After effectively the most dismal sequence of results since the formative year of Bafana Bafana in 1993, caretaker coach Pitso Mosimane says his squad have no alternative but to ”play for pride” when this year’s Cosafa Cup campaign is launched against Swaziland in Gaborone on Saturday.
Indian captain Rahul Dravid stroked a 105 on Thursday to steer India to a five-wicket win over the West Indies with one ball to spare in the opening one-day international at Sabina Park. Dravid’s innings, which spanned 102 deliveries, trumped Chris Gayle’s earlier effort of 123 that led the West Indies’ 251 for six off 45 overs.
The third annual Mutual & Federal South African Cricket Awards, held on Thursday night at a glittering function in Johannesburg, saw Makhaya Ntini walk away with the prestigious South African Cricketer of the Year Award, as well as the Castle Test Cricketer of the Year Award, both for the second consecutive year.
World number four gold miner Gold Fields announced on Friday that it had acquired an extra 18,27-million Western Areas shares at a price of R40 per share for a purchase consideration of about R731-million. The acquisition increased Gold Fields’ total stake in Western Areas to 23,27-million shares, or 15,47% of that company’s total issued share capital.
Since the time of the Greek philosophers there has been a perception by some that it is possible to live a purely rational life: that emotion, faith and hope simply get in the way of rational decisions. Given such a view, how can any body align religious faith and scientific commitment?
A debate on the internal and external damage inflicted on the African National Congress by Jacob Zuma’s rape trial will top the agenda of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting in a fortnight’s time. Four senior ANC leaders, three of them members of the NEC, confirmed that the NEC had decided last weekend to scrutinise the trial fallout.
Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni’s and his boss, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s concern over household debt is ”outdated”; while consumer spending that is currently driving strong economic performance is to be ”nurtured and encouraged”, not threatened with rate hikes. That is according to Investec economist Brian Kantor, who spoke to the media with colleague Carmen Marchetti.
Harry Potter’s stolen flying car has been found after mysteriously disappearing from a film set, British newspapers reported on Friday. The pale blue 1962 Ford Anglia, driven through the air by the boy wizard and sidekick Ron Weasley in the hugely successful Harry Potter films, was in storage on a film set in Cornwall, south-east England, when it was stolen last October.
Prominent church leaders are expected to meet President Robert Mugabe next week to discuss Zimbabwe’s deteriorating political and economic situation as pressure mounts at home and abroad for him to quit. This comes against a background of South Africa’s evident alarm this week at the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe.
Saturday’s Absa Cup final is as much a battle royal between two of the country’s premier clubs — Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs — as it is a turf war for power in South African football. There is a feeling that Pirates are taking serious chances considering how inexperienced stand-in coach Teboho Moloi is when compared to the astute Ernest Middendorp.