Springbok rugby coach Jake White testified behind closed doors on Wednesday while former rugby boss Brian van Rooyen remained absent from a disciplinary inquiry, which is hearing corporate-mismanagement allegations against him. White was the day’s first witness at the closed hearing in Bloemfontein.
One thing that has become increasingly evident among the Springbok squad of 2006, assembled in Bloemfontein, is that the team looks desperately short of pace out wide. Of the initial squad of 45, only 27 went through their paces at Shimla Park on Tuesday afternoon, and of those 27, not one player was an out-and-out winger.
The South African Rugby Union’s disciplinary inquiry into corporate mismanagement allegations against its former president, Brian van Rooyen, started in his absence in Bloemfontein on Tuesday. Neither Van Rooyen nor any of his legal representatives were present when the proceedings started.
The physical toll of the new and extended Super 14 has hit the Springboks hard, with three players seemingly out for some time, and the news would not have brought comfort to Jake White as the training camp in Bloemfontein got under way in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
The constitutionality of military regulations guiding labour aspects were the main focus of an appeal hearing in Bloemfontein on Tuesday. The Supreme Court of Appeal was hearing argument in three cases between the SA National Defence Union, (Sandu) and the SA National Defence Force about the labour rights of soldiers.
For the second week in a row, the Cheetahs lost by one point to New Zealand opposition, this time going down 34-33 to the visiting Blues in a thrilling Super 14 encounter played in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The match was a great spectacle and nine tries were scored overall.
The trial court of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik had not properly considered the powers and duties of former deputy president Jacob Zuma covering the period Shaik stood trial, his defence contends. This was in relation to the corruption charge involving a ”generally corrupt relationship” with Zuma.
A Bloemfontein broker thought to have committed suicide at the Augrabies Waterfalls earlier this month was found alive at Springbok’s caravan park, police said on Wednesday. Gert Louis Rossouw (36) allegedly admitted after his arrest on Tuesday night that he had earlier made a false report (his suicide note).
Athens Paralympics gold medallist Oscar Pistorius and Commonwealth Games stars Hilton Langenhoven and David Roos were among a host of disabled sport stars banking on success as the 2006 Nedbank South African Sport Association for the Physically Disabled Games opened in Bloemfontein on Monday.
The Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday unanimously overturned a finding of the Pretoria High Court that the Auditor General, Shauket Fakie, was in contempt of court in a matter related to the government’s controversial arms deal. Fakie had been ordered to give CCII Systems certain documents pertaining to the government’s arms deal.
An increase of between 10% and 20% in milk prices for Free State farmers is needed for them to stay in business, the local milk producers’ organisation said on Friday. ”There is great anxiety among Free State milk farmers about the ever-increasing input costs,” chairperson Koos Pienaar said.
Johannesburg attorney Julian Bartlett will get back R1,86-million of about R3-million he lost in a confidence trick involving an offshore sale of gold bullion, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday. Bartlett was tricked into paying R3,1-million in 1999 into the trust account of fellow attorneys Hirschowitz and Flionis, who were not part of the scam.
The murder trial of the wife and four relatives of slain senior Free State official Noby Ngombane was postponed in the Bloemfontein High Court on Monday because further information had emerged in the investigation. The court agreed to a postponement until October 23, sought by the state.
The Central Cheetahs knocked Wellington Hurricanes off the top of rugby’s Super 14 with a stirring second-half comeback this weekend. The Hurricanes relinquished their unbeaten start to the southern hemisphere provincial tournament and top spot to fellow New Zealanders Canterbury Crusaders after the Cheetahs claimed a thrilling 27-25 victory in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
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/ 27 February 2006
The Supersport Series match between the Eagles and the Titans played at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein on Sunday ended in a draw. In the Supersport Series match between the Warriors and the Lions, which ended at Mercedes-Benz Park in East London on Sunday, a draw was also the final outcome.
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/ 25 February 2006
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The African National Congress is serious with its undertaking to root out corruption, Mathews Phosa, businessman and ANC national executive member, said on Friday night. Phosa was speaking to minority groups in Bloemfontein at a function organised by the ANC in the Free State.
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/ 21 February 2006
The two expats of the Cheetahs, All Black centre Keith Lowen and Samoan hooker Trevor Leota, look set to play for the Free State Cheetahs in their Vodacom Cup match on Friday in Brakpan against log leaders the Falcons. Lowen and Leota practised with the Cheetahs on Monday afternoon.
