For soccer fans it is a fun day out at the start of the season, but for many others the Telkom Charity Cup means a lot more. Twenty years have passed since the inception of the Charity Cup, which is the national sport’s way of helping children, the aged, orphans, the infirm and disabled.
The wife of slain Free State official Noby Ngombane and four of her relatives were granted conditional bail of R10 000 each at the Bloemfontein District Court on Wednesday. Ngombane’s wife, Nokwanda, her brother and sister and two cousins all face charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice.
South Africa’s municipal debt jumped about R4-billion from R31,8-billion in 2002 to R35,9-billion in 2003, while figures for 2004 are not yet available, said Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi. The figures show that Durban/eThekwini — once a shining light of budgetary prudence — has grown its debt from R2,8-billion to R3,2-billion.
Opposition parties have strongly criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s announcement that the government is considering bringing in skilled foreigners to help get South Africa’s moribund municipalities up and running. In separate statements, three opposition parties blamed affirmative-action policies for the lack of skills at local government level.
Nokwanda Ngombane, the widow of slain Free State government official Noby Ngombane, stood to benefit from insurance on her husband’s life totalling R20-million, City Press reported on Sunday. Nokwanda, who handed herself over to the police on Friday, was the sole beneficiary of the policies, the newspaper said.
Police were on Friday questioning the wife of slain Free State official Noby Ngombane. Police spokesperson Superintendent Annelie Wrensch confirmed that Nokwanda Ngombane and two other women — believed to be her relatives — were taken in for questioning.
Canadian mining group Thistle Mining on Friday confirmed that it has issued a Section 189A notice of restructuring, at its President Steyn operation in the Free State, to the registered unions at the mine. The Section 189A notice also includes a notice to defer wage negotiations.
The brother and sister of the wife of slain Free State official Noby Ngombane appeared in the Bloemfontein District Court on Thursday in connection with his murder. Ngombane, who was gunned down at his home, was the head of the Free State government’s policy-monitoring and evaluation unit in the premier’s office.
The government is being asked to consider a new deal for South Africa’s 1Â 240 public libraries, currently floundering in the no-man’s-land of an ”unfunded mandate”, meaning provinces do not get money from the national government to meet this responsibility, according to the head of the Centre for the Book.
There was no evidence of ”crispy, fried monkeys” at the fire-ravaged premises of the Animal and Reptile Park in Muldersdrift, an International Wildlife Welfare Organisation inspector said after visiting the private sanctuary on Monday, contradicting claims of animal deaths by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Detectives are investigating the murder of a woman who was hacked to death with a garden spade, Free State police said on Monday. The body of the 40-year-old woman was found at midnight on Saturday in front of a house in Marico Street at Saaiplaas in Virginia.
The Vredefort Dome, spanning the Free State and the North West provinces, has been declared a World Heritage Site, the Department of Arts and Culture said on Thursday, making it the country’s seventh such site. This decision was made earlier in the day at the 29th World Heritage Committee meeting being held in Durban.
Municipal officials and councillors found guilty of misusing public funds will be strictly dealt with, Matjhabeng executive mayor Serake Leeu warned on Wednesday. He was reacting to a report by the Free State auditor general’s office into alleged irregularities in debt collecting at the Matjhabeng local municipality in 2001 and 2002.
The Free State Cheetahs held off a determined Border Bulldogs XV to win their Currie Cup match 18-12 at the Absa Stadium. In other matches, the Mighty Elephants beat the Falcons and the Blue Bulls maintained their stronghold in the Currie Cup competition at home ground Loftus by beating the Boland Kavaliers.
Eight South Africans suspected of involvement in a planned coup d’état in Equatorial Guinea had their trial set down on Friday for next year in the Pretoria Regional Court. During a brief appearance in the morning, their trial date was set for January 16 to February 3.
Free State police have experienced a last-minute rush in the handing in of firearms before the gun amnesty ends at midnight on Thursday. Superintendent Annelie Wrensch said designated police officers at some police stations were having ”a busy day” by Thursday afternoon. More than 80Â firearms have been handed in.
