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/ 21 April 2008

Eastern Cape weather claims three lives

Cold and stormy weather that hit the Eastern Cape on the weekend has claimed three lives so far, police said on Monday. Two men apparently died from the cold near Mthatha on Sunday, while a woman was killed in a storm in the province’s Ngcobo area. By Monday afternoon, snow that had been falling over the province overnight was beginning to clear up.

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/ 21 April 2008

AmaZulu advance in Nedbank Cup

AmaZulu striker Mpho Maleka netted thrice in an enthralling Nedbank Cup quarterfinal match to help his team beat Black Leopards 3-2 at their home ground, the Thohoyandou Stadium, on Sunday. Leopards started off briskly and took the lead through Christopher Netshidzivhe in the 19th minute.

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/ 20 April 2008

Stars shade Santos to move into Cup semis

Santos’ 10-week sequence without a defeat under Botswana Army coach Major David Bright was dimmed at Goble Park in Bethlehem on Sunday afternoon as Free State Stars earned a deserved 1-0 victory to qualify for the Nedbank Cup semifinals. Hero on this occasion was Jimmy Kauleza, who scored the solitary goal of the game in the 22nd minute.

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/ 18 April 2008

Students claim ‘climate of fear’ on UJ campus

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) will investigate allegations of racist incidents on campus where black students say they are ”living in a climate of fear”. Local South African Students’ Congress chairperson Xolani Mkhwemnte said on Friday there had been an outbreak of ”racially motivated incidents” on the Kingsway campus since Monday this week.

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/ 18 April 2008

A season to celebrate the underdog

Ordinarily, this time of the football season would be about which of the traditional top-three teams are best placed to win the Premier Soccer League (PSL) championship. But it increasingly appears that not all, if any, of the three teams that have dominated the PSL honours will make it to the top eight of the log.

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/ 17 April 2008

Sparks to fly in Cup play-offs

Free State Stars coach Kinnah Phiri is hoping that lightning will strike twice in the same place in one season when they host Santos in the quarterfinals of the Nedbank Cup at Goble Park on Sunday at 3pm. Stars are the only side to have beaten high-riding Santos in the Absa Premiership this year.

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/ 16 April 2008

Ajax, Stars share the spoils

A fourth-minute strike by Jimmy Kauleza seemed to have paved the way for a Free State Stars victory, but a 69th-minute piledriver by Nhlanhla Shabalala got a much-needed point for league championship contenders Ajax Cape Town in an entertaining Absa Premiership match at the Welkom Rugby Stadium on Wednesday.

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/ 16 April 2008

Winter is on the way, says weather service

Wintry weather conditions are expected to appear this weekend, the South African Weather Service said on Wednesday. ”The first outbreak of cold weather this year will occur from Saturday, taking more effect on Sunday,” said forecaster Puseletso Mofokeng. He said rain-free conditions were expected until Friday.

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/ 15 April 2008

Sundowns and the curse of the top eight

It afflicted Kaizer Chiefs and, for some time this season, it looked as though Mamelodi Sundowns were poised to be struck down as well by what has been called the curse of the top-eight competition. But currently out of the top eight, Sundowns have no intention to fall foul of the curse.

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/ 11 April 2008

Weekend to confirm Vodacom Cup contenders

The final eight teams that will vie for the R1-million prize for winning the 2008 Vodacom Cup will be confirmed after this weekend’s final round of league matches. Though Griquas and Western Province are certain of their places in the quarterfinals, at least eight teams remain in contention for the six remaining play-off spots.

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/ 10 April 2008

Win propels Wits up league table

A solitary goal by Clive Moyo-Modise gave Wits a jump from seventh to fourth place on the Absa Premiership table as they beat Free State Stars 1-0 at the Bidvest Stadium on Wednesday night. Wits leapfrogged Stars, Golden Arrows and Orlando Pirates into the top-five slot.

