American Floyd Landis underlined his yellow jersey credentials with a resounding performance in the Tour de France’s 11th stage, which gave him the yellow jersey on Thursday. Russian Denis Menchov of the Rabobank team took the victory after 206,5km of racing between Tarbes and Pla de Beret, of which almost 62km was climbing into the high mountains.
Three more men joined the alleged killer of a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) senior official in the Carletonville Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, West Rand police said. Spokesperson Inspector Solomon Sibiya said all four men had their case postponed to next Wednesday for a formal bail application.
World soccer governing body Fifa said on Thursday they have opened a disciplinary inquiry into the behaviour of Italy World Cup winning defender Marco Materazzi. In a statement, Fifa said: ”The decision was taken following claims made by French player Zinedine Zidane, who attacked Materazzi with a headbutt during the final of the Fifa World Cup in Berlin on July 9.”
The print media are treating the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in a hostile manner, chief executive of the SABC Dali Mpofu said on Thursday. ”There is this hostility that I don’t understand. The SABC either gets no coverage, hostility or cartoons. Why, I don’t understand,” he told the Johannesburg Press Club.
A police dog that was left in a pickup truck with the engine running apparently knocked the vehicle into gear and ran down a woman who was walking to her mailbox. Mary F Stone (41) was expected to remain hospitalised with a fractured pelvis and tailbone until at least Friday, said her husband, Paul Stone.
A Limpopo chief, Fhulumani Kutama, was elected unopposed on Thursday as chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders. He replaces Mpiyezintombi Mzimela, who left the post after the dissolution of the house of traditional leaders in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Deputy Minister of Defence Mluleki George will attend the 90th commemoration of the Battle of Delville Wood in France on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. During the ceremony — which commemorates the South Africans who perished in World War I — a new South African coat of arms will be unveiled at the South African memorial on the site.
Whether or not there was enough water for the Roodefontein development should not have held up his department’s decision on its approval, former Western Cape environment provincial minister David Malatsi said on Thursday. He was testifying in the Bellville Regional Court, where he and former premier Peter Marais face corruption charges.
Two-thirds of the cargo has been removed from the grounded Safmarine Agulhas and the rest will be steam-cleaned before being taken ashore, the National Port Authority (NPA) said on Thursday. NPA East London spokesperson Terry Taylor said 475 containers have been offloaded.
The name of the man to take the South African senior soccer team to the 2010 World Cup will remain a secret for a few more weeks, as he does not exist. South African Football Association CEO Raymond Hack on Thursday admitted that they are yet to receive recommendations from the technical committee led by Sturu Pasiya.