Stellenbosch University to Shut Down Wilgenhof Residence
Stellenbosch University (SU) has accepted a panel's recommendation to shut down its Wilgenhof Residence, reports News24. In January, News24 reported that during an audit of the rooms and amenities at Wilgenhof, "disturbing items" were discovered in two rooms, Hool 88 and the closed archive (Toe Argief). News24 published photographs of items found in these rooms, including a journal describing punishments given to first-year students with crude drawings depicting assault. A 151-page report by an investigative panel confirmed the findings that Hool 88 was the room where Wilgenhof's internal disciplinary committee (Nagligte) conducted nighttime disciplinary activities against students. In a statement, the university said its Rectorate unanimously accepted the principal recommendation that the Wilgenhof Residence should be closed.
Teacher Faces Fraud Charges After Allegedly Faking Qualifications
Ntombelanga Pretty Labane, a forty-year-old woman from Mpumalanga, will once again be appearing in the Amersfoort Magistrate's Court, reports IOL. She was arrested by the Hawks, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, on charges of fraud. Labane allegedly applied for a business and accounting teaching position at Hlelimfundo Secondary School in Amersfoort, within Mpumalanga's Volksrust circuit, on September 1, 2016. During further investigations, it was discovered that Labane does not have a Grade 12 certificate and that she wrote matric four times in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, all of which were unsuccessful. Labane then used a fraudulent matric certificate to gain acceptance into Walter Sisulu University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Education (B-ED) degree. The investigations also found that from September 2016, Labane had prejudiced and caused an actual and potential loss amount of R1,292,382 to the Department of Education, which she received as her salary during her employment.
Power Failure Hits Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital
Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital suffered a more than 24-hour electricity blackout this past weekend, leaving staff to examine patients by cellphone torch light when the generators failed to work, reports News24. The power failure, which lasted more than 24 hours, forced hospital staff to use a cellphone torch light to examine patients when the generator was "offline" for almost an hour. Hospital CEO Dr. Nkuli Boikhutso confirmed the power failure and said that an investigation into the generator failure was underway. Boikhutso added that critical patients were transferred.
