Dubbed ”Little Chelsea” for seemingly trying to emulate, on a modest scale, English champions Chelsea’s pursuit of talent via a sizeable chequebook, Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday cruised to a third successive Telkom Charity Cup title while beating Bloemfontein Celtic 2-0 in a one-sided final at FNB Stadium.
Disaster relief in the Eastern Cape was well under way by Saturday morning, after the province was hit this week by flooding, disaster management said. ”We relocated 7 000 people yesterday [Friday] to about 25 community halls in Port Elizabeth and East London,” said a spokesperson for the Nelson Mandela Bay municipal council.
Thousands of people marched through the streets of Cape Town to Parliament on Saturday to demand diplomatic and trade sanctions against Israel. The march, one of several organised around the country this week, was under the auspices of a broad coalition of trade unions, religious bodies and civil society.
The starry-eyed bubble of local invincibility surrounding Kaizer Chiefs after their recent victory over Manchester United was burst by Mamelodi Sundowns in the second Telkom Charity Cup semifinal at FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Earlier, Moses Spandeel led Bloemfontein Celtic to a 2-0 victory over Orlando Pirates.
The senior women’s national soccer team, Banyana Banyana, have celebrated Women’s Month in style by qualifying for the fifth African Women’s Championship to be held in Nigeria in September this year. Banyana Banyana on Friday beat Tanzania 4-0 in a return leg, having beaten them 3-0 at home two weeks ago.
”Don’t go near FNB Stadium if you don’t have a ticket,” was the stark warning from the Premier Soccer League on Friday after all 73Â 000 tickets available to the public for Saturday’s three-game Telkom Charity Cup extravaganza at FNB Stadium had been sold out. Strict security has also been implemented.
The Border Bulldogs could not match the power of the Leopards, going down 30-19 in their Currie Cup first division match played at East London’s Absa Stadium on Friday night. The visitors scored four tries to three to earn a bonus point, while the Bulldogs, who trailed 27-0 at the break playing against a strong wind, left their best for last.
The Sharks beat the Falcons 46-17 in the Currie Cup rugby series on Friday night in Brakpan after leading 17-3 by half-time. The men from KwaZulu-Natal got their campaign back on track after two losses with a perfect tally of five points. They outscored the Falcons by seven tries to two.
This week South Africa experienced weather extremes starting with a berg wind and a tornado, and ending with snow and floods. A report by South African Weather Service meteorologists Luis Fernandes and Lee-Ann Clark — from the National Forecast Centre in Pretoria — detailed the week’s strange weather.
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang urged business leaders on Friday to join the government in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) in the workplace. Tshabalala-Msimang told the business leaders present that health and safety at work should include measures against infectious diseases.
A police officer was shot dead in Actonville, Benoni, on Friday afternoon when he confronted a man who was acting suspiciously, said North Rand police. He was on duty and in uniform when he confronted the man, who tried to run away, said Superintendent Eugene Opperman. The police officer gave chase.
The body of a 45-year-old Mpumalanga woman was stolen from a mortuary in Ermelo, police said on Friday. Superintendent Abie Khoabane said that Sibongile Nhlabathi’s body was taken to Siza Funeral Services at 11am on Thursday after she died of natural causes.
Violence erupted at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi campus on Friday, university authorities said. Students are protesting following a decision by the university that the campus will be turned into a community centre to cater for the needs of the Mamelodi community.
An African National Congress (ANC) councillor was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his home in Umhlali, KwaZulu-Natal, early on Friday morning, police said. KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said Khumalo had been ”receiving death threats for quite some time”.
The National Sea Rescue Institute borrowed a helicopter, a rubber duck and a tractor to complete two rescues and a mercy mission along the flooded coast on Friday. Meanwhile, one of 14 people rescued from the Thaba ‘Tseka mountains in Lesotho has been airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.
Escalating violence in South Africa’s schools is a reflection of society and not of a defunct education curriculum, the national Department of Education said this week — this after criticism that the school curriculum fails to prevent school violence because it does not address pupils’ emotional and psychological development.
