Latest news with #Maseko
The Citizen
27-05-2025
- The Citizen
Land dispute in Mpumalanga as claimants clash over farm ownership
Residents claim land was rightfully theirs, but officials deny their ownership, leading to tensions. There's a big fight over land in Mpumalanga and it doesn't involve expropriation without compensation, or even white farmers – it's a battle between two groups who believe they were dispossessed of the same tract of land. Nkomazi Game Reserve is the site of a clash between the residents of Vergelegen Farm and the department of land reform and rural development. Vergelegen Farm is situated in Badplaas, a few kilometres from Nkomazi local municipality where the Nkomazi Game Reserve is situated. Residents and government embroiled in land dispute The squabble started recently when the community claimed their parents had successfully claimed the land they were occupying, but the authorities refused to hand over the title deed. A source told The Citizen that instead of giving the title deed to the 'rightful' owners, the department opted to hand over the ownership of the farm to the families that were claiming ownership of the Nkomazi Game Reserve, just to silence them. 'What I know is that the department is trying to protect the game reserve, so whoever tried to claim its ownership was given a piece of land on the farms near the reserve,' said the source. ALSO READ: How to ensure that your future life insurance claim is paid out 'The complaint is valid because the land was given to other people and the department claims that they can't locate the data relating to their claim.' The residents yesterday said they tried in vain to convince the government to hand over the title deed. Community leader Lucky Maseko alleged the farm in question was successfully claimed by the elders some years ago, but they delayed collecting the title deed from the department's head office in Tshwane. Delay in collecting title deed 'We went to the land affairs offices in Mbombela and we were told to approach their office in Piet Retief,' said Maseko. 'But they told us they can't locate the information about the farm that we are occupying.' He said about 40 households residing on the farm want proof of ownership so that they could be able to develop their farming businesses. ALSO READ: Eskom reaches R43 million settlement with PwC over controversial contract He said most of the residents in the area were raising livestock and other farming-orientated businesses. 'The officials from the department took advantage of our illiterate parents and told them the only way to get the title deeds was to go to Tshwane,' he said. 'Without having any proof of ownership, we are not safe because people can come and evict us anytime.' Maseko family stayed on farm since 1977 Maseko said his family stayed on the farm since 1977, while others have been there longer. It is not the first time Badplaas farm communities accused the department of giving the farm to the claimants who were not part of the community. Tomorrow, officials from the department are expected to meet more than 10 families from Theeboom Farm, just a few kilometres from Vergelegen Farm, to talk about allegations of handing over the land to the 'wrong claimants'. ALSO READ: RAF blocks R65 million worth of fraudulent claims The Theeboom Farm residents also claim they were not consulted before the land they are occupying was handed to other people. They claim that those who are in possession of the title deed came and destroyed their agriculture projects to make way for the development in the area. Department of rural development and land reform spokesperson Zithini Dlamini denied the allegations. Dept denies allegations 'The property in question is owned by the Mashoba Community Trust after a successful restitution claim that was lodged with the department in terms of the Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 (Act 22 of 1994),' she said. 'The complainants and other families are currently residing on this property as farm occupiers and are not members of the trust. 'The department has on many occasions attempted to engage the farm occupiers to establish the extent of their rights to secure their tenure security as it is the mandate of this department. ALSO READ: Manyeleti land restored to community after successful claim 'However, the farm occupiers do not want to cooperate as they feel they are the owners as they have been staying on this property for many years.' Dlamini said the department needs to conduct a land rights inquiry to determine and establish their rights, then engage the current owners of the land. Mashoba Community Trust, to negotiate the release of the portion they reside on or an alternative portion to secure their tenure rights. She added the occupiers were not willing to cooperate with the officials from the department.
