Richard Maponya died on Monday morning at the age of 99. Despite his age, Maponya said he was so concerned about unemployment that he was planning to open an entrepreneurship academy.
Image: Sandile Ndlovu
President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared that a special official funeral, category two, will be given to business mogul Richard Maponya, who died earlier this week.

This type of funeral is for distinguished individuals and contains elements of police ceremonial honours.

In a post by the government communication services, it was announced that Maponya would be buried on Tuesday January 14.

“The president has instructed that the national flag fly at half-mast from Friday 10 January 2020 until the evening of the burial,” GCIS said.In November, despite his age, Maponya said he was so concerned about the low employment rate in the country that he was planning to open an academy to train the youth on how to be entrepreneurs.

“Right now I am trying to come with an institution that must train all our youngsters so that when they graduate they get trained to use their own hands and be able to get employed or get into business in their own right,” said a post on his Facebook page.

He said he was searching for financial and non-financial support to make his dream a reality. It was a lifelong goal.

Maponya was the founding president of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc), which was started in 1964 to serve the interests of small businesses.

At the age of 82, he said: “We need to create jobs for our people. That is my primary objective. I have been blessed beyond measure and am able to put food on the table; I want the same for others.”

Maponya, renowned for building a business empire despite apartheid-era restrictions, was last month wished happy birthday by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said: “I urge young South Africans to research the life story of this great legend, and draw lessons from how he overcame adversity to become one of the greatest pioneers and success stories of our time.”

The business legend had trained as a teacher, before starting small grocery stores in Soweto in the early 1950s. These led to various businesses, including a butchery, liquor stores and a supermarket, car dealership and filling station.

The most visible sign of Maponya’s success is his 65,000m² Maponya Mall in Soweto. In 2007, former president Nelson Mandela cut the ribbon at the opening of the landmark township development.

Minister of higher education, science and technology Dr Blade Nzimande has warned students and parents against falling victim to illegal colleges.
Image: Sunday Times/Esa Alexander
With the 2019 matric results released, minister of higher education, science and technology Dr Blade Nzimande has warned students and parents against falling victim to illegal or “fly-by-night” colleges.

At least 409,906 pupils passed matric in the NSC (National Senior Certificate) curriculum.

In the IEB (Independent Examinations Board) curriculum, 12,595 students sat for the examination and more than 12,000 passed, the majority with bachelor passes.

Nzimande said bogus colleges were not registered as institutions of learning with the correct bodies, such as sector education and training authorities (Setas) and the department of higher education & training.

“These institutions lure and mislead future students into believing that these colleges offer qualifications that are recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).qualifications which are not recognised for employment purposes or for further studying,” said Nzimande.

The minister said past operations to get rid of bogus colleges had been successful, but somehow they still mushroomed and many students continued to register, obtaining fake qualifications.

“The number of colleges that are operating illegally has decreased tremendously over the years. The decrease can be attributed to our monitoring awareness campaigns and our collaboration with print and electronic media,” said Nzimande.

He said he was working closely with law-enforcement agencies to close down bogus colleges.

Prospective students wanting to enrol at private colleges have been urged to check the registration statuses thereof with the department through its toll-free number, 0800 872 222.

The department gave the following tips on how to identify “fly-by-night” colleges:

• Before enrolling with a private higher education institution, ask for evidence that the institution and its programmes are registered. This evidence is the certificate of registration and the registration number issued by the department.

• Before enrolling, make sure the institution offers learning programmes and qualifications at the level at which you want to qualify.

• Claims by an institution that it is offering internationally recognised higher education programmes, while not registered to operate in SA, are misleading. Get the right information from the department.

The department of correctional services on Thursday announced that 82.6% of inmates who wrote their 2019 matric exams passed.

Speaking in Kimberley at the Tswelopele Correctional Centre on Thursday, minister of justice and correctional services Ronald Lamola announced that 161 fulltime inmates had written the examinations.“It gives me great pleasure to announce that the grade 12 class of 2019 achieved a 82.6% pass rate.” He said 133 offender learners passed and 65 achieved bachelor passes.

This was an improvement from the 77.3% pass rate prisoners achieved the year before.

The department had 16 fulltime correctional centre schools and two public-private partnership centres.

Six of those schools recorded a 100% pass rate in the 2019 exams.

A police investigation into the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl who was reported missing in Cape Town has led to the arrest of a 48-year-old suspect and the discovery of a body in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Michaela Williams was last seen at her Grassy Park home on Tuesday afternoon, according to Col Andrè Traut. Her mother contacted police in the early hours of Wednesday.

Traut said Michaela was last seen in the company of a man who lived in the same street.

On Thursday, Brig Novela Potelwa said: “Vital information was followed as part of the investigation and the suspect interviewed. The interview led to him pointing out where the body was. The suspect has been charged with murder.”

Michaela’s remains were found in Philippi.

A postmortem will be conducted to determine how she died.

The suspect is expected to appear in the Wynberg magistrate’s court on Friday.