A group of 24 contracted Springbok players underwent a thorough medical and conditioning assessment in Bloemfontein on Friday. The testing was overseen by Springbok coach Jake White and his medical and conditioning team. Andy Marinos, manager of national teams at SA Rugby, was also present.
Free State farmers celebrating the rain that fell over the New Year are praying the wet weather carries on into the planting season to ease a drought that has crippled the province since November. Free State Agricultural Union director Pieter Moller said the recent rainfall had not broken the drought, but had brought great relief to the farmers.
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/ 21 December 2005
A man mauled to death by tigers at Bloemfontein Zoo on Sunday was a robber who ended up in the cage while fleeing arrest, police said on Tuesday. Captain Elsa Gerber said it appears the man and a friend had been robbing people at the zoo. He fled into the enclosure to avoid arrest.
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/ 19 December 2005
A man was found mauled to death in the tigers’ enclosure at the Bloemfontein zoo on Sunday, said police. Captain Elsa Gerber said an adult visitor to the zoo raised the alarm when he saw a body lying in the enclosure of two tigers at noon. ”We don’t know who he is, how he got there, where he’s from or anything else,” she said.
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/ 15 December 2005
The Eagles beat the Dolphins by eight runs with just four balls to spare in a nail-biting Standard Bank Cup cricket match in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night. Man-of-the-match Johan van der Wath and Roger Telemachus took three wickets apiece and helped the home team to defend their small score.
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/ 7 December 2005
A R250-million casino and entertainment development was officially opened in Bloemfontein on Tuesday night. ”The complex represents the largest-ever private sector investment in the Free State’s leisure industry,” Free State premier Beatrice Marshoff said at the opening of the Windmill Casino and Entertainment Centre.
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/ 6 December 2005
Two men raped two French students at a camping site at Frankfort on Monday, police said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Constable Christopher Mophiring said three men fled the scene in the women’s vehicle after the incident at 1am on Monday. ”It is alleged that the two women were asleep in their vehicle at the Wilge River camping site.
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/ 1 December 2005
The Lions can call themselves the rain men after all three their games thus far in this year’s Standard Bank Series have been rained out. Their matches against the Cobras and Titans also ended up as no results due to rain. Wednesday was the second match of the series at Goodyear Park where rain had the final say.
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/ 26 November 2005
The Eagles ran out 21-run winners of their opening Standard Bank Cup cricket match in Bloemfontein against the Titans in a game affected by rain. In Durban, the Dolphins edged home by 31 runs in a Duckworth-Lewis decision game against the Warriors. Thundershowers forced the match between the Lions and Cobras to be called off.
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/ 18 November 2005
Durban businessman Schabir Shaik is not yet home and dry with his application for leave to appeal against a corruption charge he was convicted on earlier this year. The Supreme Court of Appeal ”can still refuse the leave to appeal. Then the case [in terms of the corruption count concerned] is finished,” legal expert Tom Coetzee says.
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/ 15 November 2005
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Tuesday granted businessman Schabir Shaik leave to appeal against his conviction on a charge involving ”a generally corrupt relationship” with former deputy president Jacob Zuma. Shaik had applied for leave to appeal to the SCA after the Durban High Court granted him leave to challenge, on limited grounds, one of two corruption convictions and one of fraud.
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/ 9 November 2005
The state on Wednesday told the Supreme Court of Appeal that the high-court trial of a 12-year-old murderer was ”identified in emotion”. The state is appealing against the sentence imposed on a Pietermaritzburg girl who became South Africa’s youngest female killer in 2004.
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/ 8 November 2005
Bloemfontein’s name might change to Thabure, the name of a Basotho chief’s white horse, if Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan approves the name change eventually. ”It’s just a suggestion at this stage, it is not even before the committee to consider it,” Mario Sefo, of the Free State department of arts and culture and secretary to the committee, said on Tuesday.
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/ 24 October 2005
A sparkling innings of 73 by big-hitting Justin Kemp saw South Africa win the first Standard Bank one-day international against New Zealand by two wickets in Bloemfontein on Sunday, to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The nearly 7 000 fans were left on tenterhooks until the final over.
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/ 18 October 2005
Mangaung mayor Papi Mokoena has been relieved of all leadership positions in the African National Congress in the Free State, the party announced on Tuesday. Free State ANC deputy chairperson Pat Matosa said the decision by the party’s provincial working committee (PWC) was taken in the interests of stabilising local government at all levels.
