Day: December 15, 2022

As Lionel Messi approaches his second and likely last World Cup final, the stakes could hardly be higher.

The same goes for Argentina after more than 30 years of disappointment since it last won soccer’s ultimate prize.

For Messi, victory against France at Lusail Stadium on Sunday is a chance to finally get his hands on the one major trophy that has eluded him in his storied career.

In doing so, he would push ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, who has also never won a World Cup, in the long-running rivalry between the two greatest players of their generation.

While 37-year-old Ronaldo exited the tournament at the quarterfinals stage, benched by Portugal and in tears in the likely recognition that his last chance had passed, Messi is summoning some of his finest moments in an Argentina shirt to inspire his country’s run to the final.

“Each time we see him play, he makes us and the players feel something special,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “There’s something about him that people like, not only Argentines.

“We feel lucky and privileged to have him wear our shirt.”

Messi’s place alongside Diego Maradona as one of Argentina’s two most iconic soccer stars has been secure for some time now. But he is yet to emulate Maradona’s greatest achievement by leading his national team to a World Cup title.

Maradona did that in Mexico in 1986, and Messi has lived with the expectation of repeating the feat since he emerged as a prodigy at Barcelona nearly 20 years ago.

There have been numerous false hopes during that time.

There was the potential “dream team” of Maradona as coach and Messi as star player in South Africa in 2010. But Argentina went out in the quarterfinals after being beaten 4-0 by Germany.

In 2014, with Messi approaching his peak years, Argentina reached the final in Brazil.

Again, it faced Germany. Again, Messi was on the losing side, defeated 1-0 through extra time.

At the age of 35, he knew this was probably his last shot at the World Cup and has risen to the occasion as the tournament’s co-leading scorer with France forward Kylian Mbappe with five goals.

Perhaps more notable have been his assists, such as the disguised pass for Nahuel Molina’s goal against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.

Then there was his mesmerizing run, turning Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol inside out, before setting up Julian Alvarez for Argentina’s third in the semis.

“It’s at least something I can talk (about) with my kids one day that I guarded this great, great player,” Gvardiol said Thursday.

Those assists have been indicative of the fact that Messi can no longer do it on his own. The emergence of Alvarez, with four goals, has been vital to Argentina’s progress.

Messi doesn’t dominate for an entire 90 minutes anymore. Instead, he decides matches with key moments.

He isn’t as dynamic as he was in his younger years, but he has been more influential than at any of his previous four World Cups.

While Messi is aiming to complete his personal collection of trophies, having won four Champions League titles and seven Ballon d’Or awards for the best player in the world, Argentina is looking to end its long wait for a third World Cup.

It won the tournament for the first time when hosting in 1978 and then again eight years later thanks to Maradona.

Messi was supposed to emulate that feat long before now.

If he retires without ever winning the World Cup, then how much longer will Argentina have to wait?

No wonder each moment of Messi magic and every win is greeted with such an outpouring of emotion.

The sense of anticipation is growing among Argentina fans, who have lit up the tournament in a sea of blue and white in Qatar. Messi is feeding the belief this could be their time again.

If this is his farewell tour, he has given his supporters a wild ride along the way.

And with or without a World Cup, Scaloni has no doubt about Messi’s status as the greatest of all time.

“It seems like we say that just because we’re Argentinians and we fall into the trap of being selfish because it is very Argentinian to say that,” he said. “But I think there are no doubts.”

Source: Voice of America

As she retires from the public service, Director-General of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Phumla Williams has passed the baton to those who remain in the organisation.

Williams, who will be leaving the GCIS at the end of this month, has served as Director in Finance and later as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of GCIS between 1998 and 2009. She worked in the ANC before joining government in 1995, and was based in Swaziland and Mozambique during the 1980s.

Williams said that she is happy that she leaves the GCIS with a clean audit and hopes the young people in Finance and Procurement will carry on being “honest”.

“Today I am leaving an organization that has a clean audit. I am leaving and hoping the young people who have joined Finance and Procurement units will continue with their honesty because our country is where it is today because most of the irregularities happen with the collusion of supply chain and procurement people.

“Crime does not pay. I am hoping young people will emulate me and the previous people in finance in making sure that they do not succumb to wrong things,” Williams said.

