Ajax Cape Town gained a valuable point in their CAF Champions League game against the number-one team in Africa, Egypt’s Al Ahly, when they held them to a goalless draw at the Athlone Stadium on Sunday. The experience of the visitors showed, but the home side kept their heads.
Bloemfontein Celtic beat newly promoted Tembisa Classic 1-0 in an entertaining opening game of the Castle Premier Soccer League played at the Mehlareng Stadium in Tembisa on Sunday afternoon. Big-spending Mamelodi Sundowns needed a last-gasp goal from Surprise Moriri to earn a hard-fought 1-0 win over Silver Stars.
Steve Komphela says that he has resigned as Bafana Bafana’s assistant coach because coach Stuart Baxter questioned his loyalty to the national team. But not everyone agrees with him. Sources have suggested Komphela was removed from his position and given the option to handle the affairs of the South African Under-23 team.
Listed gaming and hotel group Gold Reef Casino Resorts has ended talks with brewing giant SABMiller over its acquisition of SABMiller’s 49% stake in fellow gaming group Tsogo Sun Holdings, Gold Reef said in a statement on Monday. According to Gold Reef, SABMiller said its stake in Tsogo Sun is not for sale.
Has Andre Markgraaff already resigned from his post as South African Rugby Union deputy president, or not? This was the question being asked late on Sunday amid conflicting media reports earlier in the day. While some of these suggested the controversial Markgraaff had already left his post, others reported he would make his final decision only on Monday.
South Africa’s leading mining union hit the world’s top gold producer with its largest strike in 18 years as workers walked off the job on Sunday evening. The National Union of Mineworkers, with about 80Â 000 members in the gold mining sector, started a national strike at 6pm after it declared a wage dispute with employers last week.
The recent bomb blasts in the popular tourist city of London has forced countries around the world to examine their own ability to prevent similar attacks. Institute for Security Studies analyst Anneli Botha says a distinction has to be made between domestic and international terrorism.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma expressed her condolences, on behalf of President Thabo Mbeki, on Sunday at the death of British Labour Party MP Robin Cook (59). ”The people of South Africa have indeed lost a dear friend and a hero,” she said.
Businessman and ANC funder Sandi Majali on Saturday lost a desperate bid to stop the Sunday Times from publishing an article about his background, the newspaper said. Majali, CEO of Imvume Management, the company at the centre of the Oilgate debacle, tried to interdict the paper from publishing details of his youth and photographs of his family home in the Eastern Cape.
South Africa’s car industry is expected to notch up record sales and exports this year, revved up by an increased purchasing power and a healthy economy, manufacturers and analysts say. More than 45 000 new cars were sold last month, up 19,4% from the same month in 2004, when new car sales hit an all-time high, from top-end imported ”supercars” to the cheapest models on the market.
Springbok coach Jake White played down the ecstasy in the aftermath of his team’s nerve-racking Tri-Nations victory over the All Blacks at Newlands on Saturday. While the 49 118 fans crammed into Newlands erupted at the final whistle to celebrate one of the Boks’ finest performances in recent memory, White preferred to remain focussed. After failing to gain a bonus point from their two home matches, the Boks will, in all likelihood, need a rare away victory if they hope to retain the trophy — a point that is not lost on the coac
The Sharks produced one of their finest second-half displays in years to defeat the Currie Cup champion Blue Bulls 18-14 at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night. The Griffons received a beating in their last qualifying Currie Cup match in the North West stadium on Friday night when they were thrashed 43-0 by the Free State Cheetahs.
The Freedom Front Plus has raised concerns about falling standards in the training of pilots in the South African Air Force, saying this may lead to accidents. ”Earlier the minister said trainee pilots are allowed to fail all their exams and to fail two repeat exams. Previously trainee pilots were allowed to only fail three subjects and then to pass a repeat exam with a pass mark of 60%,” said a spokesperson.
Free State health officials have closed the operating theatres at the Katleho hospital in Virginia after three patients were infected with klebsiella. Provincial health department spokesperson Elke de Witt said on Friday three outpatients had suffered post-operation wound sepsis at clinics in Virginia and at the Katleho District hospital.