An African National Congress mayor and a councillor in Bothaville, respectively facing charges of attempted murder and assault, have been suspended, the party announced on Tuesday. Controversial Nala mayor Godfrey ”Baarde” Tsoai and another councillor, Khumisi Letsoara, have been suspended as councillors and party members.
Firefighting teams are battling to extinguish 15 forest and veld fires that continue to burn out of control in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, Working on Fire (WF) said on Monday. WF spokesperson Val Charlton said about 26 WF firefighting teams are battling the blazes across the northern parts of the country.
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/ 25 September 2005
The Blue Bulls overcame a spirited Cheetahs side 26 -22 in Currie Cup premier division match in Bloemfontein on Saturday. Cheetahs flyhalf Willem de Waal did not put a boot wrong when he slotted six out of six kicks for a personal tally of 17 points, while Derick Hougaard bagged 16 points from four penalties and two conversions.
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/ 19 September 2005
A senior state prosecutor told the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Monday that the state is working non-stop in the murder investigation of senior Free State official Noby Ngombane. Ngombane, a senior official in Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff’s office, was murdered at his Hillsboro home on March 22.
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/ 16 September 2005
Recent meetings with municipalities to discuss their finances were ”a disaster and a nightmare,” the Free State legislature’s public accounts committee said on Friday. The committee met municipalities during August to consider reports of the auditor general on the financial statements of all municipalities.
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/ 11 September 2005
In a poor advertisement for Currie Cup rugby the Lions overcame a decidedly off colour Cheetahs outfit 31-20 in a patchy encounter played at the Vodacom Park Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday. Leading 21-13 at the break, the Lions inexplicably failed to use their backs, which in the first half had torn the Cheetahs apart.
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/ 8 September 2005
Bloemfontein Celtic and Golden Arrows played out an exciting goalless draw in an entertaining Premier Soccer League encounter at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night. In other matches, Santos went down 1-0 against Ajax Cape Town, and Silver Stars and Jomo Cosmos laboured to a 1-1 draw.
Residents of Bothaville’s Kgotsong township ran riot in a protest over service delivery on Tuesday, burning shops, disrupting schools and damaging property. Free State police spokesperson Inspector Stephen Thakeng said the situation in Kgotsong is tense and police are keeping a close watch.
Frankfort in the Free State was calm on Wednesday morning, but police remained on the alert for more service delivery protests. Police spokesperson Superintendent Motarafi Ntepe said a heavy police presence was maintained in Frankfort and Namahadi where demonstrations turned violent this week.
The situation in Frankfort calmed down on Tuesday after more residents were arrested for public violence, eastern Free State police said. Police spokesperson Superintendent Motarafi Ntepe said 64 people have been arrested since violence broke out on Sunday in Namahadi township over alleged poor service delivery.
Free State local government minister Joel Mafereka is to visit Frankfort where protesting residents disrupted schools and traffic on Monday, a municipal official said. Protesters, apparently unhappy with service delivery in the municipality, have been blocking roads with burning tyres and other objects since Sunday.
Free State health officials have closed the operating theatres at the Katleho hospital in Virginia after three patients were infected with klebsiella. Provincial health department spokesperson Elke de Witt said on Friday three outpatients had suffered post-operation wound sepsis at clinics in Virginia and at the Katleho District hospital.
Thirteen people died in a collision between a bus and a van between Rouxville and Smithfield on Monday morning, Free State police reported. The accident occurred at about 1am, said Sergeant Thandi Mbambo. ”The truck was apparently parked partially on the side of the road after a mechanical problem,” Mbambo said.
The wife of slain Free State official Noby Ngombane and four of her relatives were granted conditional bail of R10 000 each at the Bloemfontein District Court on Wednesday. Ngombane’s wife, Nokwanda, her brother and sister and two cousins all face charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice.
The mayor of Mangaung, his wife and five other people charged with theft, corruption and fraud will return to the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday to continue their bail application. Scorpions spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said they appeared in court on Monday but no agreement was reached on their bail.
The Scorpions have arrested a senior elected Mangaung official, his wife and four other officials, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Monday. The six were arrested in the morning. Scorpions and NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said a seventh arrest in Johannesburg is imminent.
Police were on Friday questioning the wife of slain Free State official Noby Ngombane. Police spokesperson Superintendent Annelie Wrensch confirmed that Nokwanda Ngombane and two other women — believed to be her relatives — were taken in for questioning.