Cape Town

The South African National Defence Force could be called on to help expand South Africa’s antiretroviral-treatment programme, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka suggested on Tuesday. There is ”a role” for the force in helping roll out treatment because it is such a labour-intensive activity, she told a moral-regeneration conference in Cape Town.

Goals from Eleazar Rodgers and Erwin Isaacs were enough to see Santos take the spoils in their friendly against Swedish side Helsingborg, which was played at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. The visitors — managed by Stuart Baxter of Bafana Bafana — played against the wind in the first-half and struggled to come to terms with the conditions.

The Finance Ministry has invited all South Africans to send their tips to the "Tips for Trevor" campaign about what they would like to see included in next month’s national budget. According to the ministry’s spokesperson, Lindani Mbunyuza, the campaign is run throughout the year and the tips received assist the minister in understanding public sentiment.

Santos did neighbours Ajax Cape Town a favour on Friday evening at the Athlone Stadium when they beat Silver Stars 2-0 after leading 1-0 at the interval in their Premier Soccer League encounter. The win keeps Ajax at the top of the log, one point ahead of Stars.

South Africa’s United Nations vote on Burma earlier this month is not an anomaly in its human rights record under the Mbeki presidency, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said on Friday. ”It is consistent with a larger pattern in which South Africa, through its deeds, if not words, eschews human rights issues,” he said.

The group of Cape Town residents that it was feared might mount a crippling legal challenge to the city’s 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium have decided to work with the authorities in planning the complex. The decision was taken on Thursday night at a meeting of the Green Point Common Association.

Former Springbok captain Bob Skinstad was confirmed in the Sharks’ Super 14 squad as SA Rugby announced its five squads for the southern-hemisphere provincial rugby tournament on Thursday. Skinstad has not played serious rugby since 2003, but has come out of retirement in a bid to win a place in the Springbok World Cup squad.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith criticised the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday after an appeal by Herschelle Gibbs against a two-Test ban was turned down. Smith was speaking after it was announced that ICC appeals commissioner Richie Benaud had rejected Gibbs’s appeal against a ban imposed by match referee Chris Broad.

Bellville prosecuting authorities on Wednesday withdrew charges against a bomb hoaxer on board a kulula.com flight out of Cape Town. Alberton stock controller Barend Griffin (26) had joked that he had a bomb in a carton that contained a bathroom appliance while at Cape Town International Airport waiting to board a flight to Johannesburg.

A 26-year-old man was arrested at Cape Town airport on Tuesday evening for saying he had a bomb in a box, police said. ”He had to put a box he was carrying on the X-ray machine and it detected an unusual item,” said national police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo.

Springbok coach Jake White is relying on South Africa’s Super 14 coaches to make sure key players are fit for the Rugby World Cup. Unlike New Zealand and Australia, whose national coaches will oversee restrictions on playing time in the Super 14 for their best players, White said he was leaving those decisions to the coaches of the Bulls, Cheetahs, Lions, Sharks and Stormers.

Fraud convict Tony Yengeni could be sent back to jail if found guilty of animal cruelty, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said on Monday. During his home-coming celebrations over the weekend, Yengeni is said to have stabbed a bull with a spear before it was slaughtered for a feast.

Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin should stop acting as the government’s spokesperson on national electricity problems as he has lost credibility, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. ”… Minister Erwin neither bears sole political responsibility nor is he competent to act as the government’s spokesperson,” the DA said in a statement.

Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya has released for public comment a draft law intended to address the problem of substance and alcohol abuse. Skweyiya said the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill would help reduce the prevalence of drug abuse among South Africans, particularly children.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad’s excuses for why South Africa voted against a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning human rights abuses in Burma ”are dismal”, says official opposition Democratic Alliance foreign affairs spokesperson Douglas Gibson.

Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon has lauded the Independent Democrats’ decision to join Cape Town’s multiparty government. ”The widening of the coalition will enable Cape Town to have a more meaningful system of delivery, free of the inefficiency and corruption that is all too typical of ANC rule elsewhere,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

The Presidency on Wednesday night described a claim by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that it had sponsored author Ronald Suresh Roberts to write a book about President Thabo Mbeki as an attempt to tarnish the integrity of the Presidency. On Wednesday the DA accused Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad of not giving ”an honest answer” to a parliamentary question.