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The Herald
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Herald
Eastern Cape novices ready for Comrades contest
Hollywood Athletics Club ' s Dolly Ndude said she had been loading mileage into her legs as part of preparations for her first Comrades. 'I have been loading throughout,' she said. 'I even went to Cape Town for 56km [Two Oceans], which I ran in 6:09:09. I was satisfied with that time. 'I don ' t have any target time, but I want to finish. But through my training, I promise to finish before the 12-hour mark.' Nedbank Running Club ' s Zuks Tokwe said he planned to get a Bill Rowan bronze medal ( 7:30 to sub-9:00 ) from his first Comrades. 'The Buffalo City Marathon was my tempo run to check if I would be able to run the pace I want during Comrades,' he said. 'I am 100% sure I will run sub-10 hours in my first Comrades.' Having participated in previous Comrades as a seconder, Aliwal Top runner Ncedo Mkhundlu said he was excited to be going to his first Comrades, which he thinks is an important global race for any person to run. 'There isn ' t much I can say about the race because I am doing it for the first time, but I tell myself that if others can run the race, I can also run it. 'Our training, which started in January, has been very tough. 'We have been focusing on the ultra-marathon distances, running 50-60km. Now we are tapering our preparations.' Stutterheim Athletics Club ' s Ludumo Sobe has qualified for his first race and will line up with the hope of a good result in his debut. 'I ran my last marathon distance to test my fitness for Comrades,' he said 'I ran longer distances in preparation. I am happy with my qualifying time. 'I will not say what people must expect from me, but I am sure I will finish.' Buffalo Runners Club athlete Ntombi Mbane ran 04:09:17 in her last marathon, which she says was a result of the hard training she put into her preparations. 'My race target is a secret,' she said. I don't want to announce it yet. 'I have been running Comrades for six years. 'My best time is 11:07:56, but now I want to run sub-11:00, and sub-10:00 will be a bonus. — Champions News Agency
News24
27-05-2025
- Business
- News24
Cape Town has more informal dwellings than Johannesburg, household survey shows
Food insecurity remains a major concern for 81% of households. At lease 98% of SA children of school-going age are enrolled in schools. Social grants are making a difference, with a 100% uptake among pensioners. The latest General Household Survey released by Stats SA on Tuesday provides a detailed snapshot of the living conditions across the country's metropolitan areas. The data highlight both progress and persistent challenges in sectors such as agriculture, education, health and infrastructure, offering insights into the realities faced by households in SA's major cities last year. Agriculture and food security The survey reveals significant disparities in agricultural engagement among the metros. The Buffalo City Metro Municipality leads with 17.7% of households involved in agricultural activities, while Cape Town and eThekwini report the lowest participation at 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively. Fruit and vegetable production is the most common activity, particularly in Buffalo City (9.7%) and Mangaung (7.5%). However, livestock and poultry production remain minimal nationwide, with Buffalo City again an outlier at 5.8% for livestock. Food insecurity remains a concern. While 81.8% of households report adequate food access, 12.1% face inadequate access and 6.1% experience severe food shortages. Nelson Mandela Bay records the highest rate of severe food insecurity (18.4%), contrasting sharply with eThekwini (0.8%). These figures underscore the uneven distribution of food security, with rural-urban divides and economic disparities playing a role. Education, enrolment and challenges Education indicators show high enrolment rates for children of primary school age (98.5% nationally), but challenges persist for older learners. Only 85.6% of 16- to 18-year-olds attend educational institutions, with Cape Town (77.5%) and eThekwini (78.5%) lagging behind Mangaung (94.5%). Pupils with special needs face significant barriers. Nationally, 10.7% of children with disabilities, aged seven to 15, are not enrolled, rising to 41.1% in eThekwini. Corporal punishment remains an issue, particularly in eThekwini, where 19.8% of the pupils reported incidents, compared to the national average of 3.7%. Access to support services varies. While 62.3% of pupils benefit from nutrition programmes, only 4.4% received free scholar transport, with Nelson Mandela Bay (31%) and Tshwane (11.7%) outperforming other metros. Health and social development Medical aid coverage remains