IOL News
20-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Former MKP leader, officials challenge dismissals over R588m Covid-19 hospital renovations
Former Gauteng premier David Makhura at the opening of AngloGold Ashanti Hospital in Carletonville. Officials involved in the procurement of renovations of the facility, that skyrocketed from R50 million to R588m, are now challenging their dismissals. Image: Supplied FORMER uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) secretary-general Dr. Sifiso Maseko and several other senior Gauteng provincial government officials are challenging their dismissals for renovations to a Covid-19 hospital, where costs ballooned from R50 million to R588m. Maseko, who was the provincial department of health's chief director responsible for infrastructure management, was asked to return to work from suspension in October last year following the conclusion of his disciplinary hearing and while awaiting its findings. In February, the provincial government announced that five of the nine officials, who were suspended in 2022 facing charges of financial misconduct and gross financial misconduct, had been dismissed and two received written warnings, one was acquitted while another could not be subjected to disciplinary action after leaving the public service. They were held responsible for the costs of the skyrocketing project, from the initial estimate of R50m to R588m, without having received approval from the provincial health department. The action taken against the officials followed Special Investigation Unit (SIU) recommendations that premier Panyaza Lesufi's office institute disciplinary action against them over irregularities in the awarding of contracts for the refurbishment of the Western Deep Levels Hospital (also known as the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital) in Carletonville on Gauteng's West Rand - at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the SIU, a dozen professional service providers and contractors appointed for the project were not on the departments' approved panel and were telephonically advised of their appointments but overcharged the provincial government. Maseko is now among the four officials challenging their dismissals alongside Mokhele Raseboka, Sipho Makhumisani and Trevor Tabane, who were employed by the Gauteng department of infrastructure development. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ The former MKP leader has hauled the provincial department of health before the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council (PHSDSBC), where the provincial department of health wanted the matter to be heard as a stated case. A stated case is arbitration without the need for a formal hearing or presentation of evidence and involves parties agreeing on specific relevant facts stating legal questions at issue. Parties then submit their written arguments and submissions for consideration and a decision is made based solely on the agreed facts and the legal arguments presented in the submissions. Both departments also wanted an order for the joint and consolidated arbitration disputes to be dealt with by way of a stated case to save time and money since it will be repetition of the same facts and testimonies about the same or similar acts of misconduct. Maseko objected to the matter being heard as a stated case as he felt it would be prejudicial to him. He also wanted his application to be consolidated with the one brought by Raseboka, Makhumisani and Tabane at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council. Maseko told the PHSDSBC that all four affected employees seek relief based on the same cause of action arising from a joint disciplinary enquiry presided by the same presiding officer. PHSDSBC commissioner Advocate Ronnie Bracks declined to consolidate the disputes on May 5, saying the bargaining council did not have the jurisdiction to do so. Bracks also declined the provincial health department's bid to have the matter heard by way of a stated case but granted application for the appointment of a senior commissioner. On Tuesday, Maseko said no date has been set for hearing the matter. Maseko was the MKP secretary-general between June and October last year, when he resigned and was replaced by former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu.
Eyewitness News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Cape Town rail plan still not finalised, provincial legislature told
Members of the Western Cape provincial legislature were surprised to be told that the much-vaunted plan to shift passenger rail management from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) to the City of Cape Town has not been finalised. In his presentation to the Standing Committee on Mobility on Friday, PRASA Western Cape regional manager Raymond Maseko said the Service Level Plan (SLP), which marks the first step toward the devolution of passenger rail in the metro to the City in terms of the Land Transport Act of 2009, was 'not yet complete'. Maseko said a meeting was scheduled for 29 May to complete the plan's terms of reference so it could be put into operation. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said in a speech in the city council on 5 December last year that he was 'glad to announce' PRASA had signed the SLP 'to improve Metrorail in the short-term'. It was later discovered that City manager Lungelo Mbandazayo only signed the SLP on 21 February, with City Mayco member for Urban Mobility Rob Quintas saying 'planning' was 'underway' to implement it. The SLP has already been years in the making. After delays on PRASA's side, Hill-Lewis in 2023 threatened to declare an intergovernmental dispute, and commuter activist organisation #UniteBehind instituted legal action to compel the parties to sign an agreement. Most of Maseko's presentation to the committee focused on the loss of rail corridors and all but seven of 124 railway stations in the metro during the Covid lockdown, and the efforts to recover from this. This included the need to move thousands of people who had built homes on the central line's rail reserve and on the railway line itself in Langa, Philippi, and Nyanga. He said the first train to Chris Hani station, at the end of the central line, ran on 7 April this year, but it was a single line and they were working on getting the second, dual line operational. The central line branch to Kapteinsklip in Mitchell's Plain still needed to be recovered. Speaking on the SLP - yet to be implemented, Maseko said the City was the planning authority and would direct PRASA about how many passengers needed to be carried on transport corridors. PRASA would then indicate what it could support and what it would take to meet the target. For instance, if 20,000 passengers needed to be carried per hour on the southern line, a train would have to run in each direction every three minutes. 