. Oornag Akkommodasie/ Overnight Accommodation MONTHLY OR DAILY ACCOMMODATION IN BURGERSFORT Khadima’s Lodge now open. 171 Nyala Street, Ext. 5, Burgersfort. Opposite Department of Labour. Contact: 076 666 1100/013 231 8609 2 Bedroom Flat to let in Burgersfort Reasonable rates. Contact: 076 666 1100
9. Te Huur/ For Rent Lang en kort termyn verblyf beskikbaar op plaas 10km buite Burgersfort op Lydenburg pad. Kontak Miena op 082-9603689 of (013) 2317899. Twee slaapkamer woonstel te huur in Burgersfort naby Tubatse Crossing Mall. Skakel: 082 357 1954 / 083 244 6005
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Steelpoort atlete neem deel aan atletiek op Lydenburg Steelpoort Akademie se atlete het Maandag hierdie week op Lydenburg ‘n vriendskaplike atletiekbyeenkoms gaan deelneem. Die kinders het aan verskillende baan en velditems deelgeneem en baie goed gevaar. Ander skole wat aan die dag se kompetisie deelgeneem het is Laerskool Sabie en Laerskool Lydenburg. (Foto’s en inligting: Steelpoort Akademie).
Steelies hou Valentynsokkie
Steelpoort Akademie het verlede week ‘n Valentynsokkie by die skool gehou. Die saal was vol harte versier en die leerlinge het lekker gedans en kuier.
(Foto’s en inligting: Steelpoort Akademie).
VW up! launched in Burgersfort Last week Saturday at 10:00 things were on the up!-side at Tubatse Crossing Mall. The new Volkswagen up! was launched at the centre. Excited shoppers gathered for the big reveal at 10:00 on Valentine’s morning and they were not disappointed. Many immediately fell in love with this little vehicle. The team from Highlands Volkswagen was ready to assist prospective buyers with all the information they needed. The dealership also displayed other vehicles in their range. So those looking for something a little bigger than the up! could have a look at the bigger options in the VW family. The up! is making the most of space and design - both on the inside and out. The vehicle scored a 6-star Euro NCAP safety rating and the 55kW engine will take you as fast as most cars when you are stuck in traffic.
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20 FEBRUARY 2015 It‛s child‛s play to read your Platinum Gazette online Visit www.platinum gazette.com or subscribe to get it on e-mail by sending us your request to adverts@ platinumgazette. com
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SPORT BOLS se bote nou reg Boot-toetsdag vir booteienaars Die Burgersfort, Ohrigstad, Lydenburg en Steelpoort Hengelklub (BOLS) het verlede naweek seker gemaak dat lede se bote reg is vir om die grotes te gaan vang. ‘n Boot-toetsdag is Saterdag verlede week gehou by die PLM vliegveld gehou. Lede van die klub wat bote besit het bymekaar gekom en daar is seker gemaak dat die bote heelte-
mal seevaardig is. Dinge soos fakkels se vervaldatum en die toestand van lewensreddingsbaadjies word nagegaan. Pret met ‘n vervalde fakkel en ‘n braai na die tyd het vir ‘n ligter noot gesorg. Hengelaars wat graag by die klub wil aansluit kan vir Liezl kontak vir meer besonderhede. Haar nommer is: 082 355 8658.
Golfing information to remember Golf players can look forward to participate in the Joshua Generation Golf Day at Tubatse Chrome Club this weekend. This day aims to raise funds for the school with a campus in Steelpoort and one in Burgersfort. On 28 February it will be the Kruppel Buffel Golf Day. This day is in aid of the older rugby players of the area. It is also one of those day’s that is well known for the fun atmosphere on the course. Tubatse Chrome Golf Club members are encourage to also register for the Captain’s Cup and Better Ball Club for 2015. In the Captain’s Cup players enter and play singles games against each other. This is a knock out format and the winner goes through to the next round. The Better Ball Cup is played in pairs and two players play against another team. This is also a knock out format and the winners go through to the next round. The competition fee is R130 per person. If you play in both competitions the amount of R260 is to be paid. The Chrome Club Championships will take place on 14 and 15 March. Tee off time will be 07:00. There are A, B and C Divisions for Ladies and gentlemen. Medal (A&B) and IPS (C) competition. Entry fee is: R270 and this includes the halfway house on both days. The tee off on Sunday will be according to ranking. For more information contact Martin van Rooyen on 072 564 2811.