Speaking on her tenure as the Chief Financial Officer in the organisation, Williams said that she built a culture of honesty and openness when it comes to running finances in the GCIS.

Williams celebrated the previous colleagues in Finance and Supply chain for carrying a culture of honesty as not a single penny went missing at that time.

She said that it was possible for them to steal if they wanted to because during those days they were using chequebooks.

“We could have easily signed each other cheques and get away with it. But the whole mission of service to the people of South Africa was much more than just considering stealing. And to that I want to celebrate the colleagues in procurement. There was not even a sniff of theft. We had a culture that if one made a mistake they must come out and say so, so that we can quickly fix it,” she said.

Williams lauded her team for being able to pick up when someone was doing something irregular, saying these are the kind of human beings she will always cherish.

Touching on the highlights of her career, Williams took the staff down memory lane when she mentioned how the GCIS handled the Mandela Funeral, setting up the multipurpose centres (Thusong Service Centres), running a successful government news agency (www.SAnews.gov.za), coming up with a corporate identity for departments and handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williams said that she leaves proud that the GCIS was able to deliver 127 multipurpose centers which are now known as Thusong centres.

“I leave very proud that the GCIS delivered 127 multipurpose centres. Yes, we have challenges with some of them due to lack of resources but largely they are in good condition. I leave proud of the task that was given to GCIS to come up with a corporate identity.

“Every building that you walk in, you see the work done by our graphic designers, that is the GCIS that delivers…Today we are one of the most vibrant websites to go to when one is looking for government information, our website is the most updated website with content. That’s the GCIS I have come to know,” Williams said.

Speaking about the government news agency, www.SAnews.gov.za, Williams said at some point the leadership was unhappy with how the media was capturing government news and they were asking GCIS where are you?

“When you go to our government news agency, there is a top class of journalists producing stories from a government perspective. We tell government stories and there isn’t a single government event which comes to our attention that we do not cover. That’s the GCIS we have and that’s the staff I will always cherish,” she said.

Williams further lauded the Video and Photography units which has “top class camera people” who are today supplying media with their pictures and videos.

Williams encouraged the GCIS staff to continue to help the destitute and people around them.

“I am going to continue doing good for the destitute and those people around me. This will keep me going … I just feel we have to be sensitive to the people who live around us,” she said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

LIMPOPO – A taxi driver, Ngoanametwa Gibson Thobakgale (40) was sentenced for swindling an unsuspecting tender bidder by the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 14 December 2022.

Thobakgale was a local taxi driver in 2018, and he was supposed to earn his salary from transporting the commuters. But he became greedy and decided to swindle an unsuspecting victim.

The victim had applied for a tender that was advertised by the Department of Education to provide security services at the schools around Limpopo Province. After he had submitted his tender documents, he received a call from someone who claimed to be an official from Department of Education demanding R200 000-00 gratification in order to award him a tender.

The victim decided to contact the department in order to verify if indeed there was such person working with them. Unfortunately the department had confirmed that the accused’s name was not in their database and the victim immediately notified the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation members.

On 26 November 2018, the Hawks conducted an undercover operation that resulted in the arrest of Thobakgale in Polokwane at the service station near the N1 North highway immediately after receiving R10 000-00 of the R200 000-00 he had demanded.

Thobakgale was sentenced to five years imprisonment for fraud and six years imprisonment for corruption. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

Source: South African Police Service

In a bid to empower youth and ensure that they are equipped to participate meaningfully in the digital economy, KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube has aggressively embarked on the journey to drive the province as one of the technology hubs of the country.

Dube-Ncube attended the second day of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Skills and Technology Development Bootcamp held on Wednesday at the Archie Gumede Conference Centre in Mayville.

The two-day bootcamp saw 280 learners, including eight inmates from Westville Correctional Services Centre, being trained in various skills, including cyber security, data analytics, robotics, coding, broadband and e-sporting.

Since assuming office in August, Dube-Ncube has prioritised the implementation of the Connected Smart Province Project, as part of accelerating the digital revolution and has aggressively embarked on the journey to catapult KwaZulu-Natal as one of the country’s technology hubs.

