No image available
/ 20 March 2005

Cats give Brumbies a scare

The Brumbies were given a major scare by the Cats in a pulsating Vodacom Super 12 encounter at Ellis Park on Saturday night, but they managed to hold on in the dying seconds for a narrow 34-29 win. The Australians certainly were worried as the Cats took the game to them throughout and particularly in the closing five minutes.

No image available
/ 20 March 2005

Superb victory for Leopards

The Leopards pulled off a superb 48-41 (half-time 27-20) victory over the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday, with Leopards wing Ronnie Cooke scoring a hat-trick as his team ran in seven tries against the competition’s defending champions. In another matches on Saturday, the Pumas beat the Eagles 55-21 in George.

No image available
/ 20 March 2005

Sharks run ragged by Highlanders

No one among the stunned crowd of 26 000 spectators at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday night could have expected such a bad start for the beleaguered Sharks in their Super 12 rugby match against the Highlanders from New Zealand as they reeled back from three hammer blows within the first 11 minutes.

No image available
/ 20 March 2005

New weekend hours for Dept of Home Affairs

Department of Home Affairs offices will be open on the weekend starting from April 1, the department said on Saturday. ”This is to accommodate those who cannot visit our offices during the normal office hours by providing them with extra opportunities to access our services,” said a departmental spokesperson.

No image available
/ 20 March 2005

Aids ‘carries the face of a woman’

The Aids pandemic carries the face of a woman, former president Nelson Mandela told thousands of people gathered at Fancourt, George, on Saturday night for his second Aids benefit concert. The purpose of the 46664 concert was to give a voice to the women of Africa in the fight against Aids, he said.

No image available
/ 19 March 2005

Concern over Freitag as SA athletes shine

Amid a string of dazzling track performances from Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Geraldine Pillay, Alwyn Myburgh and Leigh Julius, a cloud of concern hung over Jacques Freitag, who struggled with a sore back and managed a 2,25m winning clearance at the final Absa Series meeting at Pilditch in Pretoria on Friday night.

No image available
/ 19 March 2005

Cape Town college is simply magic

Situated in a large, old, red two-storey Victorian mansion in the Cape Town suburb of Claremont, the world’s only college of magic may lack the flying broomsticks of Harry Potter, but the school still evokes the atmosphere of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dozens of children gather at the college each week to learn about magic.

No image available
/ 18 March 2005

Mandela arrives in George for Aids concert

Former president Nelson Mandela flew into the South African town of George on Friday to talk with local people about HIV/Aids issues ahead of the second star-studded 46664 Aids benefit concert, organised by his global fund-raising and awareness campaign. The concert is scheduled to take place on a fairway at the Fancourt Golf Estate.

No image available
/ 18 March 2005

ANC to act against convicted MPs

The ruling African National Congress will initiate "relevant organisational disciplinary processes" against its MPs convicted of fraud, says its national spokesperson, Smuts Ngonyama. Meanwhile, official opposition Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said the MPs "should do the honourable thing and resign".

No image available
/ 18 March 2005

Police baffled by mystery Stellenbosch murder

Western Cape police were on Friday hoping someone will come forward with information on the murder of University of Stellenbosch student Inge Lotz. ”Nothing was taken, there was no forced entry and there are no leads,” Superintendent Billy Jones said. ”We are relying on someone to come forward with information.”

No image available
/ 18 March 2005

SA mission to Zim a ‘farce’, says ID

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/199502/Zim_icon.GIF" align=left>The Independent Democrats has withdrawn from the multiparty South African parliamentary observer mission to monitor the March 31 election in Zimbabwe. In a statement released by MP Vincent Gore, ID member of the team, he said his party believes the "entire observer mission is a farce and a waste of taxpayers’ money".

No image available
/ 18 March 2005

Celebrate alternative sexuality, says Tutu

Sexuality is about creativity and self-expression, and alternative sexualities should be celebrated, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Thursday. ”You should love who you are,” Tutu said in a film-clip message at the opening of the yearly Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Rosebank, Johannesburg.

No image available
/ 18 March 2005

Earth tremors hamper DRDGold mining

Work remained suspended on Friday at DRDGold’s North West Operations’ number-two shaft on Friday, a company spokesperson said. Operations were stopped after an earth tremor earlier this week. Last week, two people died at the company’s Stilfontein mine after an earthquake measuring 5,3 on the Richter scale.

No image available
/ 18 March 2005

Crashing helicopter barely misses kids’ playground

Four air-crew members have survived a South African Air Force helicopter crash outside the Bergview Engen One-Stop in Harrismith on Friday morning, emergency services said. The helicopter crashed about 100m from the complex. ”One blade hit a car on the freeway and spun into the complex where there were about 60 kids in the playground,” a witness said.

No image available
/ 18 March 2005

First MPs convicted of Travelgate fraud

Five MPs were convicted of fraud and sentenced in the Cape Town Regional Court on Friday morning. The MPs pleaded guilty to fraud and were the first of 23 MPs implicated in Travelgate, the multimillion-rand travel-voucher scandal, to be criminally convicted. They were sentenced as part of a plea agreement with the Scorpions

No image available
/ 17 March 2005

SADC observers meet with Zim politicians

Observers from neighbouring Southern African countries met with several Zimbabwean political groups on Thursday to assess the running of elections in the country. Only the South African and Mauritian observers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission have thus far arrived in Zimbabwe.

No image available
/ 17 March 2005

US wants to ‘eliminate’ North Korea

North Korea accused the United States administration on Thursday of having suggested the Asian country’s ”elimination” and blamed the US for a breakdown in multilateral talks on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament. Vice-President Yang Hyong Sop was speaking in Pretoria after talks with Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

No image available
/ 17 March 2005

Rescuers free woman from mineshaft

A 30-year-old woman who fell down a narrow mineshaft near the Marathon informal settlement in Primrose, Germiston, on Thursday was rescued just before 1pm, emergency services spokesperson Johann van den Heever said. Patricia Nzimande was found at a depth of 45m to 50m, deeper than emergency staff had originally thought.

No image available
/ 17 March 2005

New patrol cars to police dangerous roads

A new Arrive Alive campaign is to focus on dangerous sections of roads where almost 6 000 people died in accidents in South Africa last year. The project will start before the start of the Easter weekend, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Thursday. Eighty new patrol cars will monitor the hazardous locations seven days a week.

No image available
/ 17 March 2005

Minister can decide on Barclays, Absa

Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has the authority to take a decision on the Barclays bid to buy a majority share in Absa — but he may wish to put the matter to Cabinet before the announcement is made, said government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe on Thursday following Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

No image available
/ 17 March 2005

Randburg meningitis case confirmed

It was confirmed on Thursday that a 16-year-old pupil of Randburg High School is suffering from meningococcal meningitis. A spokesperson for Wilgeheuwel hospital, Marietjie Shelly, said Dominique du Plessis is in a stable condition in the intensive-care unit. ”There has been improvement since yesterday,” said Shelly.

No image available
/ 17 March 2005

SA officials liaise on US arms arrest

South Africa’s police and Department of Foreign Affairs officials are liaising on the reported arrest of a South African in New York on weapons-smuggling charges, police said on Thursday. According to reports, Christiaan Dewet Spies was arrested with at least 17 others in an FBI operation at a hotel in Manhattan, New York, earlier this week.

No image available
/ 17 March 2005

Swimming champions head for East London

One of the biggest events in the swimming calendar, the National Aquatic Championships, will be going down to the shores of East London in April. Three of South Africa’s awesome foursome at the Athens Olympics, Roland Schoeman, Ryk Neethling and Darian Townsend, have already entered the competition.