Women’s emancipation must remain the focal point in the new South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. Writing in his weekly newsletter ahead of Women’s Day next Wednesday, Mbeki said South Africa could and should be proud of the progress made towards non-sexism during the first 12 years of liberation.
A 35-year-old man pleaded guilty on Friday to the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in the Cape Town suburb of Ravensmead. Appearing in the Bellville Regional Court, James Barnes, of 11th Avenue, Ravensmead, also pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault.
A memorandum was handed over to the University of Zululand’s rector and vice-chancellor, Rachel Gumbi, on Friday by students protesting against a ”lack of accommodation” and about many of the university’s courses ”not being nationally recognised”. There was no disruption to lectures at the university.
A full bench of the Pretoria High Court reserved judgement on Friday in an application by a Pretoria residents’ association to halt work on the Gautrain. It could take up to eight weeks before the three judges — headed by Judge President Bernard Ngoepe — give judgement in the case.
A high court judgement on Friday clearing the way for the Southern Spears to play in next year’s Super 14 competition is a ”triumph for South African rugby”, the franchise’s MD, Tony McKeever, said. ”The victory for the Spears … is a defeat for SA Rugby, but it’s also a triumph for South African rugby,” McKeever said.
A Tuberculosis (TB) Crisis Plan to increase the number of people cured of the infection was launched on Friday by the Gauteng health department, the department said. ”In 2005 there were 18Â 275 new reported TB cases in Johannesburg alone,” said provincial health minister Brian Hlongwa in a statement.”
Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) has come out in support of a march organised by the Coalition for Sanctions against Israel, which is taking place in Cape Town on Saturday. "The ID has always stood on a platform from where human rights abuses must be condemned wherever they occur in the world," said De Lille.
British defence giant BAE Systems has awarded South African company Aerosud a -million (R137-million) contract to make components for the European Eurofighter programme. The deal satisfies part of a contract-offset obligation by BAE Systems under a 1999 multibillion-dollar contract for South Africa to buy 24 Hawk fighter trainers and 28 Gripen light fighters.
The towns flooded in the southern Cape and Eastern Cape this week are being assessed for aid, provincial officials said on Friday. All except one of the national roads in the Eastern Cape are now open. Meanwhile, a three-night ordeal for eight people trapped in their cars by snow in the mountains in Lesotho has finally come to an end.
Massive investments to upgrade and build new infrastructure ahead of the 2010 soccer World Cup could spark a revival in South Africa’s overcrowded and underfunded cities, urban planners said on Thursday. ”There will be a lasting legacy beyond four years from now,” Andrew Boraine, chairperson of the South African Cities Network, said at a news briefing.
Unions that have launched strikes at the Kumba mining company have taken separate paths since Kumba made an offer on Wednesday. While labour union Solidarity said that it had accepted 7,75% and 8,75% pay hike offers, the National Union of Mineworkers, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the Black Allied Mining and Construction Workers’ Union have rejected it.
South African President Thabo Mbeki should publicly acknowledge the challenge by former deputy president Jacob Zuma for power and object to it as a Zuma presidency would march South African backwards, official opposition leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
Entrepreneur Dave King’s claims that South Africa had impoverished him by freezing his assets and that he could not afford legal representation was ”all nonsense”, the Pretoria High Court heard on Thursday. Prosecutor John Myburgh tackled King and his legal team for painting a picture of a poor, impoverished man whose rights were being trampled on.
Thabo Mbeki’s tough message to the African National Congress to switch its focus from internal divisions to building the party and improving service delivery has won him acclaim from party structures for finally providing leadership. However, a view persists on the left that the ANC president is trying to heap blame on Jacob Zuma for the party’s internal woes, evading his own responsibility.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has slammed Thursday’s rise in the interest rate, saying it will increase the cost of living and slow job creation. ”The current inflation rate remains well within the target range set by the government and in these circumstances, we do not see any reason for the increase,” the union said.
”Rather than be attack dogs or lapdogs, we are guide dogs. We emphasise development, which is news that assists people in improving themselves.” Ferial Haffajee spoke to Thami Mazwai, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board member, about blacklists, canned documentaries and the coverage of presidents.