Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter A total of 145 babies born to girls aged 14 and below were registered in the Free State in 2020, as cases of early pregnancy and motherhood remain alarmingly high in South Africa. According to a Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) report on live births released on Friday, last year the country recorded 3 183 births by mothers aged between 10 and 14 years. KwaZulu-Natal with 640 accounted for the highest number of births among that age group, followed by Limpopo with 536, the Eastern Cape 517, Gauteng 419, Mpumalanga 357, the Western Cape 304 and the North-West 176.…

Staff Reporter A Free State businesswoman has been ordered to pay back over R40.4 million that her small loans business owes to the state-owned Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA). The entrepreneur, Margaretha Aletta Notley, was sued in her capacity as surety and co-principal debtor of Retmil Financial Services (Pty) Ltd, a registered company based in Bloemfontein that gives out loans to small, medium and macro enterprises (SMMEs). SEFA, on the other hand, is in the business of lending loans to other on-lenders at a minimal interest rate who then in turn lend loans to SMME businesses and charge interest. On…

Most body corporates have a managing agent for a wide variety of reasons. The most important is that running a body corporate is rather technical and most trustees neither have the time nor skills to manage them. The first question asked by trustees when looking for a new managing agent is: “How much . . .” – which is probably the last question they should be asking. By that I mean most body corporates pay so little to their managing agents that they actually make it a lost leader for their managing agents. Yes, I am suggesting that most managing…

FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last white president, died on Thursday aged 85, his foundation announced. De Klerk and South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for leading the “miracle” transition from white rule in the country. He died after a battle with cancer, his foundation said in a statement. De Klerk had announced his diagnosis on his 85th birthday, on March 18 this year. “It is with the deepest sadness that the FW de Klerk Foundation must announce that former president FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye earlier…

National Treasury on Thursday pledged to cut the deficit and curb debt in its mid-term budget, saying it would not commit to new long-term spending despite a windfall from high commodities prices. Africa’s most industrialised nation was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, but its economy bounced back unexpectedly strongly in 2021 as global demand for its exports, such as metals, surged. The Treasury now sees the deficit at 7.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this fiscal year, versus the 9.3 percent forecast in the main February budget, and gross debt peaking at 78.1 percent of GDP…

The four kidnapped Moti brothers have been returned home. The boys were kidnapped in Polokwane three weeks ago. Zia, 15, Zayyad, 11, Alaan, 13, and Zidan, seven, were on their way to the Curro Heuwelkruin private school along the R37 near the N1 bypass when seven armed men blocked the vehicle the boys were travelling in and fired shots. The men were in two cars – a black Mercedes-Benz and a white Kia Sorento. The children were forced out of the vehicle, leaving the 64-year-old driver behind. The siblings’ cellphones were later found dumped in Flora Park. In a statement…

Staff Reporter The Free State Department of Education has condemned the stabbing of a 13-year-old learner by another learner in Hertzogville on Friday, saying schools should not be turned into places of violent acts. In a statement released on Saturday, the provincial education department said Phemelo More, a Grade 7 learner from Senzile Primary School, was stabbed by a Grade 6 learner from Kegomoditswe Primary School in the same town. “This horrific incident happened in full view of other learners and teachers,” read part of statement issued by Free State education spokesperson Howard Ndaba. It said the matter is now…

Levies should be set at the budget meeting based on the expected running costs of your building or complex. All owners should be at the meeting so that there can be consensus on what owners want included and after agreement the levy is set. But the levy will depend on what type of owners a given building or complex has. Some building owners just want the basic. The concept here is to have a minimal budget and no frills. Nothing wrong with this, as long as owners understand that if you don’t keep up with maintenance it will come back…

Staff Reporter Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule says he is confident the Free State asbestos corruption case in which he is one of the accused will collapse before going to trial. He said this while speaking to journalists outside the Free State High Court on Wednesday after the pre-trial conference was postponed to February 21, 2022. “The case will continue on the 21st and 22nd of February. That’s the end of the case,” said a confident Magashule. “During those two days, I can tell you . . . they (the state) have no evidence against anybody. They are trying to…

All sectional title schemes are developed by a developer – that is a person that has the idea to build a certain design of a building on a specific site for a specific market. So, a developer may design a new building for the rental market or for selling the individual buildings in the sectional title scheme. Each market has its own buyers/tenant pool, so a property built for the entry level would be very different from one built for the uppermost market. Obviously, a developer looking at the affordable market must be very careful about what the building costs,…