The embarrassment of South African soccer continued unabated at the National Stadum in Gaborone on Sunday as Bafana Bafana crashed out of the Cosafa Cup after a penalty shoot-out defeat against Fifa’s 103rd ranked Botswana. A tepid quarterfinal embodied with little excitement or inspiration ended goalless — with the team known as the Zebras showing their stripes by netting all six penalty kicks.
![]()
Ghana aim to give their long-suffering fans something to smile about when they make their World Cup debut after a 44-year wait to play in the finals. One of Africa’s most powerful footballing nations, the ”Black Stars” have won the Nations Cup four times while their clubs and teams have dominated continental and junior international competitions.
The prices of imported vehicles in South Africa are on average 18% higher than in European countries, according to a newly released Competition Commission report. The document, which has been submitted to the mid-term review of the motor industry development programme (MIDP), has not been publicly released before.
Tim Herron sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Sweden’s Richard Johnson and give the American his fourth career PGA title on Sunday at the Colonial Tournament. Herron, who had not won a US event since the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational, nearly squandered a lead with three back-nine bogeys in the final round, the last at the 16th hole.
![]()
The United States World Cup football squad concluded a 12-day training camp in North Carolina on Sunday and prepared for three friendlies in the next week to serve as a tuneup for matches in Germany. The Americans will face Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic next month in opening-round play at the global football showdown.
Bulgaria, once home to the Ancient Thracian civilisation, laid a gilded lure for tourists recently with a dazzling display of its nine most important gold and silver artefacts, seen together for the first time. The objects, dating back between the fifth millennium BC and the third century AD "form part of the foundations of European civilisation", President Georgi Parvanov said.
A combination of icy temperatures and reduced capacity could plunge parts of Cape Town into darkness on Monday night, a media report said on Monday. Eskom has estimated that there will be a shortage of at least 150 megawatts from 6pm to 8pm, after Koeberg’s Unit Two generator is switched off on Monday for refuelling and safety upgrades.
The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, is to meet Hamas leaders this week in an attempt to prevent growing conflict in the Gaza Strip degenerating into civil war after a bomb attack that seriously injured the head of the Palestinian intelligence service and a failed attempt to blow up another senior security official.
As Zimbabwe reels under a world-record inflation of 1Â 042,9%, many are forsaking meals and walking or cycling for scores of kilometres to work every day in a tortuous battle to survive. Zimbabwe is going through the seventh year of economic recession characterised by four-digit inflation, shortages of basic foodstuffs while at least 80% of the population lives below the poverty threshold.
Emboldened by the acquittal of Jacob Zuma, leaders of the African National Congress and South African Communist Party youth leagues have become more strident than usual, and the politics of demagogy threaten to choke the national discourse. Why, I’ve wondered, have their various mad ramblings gone unchecked?