Speaking to the youth at the bootcamp, the Premier said the provincial government wants to ensure that the province moves at the required pace in terms of implementing the Fourth Industrial Revolution as the new frontier of economic growth and the pillar on which industries of the future will be built.

“Our view remains that if we let the opportunities brought about by the 4IR miss us, we risk putting the future of our next generation into bleakness. This is a reality we can no longer postpone because it will have dire consequences for our development prospects.

“The sky is not the limit for the youth in our province hence we are creating an enabling environment for them to have the skills set and entrepreneurial acumen to be part of the multi-trillion dollar digital economy,” Dube-Ncube said.

She added that the provincial government is now rolling out bootcamps in all the districts where they are fast-tracking skills and technology development in the 4IR space among young people.

“We want the young people gathered here today to help create smart solutions to solve daily challenges such as using smart technology to find missing bodies that were washed away by the floods in April this year,” Dube-Ncube said.

The first 4IR bootcamp, which was held at the Durban Exhibition Centre in November benefitted over 450 young people.

Mobile digital skills lab

Meanwhile, as part of putting the province on the 4IR digital path, the Premier recently opened a Mobile Digital Skills Lab in Pietermaritzburg, which is being used to train young people in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics.

The Premier said the programme will be rolled-out to all the districts in the province.

She said 20 young people are currently on training, with 75 more being recruited for laptop and cellphone repairs, so that they can be empowered to open their own businesses.

Dube-Ncube firmly believes that the Fourth Industrial Revolution must contribute towards growing the provincial economy.

“For this to become a reality, the province is investing in advanced Information Technology systems and infrastructure to benefit all citizens, more especially rural and township communities.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Jubilation and ululations were the order of the day for over 400 families from various mass care shelters as they packed their belongings in preparation to move to their new homes where they will spend Christmas.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, assisted the flood victims from the Tshelimnyama shelter when they packed and loaded their belongings into trucks that were provided by government.

This week, the provincial government, led by Dube-Ncube facilitated the process of moving over 1 600 flood victims from various mass care shelters to more dignified accommodation.

To-date, 96 out of 135 mass care shelters that were housing families since the April flood disasters, have been permanently closed.

Dube-Ncube said that over the next couple of days, the provincial government will facilitate the relocation of all families to ensure that there will be no flood victims living in mass care shelters in KwaZulu-Natal on Christmas.

“We have mobilised all available resources and are undertaking every effort to ensure that we rebuild and rehouse flood victims. We thank all our citizens for their patience because every day we are seized with the task of ensuring that our province fully recovers from the flood disasters,” Dube-Ncube said.

The Premier acknowledged that their capacity to meet all the needs at once has often been stretched and at times, “we have had to attend to lifesaving and critical areas first”.

She reaffirmed that government is working tirelessly to fast-track the relocation of all flood victims to end all the frustration and anxiety.

“We have made significant progress if you consider that over 14 449 people were displaced after the flood disasters with 4 983 people left homeless. Seven months later, we are very close to closing down all mass care shelters.

“We made the commitment to the people of KwaZulu-Natal that as their caring government we will do everything in our power to ensure that before Christmas all flood victims move out of mass care shelters and are housed in decent accommodation.

“From the agony of being deprived of privacy and uncertainty, we have practically restored the dignity of our flood victims became families will now be able to regroup and plot their future in a safe and habitable place,” Dube-Ncube said.

The Premier also express profound appreciation to all the communities for the patience, calm and understanding, as the provincial government continues to work tirelessly to rebuild the province.

Source: South African Government News Agency

MPUMALANGA – Micheal Chimanzi (56), Nwabisa Ngxola and Cinderella Moropane were convicted by the Nelspruit Magistrates’ Court during their court appearance on Wednesday, 14 December 2022 on charges of fraud and money laundering where Eskom incurred losses amounting to over R2.6 million.

The crime was committed between 2013 and 2019 where fraudulent invoices were submitted and paid by Eskom for the services that were never rendered.

The bail against Moropane and Ngxola was revoked and they were remanded in custody to join their co accused, Micheal Chimanzi who was in custody since his arrest after he was published as a wanted person.

The case against the trio was postponed to 23 January 2023 for sentencing and they remain in custody.

Source: South African Police Service