A Sunday tabloid aimed at the ”new, modern Afrikaner” is to be launched in May, its editor said on Tuesday. Sondag’s Mike Vink said it would offer less sleaze than weekly Afrikaans tabloid Son. This will entail, among others, a page three pin-up girl, who will not be topless. ”It’s not going to be sleazy, but a genuine Sunday newspaper with a sports, news and business section.”
Game-park owner Dirk Brink (58) died of a stroke and was not killed by the lions that mauled him, media reports said on Tuesday. This came to light during the post-mortem on Brink, who owned the Krugersdorp Game Reserve. It showed that he was attacked by the pride at Ngonyama Lion Lodge only after his death from a stroke.
The African National Congress (ANC) provincial executive committee in the Free State on Monday dismissed a failed court challenge to its leadership as ”counter-revolutionary”. ”The matter referred to the court has never been a legal matter but has always been a political matter,” said Free State ANC deputy chairperson Pat Matosa.
More members of the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State are planning to take on the leadership of provincial party leader Ace Magashule in court, the Volksblad reported on Friday. Members of four more ANC regions are expected to apply for court interdicts to stop ANC ward meetings.
South Africa’s national parks are poised for a surge in gay tourism now that a tourist operator has launched a series of tours designed to initiate gay visitors to the delights of the savannah. While Cape Town is one of the world’s top five gay holiday destinations, the operator aims to lure gay tourists out of the Mother City.
Sophie Edington of Australia picked up six gold medals at the 2007 Telkom National Aquatic Championships, which ended at the Kings Park pool in Durban on Sunday night. She took both the 100m and 50m freestyle medals, the 50m butterfly, and the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke races in her stride.
The elimination of the defending champions and a spirited performance against the odds were two of the features of a thrilling final weekend of league fixtures in the Vodacom Cup competition, which enters its quarterfinal stage this weekend. Holders the Valke went down 17-8 to the Blue Bulls last Friday.
The African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State is stable and united, provincial party leader Ace Magashule said on Wednesday in reaction to questions about party leadership battles and ”factions” within the ANC at regional level in the province. ”The ANC is stable and united at all levels,” Magashule said at an ANC media breakfast.
A stork that flew from Germany to die on a Free State farm in December last year is now making headlines on the internet, the Volksblad newspaper reported on Tuesday. Prinzesschen (Princess), a white stork (Ciconia ciconia), died on December 23 last year on the farm Uitzicht between Wesselsbron and Hoopstad.
Action in the Vodacom Cup resumes this weekend after the Easter break with quarterfinal contenders looking to secure home-ground advantage for the knockout stages of the competition. This weekend sees the final round of league fixtures with four semifinal places still up for grabs.
A damages claim of more than R500 000 against the police and prisons services will cost rightwinger Piet ”Skiet” Rudolph and two others dearly. A Pretoria High Court judge on Tuesday dismissed with costs a damages claim instituted by Rudolph and fellow Orde Boerevolk members Wentzel Laubscher and Andre van der Walt.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) wants the government to investigate ”properly” the circumstances around the escape of a lion from a game farm near Winburg in the Free State, it said on Tuesday. It said it was relieved to hear the escaped animal was finally shot at by a local farmer.
The number of people killed on South African roads over the Easter weekend has risen to 181, the Department of Transport said on Monday night. Of the 181 people who lost their lives in 143 crashes, 41 were drivers, 71 were passengers and 69 were pedestrians, spokesperson Ntau Letebele said.
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African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma called for people to go back to their values at an Easter Sunday service in the eastern Free State, media reports said. Zuma called on churches to make sure that the laws that govern are not in contradiction with the laws of God.
The Transport Ministry on Wednesday called on motorists to drive carefully over the Easter weekend. Among others, main routes out of Gauteng are expected to carry heavy traffic from noon until 10pm on Thursday and from 6am to noon on Friday, said ministry spokesperson Ntau Letebele.
Judgement was reserved on Thursday on further applications made in an interdict to suspend the election of new office bearers by an African National Congress (ANC) regional conference. Judge Corne van Zyl in the Bloemfontein High Court reserved judgement until April 4 after hearing argument on an application by 17 people wanting to join the original applicants in the matter.
