Boerboel survives knife attack

DEPARTMENT PREPARES TO DEAL WITH ANY EVENTUALITY SA Weather Service forecasts more heavy rain in the province.

A boerboel named Oscar is recovering well after being stabbed in a seemingly unprovoked attack by a man at a guest house in the Northern Cape on Friday.

A video of the incident has since been shared widely on social media.

In the footage, the man can be seen walking up to Oscar, who appeared to be resting.

Oscar gets up and the man strokes him a few times before cornering him, producing a knife and quickly stabbing him once on his side.

The dog immediately doubles back to lick his wound while blood begins oozing out.

The man, with a cigarette in his mouth, stumbles and sways while he watches Oscar’s confusion.

Police could not confirm if the man was under the influence of any alcohol or drugs.

A woman can be seen standing in the doorway of the guest house towards the end of the video, watching the man and the dog.

Kimberley SPCA [Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] inspector Mario van der Westhuizen said Oscar survived the attack and had seen a veterinarian.

“He’s fine, he went to the vet again this morning.

“So far, so good,” Van der Westhuizen said.

The 42-year-old man was arrested on Sunday.

He appeared in the Jan Kempdorp District Court on Monday on a charge of malicious damage to property.

Northern Cape police spokesman Captain Sergio de Kock said the case had been temporarily removed from the court roll for “finalisation of police investigations”.

In the meantime, Van der Westhuizen said the SPCA was preparing a detailed statement, which would be finalised tomorrow.

The man’s identity is known to The Citizen but due to ongoing investigations, he cannot be named yet.

He’s fine, he went to the vet again this morning. So far, so good.

Mario van der Westhuizen Kimberley SPCA inspector

Internal squabbles among directors of public participation group Dear South Africa have reached a new low, with a resolution to remove founder Rob Hutchinson with immediate effect.

The resolution was made by current directors Sandra Dickson and Ted Blom.

“This is a direct result of issues around the management of the finances, bank account and financial irregularities,” said Dickson.

“The bank account was frozen until such time the matter is resolved. The bank offered a solution but, to date, this solution could not be implemented due to obstructive behaviour of one of the Dear South Africa directors.”

Dickson said legal action to recoup misappropriated funds and expenses would follow once a forensic review was completed. The move comes after allegations that Hutchinson misused donations and grants meant for DearSA.

Last year, Hutchinson approached the High Court in Johannesburg on an urgent basis after the freezing of the group’s bank account. More than R847 000 had been received in 2020 from a UK-based donor.

Hutchinson said the dispute among the directors stemmed from greed. “Those allegations are totally unfounded. I have spent R40 000 of my own money to get operations going after our bank accounts were frozen,” he said. –

Predictions by the South African Weather Service for more rain in Limpopo has forced the national department of water and sanitation to put contingency plans in place to avert flood damage in the province.

The department said it had crafted a plan to help areas affected by floods.

The bold stand by the department follows an announcement by the weather service predicting heavy rain in Limpopo in the coming days.

In light of this, the department told residents that “come rain of shine”, it was well prepared and ready to deal with any eventuality.

“Our flood preparedness plan that is aimed at ensuring the safety of individuals and structures, as well as minimising damages due to high water levels,” said departmental spokesman, Sputnik Ratau yesterday.

He said the department was working closely with municipalities and other departments to assist affected areas in the province, especially in the Mopani and Vhembe districts, as they were high rainfall areas.

Ratau said the department was continuously monitoring the flow of water in dams and rivers, as well as predicting floods and overflowing to minimise damages that might be caused.

Reports by the department show that dam water storage capacity in Limpopo was sitting at 74.6% this week.

The Polokwane Water Supply

Systems increased to 78.7% of capacity in the past few days from 74.0% last week.

Most dams in the province are sitting at satisfactory levels and others are continuing to improve daily.

Ebenezer and Tzaneen dams in Groot Letaba, which supplies majority of the communities and businesses around Polokwane, both increased capacity drastically compared to last year around this period.

Ebenezer sits at 54.4% of capacity this week compared to 21.3% last year at this time.

Tzaneen Dam, which supplies potable water to Polokwane is sitting at 80% capacity this week compared to 7.6% last year at this period.

This brings relief to most communities benefitting from the dam.

In Vhembe district, dams are at full capacity.

The Nandoni Dam is bursting at the seams, sitting at 101% capacity this week compared to 97.5% last week.

Ratau said his department urges communities to be vigilant around overflowing dams and rivers and avoid crossing and driving through flooded roads and over bridges as they did not know how deep the water is

But the report by the water and sanitation department has been met with criticism from certain Limpopo communities.

In the Vhembe region, one of

the hard-hit regions, residents in Malamulele said the good rains may mean nothing to them.

Community member Sasavona Mkhari said she lives next to Nandoni Dam, which she said was full.

“But government will still take decades, if not centuries, to reticulate the water to communities,” she lamented.

In the drought-stricken Sekhukhune region, residents bragged that their two dams, Flag Boshielo and De Hoop had recorded over 100% capacity.

“But water could still be rare,” said Seun Mogotji in Ga-Ntoane, Dennilton.

“Women will still be raped while en route to rivers to fetch dirty water and school children will still be forced to carry water in squeeze bottles to school.”

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Govt will still take decades to reticulate water