Despite the recent teachers’ strike, things have gone well for Naledi Pandor, the Minister of Education. But surely her predecessors will have told Pandor that dragons, far more fierce than some vice-chancellors, lurk in the gloomy waters around South Africa’s universities. After 10 years of "torrid government interference" in universities, Peter Vale offers six of the best to the new Minister of Education.
South Africa A snatched a thrilling four-run victory in the third and final Standard Bank one-day cricket match at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Sunday, to win the series 3-0. New Zealand A, on 272 for four after 47 overs, appeared to have victory in sight, but South Africa A struck back in the last three overs to have the visitors all out for 292, with five balls in hand.
World number two Ernie Els and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn have finally rid themselves of the golfing demons that threatened to derail their careers. Els did it by winning the -million WGC American Express Championship on Sunday. Two weeks ago Els’ mind was also in turmoil. His golf game was great but he wasn’t winning.
Golden Arrows continued to be a hoodoo team for Bush Bucks when they beat them 1-0 in a lacklustre Castle Premiership match in East London on Sunday. The first half was goalless, but the first half was a ding dong battle with both teams playing with plenty of purpose.
Substitute Dennis Lota headed home a late goal as Moroka Swallows registered a hard-earned but well-deserved 1-0 victory over Silver Stars in their Castle Premier League encounter at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday. There was no score at half-time.
Mamelodi Sundowns moved to the top of the Castle Premiership after scoring a convincing 2-0 win over struggling Jomo Cosmos in their league fixture played at the Rand Stadium on Sunday. It was one way traffic in the opening half which was marred by some rough tackling from the Cosmos players.
Wildlife conservationists and government delegates on Monday debated a proposal by Namibia and South Africa to kill and export as hunting trophies a small number of endangered black rhinos. The African countries made the request at a two-week conference in Bangkok of 166 countries that have signed the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Five prisoners who were found dead in a Kenyan jail last week had been beaten to death, a post mortem examination revealed on Monday. The prisoners at Meru jail near Mount Kenya were initially said to have died of suffocation, as they had been forced to share a cell measuring only 90 by 80 centimetres with seven other inmates. However news reports said on Monday a post mortem examination showed that the prisoners had suffered serious head and rib injuries.
Tony Blair is not exactly the Madonna of British politics, constantly reinventing himself. He may have grown older and greyer, but otherwise he has remained remarkably consistent. As he told the Labour conference in Brighton in south-east England: ”I don’t think as a human being, as a family man, I’ve changed at all.” Yet last week he announced the shift: ”I have changed as a leader.”
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