The three men charged with the murders of the two SAMWU officials in 2019, appeared together in the Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court for the first time on Friday, 30 April.
The baby girl dumped in a pit toilet last week is recovering at Tshilidzini Hospital. She is currently in the care of nurses there. The mother, who had allegedly thrown her into the toilet, remains in custody.
The 37-year-old Isaac Thifhelimbilu Tshidino from Mulodi Thembaluvhilo, who went missing three weeks ago, was found dead on Monday, 26 April.
Amidst speculation that a third wave of Covid-19 infections is about to hit the country, the Vhembe District has been very quiet. At the start of the week, the official figures indicated that 23 active coronavirus cases could be found in the region, with a total death toll of 462.
No news about the fate of the 36-year-old Louis Trichardt businessman, Shyam Premjee, has been received yet. He was violently abducted on his way to work on Friday, 9 April.
The infighting among members of the Mamphodo Mushasha Begwa Community Property Association (CPA) has effectively destroyed a once productive farm and stopped further development. The animosity has reached such a degree that the current management tried to obtain a court interdict at the end of 2020 to stop a group, calling themselves the “Concerned Group”, from interfering with activities on the farms. Accusations of the abuse of funds and personal enrichment have also been made.
Last Thursday (22nd) 25 victim-empowerment organisations in Vhembe marched to the offices of the Department of Social Development (DSD) in Thohoyandou, demanding that funds for the last quarter of the financial year be paid.
Cracks on the surface, disfigured humps, swollen surfaces, and gaping potholes on the Xitacini to Jiweni Access Road, where Phases 1 and 2 were completed between 2017 and 2020, suggest shoddy work by the contractor, and residents at Valdezia are deeply concerned about it.
The past week’s news conversations were dominated by a few topics, but one that kept on coming to the fore was internet scams. When former Gauteng premier Tokyo Sexwale accused the SA Reserve Bank of holding on to hundreds of millions of dollars meant for development, he was told that he was the victim of a scam. Sexwale’s claims, however, are very similar to those of a group who wanted to buy the embattled VBS Mutual Bank two years ago.
A well-known former principal and the traditional leader of Tshikonelo-Tshiawelo village near Basani outside Malamulele, Vhamusanda Mudzulathungo Mmbi (66), along with Shumani Luvhengo (33), is facing charges of kidnapping a young man.
A man who had allegedly had sex with a goat was forced by local villagers to “marry” the animal as punishment. The animal was even dressed up for the occasion.