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/ 8 April 2008

The abuse of transformation

There can be little doubt that all South Africans need to commit themselves to transformation. The recent racist video taken at the University of the Free State and the persistence and extent of racialised patterns of poverty are just two of the more obvious reasons it is necessary to keep working to change society and to remove the legacy of apartheid.

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/ 7 April 2008

Cycling champ Lange in fine form

Current South African road cycling champion Malcolm Lange continued to fine-tune his form in preparation of the defence of his Elite national title in East London next month when he won the Maluti Challenge in Bethlehem at the weekend. The seasoned MTN Energade professional outsprinted a strong field.

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/ 6 April 2008

Two in running for ANCYL presidency

Two candidates were nominated for the vacant post of African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president at the organisation’s national congress in Bloemfontein on Sunday. A spokesperson also confirmed that some delegates had been ”barred” — by provincial structures — from the conference following incidents of disturbances and ill-behaviour.

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/ 4 April 2008

Flying the flag for wheelchair tennis

”Prodigious” is the only word that can describe the performance of Kgothatso Montjane, the South African female wheelchair tennis champion. Unlike many sporting personalities who started playing sport at an early age, the 21-year-old, who hails from Seshego, Polokwane, has only been playing wheelchair tennis since 2005.

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/ 3 April 2008

Mbalula tells Pityana to wake up and smell the coffee

Outgoing African National Congress Youth League president Fikile Mbalula on Thursday criticised University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana for making ”a clown of himself” regarding his comments about ANC president Jacob Zuma. Mbalula said the league condemned the continued slander by self-imposed political commentators on the integrity of Zuma.

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/ 3 April 2008

Delegates in Bloemfontein for ANCYL conference

Hundreds of delegates arrived at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein on Thursday for the national conference of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). Although the programme for the day had not started by 11am, delegates already inside and outside the Callie Human Centre were dancing and singing songs, waiting for proceedings to start.

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/ 3 April 2008

ACDP: Govt has failed Free State farmers

Free State Agriculture had to take the government to court to ensure the safety of farmers and farm workers because the government had failed them, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) said on Thursday. ”Safety is a constitutional right. A Constitution not being applied is not worth the paper it is written on,” said the ACDP.

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/ 31 March 2008

Govt to probe extent of racism in education

The Department of Education is to investigate the extent of racism and other forms of discrimination in higher education, it said on Monday. A ministerial committee is expected to look into discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and disability, with a particular focus on university residences, said spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele in a statement.

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/ 29 March 2008

Metaphorically speaking …

Once considered to be a device only of the poetic, metaphors have proved to stake a much deeper claim. Take the recent discourse on the national schools pledge: most people do not even realise that the notion of a "pledge of allegiance" rests on a metaphorical basis.

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/ 24 March 2008

SuperSport storm to league top spot

A full moon seemed to smile benignly on SuperSport United as they thrashed Free State Stars 6-1 at the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville on Sunday night and took the Premier Soccer League log lead from Ajax Cape Town. SuperSport’s new-found potency was nothing less than stunning.

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/ 23 March 2008

Two die in Free State plane crash

Two men died when their light aircraft crashed on a farm near Van Reenen on Saturday afternoon, said Free State police. The two-seater light aircraft went down approximately 45km south of Harrismith, near the N3 freeway, said ER24 spokesperson Riana Beech. According to witnesses on the scene, the aircraft had completed several flights during the day.

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/ 20 March 2008

March 20 to 27 2008

Are SA women fair game? The recent attack on miniskirt wearers at a taxi rank in Limpopo, days after the assault on Nwabisa Ngcukana at the Noord Street rank in Johannesburg, is very scary. In Durban last year women were assaulted and humiliated for wearing pants, and again there was not enough of an outcry […]

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/ 19 March 2008

Sundowns hammer Leopards

Mamelodi Sundowns ensured that Limpopo-based Black Leopards remained deep in the relegation zone when they hammered them 3-0 in a fast, entertaining Absa Premiership game at Thohoyandou Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. There was no score at half-time.