'We are not there yet,' said Maseko. (Currently, a train runs every 20 minutes during peak hours.) He said the SLP also facilitated social housing developments around stations, such as the development at Goodwood station, which also helped protect the station and the surrounding line from vandalism or occupation. 'PRASA has land that can be developed by developers, at Retreat, at other stations, for student accommodation at Unibell (station). None of these are possible without working together with the City of Cape Town.' Similarly, in planning for seamless intermodal public transport with a single ticketing system, he said PRASA needed to work with the provincial government, which managed public transport interchanges. An SLP with the province was being developed for this purpose. Addressing the committee after making a formal request to do so, #UniteBehind founder Zackie Achmat said he was 'shocked to hear' that some legal questions on the SLP were still being discussed. Achmat said the reason there is an SLP is because #UniteBehind had taken PRASA to court. 'We had to beg for it, from both PRASA and the City.' He said their efforts since 2017 were ignored until Hill-Lewis took office at the end of 2021. He asked why there was no public participation on the SLP and requested that Maseko provide the organisation with PRASA's universal access policy so that people with disabilities could also use the train service with ease. ANC committee member Benson Ngqentsu also questioned the lack of public participation in the drafting of the SLP. Ngqentsu said it was 'evident there's an in-principle SLP and its rollout is underway', but the plan was still 'under construction'. 'Have stakeholders in the rail sector been meaningfully engaged? Has labour been engaged? What do the workers say?' GOOD Party committee member Brett Herron said it seemed the SLP was a secret document. 'I had to search everywhere for it and could not find it online.' Herron said the plan was not published, and it was not part of a public participation process. 'I don't understand the inability to share it with the public.' He said he had nonetheless managed to get hold of a copy, but it made 'very vague commitments' for PRASA and the City to work together, with no set targets or a plan to work towards achieving them. He also said the agreement on creating an intermodal, single ticket transport system was formulated in 2015, and there was no apparent plan for universal access. In a statement later published on Politicsweb, Herron said the SLP presentation was 'theatrical bluster'. 'It's not actually a plan at all,' he wrote, adding that the document, which had been 'shrouded in secrecy' seemed to rather be a means to shield the City in litigation brought against it and PRASA by #UniteBehind and did not move the City any closer to managing the passenger rail service. Quintas, who attended the meeting as an observer, said the City's business cases for the three scenarios outlined in its own rail feasibility study were 'near completion', with the finishing touches being added 'in a month or two'.
The Citizen
09-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Thohoyandou to host major boxing showdown
LIMPOPO – All roads lead to Khoroni Hotel and Casino on June 27 for the highly anticipated 'Survival of the Fittest' International Boxing Tournament, a major event set to spotlight local and international boxing talent. The official launch of the tournament was held on Friday at the same venue, led by Sports MEC Jerry Maseko, who highlighted the important role boxing plays in promoting social cohesion and nation building. Maseko was joined by a host of dignitaries, including senior traditional leader Thovhele Gole Mphaphuli, MEC Vhamusanda Livhuwani Matsila, Phalaphala FM programme manager Sharon Ravele, Black Leopards FC managing director Tshifhe David Thidiela, promoter Modipadi Kgasago and Limpopo Champions Promotion's Phatutshedzo Dongola, among others. Speaking at the launch, Maseko celebrated Limpopo's rich boxing history, referring to acclaimed boxers such as Tshifhiwa 'Spider' Munyai, Phillip 'The Time Bomb' Ndou, Isaack Hlatswayo and Cassius Baloyi, who were all recently honoured at the Ministerial Boxing Special Award Ceremony. 'The province is proud to have produced champions who have competed on the global stage in World Boxing and International Boxing Organization bouts,' he said. Looking ahead, he spoke of the department's commitment to developing women's boxing and amateur boxing, in collaboration with the Limpopo Sport Confederation. He encouraged promoters to organise more professional women's bouts, promoting inclusivity and broader participation in the sport. 'This tournament is more than just a competition. It is a celebration of our collective strength and a testament to the power of sport to unite and inspire,' Maseko said. He also extended a warm welcome to international participants: 'We embrace your skills, your passion, and your commitment to excellence. To our local heroes, may this be your moment to shine and represent the nation with pride.' Traditional leader Thovhele Gole Mphaphuli added his support, noting that it was long overdue for local communities to host such tournaments. 'Events like these offer young people the chance to expose and shape their talents,' he said. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The South African
06-05-2025
- Sport
- The South African
Mamelodi Sundowns fringe player attracts European interest
Mamelodi Sundowns attacker Thapelo Maseko has reportedly attracted interest from Europe. According to SABC Sport , Maseko, who has become a fringe player at Sundowns this season, is wanted in Cyprus. However, the name of the team interested in his services is still unknown but Sundowns are sitting with a proposal. All that Sundowns need to do is to decide whether or not to entertain the proposal for further talks. And according the publication, should there be any talks between the parties involved, the proposed deal will be for the upcoming season. Maseko, 21, has not seen enough game time under Miguel Cardoso this season with only six league appearances to his name. Overall, Maseko has featured 36 times for Sundowns since his arrival from SuperSport United two seasons ago. The left-footed attacker has not really reached his full potential at Sundowns with just two goals and an assist to his name. Meanwhile, Maseko was most recently linked with a possible move to Kaizer Chiefs who are expected to overhaul their squad. Thapelo Maseko of Mamelodi Sundowns at Peter Mokaba Stadium. Image: BackpagePix 'SABC Sport has established that Mamelodi Sundowns attacker Thapelo Maseko is wanted in Cyprus,' reads part of the publication's report. 'The 21-year-old is now the subject of a potential transfer to Europe, but only if Sundowns are open to discussions over a move when the registration window opens at the end of the season.' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