Three new sites in South Africa may become United Nations world heritage sites. They are the Vredefort Dome in the Free State, the Taung Skull fossil site in the North West province and the Makapans Valley in the Limpopo province. The nominations were unveiled in Johannesburg on Tuesday by Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan.
Some three billion years ago, planetary explosions saw stars fall from the sky into the oceans that flanked Godwanaland, the great land mass of our infant planet. Deep below the waves, the carbon of shattered stars merged with the Earth’s mantle to form hard crystalline diamonds.
Ahead of their opening Absa Currie Cup match against the Cavaliers on Friday, the Sharks team has unearthed some exciting new talent from the ranks of clubs in KwaZulu-Natal. Coach Dick Muir said on Tuesday he was very bullish about the team after some hard preparatory work. ”We have been working very hard on our explosive power,” said Muir.
The SABC will be allowed to broadcast regional television programmes on two stations in official languages other than English, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) announced on Wednesday. Icasa chairman Mandla Langa said SABC 4 would broadcast in Setswana, Sesotho, Sepedi and TshiVenda, Xitsonga and Afrikaans.
There was still no clarity on Wednesday as to when President Thabo Mbeki will announce Jacob Zuma’s successor as deputy president — but an acting president has to be appointed to fill the shoes of Mbeki when he is in Nigeria on Sunday.
Relief and joy were etched on the faces of women who were among the first Western Cape prisoners to be released on Monday as part of the government’s remission of sentence programmes. ”Ek is te bly. Ek wil net by die huis kom. Dis al. [I am so happy. I just want to go home. That’s all],” said Dorieca Demas from Bishop Lavis.
The curtain has fallen on the Premier Soccer League (PSL), but for the four teams in the promotion-Ârelegation play-offs, the season has just intensified. Manning Rangers, who averted automatic relegation from the premiership, this weekend enter the first round of their quest to retain a place in the top flight against aspirants from the Mvela Golden League teams (Hellenic, Classic and Durban Stars).
The government is ”paranoid and overreacting” in enlisting the help of the National Intelligence Agency and bringing sedition charges against protesters trying to highlight their plight, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Wednesday. ”The government seems to want to criminalise them,” said a Cosatu spokesperson.
The Springbok coaching staff of Jake White, Gert Smal and Allister Coetzee declared themselves satisfied after the national squad had a good workout against the Shimlas rugby team of the University of the Free State on Tuesday. A few hundred rugby enthusiasts, including learners and students, turned to out to view the Boks in action.
Very cold and wet conditions are due to hit parts of the country this weekend, but for many people a weekend of hot chocolate and romantic snuggling is a remote thought — finding ways of keeping warm safely is far more pressing. But makeshift measures such as illegal electricity connections can be deadly.
The African National Congress tried to swat away the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Oilgate revelations last week like some pesky insect. But like the persistent gadflies that we are, we won’t disappear that easily. Hiding behind a paper-thin set of excuses, the party has argued that there is nothing wrong with a private company making donations to a political party.
While the rugby bosses have put the game in a state of turmoil, Springbok coach Jake White and his squad went about business as usual. The Bok squad had their first two field training sessions at Shimla Park at the University of Free State on Tuesday, and White said he was satisfied with what he saw.
On March 19, 750 people from the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Clare Estate, Durban, blockaded Kennedy Road with burning tyres and mattresses for four hours. Residents in the informal settlement had been promised for more than a decade that a small spit of land in nearby Elf Road would be made available to them for the development of housing.
The Springbok squad gave the Bulls players a warm reception when the Pretoria-based players joined the national team at their pre-season training in Bloemfontein on Monday. Said Springbok captain John Smit: ”They really did us proud on Saturday and, with a bit of luck, could so easily have won the game.”
Rampant Kaizer Chiefs successfully defended their Premier Soccer League (PSL) title after beating Bloemfontein Celtic 2-0 at the Free State Stadium on Sunday. Meanwhile, Moroka Swallows came from behind to share the spoils in a 1-1 draw against Black Leopards at the Rand Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Mining company Harmony will retrench 11 780 workers by the end of July, Harmony’s marketing director said on Friday. Responding to the retrenchments, Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said: ”The workers are now on the receiving end of an unsuccessful bid by Harmony to take over Gold Fields.”