South Africa were in a good position at close of play on the first day of the second Castle Lager Test at Kingsmead on Friday, when they snatched three late wickets to have Australia on 228-5 at stumps. Ricky Ponting won the toss and chose to bat first. South Africa struck an early blow in the second over, when Matthew Hayden was safely caught by AB de Villiers.
Protesting security guards must prepare to embark on a national strike on April 3, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) told thousands of marchers in Johannesburg on Friday afternoon. ”For now I can say … prepare to come back here on April 3,” said Satawu’s security division national director Jackson Simons.
A permanent ceasefire by separatist group ETA came into effect on Friday as a poll found the vast majority of Spaniards want their government to engage in talks with the armed Basque movement. The Opina poll released by the private Cadena Ser radio station said around 68% consider the ceasefire ”good news for Spanish society”.
Auditor General Shauket Fakie relied on flawed data in finding that several Cabinet ministers and deputies failed to declare business interests, Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests said on Friday. The committee said Fakie failed to verify the accuracy and completeness of his data.
South African Rugby Union (Saru) president Oregan Hoskins, deputy president Mike Stofile, vice-president Koos Basson and Presidents Council member Professor Jannie Ferreira are scheduled to set up a meeting with the Ministry of Sport and Recreation to discuss the way forward on the investigation of corporate governance charges against former Saru president Brian Van Rooyen.
A funeral was scheduled on Friday for a World War II airman whose body was found on a mountainside where his plane crashed more than six decades earlier. Mustonen’s body was found by climbers in October in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and it was recently identified through DNA tests at an air-force base in Hawaii.
The government plans to improve staff and management of tuberculosis (TB) services and to improve access to laboratory services where it is poor. This forms part of the TB crisis plan launched by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Friday, World Tuberculosis Day, at Durban’s King George V hospital.
Sexual relations between the president and women Cabinet ministers, opposition leader Tony Leon being for the ”white man struggle”, and racist talks between Scorpions investigators are all part of the National Intelligence Agency’s hoax e-mail saga. On Thursday, the inspector general of intelligence declared the e-mails to be false.
The director of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival provides, Rashid Lombard, insight into the festival as a coveted performance date and significant contributor to tourism revenues.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews the Oscar nominated feature Capote.