Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter Seven people have been arrested in connection with protests that have disrupted businesses, schooling and transport services across Bloemfontein today. Free State police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele confirmed protestors had blocked several roads in the provincial capital with burning tyres, stones and debris. “So far seven suspects have been arrested and will appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court soon for public violence,” he said in a statement this morning. Makhele said the police spent most of last night patrolling points that the participants of the protest and shutdown targeted to block in order to disturb the normal movement…

Staff Reporter The Greater Bloemfontein Taxis Association (GBTA) and Interstate Bus Lines say they have withdrawn their services from the greater Bloemfontein area because most roads have been blocked as a result of a planned shutdown across the city which started last night. GBTA public relations officer Coach Mpotane has told The Free Stater by telephone that all their taxis are grounded because most roads in the townships are impassable and it is dangerous to put their vehicles on the road. “We are not operating. All our vehicles are parked but at the end of the month we still have…

Staff Reporter A member of the little-known Mangaung Community Concern which has called for a total shutdown across Bloemfontein on Monday says they want the city council disbanded because it has failed to serve the residents as shown by the deplorable state of the metro municipality. The organisation’s representative, Temba Zweni, told The Free Stater by telephone on Sunday night that they have been left with no option but to take to the streets because all their efforts to engage the city authorities have yielded nothing. “We want the council to be disbanded because it’s not doing what it’s supposed…

Staff Reporter Some residents have reportedly started barricading roads in Bloemfontein with stones and burning tyres tonight in a development believed to be linked to a call for a total shutdown of the Free State capital this Monday by a group calling itself Mangaung Community Concern. In a flyer circulated via social media, the little-known group says its planned protest is targeted at “corrupt leaders and officials”. The group, whose leaders and members are not known, is demanding business and job opportunities, service delivery and land. Worried transporters have warned parents they might fail to ferry their children to and…

I am often asked whether property is a good investment or not. Just like a piece of string the answer must always be “it depends”. Why do I say that? In my mind when you buy the right property with the right intentions then property is by far the best investment you are ever likely to make. While some of the big multibillionaires made their money from railways and oil and latterly Bill Gates from computers, most made their money from property. Property accumulates value over time. A house bought today for R1 million can easily be worth R2 million…

Staff Reporter Two people were killed after a goods train collided with a bakkie at a level crossing near Alpha Farm, in Thaba Nchu, on Thursday morning. The train driver is said to have warned the driver of the bakkie to move but this did not happen, resulting in the collision that cost the two lives. Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele said the incident happened at about 6:40am. “The train driver alleges that he noticed a white bakkie on the level crossing and tried to warn the driver but the bakkie remained stationery until the two collided,” Makhele said…

Staff Reporter A councillor in the Free State has been suspended for insulting President Cyril Ramaphosa in a voice recording accusing him of trying to destroy the ruling ANC. In the recording, which is littered with obscenities, Maputi-a-Phofung Local Municipality Ward 30 councillor Tsietsi Motlokoa appears angry over the suspension of ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. He warns Ramaphosa that he should also be investigated for allegedly causing divisions in the province by funding a certain faction in the local council. The crude utterances prompted the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Thembeni Nxangisa, to urgently institute an investigation…

Staff Reporter Koffiefontein and Theunissen police stations in the Free State have become the latest SAPS service centres to be forced to close as a result of COVID-19 incidents. Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele says the two police stations which were closed Tuesday will undergo decontamination before they can be reopened to the public. He said the provincial police headquarters, Metpol Building in Bloemfontein central as well as the TAB Building housing the police internal audit and inspectorate offices have also been temporarily closed for decontamination after some officials tested positive for COVID-19. In Koffiefontein, police operations will run…

Staff Reporter The COVID-19 pandemic has grossly affected the work of nurses over the past year forcing them to adjust the way they conduct themselves and how they assist those seeking medical help, an expert has said. A senior researcher and lecturer at the School of Nursing at the University of the Free State, Dr Champion Nyoni, says the role of nurses as the frontliners of the healthcare system cannot be overstated as they have been key to ensuring those in need of help are assisted, despite the risk to their own lives. “A lot has happened in 2020 and…

Staff Reporter ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says the party will soon establish an interim structure in the Free State to prepare for an elective conference after the provincial executive was disbanded about two months ago following a court ruling. He said this on Monday in his closing remarks at the end of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held virtually from Saturday. “To avoid a political vacuum in the province, we have . . . mandated the NWC (National Working Committee) to establish an inclusive interim structure to take the province to an elective conference in due course,” said…