Author: Darlington Majonga
HEALTH Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Thursday launched South Africa’s Six Multi-Month Dispensing (6MMD) HIV treatment campaign in Bloemfontein, a move hailed as a major stride toward ending the country’s HIV and Aids epidemic by 2030. The launch at MUCPP Clinic, attended by Free State Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae, marks the start of a nationwide rollout that will allow eligible patients to collect a six-month supply of antiretroviral (ARV) medication at once – doubling the current three-month allocation. Officials say the initiative will ease the burden on health facilities, improve adherence to treatment and enhance the quality of life for people living…
TWO brothers from Bloemfontein have each been sentenced to 30 years of direct imprisonment for the premeditated murder of their disabled uncle in what prosecutors described as a “cold-blooded and greed-driven plot” to cash in on a funeral insurance policy. The Winburg Regional Court found Mojalefa, 28, and Masopha Maobisa, 23, guilty of housebreaking with intent to murder and murder, following the brutal killing of 54-year-old Pule Isaac Maobisa in October 2019. According to court evidence, the brothers had in August 2019 taken out a R30 000 funeral policy on their uncle’s life without his knowledge. Barely weeks after paying…
THE Free State recorded one of the strongest improvements in employment in South Africa during the third quarter of 2025, according to Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey. While the national unemployment rate declined by 1.3 percentage points – from 33.2 percent in the second quarter to 31.9 percent in the third – the Free State outperformed most provinces with a notable 2.3 percentage point drop, from 38.5 percent to 36.2 percent. Only Limpopo posted a larger decline, falling by 5.2 percentage points to 29.8 percent. The province’s combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force also improved,…
THE Free State High Court has granted the provincial health department permission to stop the release of pension benefits to one of its former employees accused of involvement in a multimillion-rand corruption scandal, while dismissing the same bid against another ex-official. In a recent judgment, Judge JP Daffue ruled that the Government Employees Pension Fund and the Government Pensions Administration Agency be interdicted from paying out the pension of Motsumi Krisjan Polori, pending the outcome of a civil claim lodged by the MEC for Health to recover alleged losses. However, the court dismissed the department’s application to freeze the pension…
THE Free State High Court has dismissed an attempt by electricity utility Centlec Ltd to block a rental claim amounting to R8.7-million brought against it by the Free State Development Corporation (FDC), ruling that the FDC’s case was clear and properly pleaded. In a judgment delivered by Acting Judge X Ntshulana, the court found that the FDC’s particulars of claim – which centre on arrear rental payments of R8 788 851.99 allegedly owed by Centlec – were sufficiently detailed to allow the power distributor to respond. Centlec, a municipal entity wholly owned by the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, had filed an…
THE Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has overturned a ruling by the Free State High Court and ordered that Bloemfontein attorney Johann Oosthuizen be struck from the roll of legal practitioners for misconduct involving the misappropriation of trust funds. In a judgment delivered on Friday, the SCA upheld an appeal by the South African Legal Practice Council (LPC) against the earlier High Court decision that had dismissed its application to have Oosthuizen removed from the roll. The SCA found that Oosthuizen’s actions displayed a “lack of integrity and dishonesty”, leaving no exceptional circumstances to justify a lesser sanction. Oosthuizen, who…
IN a significant ruling that could save dozens of jobs and revive a once-thriving meat processing operation, the Free State High Court has placed Bloemfontein Abattoir (Pty) Ltd under business rescue, paving the way for a multimillion-rand turnaround plan. Judge Van Rhyn handed down judgment on 3 October in favour of the abattoir’s managing director, Vincent Graeme Leach, and the company’s 38 employees, who brought the urgent application seeking to convert the company’s provisional liquidation into business rescue proceedings. The court’s decision allows the abattoir – once a key player in the local red meat industry – to reopen under…
THE Free State remains one of South Africa’s least visited provinces despite a national surge in domestic tourism, according to Statistics South Africa’s latest Domestic Tourism Survey (DTS) for 2024. While South Africans took nearly 60 million trips within the country last year – spending a record R60.6 billion – the province captured just a sliver of that travel market, drawing only 3.5 percent of day visitors and 4.8 percent of overnight travellers. The new figures highlight the Free State’s ongoing struggle to convert its central location and rich cultural landscape into real tourism gains, even as neighbouring destinations such…
A FREE State man has been sentenced to life in prison for raping a teenage girl who was friends with his own son. Tebogo Makhanya, 43, committed the offence in March 2023 after he lured the victim, then aged 14, to his home under the false pretext of wanting to discuss with her an issue involving his son. He raped her twice before taking her to an field where he threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incident. The victim only gathered the courage to reported the matter in November 2023, leading to Makhanya’s arrest. After he was found…
THE R51-million project to refurbish the Free State province’s largest police station is set to enter its 10th year with no completion in sight, despite originally being scheduled for just 24 months. Work on the Park Road Police Station in Bloemfontein – which began in 2016 – has repeatedly stalled due to contractual and payment disputes. The latest halt occurred in July 2024 after the most recent contractor reportedly abandoned the site following a four-month wait for payment from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. During its oversight visit to the…