Sellers need to be weary of the fact that, like any were else in business, competition is unavoidable. When ones put their property in the market they need to do it right. When a property stays too long in the market, it risks being over exposed and it may eventually sell for way below the sellers asking price. So that’s the first thing –pricing. An overpriced house isn’t going to sell! Although a property may receive high volumes of potential clients coming in for viewing. It’s not unusual for a property to go beyond one month without receiving any offers.

Buyers want value for money. If you have an unusual price, you better have a very ‘unusual’ feature on your property to attract buyers. A seller who decides to reduce their price after many months of exposing their property is perceived by buyers as being desperate. And that is how they receive very low offers.

Should there be a lot of sells activity in your area , then your garden is going to count. Have a clean house both inside and out. Buyers get excited when they see property that has a well trimmed garden, with flowers and a tidy yard. I have gone on viewing appoints with buyers who have refused to leave their cars because of the outside appearance of a property. I then spend a few minutes convincing them that the inside is not that bad, but their minds are made up. It’s funny and interesting actually because a property investor would gladly buy such a property. When people are buying homes it really is an emotional decision. So if there is competition , it’s necessary to declutter- by clearing the yard and removing excess furniture in the home. In any way possible, make your house more appealing.

Choose the right agent to assist you. Get one who is willing to put in effort and work hard to get the property sold. They need to present you with a clear marketing plan. Agents who give very high valuations without evidence to back it up are probably just after getting the mandate. Having more than one agent does not necessarily mean the property will sell faster; in fact, agents tend to pay more attention to properties with exclusive mandates. For feedback, comments and any other property issues you would like addressed in this column please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Monica Chaunoita is a qualified Professional Practioner in Real Estate.

The MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Mpho Mothlhabane, and Premier Supra Mahumapelo should be held accountable and lobby the SAPS and national government to keep citizens of the province in rural communities safe.

This follows the brutal attack of a mother and her two daughters, aged 13 and 9 years old, on the farm, Bokfontein, near Brits over the past weekend. Apparently, two of the seven perpetrators entered the house and beat the mother and girls with batons over their heads and backs – only a laptop and two cell phones were stolen.

We are pleading on both Provincial and National governments for Rural Safety Units to be established. A year ago, the ANC in the North West Provincial Legislature claimed that Rural Safety Units were already operational here. We were extremely surprised to hear about these units, only to find out it was another blatant lie dished up by the ANC.

We again probed the MEC and he then acknowledged there were no Rural Safety Units in place. He then said:

• That there are daily patrols in the rural sectors on station level as part of sector policing;

• There are enhanced daily deployments in the hotspot stations identified in the Province for crimes in the rural area; and

• That there are the deployment of Stock Theft and Trio Crimes task teams to investigate, track, trace and arrest suspects.

This is simply not enough. People in rural areas and on farms are vulnerable and are sitting ducks to crime. The attacks on farming communities continue unhindered, even increasing on a year-on-year basis.

The ANC must take rural communities seriously and they need to establish rural safety units and make public their mandate and their operations.

All people in farming and rural communities are affected and dehumanised by crime and violence, and both farm workers and farmers are under attack.

The DA has repeatedly called for a new approach to rural safety that will prioritise the use of rural safety units which will act as a buffer against these rural attacks and crimes.

It is time for Total Change in North West where the rule of law is applied and crime is rooted out. Communities here are exhausted due to crime and the ANC is sitting back without any proper action.

The MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Mpho Mothlhabane, and Premier Supra Mahumapelo should be held accountable and lobby the SAPS and national government to keep citizens of the province in rural communities safe.

This follows the brutal attack of a mother and her two daughters, aged 13 and 9 years old, on the farm, Bokfontein, near Brits over the past weekend. Apparently, two of the seven perpetrators entered the house and beat the mother and girls with batons over their heads and backs – only a laptop and two cell phones were stolen.

We are pleading on both Provincial and National governments for Rural Safety Units to be established. A year ago, the ANC in the North West Provincial Legislature claimed that Rural Safety Units were already operational here. We were extremely surprised to hear about these units, only to find out it was another blatant lie dished up by the ANC.

We again probed the MEC and he then acknowledged there were no Rural Safety Units in place. He then said:

• That there are daily patrols in the rural sectors on station level as part of sector policing;

• There are enhanced daily deployments in the hotspot stations identified in the Province for crimes in the rural area; and

• That there are the deployment of Stock Theft and Trio Crimes task teams to investigate, track, trace and arrest suspects.

This is simply not enough. People in rural areas and on farms are vulnerable and are sitting ducks to crime. The attacks on farming communities continue unhindered, even increasing on a year-on-year basis.

The ANC must take rural communities seriously and they need to establish rural safety units and make public their mandate and their operations.

All people in farming and rural communities are affected and dehumanised by crime and violence, and both farm workers and farmers are under attack.

The DA has repeatedly called for a new approach to rural safety that will prioritise the use of rural safety units which will act as a buffer against these rural attacks and crimes.

It is time for Total Change in North West where the rule of law is applied and crime is rooted out. Communities here are exhausted due to crime and the ANC is sitting back without any proper action.

The Education for Social Justice Foundation (ESJF) appeals to government to merge the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training for the long term benefit of students and staff. The ESJF notes that currently the two separate departments do not work hand in glove hence the students are the ones who suffer the most. We must acknowledge first and foremost that the reason why the two departments exist is to serve the students. Without students there will be no schools or universities.

Our concern is that if we continue in the current trajectory we are highly likely to end up collapsing the entire system of education in the country. For instance the DBE has taken several decisions to reduce pass marks for school pupils whereas the DHET has taken a conscious decision to maintain academic standards. Although the minister in the DBE has full control of the entire department and has good intentions of reducing drop out and retention rates in the schooling system, her efforts are often defeated by the councils and Senates in universities whose primary objective is to maintain higher education institutions as ivory towers.

There is no proper working relationship between DBE and DHET despite the fact that they both claim to be concerned about the development of students. DHET has an impression that it is far much better than DBE. This finds expression in professors who believe that they know better than teachers at school level.

The ESJF is of the view that there must be an unhampered process of developing students between universities and schools. In order for that to happen, it is going to be necessary to establish one department of education which will look at the needs of students from foundation phase until PhD level. The merger of DBE and DHET will result in a situation where there will be a smooth transition for Grade 12 learners as they get into universities. The incumbent for a single department of education will be in a position to detect many factors that lead to amongst others dropout rates in institutions of higher learning and put in place proper measures to eradicate such problems.

Institutional autonomy at universities continue to defeat the objective of transformation for the sector. Whereas we agree that universities should not be dictated to when they conduct research and set curriculum, we are of the view that there are still those universities who continue to use their academic standards to exclude students.

The appointment of vice chancellors should be scrutinized by the broader representatives of university stakeholders and organs of communities such as non-governmental organizations.

The merger of the two departments must result in one advisory council consisting of teachers, workers and professors. We need to move with the necessary speed to merge the DBE and DHET as that will go a long way to take our education system to greater heights.

Hendrick Makaneta

Deputy Chairperson

Education for Social Justice Foundation