Author: The Free Stater

The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has warned residents in and around the Free State capital to brace for heavy rainfall that could cause flooding this Friday. The municipality is urging drivers to take extra caution by reducing speed and switching their headlights on, while pedestrians are being reminded to be careful when crossing the road and to avoid crossing rivers and streams where water is above the ankles. “Residents of Mangaung Metro, particularly in the former Naledi region, are urged to be cautious on the road and in their homes as the South African Weather Service has issued an impact-based warning…

Mangaung council speaker Stefani Lockman-Naidoo has vowed not to stop fighting corruption in the metro after she was summoned to a disciplinary hearing set for next month for disobeying her party, the ANC, resulting in the axing and suspension of senior officials in the municipality. The ANC Mangaung Interim Regional Committee (IRC) has summoned her to a disciplinary hearing on June 7 to answer to charges of knowingly and intentionally defying a resolution of the ANC Caucus in council after she allowed a motion to be debated without referring it to party structures in the council. Lockman-Naidoo’s tiff with her…

Power distribution company Centlec has issued a stern warning to people believed to be hired by unknown individuals or syndicates to steal copper cables from the power lines saying it will not allow them to destroy such key infrastructure and put the country’s economy at risk. “This is war and we will fight it tooth and nail,” said Centlec in a statement. “We want to send a strong message to the criminals and their handlers that we will not rest until they are behind bars,” added the company, which distributes electricity to Mangaung and surrounding municipalities. It said it is…

A 30-year-old man will appear in the Viljoenskroon Magistrates Court this Wednesday facing two charges of murder. Fezile Dabi district police spokesperson Captain Malebo Khosana said the man was arrested for the double murder after he went to his ex-girlfriend’s house at about 4am on Saturday. “He suspected that the ex-girlfriend was sleeping with the current boyfriend,” said Malebo in a statement. “Upon . . . arrival at the ex-girlfriend’s home, he stabbed her to death and hit her son with a hammer on the head,” added the police spokesperson. The suspect then fled the scene. He is said to…

The man accused of killing Bloemfontein businessman and former Moroka Swallows FC player Lejoni Alfred Helepi in March 2016 has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Free State High Court after being extradited from Lesotho. Ntsane Togowe, 42, was given an additional 15 years by Judge Pitso Molitsoane on Monday after he was convicted of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. Helepi was killed in his bathroom on March 29, 2016 in the robbery which included four other accused persons. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the slain businessman was attacked and fatally shot after taking a shower in…

After going through his wife’s mobile phone and discovering that she was having an extra-marital affair, a Free State man tricked her unsuspecting lover into visiting the couple’s home. Little did the lover know he was walking into a trap where the husband and his friend teamed up to bludgeon him with a hammer and strangle him before dumping his lifeless body into a dam. The husband, Kelly Sephton,37, and his friend, Raymond Oosthuizen, 45, will now rot in jail for the heinous crime. The Free State High Court, sitting in Sasolburg, on Friday sentenced the two men to life…

SABC chief executive officer Madoda Mxakwe has urged young people to be patient and remain focused as they pursue their careers and not rush to hog the limelight before mastering their respective professions. He said this when he delivered the keynote address at the Central University of Technology (CUT) 2022 Autumn Graduation Ceremony held at the Free State institution’s Welkom campus this week. The university quotes Mxakwe, who spoke on leadership, as saying it was important to build a strong foundation and support system in order to grow professionally. “I know I’m talking mostly to a generation that wants things…

The Free State High Court on Friday dismissed a last-minute application brought by the directors of the Gupta-owned slandsite Investments 180 (Pty) to postpone the return day of the provisional restraint order against company, Iqbal Sharma and others. Acting Judge Neil Snellenburg will provide a written judgment for dismissing the postponement application on Monday. The directors sought a postponement pending their application to the Supreme Court of Appeal where they are appealing against a High Court ruling passed in August 2021 that said the business rescue practitioners of Islandsite, not the directors, have the authority to represent the company in…

South Africa is faced with a potentially damaging brain involving both newly qualified and experienced professionals across different disciplines. I will not limit this topic to professionals in the property industry only because whatever happens in one sector has a direct impact on all matters property. I will explain briefly: if a teacher, medical doctor, artisan or engineer decide to seek greener pastures abroad, it means the property sector has lost some potential customers who were either going to rent at some point or buy their own property. Of course, some might decide to invest back home, but that possibility…

The Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development says it has managed to bring under control the foot and mouth disease which broke out in the province a few weeks ago. “MEC . . . Thembeni Nxangisa would like to inform all farmers, farming communities and stakeholders in the sector that the department has successfully controlled the foot and mouth disease outbreak in the province,” read part of a statement issued by the department. It said the farm in Viljoenskroon that tested positive has been cleared of the disease. “The disease was minimised through the removal of positive animals…