This week saw the official launch and installation of Parliament’s new emblem, a design created by the people as a cornerstone for South Africa’s new democracy. ”A new emblem was an important step in establishing an identity for Parliament, one that represents its values, vision and mission,” Parliament said in a statement.
The regional land claims commission and the body representing the Pniel estate land claimants in the Northern Cape had not reached agreement over their differences on Tuesday afternoon, legal counsel said. Legal counsel for the Pniel community property association Adrian Horwitz said the parties were still engaged in an attempt to reach a settlement.
Fires in the Free State have already destroyed more than 60 000ha of veld, the provincial department of water affairs and forestry said on Monday. Spokesperson Malcolm Proctor said last year’s figure of 69 000ha destroyed will probably be exceeded by next week. ”This is bad,” he said.
R1-billion has been allocated this year to eradicate bucket toilets in established settlements by December, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Friday. ”All bucket systems that exist in formal establishments and townships will be completely removed by December 2007,” said a departmental spokesperson.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has expressed its shock at an incident in which a Free State farmer chained two girls to a tree. ”Cosatu is shocked to learn that a farmer in the eastern Free State chained two young girls from Lesotho … to a tree,” Free State and Northern Cape provincial spokesperson Sam Mashinini said on Friday.
While Bafana Bafana on Tuesday took a further step towards closing ranks for their away African Nations Cup qualifying game with 19 of the 20 players now ensconced in their Johannesburg camp, the modestly regarded minnows of Chad were not allowing the dust to settle under their feet in dusty Ndjamena — the venue for Saturday’s game.
South Africa is investigating two main sources of biofuel, maize and sugar, and already proponents are starting to square off. The windfalls task team has recommended investment incentives for the manufacture of biofuels, or liquid fuels from indigenous raw materials, excluding crude oil and natural gas.
The continuous decline in economic activity and jobs in the Sedibeng district municipality, which includes Vereeniging, is giving rise to poverty, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Monday. Shilowa was speaking at the opening ceremony of National Council of Provinces’ (NCOP) sitting at the Saul Tsotetsi Recreation and Sports Centre in Sebokeng.
A friend visiting from Sierra Leone once nodded in agreement with a Nigerian colleague’s comment: ”The great thing about South Africa is that you really value your languages.” She had asked me what language Generations or Isidingo characters were speaking to each other, finding it remarkable that national television used more than one language in this way, writes Pumla Dineo Gqola.
The Bloemfontein High Court on Thursday postponed an urgent court interdict sought by four African National Congress (ANC) members to suspend the election of new office bearers at a northern Free State ANC regional conference. The matter was suspended to March 29 for consideration by the court.
<i>Sunday Times</i> journalist and columnist David Bullard was shot and wounded when four men broke into his Johannesburg house, police said on Thursday. Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht said Bullard (55) had been shot once on Wednesday, with the bullet going through his arm and into his abdomen.
South Africa should not see itself as the ”criminal skunk” of the world, because many other countries in transition had the same high crime prevalence, a criminologist said on Wednesday. Dap Louw, a psychology professor at the University of the Free State, said South Africans should also not develop a ”learned helplessness syndrome”.
The crime most feared in South Africa is housebreaking, according to a survey recently conducted for the National Prosecuting Authority. ”The reason is the fear that the burglary will take place while the residents are on the premises,” said Andre du Toit, acting director for public prosecutions in the Free State.
Crime is an ”illness” that affects all and makes the population live in fear, businessman and former premier of Mpumalanga Mathews Phosa said on Wednesday. He was speaking at a symposium at the University of the Free State on the effect of serious crime and violent crime in South Africa.
Santos reached the last 16 of the lucrative Absa knockout competition on Wednesday night when they narrowly beat Free State Stars 1-0 in a match played at the Athlone Stadium. The goal was scored by Erwin Isaacs in the 75th minute. The visitors were unlucky to lose as they were the better team on the night. It is clear why Free State Stars are leading the second division.
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/ 28 February 2007
The Free State will spend more than R10,6-billion on social and human development in this financial year, with the education department getting more than half of this, provincial finance minister Tate Makgoe said on Wednesday in delivering the province’s budget for 2007/08 in Bloemfontein. The department of education will get a proposed allocation of R5,6-billion.