low, with only 22.1% of individuals covered nationally. Tshwane (29.7%) and Cape Town (27.6%) report the highest rates, while Mangaung (14.9%) trails behind. Public healthcare reliance is high, with 64.3% of households using public facilities as their primary healthcare source. READ: Nurses union backs NHI: 'Let's give new healthcare system a chance' Social grant uptake is nearly universal among the elderly, with all the metros reporting 100% access to old-age pensions. However, broader social grant coverage for those older than 60 varies, from 52.6% in Cape Town to 75.9% in Mangaung. Disability rates among the elderly are notable, with Mangaung recording the highest proportion of severely disabled individuals (14.1%). Housing and infrastructure Housing conditions reveal ongoing inequities. Nelson Mandela Bay has the highest proportion of households in state-subsidised homes (35.7%), while Johannesburg has the lowest (8.2%). Informal dwellings remain prevalent, particularly in Johannesburg (17.4%) and Cape Town (18.8%). Nationally, 45,5% of children lived with mothers only while less than a third (31,4%) of children lived with both parents. More than one-quarter (26,9%) of households consisted of a single person More here: #StatsSA #ZAGHS #GovZAUpdates #ServiceDeliveryZA — Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) (@StatsSA) May 27, 2025 Water access is broadly available, but 7.9% of households use substandard sanitation facilities, with eThekwini (18.9%) and Mangaung (15.8%) facing the highest rates. Bucket toilets are still in use in some areas, notably eThekwini (185 000 households) and Tshwane (70 000 households). Transport and environmental concerns Public transport reliance is high, with minibus taxis dominating (34.7 million monthly trips nationally). However, transport costs strain household budgets, with 15.4% spending more than 30% of their income on transport. Environmental issues such as waste removal and pollution vary by metro. While 84.7% of households benefit from regular refuse removal, Buffalo City (70.8%) and Mangaung (79.1%) lag behind. Noise and air pollution are prominent concerns in Buffalo City (30.2%) and Mangaung (31.5%), while land degradation affects 55% of households in Mangaung.
Zawya
12-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa: Buffalo City wants to recover $874,296 in Covid housing funds
The council of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality resolved last week to refer officials implicated in a R16m housing tender corruption scandal dating back to 2020, for disciplinary processes. There is an ongoing court case to recoup the funds from the implicated officials and contractors, although the municipality is still investigating. A confidential report tabled before the council on Wednesday, 30 April, describes how four senior officials in the municipality's housing directorate unlawfully authorised R16m in transactions to two contractors for emergency housing during the Covid lockdown. This is based on the findings of a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation. The SIU delivered its reports to the municipality in August 2022, but the municipality only referred the matter to its attorneys in March 2023. The municipality did not respond to questions about why it took so long. The funds were initially authorised in 2020 as part of a deviation from normal tendering processes due to the 'emergency' caused by Covid. The funds were supposed to be used to build temporary housing structures for more than 300 people who had been evicted from Buffalo Flats in 2019, and others who had lost their homes in fires during the Covid lockdown. But the SIU's investigation found that hours before the municipality published a request for quotations, the municipality's general manager of supply chain management, Andile Xoseka, sent an email to nine companies with the details of the request. This unlawfully favoured these companies, the SIU found. Three of these companies — SQT Construction and Civils CC, Vitsha PM Consultants CC and Coalition Trading 1203 CC — were eventually awarded the contracts to build the housing. Coalition Trading 1203 CC was not paid for any work delivered, but SQT and Vitsha were paid R6.5m and R9.7m respectively. The payments to SQT and Vitsha were authorised and completion certificates issued before the housing structures were complete. For this the SIU held head of the housing directorate Luyanda Mbula and inspector for low-cost housing Siphokazi Dlongwana, responsible. One invoice of R1.2m paid to SQT was a duplicate of a previous transaction. The houses are made of prefab materials, as originally planned for. Many of the people living there were evicted from Buffalo Flats in 2019, so it appears that at least some of the houses were used for what they were