Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter Free State Treasury MEC Gadija Brown is expected to deliver the supplementary budget for the province at 2pm Tuesday. A statement released by the department said she will make a virtual presentation to the provincial Legislature, a departure from the norm owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. This budget outline will be an offshoot of the national supplementary budget presented by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni last month in which he tried to charter a new path by stabilising debt and seeking new ways to revive the economy. Mboweni’s budget, which initially got mixed reactions, sought to improve the government’s…

Staff Reporter Lessons failed to resume at about six schools in Mangaung this morning after several learners and teachers tested positive for COVID-19. Free State education MEC Tate Makgoe said on Twitter that at least seven teachers and three learners had tested positive for the acute respiratory disease in the last few days. “Schooling at the following schools in Motheo (district) have been temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 cases,” Makgoe said before listing the schools and the numbers of those affected. Katiso Primary School reported four teachers tested positive for the disease while Bloemfontein South School had a case of…

Staff Reporter Only learners in Grades 6 and 11 in the Free State are expected back in school Monday when South Africa extends its phased school reopening programme. Education MEC Tate Makgoe told a virtual media briefing hosted by the national Department of Basic Education that learners in Grade R will be phased in later in the month as part of measures to limit congestion in schools. “We are ready to take Grades 6 and 11,” Makgoe said. “We have also indicated that where schools are ready, we will take Grade R learners,” he added. Makgoe said he is confident…

Staff Reporter Free State police have launched another double inquest after a couple drowned during a fight that had seen the man allegedly attempting to kill his entire family by driving his wife and two children into a river. The incident happened late Friday afternoon in Kroonstad. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Thandi Mbambo said police officers on patrol late Friday afternoon were stopped by community members who told them a couple with two children was fighting at Kroonpark under the bridge on Valsch River. “On 3 July 2020 at about 17:28 pm, the police vehicle was stopped by (members of)…

Staff Reporter The two women arrested by the Hawks in an early morning raid yesterday for allegedly siphoning state funds meant for the implementation of various agricultural projects in the Free State have been granted bail by the Bloemfontein Regional Court. Businesswoman Malikomo Mohapi, 55, and former chief financial officer for the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Seipati Dhlamini, 49, were each granted bail of R10 000 when they made their initial court appearance today. The case was postponed to September 10 for a High Court date. Mohapi, who is the sole director of Rekgonne Community Projects,…

The outbreak of COVID-19 in South Africa and the attached national lockdown regulations have left many people questioning the constitutionality of the restrictions and the seemingly blurred line between law, morality and politics. It’s just over a month since the country moved from Level 4 to 3 of the national lockdown at the beginning of June. The terms set out by cabinet and gazetted by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma have largely helped the country slow down the spread of the deadly coronavirus. But, at the same time, they presented a variety of challenges to people as…

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and the nine provincial education MECs around the country have announced only Grades R, 6 and 11 will return to school on Monday, July 6. In a government gazette published earlier in June, Motshekga had announced Grades R, 1, 2, 3, 6, 10 and 11 would return to school on Monday under strict COVID-19 guidelines and protocols. But on Thursday, the Council of Education Ministers (CEM), which comprises Motshekga and her deputy, and the nine provincial education MECs and their heads of departments, decided to amend the earlier decision. Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said…

Staff Reporter Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) MEC Thembeni Nxangisa says he is confident Free State municipalities will start registering improved audit outcomes because the provincial government has put in place a host of measures to assist them. The MEC said this after Auditor-General (AG) Kimi Makwetu stated on Wednesday that municipal audit outcomes in the province had continued to regress for a third consecutive year. The AG said almost half of the municipalities in the Free State had either not accounted for the manner in which they utilised their 2018-19 budgets or they had done it poorly. In…

Staff Reporter The two people arrested yesterday on suspicion of looting funds meant for the Estina Dairy Project in Vrede were expected to apply for bail at the Bloemfontein Regional Court this morning . The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, also known as the Hawks, said the pair was arrested in an early morning operation Thursday and will face charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering worth over R244 million. A spokesperson for the Hawks told The Free Stater that the matter is not part of the much-publicised Estina Dairy Project scandal which has since been struck off the court roll, but…

Staff Reporter The Free State Department of Education says it is following strict health protocols to ensure that learners who are beneficiaries of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) but have not yet resumed classes do not contract the coronavirus when they fetch their meals at their respective schools. Provincial education spokesperson Howard Ndaba said the learners are subjected to the standard protocols of social distancing and screening before entering school grounds to limit the possibility of them getting the disease. “In terms of COVID-19 protocols, as these learners fetch their meals, they must wear their face masks correctly,” Ndaba…