Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter Three former senior Free State government officials have been charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering relating to a R25-million feasibility study contract, which included the Vrede dairy project, that was awarded to a company with links to the Gupta family. The trio – former rural development head Peter Thabethe, former agriculture head Limakatso Moorosi and former agriculture chief financial officer Seipati Dhlamini – were arraigned before the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court today. They appeared alongside Iqbal Sharma, a former Transnet board member and business partner to Gupta associate Salim Essa. The four were arrested on Wednesday. The state…

Staff Reporter A high-profile businessman and three former Free State Department of Agriculture officials have been arrested and are set to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Thursday morning. A brief statement issued by the Investigating Directorate, a unit of the National Prosecuting Authority, says the suspects were arrested across three provinces, namely the Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga. The statement did not indicate the nature of charges faced by the group. Also, according to the statement, the arrest of a fifth suspect is imminent. The directorate says it enforced the arrests with the help of the priority crime…

Staff Reporter The Free State Department of Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) has launched various industrial support incentives aimed at assisting local businesses to kick-start their operations with limited hurdles. DESTEA MEC Makalo Mohale said when he launched the packages last Friday that the support is aimed at stimulating local domestic manufacturing and production in order to retain and create more jobs in the province. “The focus for this initiative will be towards Maluti-a-Phofung Special Economic Zone in Phuthaditjhaba as well as Thaba Nchu and Botshabelo industrial areas,” he said during a virtual launch of the support…

Staff Reporter The official unemployment rate for the Free State increased by 2.2 percentage points between January and March this year from 33.4 percent to 35.6 percent. This was revealed by Statistician General Risenga Maluleke when he released results for the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first three months of this year. But the expanded unemployment rate which includes those who have given up looking for work, the provincial rate jumped from 39.9 percent at the end of last year to 43.4 percent in March this year. According to Maluleke, the Free State is one of the provinces that…

Staff Reporter President Cyril Ramaphosa has blamed social gatherings for the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, with the Free State among the worst affected provinces as South Africa immediately returns to tighter restrictions. In a televised national address on Sunday, the president announced the country is moving back to lockdown alert Level 2 due to a spike in the number of new cases of the respiratory disease. “The provinces of Free State, Northern Cape, North West and Gauteng have reached the threshold of a third wave of infections,” Ramaphosa said. “It may only be a matter of time before the…

Staff Reporter President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation this evening at 7pm on developments in South Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A statement issued by the Presidency says Ramaphosa’s address follows meetings in recent days of the National Coronavirus Command Council, the President’s Coordinating Council and Cabinet. “As South Africa rolls out its national COVID-19 vaccination programme, government and social partners are continuously monitoring infection, treatment and patient recovery rates, as well as compliance with health regulations and other prevention measures,” reads part of the statement. As of yesterday, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases identified in the…

Staff Reporter The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU)’s central region has given leading consumer goods distributor Massmart a week to respond to its demands for improved working conditions for staff. This after the union declared a dispute challenging Massmart/Walmart unilateral changes to wages and adjusting conditions of employment, threats to jobs security, union bashing and intimidation of workers. The demands are contained in a memorandum of demands delivered to the employer at Game in Fleurdal, Bloemfontein, on Friday during a march by SACCAWU affiliated workers. “We demand a response from Massmart within seven days of receipt…

Staff Reporter A Bloemfontein Regional Court prosecutor has been released on warning after she was charged for defeating the ends of justice. National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said in a statement Advocate Beverley Jantjies was charged for an incident that happened on May 5. He said MacDonald Leine, who is in a relationship with Jantjies, appeared before the Brandfort Magistrates Court on charges of corruption on March 18 and was denied bail. On April 8, Leine indicated that he intended to bring a bail application on new facts. “Jantjies informed the legal representative of Leine that the complainant…

Staff Reporter Mangaung Metro has been forced to make an about-turn on the suspension of city manager Tankiso Mea after it emerged that the proper procedure was not followed in sending him home. Following his suspension through a council vote last Friday, Mea approached the Free State High Court this week with an urgent application to have his suspension lifted. The matter, which was supposed to be heard yesterday, was however settled outside court after the legal representatives for the two parties agreed on a compromise. Mea will however not immediately return to work but will remain at home on…

Staff Reporter Free State Education MEC Tate Makgoe has dedicated the Chancellor’s Excellence Award he received from the Central University of Technology (CUT) today to the hard work of teachers and all the other staff that have given him support. “Although this is a personal award, it is . . . a result of dedicated teamwork involving the hard work of our teachers, school governing bodies and officials of the Free State department of education,” said an elated Makgoe. “Growing up in the dusty township of Tumahole, Parys, I could not have possibly imagined that one day I’d be standing…