Cape Town

Interested parties welcomed the election of Oregan Hoskins as the new president of the South African Rugby Union. Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile congratulated Hoskins on his victory and said he hopes the problems within Saru will now be sorted out.

SA Rugby turned a R12,8-million loss incurred by the end of 2004 into a R6,4-million net profit in the past financial year. The figures were contained in the company’s audited annual financial statements, adopted at Friday’s annual general council meeting at the Newlands rugby stadium.

Six British tourists and a pilot were taken to hospital after a helicopter made an emergency landing in the Cape of Good Hope area of the Table Mountain National Park on Thursday morning. A Cape Town emergency services spokesperson said the passengers and pilot had extricated themselves from the wreckage.

The African Christian Democratic Party is confident of winning its Constitutional Court challenge against being barred from contesting the Cape Town municipal poll. ”We believe we have a strong case,” ACDP legal adviser Vincent Bergh said after hearing the party has been granted leave to appeal against an Electoral Court ruling.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka should be made to repay nearly R10 000 spent on a private flight for a medical doctor who accompanied her on an Abu Dhabi vacation last year, the Freedom Front Plus said on Tuesday. A medical doctor is required to accompany the deputy president on all overseas trips.

The dismissal of Central Karoo District municipal manager, Truman Prince, will not affect the municipal election drive of the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (Icosa), the party said on Tuesday. Lyon was responding to news on Tuesday that a disciplinary committee had ruled that Prince be dismissed with immediate effect from his position as Central Karoo district municipal manager.

Improved housing and shopping facilities were among the promises made when President Thabo Mbeki hit the campaign trial on the Cape Flats on Tuesday, ahead of the March 1 municipal election. First stop was the home of 82-year-old Macassar resident Lilly Jansen in Krymekaar Street — the oldest street in the low-income suburb.

The judge in the baby Jordan Leigh Norton murder case is to rule on Tuesday on a media bid to publish photographs of key evidence in the trial, including fingerprints. Judge Basheer Waglay reserved judgement on Monday after hearing argument from counsel for the Independent Newspapers group as well as the state.

The Waratahs put in a strong second-half showing to beat the Stormers 32-26 in an action-packed Super 14 match at Newlands on Saturday evening. Trailing 20-10 at the break, the Waratahs’ superior experience and quality at the back ultimately told as they managed to feast off the Stormers’ mistakes.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has singled out President Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for criticism in a hard-hitting report to the African Peer Review Mechanism lashing the government’s response to the Aids pandemic. ”There has been a lack of leadership from the highest political level,” the TAC said.

Reminiscing on a 20-year political career, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon on Friday longed for the day when municipal councillors thrived on serving their constituencies. When he was elected to his first office in 1986, there were five words every councillor had to learn to keep voters happy: ”How can I help you?”, Leon said.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has welcomed the life sentence handed down on Thursday to the man who raped and murdered HIV-positive TAC activist Lorna Mlofane. Cape High Court judge Dumisani Zondi sentenced Ncedile Ntumbukane to life in prison for the murder in December 2003, and a concurrent ten years for the rape, the TAC said.