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/ 17 February 2005
The Eagles soared into the final of the Standard Bank Cup with a convincing six wicket win over the Lions at the Goodyear Park stadium in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Batting first on a quality pitch, the Lions never fully recovered from a conservative start.
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/ 3 February 2005
The second Standard Bank one-day international between South Africa and England played in Bloemfontein on Wednesday ended in a thrilling tie which kept the capacity crowd glued to their seats right to the end. Both sides scored 270 runs in their 50 overs. England go into the third match in Port Elizabeth on Friday with a 1-0 lead.
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/ 2 February 2005
South Africa have it all to do in the second Standard Bank one-day international at Goodyear Park on Wednesday, following their two-one defeat in the Castle Lager/MTN Test series against England, and their 26 run defeat in the first match at the Wanderers on Sunday.
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/ 24 January 2005
Ever-improving Bloemfontein Celtic drew 1-1 with Ajax Cape Town in a tough Castle Premiership League encounter played at Vodacom Park Stadium on Sunday. Celtic’s defender and captain Lehlohonolo Seema led by example, scoring a brilliant goal for his team in the 57th minute as the strikers squandered several scoring opportunities.
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/ 19 January 2005
Two of South Africa’s most promising young cyclists were among the five men who died in a plane crash in the Free State on Tuesday, the manager of South Africa’s national cycling team said on Wednesday. Cyclists Jaco de Witt and Jaco Odendaal, along with three others, were on board an Aerostar light aircraft on their way to Harrismith.
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/ 17 January 2005
Firearms handed in to police in three provinces in the first two weeks of a three-month amnesty period were mostly legal weapons. On Monday, about 560 firearms had been already been handed over to police in Gauteng, who also received more than 21 000 rounds of ammunition, of which most were handed in voluntarily.
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/ 12 January 2005
On the first day of school, pupils should think about the whole year ahead, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor advised Free State children on Wednesday. ”The first essay for all learners at the beginning of a new school year should be about their aspirations for that year,” Pandor said in Bloemfontein.
A Bloemfontein man who allegedly relocated over the festive season left 14 dogs behind to fend for themselves, the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said on Tuesday. SPCA spokesperson in Bloemfontein Reinette Meyer said they found the dogs at a house in Pellisier after the owner allegedly moved to Durban.
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/ 15 December 2004
About 14 passengers sustained minor injuries when a train was derailed in the Free State on Tuesday, according to police. Police spokesperson Captain Rosa Benade said the passengers were taken to a hospital in Kroonstad. Seven coaches were derailed in the accident shortly before 6pm near Westley, about 10km from Koppies. No fatalities were reported.
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/ 1 December 2004
Judgment in the appeal application of pharmacists regarding the government’s new medicine pricing regulations was reserved by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Advocate Marumo Moerane, for the State, concluded his arguments by asking the court to dismiss the pharmacists’ appeal against a Cape High Court decision to uphold the government’s new medicine regulations.
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/ 1 December 2004
The Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling on the development of the common law definition of marriage to include same-sex marriage was criticised by the ChristianView Network on Tuesday. ”The decision undermines the status of the good moral institution of marriage, by equating it with immoral homosexual relationships,” the organisation said in a statement.
Appeal for same-sex marriage succeeds
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/ 30 November 2004
A lesbian couple’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal to have their marriage legally recognised and registered succeeded on Tuesday. The court, in a majority decision, declared that under the Constitution the common law concept of marriage was to be developed to embrace same-sex partners.
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/ 15 November 2004
The Free State High Court on Monday reserved judgement in an application by two senior officials to set aside a decision by Premier Beatrice Marshoff to redeploy them. Jerry Rakgoale, head of public works, roads and transport, and Makhosini Msibi, head of local government and housing, filed the urgent application.
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/ 20 October 2004
The Free State government has decided that three of the province’s bigger district municipalities be placed under administration because they cannot perform their duties. Free State premier Beatrice Marshoff said on Wednesday that the Motheo, Moqhaka and Phumelela municipalities had been informed that they would be placed under administration.
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/ 30 September 2004
The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein dismissed an urgent bail application by alleged Boeremag member Adriaan van Wyk on Wednesday. Van Wyk is one of the 22 accused in the Boeremag trial in the Pretoria High Court. They are charged with treason, murder and attempted murder. Van Wyk was earlier denied bail in the Pretoria High Court, which found he could prove no unusual circumstances requiring his release on bail.
