Durban

Seamer Yusuf Abdullah turned in an impressive bowling performance for the Nashua Dolphins in their MTN Domestic League cricket match against the Cape Cobras at Kingsmead on Friday night to put the home side on the path to victory by 22 runs.

Dolphins head coach Graham Ford has asked to be released from his contract with the Dolphins for personal reasons. Ford, who coaches Kent in the English County Championship, returned to the Dolphins set-up this season after an absence from the local scene. He is highly respected in cricketing circles and is still considered one of the best coaches in the country.

The Warriors earned their first win in six MTN Domestic Championship matches when they beat the Dolphins by three wickets in Durban on Friday. The visitors dismissed the Dolphins for 191 in 44 overs before replying with 192 for seven to win with six balls remaining.

Police arrested 22 people during a protest against increased taxi fares in Pietermaritzburg’s Copesville suburb on Monday. Initial reports said that tear gas was used to disperse protesters. However, there were also unconfirmed reports that stun grenades and rubber bullets were used by police to disperse the estimated 1 000-strong crowd.

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Thabo Mbeki unveiled a plaque at Durban’s Resistance Park on Sunday. Well known anti-apartheid activist Fatima Meer also spoke in Resistance Park, so named because of a ”non-white” gathering held at the park in 1946 in protest against race laws.

Jacob Zuma’s weekend comments about gays earned him the wrath of gay and lesbian groups on Tuesday. Speaking at Heritage Day celebrations in KwaDukuza on Sunday, Zuma said: ”When I was growing up an ungqingili [a gay] would not have stood in front of me. I would knock him out.”

Rescue services on Monday freed a yacht that had become entangled in Durban’s shark nets. National Sea Rescue Institute’s Durban Station Commander Paul Bevis said the Cat Whisker had drifted into the nets after a diesel fuel line was ruptured. Two males aboard the yacht were never in any real danger.

Armed robbers in Durban shot two security guards before fleeing with empty money boxes in a botched cash-in-transit heist on Thursday. Inspector Gerhard van Rooyen of the serious and violent crimes unit said the armed men started firing shots in Durban’s Umlazi Shopping centre, wounding two security guard from KZN Security Services.

Jacob Zuma’s supporters will be hoping that the corruption trial against the former deputy president is thrown out of court when Judge Herbert Msimang hands down his decision on Wednesday on whether to grant the state’s application for a postponement.

Jacob Zuma supporters might hope that Judge Herbert Msimang will throw his case out of the Pietermaritzburg High Court Wednesday, but they are more likely to be disappointed. The truth is that Msimang’s ruling only determines whether the state gets a postponement and for how long. The case stays before the courts.

The Blue Bulls came to Durban to show their horns on Saturday — and they accomplished their mission with a 50-32 drubbing in a brutal Currie Cup match at the Absa Stadium. With ten tries — six to the Bulls including a penalty try, and four to the Sharks — both sides secured a bonus point.

Pit the Bulls against the Sharks anywhere, anytime and you can bet that you are in for a mind-boggling struggle of strident proportions. And that is exactly how it is going to be on Saturday evening when the Bulls venture into the Shark Tank to resume this year’s intriguing Currie Cup rugby battle.

A critically ill awaiting-trial prisoner at Durban’s Westville prison has been denied anti-retrovirals (ARVs) because he does not have an identity document, a prisoners’ rights group said on Tuesday. Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela denied the claims, however.

Three of the country’s top legal minds will face off in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday in the corruption trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma. While Zuma believes his case should be thrown out of court, the state is arguing that he should stand trial to prevent ”clouds of suspicion” hanging over the man who could be elected president.

Jacob Zuma will have to provide hard evidence of a political conspiracy against him if he wants his corruption trial dismissed, the state said in heads of argument filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. The state argued that ”if the first accused [Zuma] wishes to establish that a political conspiracy exists, he is required to adduce evidence to this effect”.

Public interest ”demands” that former deputy president Jacob Zuma is not granted a permanent stay of prosecution, the state argued in heads of argument filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday. The state said: ”We submit that there is a compelling public interest in ensuring that the guilt or innocence of the accused is judicially determined after a full and open hearing.”