Julius Malema has been elected as African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president at the league’s national conference at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. Malema received 1Â 883 votes, it was announced on Monday, while the other candidate, Saki Mofokeng, received 1Â 696.
Kgalema Motlanthe, deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC), on Sunday criticised the ”state of disorder” that characterised the ANC Youth League’s (ANCYL) national conference in Bloemfontein. Outgoing ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula said that ”forces” had tried to disrupt the congress but that they had failed.
After nearly two weeks of baggage chaos and hundreds of cancelled flights, London Heathrow airport was hit by bad weather on Sunday, which forced British Airways (BA) to cancel 114 flights. Two runways at Heathrow were briefly closed for de-icing as snow fell in London and air-traffic control reduced the number of take-off and landing slots.
Two candidates were nominated for the vacant post of African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president at the organisation’s national congress in Bloemfontein on Sunday. A spokesperson also confirmed that some delegates had been ”barred” — by provincial structures — from the conference following incidents of disturbances and ill-behaviour.
Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final for the first time in 69 years on Saturday when a 54th-minute goal from Nwankwo Kanu gave them a 1-0 semifinal win over West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium. Portsmouth will now play either Cardiff City or Barnsley, who meet in an all-Championship semifinal on Sunday, in the final at Wembley on May 17.
Lions coach Eugene Eloff has had enough of his side’s near-wins in the Super 14, in which they have only one win and a draw from seven outings. ”I’m fed up with saying that this was another match we should have won,” Eloff said after Friday’s defeat to the Highlanders, who were bottom of the log before their 29-20 win over the Lions.
French authorities were working on Saturday to free a luxury cruise yacht and its 30-member crew taken hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia. ”The defence and foreign affairs ministries are working to act as quickly as possible. I hope … to try to obtain the release of the hostages,” French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille on Friday accused the African National Congress (ANC) of shutting down the space for free and informed debate. Writing in her weekly newsletter, Zille said recent events suggested the image of openness that ANC president Jacob Zuma was cultivating was just a smokescreen for closing down the public space.
Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade launched construction of an ”African renaissance” monument on the continent’s westernmost tip late on Thursday, which he said would stand taller than the Statue of Liberty in the United States. The 50m bronze statue will stand atop a 100m hill looking out over the Atlantic Ocean on the edge of the capital Dakar.
De Beers on Friday urged the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to ”engage” with it, after a protest by Cullinan diamond mine workers over gain-sharing, health and safety, and discrimination. De Beers claimed that NUM had made errors of fact, including referring to mines the company no longer operated.