The president punched the sky and leapt into the air as ordinary South Africans laughed, cried, danced and hugged when the country was named the host of the 2010 Soccer World Cup on Saturday. As Fifa president Sepp Blatter in Zurich drew the card stating ”South Africa” from the envelope, the country erupted with jubilation.
Laduma! SA gets World Cup
The West Indies survived a panic attack to scrape a one-wicket victory against Bangladesh in the first one-day cricket international at Arnos Vale on Saturday. Chasing a paltry 145 to win, the West Indies collapsed from 81 for two to 133-9 before all-rounder Ian Bradshaw and last man Fidel Edwards carried the home side to victory.
The Lions put in a superb second-half performance to emerge victorious 35-16 against the Blue Bulls in the Vodacom Cup final at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon. The Lions scored four tries to one in an entertaining second half after they held a narrow 9-6 lead after a tight first period.
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.