Convicted kidnapper and killer Donovan Moodley is not receiving any special treatment, the Department of Correctional Services said on Friday. On Thursday, Moodley was given a life sentence for the murder of Leigh Matthews, 15 years for kidnapping her and a further 10 years for extorting money from her parents.
Achieving single-digit inflation was identified on Friday as a key goal for the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) 14 member countries. The goal was set out at a meeting of SADC finance and investment ministers in Pretoria. It was identified as a key element of economic stability in the region.
Talks on financial assistance to Zimbabwe are expected to be concluded soon, the South African finance ministry said on Friday. Discussions between the two countries on a ”principled decision” to assist Zimbabwe are at a sensitive stage, spokesperson Logan Wort said.
Attempts to find the person responsible for microwaving a live cat at the University of KwaZulu-Natal will continue until the culprits have been found, the university said on Friday. ”While there’s still no evidence on which we can base a case, we’re not stopping until we get to the bottom of this,” dean of student affairs Trevor Wills said.
Another round of talks between the South African Local Government Association (Salga) and municipal unions is scheduled to take place on Monday in an attempt to reach a wage agreement and stave off a national strike. Unions are scheduled to embark on a second week of protest action on Monday.
Estimates of the number of black South Africans who want to become farmers may have been exaggerated, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday. Joining the racially charged debate over land ownership in South Africa, he said recent research indicated only 9% of black people who are not currently farming wish to do so.
A nine-year-old boy was trampled to death in a rush for food during a lunch break at his school on the East Rand, the Gauteng education department said on Friday. Mabulelo Magqwana was trampled by fellow pupils in a rush for the food vendors at the Phumula Gardens Primary School in Vosloorus on Thursday.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has suspended eight of his top elected officials with immediate effect following fears that they were intending to cross the floor next month. Holomisa would not supply details, claiming it is an internal matter, but denied they were asked to leave, as was previously stated.
The United Association of South Africa (Uasa) hopes to know by the end of business on Friday whether it will join two other unions in South Africa’s first gold-mining strike in more than a decade. The union is currently consolidating the strike ballots it has been receiving since Wednesday.
Springbok rugby is set to be thrown into more turmoil on the eve of the crunch Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks with a potentially divisive power struggle between SA Rugby vice-president Andre Markgraaff and Bok coach Jake White.
KwaZulu-Natal health minister Peggy Nkonyeni on Thursday denied media reports that the department’s head, Professor Ronald Green-Thompson, had been fired. Her statement came after provincial newspapers and the South African Broadcasting Corporation quoted Green-Thompson as saying that he had been sacked.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on Thursday night invoked an Article of the labour law to advise unions and coal producers on a wage settlement. ”This basically means that the CCMA can tell the negotiating parties what settlement they should adopt in the wage dispute,” a union spokesperson said.
South Africa’s bid commission for the 2010 Gay Games is confident the country has a better chance than competitors Germany and France to stage the Games in Johannesburg. Bid marketing and communications officer Paul Tilly told the Mail & Guardian Online South Africa is the ideal place for a number of reasons.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) season, which gets into full swing this weekend, will be a gruelling one — particularly in the run-up to Christmas. Each of the 16 top division clubs must complete 20 league games and two domestic knockout cup competitions by December 22.
Four years is a long time in rugby. Four years ago, when South Africa last played a Test against New Zealand in Cape Town, Harry Viljoen was the Springbok coach and Wayne Smith was in charge of the All Blacks. Both teams have changed coach twice since then and both have suffered plenty of false dawns along the way.
Ajax Cape Town opened the 2005/06 Premier Soccer League (PSL) season with a victory over Jomo Cosmos when they ran out 2-1 winners at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday. The teams were level on one all at the interval. Ajax were the better side and were in complete control, but could not penetrate a solid defence.
Faced with the imposing task of playing one of the most important games in South African soccer history — the World Cup qualifier in Burkina Faso early in September — Bafana Bafana on Wednesday were hit by the news that the South African Football Association is struggling to secure a critical warm-up fixture for the national team’s ”shadow” World Cup line-up on August 17.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) announced in Cape Town on Thursday that it has approved an unprecedented £30-million (R343,5-million), three-year programme of strategic development investments designed to improve the competitiveness of rugby worldwide.