Cape Town

Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile on Wednesday said he wants to see racial transformation in sport completed by 2010. ”We would have been there if we did what we had to do since 1992,” Stofile told reporters in Cape Town, lamenting the slow pace of transformation since apartheid ended in the early 1990s.

Prosecutor-turned-businessman Bulelani Ngcuka is to chair the new-look board of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront Holdings Company. Derick van der Merwe, MD of subsidary Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, said the holdings board has been reshaped to reflect changes to the Transnet board last year.

Ajax Cape Town paid the penalty for resting some of their experienced players when they were beaten 3-1 by Supersport United in a Premiership Soccer League match played at Newlands on Tuesday. Ajax opened the score in the sixth minute when Dominique Isaacs made good ground down the right and centred for Thembinkosi Fantini.

The government is to review the visa regime inherited from ”the bad old days”, Director General of Home Affairs Barry Gilder said on Tuesday. He was speaking to journalists on the final day of a regional meeting of the United Nations-backed Global Commission on International Migration.

The National Party withdrew from the government of national unity (GNU) when the African National Congress refused to establish a consultative council to deal with minority concerns. This is according to former president FW de Klerk, who on Monday addressed the Cape Town Press Club on the role of minorities in post-1994 South Africa.

The world-famous Blue Train is back in full operation after one set of carriages was withdrawn in March 2003 because of fire damage, Spoornet said on Monday. ”The fire-detection system on the damaged train set has now been updated and improved with the latest technology,” Dorcas Ledwaba, manager of the Blue Train, said in a statement.

The Stormers made easy meat of the Sharks as they notched up a 26-12 victory in their opening Super 12 match at Newlands on Friday night. Neil de Kock’s side should have led by considerably more than an eight-point margin at the interval, but were left to reflect on a number of missed opportunities through unforced errors and over-elaboration.

President Thabo Mbeki has paid special tribute to African National Congress stalwart Raymond Mhlaba, who died at the age of 85 last Sunday, calling him one of South Africa’s foremost leaders and ”midwife of our democracy”. Mbeki devoted his weekly column on Friday in the ANC’s online publication, ANC Today, to Mhlaba’s memory.

Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said he could never have made remarks comparing his son with African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) spokesperson Zizi Kodwa, as was reported last week. He was commenting on a South African Press Association article about his return from Zimbabwe.

Ajax Cape Town gained three points with a 2-1 local derby win against Santos at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night, but the general feeling afterwards was that it was an undeserving victory. Ajax can thank their reserve goalkeeper, Andre Petim — their regular ‘keeper, Moeneeb Josephs, is suspended — as he brought off several excellent saves.

It’s been a week of typical mind games as the Stormers and Sharks gear up for Friday night’s Super 12 match between the sides at Newlands. Sharks coach Kevin Putt named a team without Springbok captain John Smit at hooker, while utility forward AJ Venter is not even in the 22-man squad.

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>Eskom Holding’s planned pilot pebble-bed modular reactor got the government green light in Wednesday’s national Budget. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said infrastructure spending by public enterprises is expected to grow strongly over the years ahead, "complemented by rising spending on public assets through public-private partnerships of various kinds".