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/ 20 September 2004
About 500 residents of Zamani in Memel were blocking the access road to the township in protest over service delivery, eastern Free State police said on Monday morning. Captain Veronica Ntepe said schoolchildren were among the protesters. The group were using old car wrecks and dustbins to block the road.
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/ 16 September 2004
It is illegal to caricature the Carling Black Label trademark for commercial gain, the Supreme Court of Appeal found on Thursday. Laugh It Off had been selling T-shirts emblazoned with the trademark but substituting the words ”Black Labour, White Guilt” for ”Black Label, Carling”. This was detrimental to the value of the trademark, the court held.
The late Paul Meintjes, whose family was told by a ”prophet” that he would rise from the dead, has finally been laid to rest at his hometown, Hertzogville. Meintjes was buried in a local cemetery on Wednesday during a small ceremony attended by his sister, Hettie Voster, and her family. Meintjes’ widow, Anna, was not present.
Police are likely to approach the Bloemfontein magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for an order to bury Paul Meintjes, whose family was told by a ”prophet” that he would rise from the dead. By Monday evening, the family had not met their deadline to contact the police with funeral arrangements, said Free State police spokesperson Captain Sam Makhele.
Gay and lesbian people should be given their full rights in terms of marriage, the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein heard on Monday. ”Marriage is a mechanism through which heterosexuals automatically get certain rights and privileges,” senior council Pieter Oosthuizen said.
The late Paul Meintjes whom a prophet had predicted would rise from the dead must be buried by Saturday, according to an order delivered by police to his family in the Free State town of Hertzogville on Thursday. On Wednesday his widow took delivery of Meintje’s 50-day-old corpse and has since kept it in a coffin beside her bed.
The body of Paul Meintjes, whose resurrection was predicted by a ”prophet” after his death about six weeks ago, is back with his family, mortician Nico Foulds said on Wednesday. Foulds said he delivered the body to the family at their home in Hertzogville in the Free State.
The body of a Free State man whose resurrection was predicted by a ”prophet” after his death six weeks ago is on its way to a state mortuary, if a local undertaker gets his way. On Monday some disgruntled family members and town residents protested in front of the Meintjes family home.
Radio Pretoria lost its case over its broadcasting licence on a technical point in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Monday. The station manager said no principal judgement was given on the reasons the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa previously gave for dismissing the station’s licence.
The killing of a South African soldier on the Lesotho border with the Free State emphasises the crime crisis along the country’s borders, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday. DA spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said the government should seriously look at the situation along the Lesotho border.
The family of Paul Meintjes of Hertzogville, whose resurrection was predicted by a "prophet" after his death about five weeks ago, has not yet made arrangements to remove the body from the town’s mortuary, mortician Nico Foulds said on Thursday. Meintjes’s body has been kept frozen in the town’s mortuary since July 1.
Four Free State department of home affairs officials and a policeman appeared in the Ficksburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on corruption charges, Free State police said. The five were arrested on Monday, bringing to 39 the number of people arrested since an investigation began into corruption at home affairs offices in the province.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled on Monday that a news story published by the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> newspaper about former housing minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele was defamatory, but not actionable. The SCA in Bloemfontein dismissed an appeal by Mthembi-Mahanyele against a decision of the Johannesburg High Court in the newspaper’s favour.
Port Elizabeth-based General Motors on Monday conceded defeat in a long-running defamation case against Jaco van der Merwe regarding his labelling his Isuzu KB280 bakkie the ”worst 4x4xfar”. The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein ruled on Monday that the slogan was not defamatory.
Twelve Department of Home Affairs officials and seven ”runners” were arrested this week for allegedly selling identity and birth registration documentation, Free State police said on Thursday. The arrests, mostly in Bloemfontein, come after a two-year investigation by the police and the department.
African National Congress secretary general Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele is to pursue a defamation claim against the Mail & Guardian in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Thursday. It relates to printed allegations that Mthembi-Mahanyele, while housing minister, had awarded a building contract to a close friend.
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The Democratic Alliance has vowed to pursue the matter of DA members being arrested at a Free State voting station, after a charge against them were withdrawn on Monday. Darryl Worth and other members of the DA were arrested in Botshabelo on April 14 after allegedly driving into a voting station in a vehicle bearing a DA logo.
Special Report: Elections 2004