The Elsies River Community Policing Forum released a statement on their concerns about the rising crimes and violence in the areas over the past few weeks. Late January and early February has been a worrisome trend of violent crimes in the neighbourhood. They say that they have seen an increase in robberies of commuters, especially smash and grabs, and targeting of Uber and Bolt drivers are also a major concern. The CPF have launched awareness campaigns Chief Hamish Arries Chairperson of the Elsies River CPF says that they have experienced a resurgence of gang related violence and shooting incidents increasing to a daily occurance, in a number of instances innocent bystanders have been injured and killed.
The Elsies River Police Forum on behalf of the Elsies River community wants to reiterate that they refuse to live under siege by criminal elements and demand swift and immediate action by all the law enforcement agencies. One of their demands is that the local police station be adequately resourced with sufficient staff and vehicles so that effective policing can be maintained.
The Hawks have arrested a second manager on allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering at Eskom. A safety risk manager Thandi Ruth Magagula appeared in the Middelburg Regional Court and she was released on R10,000 bail. Her case has been postponed to the 26 March. Mpumalanga Hawks provincial spokesperson, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi says that she will then be seen by the Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
According to IOL, Eskom’s Nontuthubo Surprise Mahweliri and three alleged accomplices were seen in the Hendrina Magistrate’s Court for fraud, theft and money laundering last week. She was an employee of the struggling parastatal and it is alleged that she was in a R1 million fraud scheme.
The residents of the Karoo that have been affected by a mass power outage that will be fully restored by Thursday the 15 February 2024. Western Cape Premier Alan Winde and the MEC of Local Government, Environmental Affairs, and Development Planning, Anton Bredell says in a joint briefing that there were co-ordinated efforts to restore electricity to towns in the Central Karoo, Garden Route and Overberg regions. Winde says that this has been a mammoth task, but they will continue to provide support to all affected towns for as long as necessary. Tragically, one person has died and another has been hospitalized in Leeu Gamka after it is suspected that they were overcome by fumes from a generator. In the Karoo region, the towns of Fraserburg, Ladismith, Laingsburg, Leeu Gamka, Matjiesfontein, Merweville, Prince Albert, Roggeveld, and Swartberg were all affected.
Jazz lovers are in for a treat this year as preparations for the Cape Town Jazz Festival 2024 to make its comeback this year. The festival has been running consecutively for the last 20 years but was postponed because of the Covid Pandemic. The festival brings local and international stars to the stage and gives a good boost for the economy of the Western Cape. The event creates 500 direct and 1800 indirect work for the citizens. This aids in community development and creating stable work for the people. Dates are yet to be announced. Stay tuned for updates on this story.
On Sunday the citizens were joined by our countries president Cyril Ramaphosa at Athlone Stadium for a friendly soccer match between local teams and the Palestine National Football team. The home team applied their advantage and won the match 1 point to 0. Ramaphosa addressed the crowd and sang the “Free, Free Palestine” song. He thanked the citizens for supporting the cause and says we should celebrate humanity, friendship, but that they are also here to signify our support as the people of South Africa for the struggle of the Palestinians. He says that the majority of people in this country and the government governing party of South Africa support the people of Palestine. He emphasises that we are not entirely free until the Palestinians are free and we will stand by them, we will struggle with them and that is why we went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) according to IOL reports.
