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Ngwathe outlines developement projects to FS Forum

Ngwathe outlines developement projects to FS Forum

The Citizen2 days ago
Despite a worrying financial and service delivery picture painted by the High Court in Bloemfontein when the ruling was made that the provincial government must intervene in the Ngwathe Local Municipality's affairs, an image of a municipality committed to economic development was presented at the quarterly meeting of the Free State Provincial IDP Managers Forum hosted in Parys the past week.
Addressing the Municipal IDP Managers represented at the Forum, Ngwathe's Municipal Manager outlined the municipality's key development programmes, including a shopping mall between Schonkenville and Tumahole and a private hospital outside Parys along the R59 and a Five Star Hotel as part of the Selete Precinct development.
The municipal manager, Dr. F.P. Mothamaha, added that the municipality will keep a watchful eye on spending of grants for current infrastructure projects in all five Ngwathe towns (Parys, Vredefort, Heilbron, Edenville and Koppies).
He said the municipality has responded to the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa to professionalise local government by appointing highly qualified individuals, such as doctors and engineers, while ensuring that other municipal workers are enrolled with academic institutions as part of rebranding and repositioning the municipality.
Selete Precinct
The Selete Precinct entails a multibillion-rand development for Parys announced in November last year by project owner, Dr Eric Molefe, and Ngwathe's Executive Mayor. Molefe said the development by Rand Holdings would among others, include a solar plant, rehabilitation of the Parys Airfield to operate as a strategic freight hub, a private hospital, a stepdown facility, private primary and high school, a hotel, a truck stop, and a service station.
Although Molefe originally estimated construction teams to be on site by February/middle March, once all plans were submitted and as soon as council gave the final go-ahead, progress has been halted due to various factors since the sod turning, Molefe said during a meeting in May.
He then gave the assurance that plans for the development are going ahead.
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Ngwathe outlines developement projects to FS Forum
Ngwathe outlines developement projects to FS Forum

The Citizen

time2 days ago

  • The Citizen

Ngwathe outlines developement projects to FS Forum

Despite a worrying financial and service delivery picture painted by the High Court in Bloemfontein when the ruling was made that the provincial government must intervene in the Ngwathe Local Municipality's affairs, an image of a municipality committed to economic development was presented at the quarterly meeting of the Free State Provincial IDP Managers Forum hosted in Parys the past week. Addressing the Municipal IDP Managers represented at the Forum, Ngwathe's Municipal Manager outlined the municipality's key development programmes, including a shopping mall between Schonkenville and Tumahole and a private hospital outside Parys along the R59 and a Five Star Hotel as part of the Selete Precinct development. The municipal manager, Dr. F.P. Mothamaha, added that the municipality will keep a watchful eye on spending of grants for current infrastructure projects in all five Ngwathe towns (Parys, Vredefort, Heilbron, Edenville and Koppies). He said the municipality has responded to the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa to professionalise local government by appointing highly qualified individuals, such as doctors and engineers, while ensuring that other municipal workers are enrolled with academic institutions as part of rebranding and repositioning the municipality. Selete Precinct The Selete Precinct entails a multibillion-rand development for Parys announced in November last year by project owner, Dr Eric Molefe, and Ngwathe's Executive Mayor. Molefe said the development by Rand Holdings would among others, include a solar plant, rehabilitation of the Parys Airfield to operate as a strategic freight hub, a private hospital, a stepdown facility, private primary and high school, a hotel, a truck stop, and a service station. Although Molefe originally estimated construction teams to be on site by February/middle March, once all plans were submitted and as soon as council gave the final go-ahead, progress has been halted due to various factors since the sod turning, Molefe said during a meeting in May. He then gave the assurance that plans for the development are going ahead. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!

Exclusive: Transnet State Capture Big Four face 32 charges of corruption, fraud and of being delinquent directors
Exclusive: Transnet State Capture Big Four face 32 charges of corruption, fraud and of being delinquent directors

Daily Maverick

time5 days ago

  • Daily Maverick

Exclusive: Transnet State Capture Big Four face 32 charges of corruption, fraud and of being delinquent directors

The charge sheet details how contracts were inflated by at least R18-billion, revealing how and where bribes were paid. Fourteen years ago, there was no stopping the Transnet Big Four executives – CEO Brian Molefe, his CFO Anoj Singh, the head of freight rail Siyabonga Gama and chief engineer Thamsanqa Jiyane. As the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture heard, the four were all powerful mandarins of the state corporation. They did not defer to the board, nor Transnet's treasury, nor to its bid adjudication committees, as they rushed through a locomotive acquisition that would ultimately cost South Africa billions of rands in inflated costs and multiple times more in lost opportunities as rail went to the wall. Now the four face 32 charges contained in a charge sheet brought against them by the Independent Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) as it gets to grips with prosecuting the State Capture cases at the rail utility. The charge sheet reveals that the Idac has alleged fraud, corruption and violations of the Public Finance Management Act and the Companies Act against the four, with a trial set to begin in October. Arrested this week, all four are out on bail of R50,000 each and have surrendered their passports. All four pleaded poverty and said they could not afford the original bail request of R200,000 each when they appeared in the Palm Ridge Court on Monday, 30 June. Two, Molefe and Gama, are MPs in former President Jacob Zuma's MK party. The charges brought under a quartet of laws seek to prosecute them from four angles, including dereliction of corporate and constitutional duty (charges under the Public Finance Management Act and the Companies Act) as well as fraud and corruption under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca). Here are the numbers of charges each faces, comprising variations of contraventions of the four laws. 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Rolling stock bonanza In 2011, Transnet decided to boost rail freight demand by re-kitting its rolling stock. Over the next four years, the four allegedly conspired to favour the Chinese Rail Corporation (CRC), which was then divided into the China South Rail and China North Rail divisions. Essa earned handsome commissions for putting together this deal, the commission heard. Molefe, for example, was found by the commission to have ensured that the company did not have to meet the BEE conditions required of other suppliers. The Transnet whistle-blower, Francis Callard, detailed to the State Capture commission how the Japanese supplier, Mitsui, was elbowed aside in a series of corporate manoeuvres, and he was often kept in the dark. In 2014, Molefe and Singh signed off on contracts without board or government approval, and soon the costs ballooned from an initial R38.6-billion to R54.5-billion. 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Former Transnet bosses granted bail of R50,000
Former Transnet bosses granted bail of R50,000

TimesLIVE

time5 days ago

  • TimesLIVE

Former Transnet bosses granted bail of R50,000

The Palm Ridge specialised commercial crime court in Johannesburg has postponed the case against former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe and his three co-accused to October 6 for further investigations. The four were granted bail of R50,000 each after Monday's brief court appearance. Molefe is charged together with Anoj Singh, former CFO, another ex-CEO Siyabonga Gama and Thamsanqa Jiyane, who was the chief procurement officer in the Transport Freight Rail division. They are facing 18 charges that include contravention of the Public Finance Management Act, fraud, corruption and contravention of the Companies Act. The charges relate to Transnet's plan to modernise the country's rail infrastructure which allegedly led to tender processes being flouted and inflated prices being paid.

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