Marat Safin has been voted the sexiest man in tennis, but it’s success at the French Open he really craves as he desperately tries to pull his season out of a depressing tailspin. His second career grand-slam victory at the Australian Open in January has been the only highlight of what has become a wretched 2005.
Former Australian captain Greg Chappell was on Friday named India’s new cricket coach and entrusted with the task of masterminding the country’s campaign at the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. ”Greg spoke his mind, but he knew what he was talking about. He bowled me over,” a member of the selection panel said.
The shareholder’s agreement for the second national telephone operator (SNO) will be completed in the next few days, Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said in Parliament on Thursday. Addressing the National Assembly during her Budget vote, she outlined her department’s undertakings and aspirations.
Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe has given the suspended Road Accident Fund chief executive Humphrey Kgomongwe the boot. Radebe said in his Budget vote in an extended public committee on Friday that the Cabinet will shortly consider "a range of proposals" regarding the troubled Road Accident Fund.
A mother whose children died in a blaze while she was out drinking has been jailed for five years by the Viljoenskroon Magistrate’s Court, police said on Friday. A police spokesperson said the woman had left her three children inside a locked shack with a candle burning while she was out drinking with her boyfriend.
Insurance group Momentum, part of the listed FirstRand group, has made an offer of 175 cents per share to acquire all of rival insurer Sage, in a transaction worth R634-million, the companies announced on Friday. If the offer is successful, Sage will be delisted from the JSE Securities Exchange.
Legal experts must decide if Saturday’s imbizo (meeting) of the Zulu nation in Durban is traditional or political before police decide whether traditional weapons will be allowed at the gathering. On Thursday, a spokesperson said Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has distanced himself from the imbizo.
More than R130-million will be made available for housing in the Nelson Mandela metropolis following four days of protests over slow housing delivery. Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela announced this on Thursday while appealing for calm. ”We shall not abandon the poor,” said Balindlela.
The fact that our economy needs maths and science conjures up images of a factory churning out grey suits with glasses, unable to relate to other people, writes Mike van Graan.
Lars von Trier’s film, Manderlay, which premiered at the Cannes film festival this week, has caused much controversy with its depiction of slavery.