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/ 19 February 2006
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Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon welcomed former New National Party (NNP) leader in the Free State Inus Aucamp into the party during a local government election rally in Bloemfontein on Saturday. Leon told about 800 supporters at the Oranje Girls High School his party is grateful and glad to have Aucamp in its ranks.
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/ 18 February 2006
The Free State will spend almost half of its R11,6-billion budget for the 2006/07 financial year on education, provincial finance minister Tate Makgoe said on Friday. ”Education produces future leaders. [It is] an investment into the future of the province,” Makgoe said after delivering the provincial budget in Bloemfontein.
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/ 15 February 2006
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) heard on Wednesday that Auditor General Shauket Fakie had not wilfully breached a high court order forcing him to hand over documents relating to the government’s multibillion-rand arms deal. Fakie is appealing a court order that found him, among others, in contempt of court.
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/ 14 February 2006
The Supreme Court of Appeal was expected to hear argument in an appeal by Auditor General Shauket Fakie on Wednesday against a high court ruling that he was in contempt of court in a matter related to the multibillion-rand arms deal. Fakie appealed against a Pretoria High Court judgement that he had failed to comply with a court order to give CCII Systems certain documents pertaining to the government’s arms procurement process.
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/ 14 February 2006
The Eagles swooped into the Standard Bank Pro20 final on the wings of a soaring half-century by Loots Bosman in their semifinal against the Lions in Bloemfontein on Monday. Bosman blitzed 75 off 38 balls with two fours and six sixes to bolster the home side’s total of 188 for six.
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/ 14 February 2006
The bridge on the R26 over the Caledon River near Wepener was under water on Monday due to heavy rainfall in the eastern Free State and Lesotho, police said. Meanwhile, police on Monday called in sniffer dogs in the search for the body of a 55-year-old woman who drowned on a farm near Bethulie at the weekend.
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/ 8 February 2006
Bloemfontein Celtic will be hoping to add to their silverware garnered this season when they line-up for the Chailanse Cup in Katlehong this weekend, hot on the heels of their Free State International Cup victory. Celtic overcame the challenge of AG Faarhus of Denmark 3-1 in the first game in Bloemfontein and then defeated Pirates 2-1 in the final.
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/ 31 January 2006
Fresh interest by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in a report on the affairs of the Moqhaka municipality was ”unfortunate”, Free State premier Beatrice Marshoff said on Tuesday. DA leader Tony Leon has called on the premier to release the Majavu commission of inquiry’s findings on alleged corruption and maladministration in Moqhaka.
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/ 30 January 2006
The pre-season warm-up games ahead of the Super 14 may be worthwhile exercises, but often the cost of injuries hampers the teams more than advance their cause. The Cheetahs, however, have enjoyed an unbeaten and relatively injury-free pre-season run.
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/ 24 January 2006
The United States space agency Nasa may choose the Northern Cape as a site for an array of telescopes and antennae that communicate with spacecraft. Bernie Fanaroff, of South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology, said that a Nasa team had inspected several sites around Springbok and Upington in the Northern Cape.
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/ 19 January 2006
Health workers and a doctor at the Rose Park hospital in Bloemfontein are being monitored for symptoms of Congo fever after treating a Petrusburg woman who died of the virus, a local newspaper reported. A specialist physician and personnel have been placed under observation.
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/ 16 January 2006
The Free State Eagles entrenched their status as one of the country’s premier cricket teams when they defeated the Titans in a low-scoring thriller in the Standard Bank Cup final last week. ”We’ve been a bit lucky so far; we don’t want to be seen as a conceited bunch,” said Eagles coach Corrie van Zyl on Monday.
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/ 11 January 2006
The African Christian Democratic Party in the Free State on Wednesday urged the African National Congress and the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the province to sort out their differences. Sanco in the Free State on Tuesday said it would contest the forthcoming local government elections alone.
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/ 10 January 2006
Rollersport South Africa president Willie van Heerden and his wife, Madeleine, have been identified as the couple killed in Monday’s bus crash in the Free State. Van Heerden was one of South Africa’s top sport administrators, Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile said.
Three people were killed and 23 injured when a tour bus overturned on the N1 south of Springfontein in the southern Free State on Monday, police said. Captain Elsa Gerber said the bus was carrying tourists from Cape Town to Johannesburg. The passengers were from New Zealand, Italy and The Netherlands.