Institutionalised, representative democracy in our country is in trouble. This is not because the African National Congress’s sizeable electoral victory supposedly heralds the imminent arrival of a one-party state. It is simply because, only a decade after the introduction of a universal electoral franchise in South Africa, just more than 50% of all eligible voters participated in the formal process of representative democracy.
Rangers thrashed Dynamos 5-1 in a Castle Premiership encounter played at Chatsworth Stadium on Saturday night. The home side led 3-1 at the interval. Rangers showed that they meant business from the word go by going forward fiercely. This defeat has increased Dynamos’ relegation woes.
Arsenal stuck to the script and booked their place in history on Saturday by becoming the first side in more than a century to complete an unbeaten sweep through an entire league campaign. A 2-1 win over relegated Leicester ensured Arsene Wenger’s champions finished the season with not a single defeat.
Orlando Pirates joined the 2010 World Cup bid celebrations by beating Malawian champions Bakili Bullets 2-1 in an African Champions League second-round, first-leg fixture at Eastern Province Rugby Football Union Stadium on Saturday. In front of a capacity 30 000-strong crowd, the Buccaneers flag was raised high.
A North West school pupil committed suicide after shooting dead a fellow pupil at the Nelson Mandela Secondary School at about lunchtime on Friday, police said. Captain David Serepa said police were investigating how the boy got the gun, which allegedly belonged to a member of his family.
A third and final round of peace talks for East Africa’s most beleaguered country, Somalia, is scheduled to begin on May 20 amid funding shortfalls and frustration at the antics of faction leaders. Somalia is currently the only country in the world without a central government, having been ruled by faction leaders since January 1991.
As South Africa’s new government braces itself for the task of extending clean water supplies to more people, environmentalists are warning there may soon be little water to distribute if conservation efforts are not stepped up. They believe the country will run out of water by 2030 unless current water resources are better maintained.
The editor of the British tabloid Daily Mirror was sacked on Friday after being caught up in a scandal involving fake pictures that purportedly showed British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, the newspaper said. ”The Daily Mirror has been the subject of a calculated and malicious hoax,” the paper said.
Brazil’s government has accepted an apology to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from lawyers for a New York Times reporter who wrote an article suggesting the president has a drinking problem, the justice minister said on Friday. The article said Silva’s drinking habits have become a ”national concern” in Brazil.
The first state-sanctioned gay marriages in Massachusetts were set to begin on Monday after the United States Supreme Court refused to step in and block the weddings. The high court’s decision on Friday was the last chance for gay marriage opponents to block the unions in the East Coast US state.