The South African government will spend ”upwards” of R30-billion on the 2010 Soccer World Cup, according to a report released on Tuesday. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who received the report, admitted that ”in some instance” initial budget estimations were conservative.
The Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup 2008 qualifier in Durban next week has a vastly different feel to the previous two qualifying tournaments, as the sport goes into its third year of organised competition in Africa. At the World Cup in Rio, Senegal and Nigeria shocked the world by topping their respective groups.
Sharks rugby coach Dick Muir has resolved the issues he had with timekeeper Gabriel Pappas following last Saturday’s Super 14 clash against the Lions at Ellis Park. Muir was involved in an altercation with Pappas after Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis was not allowed to return to the game following treatment for a cut to his eye.
Moroka Swallows coach Ian Gorowa says his team will not take their Nedbank Cup last-32 clash against National First Division side the African Warriors lightly. The two clubs meet on Wednesday after their game was postponed due to rain on Saturday. ”We’re definitely not going to take this game easy,” Gorowa said.
At least three protesting students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pietermaritzburg campus were wounded by police firing rubber bullets on Tuesday, the students’ representative council said. Police spokesperson Inspector Joey Jeevan said officers used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd at 10am.
Two Eskom electricity-generating units were restored on Tuesday and two more should be back on line in the evening, removing any immediate threat of power cuts to mines, Eskom said. In January, power shortages forced gold and platinum mines to shut down for five days.
A win for the Black Leopards on Wednesday will not get them out of the relegation zone and victory for Mamelodi Sundowns will not take them in to the top half of the Absa Premiership table. That is what both teams want and obviously won’t get. However, victory will take them closer to their destinations.
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma will on Tuesday lead the party’s delegation to Angola to mark the 20th anniversary of the battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The delegation is expected to return home on Monday. A parliamentary delegation left from Pretoria on Friday in a convoy to Cuito Cuanavale to commemorate the battle.
A Johannesburg businessman is seeking an interdict from the Pretoria High Court to stop the disbandment of the Scorpions elite crime-fighting unit. In a statement issued by Hugh Glenister, he argues that the disbanding of the unit would ”not be rationally connected to a legitimate governmental purpose”.
Willie Madisha plans to take legal action in both the high court and Equality Court over his dismissal as president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, media reports said on Tuesday. Madisha, who was axed last month, wanted to be reinstated, according to the reports.