Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment by the Ficksburg Magistrates Court after he was found guilty of murder and dismembering a corpse in order to extract and sell body parts. The court found Mdaki Joseph Tladi guilty of premeditated murder when judgment was delivered on Tuesday. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm. According to Free State police, the body of Pius Maqala Tshabalala was found by community members on the outskirts of Zone 7 in Meqheleng township, Ficksburg, on June 30, 2018. The body had stab wounds, the throat was slit…

Staff Reporter The ANC Youth League in the Free State is expected to brief the media on Wednesday morning on its views on the candidate selection process for the forthcoming local government elections and appointment of interim regional committees in the province. The convener of the ANCYL Provincial Congress Preparatory Committee (PCPC), Katleho Mangoejane, is expected to give an outline on the number of youths set to contest for seats in municipalities across the province on November 1 and how important it is for young men and women to go out and vote. When the PCPC held…

Staff Reporter The former mayor of Nketoana Local Municipality, Mandla Mamba, and two accomplices have been found guilty of fraud, money laundering and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act by the Bethlehem Serious Commercial Crimes Court. The matter against Mamba, 49, Vincent Mkhefa, 46, and Caroline Nketu, 52, dates back to 2011 when a whistle blower reported alleged tender fraud and corruption at the eastern Free State municipality whose main towns include Lindley, Petrus Steyn, Reitz and Arlington. Judgment in the matter was delivered on Monday and the trio was asked to return to court on December 7 for sentencing. …

Staff Reporter South Africa suffered a 72 percent drop in tourist volumes in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which saw both international and local travel coming to a complete standstill. Tourism Deputy Minister Fish Mahlalela said this in an address at the Central University of Technology (CUT) Hotel School in Bloemfontein recently. “Our numbers went down from 10.2 million in 2019 to 2.8 million in 2020,” said Mahlalela. The provincial tourism department and the CUT hosted a Tourism Month Public Lecture last Friday. The public lecture sought to promote transparent and open dialogue between government and…

Staff Reporter Free State businesses as well as aspiring entrepreneurs have a chance to learn about new opportunities across the globe when business promotions company, MyArts International, hosts the Free State Market Access Expo on Tuesday and Wednesday in Bloemfontein. The event, according to the company, aims to bridge the gap between big businesses, government, diplomatic missions and local entrepreneurs. Diplomats from countries such as the Qatar, USA, Indonesia, Turkey, Kenya, Mozambique, Morocco and others represented in South Africa will be in Bloemfontein for this inaugural event to interact with entrepreneurs from the Free State in order to share information…

We recently had the opportunity of marketing eight bachelor flats in the same complex for an owner. Initially, the owner wanted to sell the flats as a whole but, eventually, we managed to show him the advantages of selling them individually. What was interesting was that a few of them were sold two at a time to the same buyer. It made us realise what a substantial saving can be made if you buy them on a single offer to purchase rather than as two separate deals. Taking a price of say R300 000, the cost of registering each one as…

Staff Reporter The Consulate of the United States of America in South Africa says it is looking at possible ways it could work with the Central University of Technology (CUT) in producing students that that are ready for the job market. The newly appointed US consul general Vincent Spera said this when he visited the Free State institution on Thursday. He said the United States has numerous programmes aimed at ensuring students are taught entrepreneurial skills and exposed to the real work environment at an early stage so that they won’t struggle when they enter the working world. “From a policy…

Staff Reporter The Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Wednesday sentenced Kopano Nelson Tjobo to 15 years’ imprisonment for the murder of his wife, Sefora Tjobo, last year. The court heard that Kopano led Bloemspruit police to an empty reservoir dam in an open veld near the intersection of the R702 and Dewetsdorp Road, where he had killed the woman. Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele said in a statement the accused initially misled his neighbours into believing that his wife disappeared with a boyfriend. “He drafted a false letter with a message from a fictitious boyfriend arranging to meet his wife…

Staff Reporter A director of a company called Pit Dog Trading who is facing charges of fraud allegedly committed at Mafube Local Municipality has been granted bail by the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court. Tumahole Jeffrey Mokoena, 42, was released on a bail R7 000 and told to return to court on October 6 when he will appear with his co-accused, Nkabi Andrew Hlubi, 43. Hlubi appeared before the same court last Friday on charges of fraud, uttering and corruption. It is alleged that during 2015, Hlubi who was the acting municipal manager of Mafube municipality, awarded tenders to Pit Dog Trading.…

Staff Reporter Water supplies in Zastron and Rouxville in the Mohokare Local Municipality are set to improve as the municipality, in collaboration with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), is about to complete upgrades to the water treatment plants in the two towns. Municipal officials told journalists during a tour of the two facilities that water treatment capacity in the towns is set to more than double upon completion of the work. The upgrades in Zastron will ensure sustainable water supplies to the residents of the town and an additional 748 households that will benefit from this first phase…