South Africa clinched a 2-1 win in a highly entertaining match against Belgium in high wind in Cape Town on Tuesday night. The teams felt each other out initially, with the first tentative shots at goal coming from South Africa in the seventh minute. Both teams employed the short ball in a physical game.

Issa Hayatou is expected to win his battle to stay in charge of African football in Tunis this week but the bitter problems facing the sport on the continent are set to overshadow his celebrations.

Former Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba said on Tuesday he had reached a settlement with his former employers, the South African Football Association. Mashaba said in a statement: ”Today a settlement has been reached between the parties and the written settlement agreement will be signed shortly.”

Andre Agassi says he is willing to help the cricket team coached by former Test cricketer David Hookes, whose death after an assault by a bouncer has shocked Australia. Fourth-seeded Agassi, at 33 the oldest man in the tournament, stormed his way into the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

South Africa and Morocco are set to transform their African Nations Cup campaigns into one last desperate battle to win the prize of hosting the 2010 World Cup finals. South Africa was considered to be the runaway favourites until recently but Morocco is understood to be winning backers.

The public image of botanists got a bit of a boost this week, at a conference in Durban, where they demonstrated their significance in fields from agriculture to social development. Those who thought botanists were stuffy academics who squashed flowers, would have had their perceptions re-wired after attending this meeting.