Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter At least 76 percent of the water purchased by Matjhabeng Local Municipality from Sedibeng Water is lost due to ageing infrastructure and theft. This is contained in the latest report on local government audit outcomes for 2019-2020 released by Auditor General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke on Wednesday. “The municipality lost R462.84 million (76 percent) of the water purchased from Sedibeng Water due to leakages, burst pipes, line losses, tampering and theft,” read part of the report. According to the report, the water lost added to the significant amounts payable to the water boards but could not be billed to…

Staff Reporter Police are investigating circumstances surrounding the death of four family members whose bodies were pulled out of a Bloemfontein house that caught fire on Thursday morning. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Thandi Mbambo said in a statement a couple and their two children were found dead after the fire brigade had put out the fire but did not suffer any significant burns. “The father, 56, and mother, 50, had no visible injuries, whilst a 17-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy were found with stab wounds and their throats slit,” she said. The incident happened on Victoria Road in the city.…

Staff Reporter A police officer was shot and killed by two men who had allegedly stolen a bakkie in Thaba Nchu yesterday after they got stuck in Wepener following a tyre puncture. The pair, which unsuccessfully tried to take the vehicle across the Lesotho border, left a trail of blood after they shot and injured three other people, including another police officer and a former police official. The ex-police official was hijacked outside his house in Ratlou, Thaba Nchu, by two armed men at about 20:00. Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele said in a statement the man was shot…

Staff Reporter South Africa’s highest court has sentenced former president Jacob Zuma for 15 months on contempt charges after he defied an order to appear before a corruption inquiry. In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, the Constitutional Court ordered the 79-year-old veteran politician to hand himself in within five days. If he fails to do so, police will arrest him and take him to a correctional centre. Zuma was not in court when Judge Sisi Khampepe delivered the judgment. The decision by the Constitutional Court to have the former president jailed came five months after the same court ordered him…

Staff Reporter Free State police are on high alert after sporadic protests flared up in the province. At least four towns were reportedly affected. Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele said in a statement one vehicle was burnt while some tuckshops were looted and several roads were blocked with stones and burning tyres. He said on Sunday night at about 21:00, a group of demonstrators in Allanridge started singing on the streets leading to four shops owned by foreign nationals being looted. “The group then damaged the Satellite Police Station with stones, breaking window panes and there was an attempt…

Staff Reporter The rapidly spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus has been detected in the Free State as well as four other provinces in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said. The other provinces are the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. Ramaphosa said this when he announced on Sunday evening that the country was moving to Alert Level 4 for the next 14 days in light of the sustained daily increases of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. “We now have the Delta variant,” the president said in the televised address. The variant was first detected in India…

Staff Reporter A 12-year-old boy from Odendaalsrus in the northern Free State was arrested on Friday night after allegedly stabbing another boy following an argument over a game of gambling. It is believed that the deceased, Lebohang Malgas, 15, and the alleged killer were playing a gambling game on the street at Blok 7, Kutlwanong township in Odendaalsrus on Friday at about 19:30 when the incident occurred. Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele said in a statement the two then engaged in a heated argument and the 12-year-old went home. “On his return he allegedly pulled out a pocket knife…

Children living in townhouse complexes are generally viewed as safe from some of the dreadful crimes we have witnessed in this country but it’s always important to monitor them so they don’t disturb other people’s peace. From our experience of managing a substantial number of sectional-title complexes at Platinum Global, you could have serious problems with neighbours if you don’t watch your children and tell them what they can and cannot do when they play outside. Generally, each unit in a complex is somebody’s home. Some are occupied by young people with families and others by retired owners. They all…

Staff Reporter Thuso Ramaema, a former top official in the Free State government, has succumbed to COVID-19. He passed away today at a Bloemfontein hospital where he was battling the respiratory disease since his admission on June 8. At the time of his retirement from public service in February this year, Ramaema was the deputy director in the Office of the Premier, responsible for policy, planning and governance. “Ramaema was an astute, meticulous public servant, and was selfless in the execution of his duties,” Premier Sisi Ntombela said in a statement released by her office. “We are poorer without his…

The High Court in Johannesburg has heard that the terms of embattled ANC secretary general Ace Magashule’s suspension are an infringement on his constitutional rights. This is according to his legal representative Advocate Dali Mpofu, who is arguing for the court to find the suspension imposed on Magashule by the ANC as invalid, unlawful and unconstitutional. Mpofu said the terms limit Magashule’s rights to participate in political activity as provided for in the country’s constitution. Magashule is not allowed to speak on behalf of or on matters involving the ANC and he is also not allowed to address party members…