originally intended. But according to the leaked report, the SIU found that not all the houses were delivered as planned and the structures were only finished in 2021 and 2022, after the Covid lockdown had ended. The SIU found that the budget deviation used to pay the suppliers was invalid because the 'emergency' provisions of Covid were no longer relevant and the deviation had expired by the time the payments were made. All the work done by the companies 'did not fall within the scope' of the tenders, the report says, and as a result the companies were 'unjustifiably enriched'. The SIU also found that two officials who assessed companies that had bid for the contract, were not authorised to evaluate bids higher than R200,000. Next steps The municipality's lawyers have advised that the officials are guilty of financial misconduct for violating the Municipal Finance Management Act. Disciplinary matters of this nature need to be referred to to the Disciplinary Board by the city council. This referral was approved by the council last week. The municipality has also requested the SIU to refer the investigation to the National Prosecuting Authority to consider whether to criminally prosecute the officials. The municipality has been advised that the funds should be recovered through court action, both from the officials who authorised the expenditure and the contractors who 'appropriated the irregular expenditure'. The municipality issued court summons to the implicated officials and the contractors on Wednesday, 10 January 2024. Xoseka filed his plea, denying that he sent the request for comment to the nine companies before it was published. The other defendants have not yet filed their pleas. The municipality intends to continue investigating the matter, including conducting a survey of the houses that were built, before taking the legal action further. The SIU has refused to provide the municipality with a quantity surveyor report from the SIU's investigation. The SIU has been requested by the municipality to proceed with civil action against the contractors. Council has also resolved to refer the matter to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee to consider further legal action to recoup the money from the contractors. SQT's founder Siviwe Mpengesi was contacted with questions. Asked to respond to the findings, he said 'Don't be fishing. Bring facts to the table. I don't know what you telling me … I don't have communication from the SIU or the municipality.' When we sent him excerpts from the report which mentions the company, Mpengesi said 'Sir I will not comment on this top secret municipality report as it is not official. I don't see mention of my name and my company. I will therefore block you.' Vitsha did not respond to questions by the time of publication. The implicated officials did not respond to our questions. Published originally on GroundUp.
The Citizen
26-04-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Louise wins SA champs
Scottburgh's Louise Lepront and Hayden McNicol won the women's and men's titles at The Royal St Andrews SA Open Championships, presented by Rip Curl last week. Conditions were tricky but contestable on the day, with big scores pouring through for the loaded final heats of the event. The women's final was a close affair. Tash van Greunen was in the lead until the last minute when Louise picked up a bomb and executed a solid crack on her backhand. It was an agonising wait for the score, but it was enough to put her in the lead as the final siren went. Tash was just behind in second, with Aimee du Preez and Leah Lepront in third and fourth, respectively. 'I saw that wave coming, and I was just lucky that Tash didn't get it,' said Louise. 'It was washy, but it cleaned up, and I knew I needed to do one big hit. So I managed to do a decent backhand turn, made it, and got the score at the last minute. So stoked to get the win.' In the open men's final, Andrew la Verge kicked off the battle with a six-point ride on the board that put everybody into combat mode. Hayden McNicol returned strong with a good opening ride and a solid backup. As he was doing the run around after his second wave, the announcer called his scores, which put him in first place. Despite a determined comeback from La Verge and flashes of brilliance from Mitch du Preez and Clinton Gravett, Hayden stayed in the lead and was crowned the 2025 champion. In the team event, Ethekwini Surfriders' Association took the win from Buffalo City, with Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders in third. RESULTS Open women: 1 Louise Lepront 2 Tash van Greunen 3 Aimee du Preez 4 Leah Lepront Open men: 1 Hayden McNicol 2 Andrew la Verge 3 Mitch du Preez 4 Clinton Gravett HAVE YOUR SAY Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
