The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) on Monday criticised the South African government for not being vocal enough about the Zimbabwe government’s clampdown on the independent media, warning that the country’s upcoming elections won’t be free.
Josh Cunliffe (21) eagled Wingate Park Country Club’s par-five 18th hole on Monday to take a one-stroke lead at the halfway mark in the men’s Sanlam South African Stroke-Play Championship. Cunliffe, from Dainfern, carded a 71 for the day and is on 139, five under par, with the third and fourth rounds to be completed on Tuesday.
Bafana Bafana defender Mbulelo Mabizela joined Norwegian side Valerenga on Monday after being without a club for almost six months. The big Mabizela has been without a club after English Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur terminated his contract last October. He tried his luck at various clubs in Europe and Scandinavia without any joy.
Niche banking group Investec will open an office in Knysna this week, to provide specialised services in the Garden Route area, announced Andy Vogel, Investec regional manager for the Eastern Cape. The specialist investment banking group will offer a number of services from its private client division.
With five leaders killed since November last year, the Inkatha Freedom Party is calling for action on political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, but some think it might be opening a can of worms. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele announced a commission of inquiry into violence in the province this week.
The dissolution of the former ruling apartheid New National Party and its inclusion into the African National Congress will send ”a very powerful message about the extraordinary ability of our people to give real meaning to the goals of national reconciliation”, said President Thabo Mbeki on Friday in his regular internet column, ANC Today.
Trade unions on Friday said they will protect Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) miners in the North West from retrenchment following DRD’s warning that production must go up or they will lose their jobs. The National Union of Mineworkers believes DRD does not really want to mine in South Africa and wants to shift focus to Australasia.
The widow of a former body guard of South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has instituted a claim for more than R2,9-million from a former Pretoria traffic officer and the Tshwane city council. Myra Smith’s husband, Davis Smith, was 29 when he was shot dead on the N1 highway near Rooihuiskraal on May 26 2000.
About 350 students of the University of the Free State handed over a memorandum on Friday demanding an end to the promotion of Afrikaans as a compulsory medium of instruction at the main campus. The students marched peacefully to the main campus entrance, before the memorandum was handed to university rector Frederick Fourie.
Sport in South Africa has fallen victim to African National Congress ”doublethink”, and the contradictions are crippling it, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. ”Winning is losing, the ANC seems to believe. Or, as [the minister of sport] so bluntly put it … we should be willing to ‘sacrifice winning in the name of transformation’,” Leon says in his weekly newsletter.
The author Breyten Breytenbach said Senegalese police moved in on Friday morning to evict the Gorée Institute, of which he is director, from its offices on the former slave island of the same name. Though he said he does not know the reason for the eviction, it comes amid privatisation of state properties in Senegal.
The first morning of the first Castle Lager/MTN Test between South Africa and Zimbabwe at Sahara Park, Newlands, saw two South African players reach significant career milestones on Friday. Makhaya Ntini took his 200th Test wicket, and Mark Boucher reached 300 Test dismissals. Ntini is the 11th current Test player to take more than 200 wickets.
South African company directors spend more time on board matters than their global counterparts, according to results of a survey released on Friday. ”At an average of 20 hours per month, South African directors devote 17% more time to their efforts than the global average…” said Korn/Ferry International, a management consultancy which released the results.
Telkom chief executive Sizwe Nxasana told MPs on Friday that his company "is constantly responding" to the demands for the lowering of the costs of doing business — and further announcements can be expected "in the future". Nxasana was briefing the National Assembly communications portfolio committee.
Talk is cheap, but carrying out the promises you make less so. That being the case, has all the talk about ensuring equality between men and women in South Africa resulted in action where it counts most: the allocation of funds along gender lines in the national budget? Nearly a decade ago, the Ministry of Finance promised to provide a breakdown of ways in which the budget promoted gender equality.
South African troops played just a small role in an attack on a Congolese militia camp this week, the South African Department of Defence said on Thursday. Two platoons of South African infantry were initially in reserve with some Nepalese troops while two companies of Pakistani troops attacked.
The wheels were in motion late on Thursday afternoon for the homecoming of 64 suspected South African mercenaries jailed in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean authorities were processing deportation papers for the men, after which they would be handed over to immigration officials, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said.
The chief executive of the National House of Traditional Leaders, Malungisa Gobe, has died in a car accident in Zimbabwe. Two other members of the House, spokesperson Sibusiso Nkosi and North West chairperson Chief ME Mabi, were injured in the accident on Wednesday, as was a Zimbabwean national travelling with them.
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Incessant questioning by relentless prosecutor Billy Downer appears to be taking its toll on fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik in the Durban High Court. ”It’s been a long trial. I have been under a lot of stress and my words are spinning out of context,” Shaik said at one stage.
A traditional healer who told a young patient he had to have sex with her for his medicine to work has been arrested for rape, Free State police said on Thursday. Police spokesperson Sergeant Thandi Mbambo said the matter was reported to police on Wednesday after the 14-year-old girl discovered she was three months pregnant.
The Gauteng government plans to introduce a provincial tax to increase its revenues, provincial finance minister Paul Mashatile said on Thursday. The nature and rate of the tax were not made clear. He said the additional revenue raised will be used for socio-economic development, reducing poverty and unemployment.
A mark on the skull of lion victim Nelson Chisale was not caused by a panga but is a ”normal groove” for veins, a physical anthropologist told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Thursday. Chisale was viciously beaten with a panga before being fed to lions in an encampment at the Mokwalo White Lion Project on January 31 last year.
About 80% of Gauteng’s budget of R33,5-billion is earmarked for social services, the province’s finance minister, Paul Mashatile, said on Thursday. The budget will try to address discrepancies in Gauteng, which shows impressive economic growth while battling with high levels of poverty and unemployment and a lack of infrastructure.
Striking truck drivers rejected a new pay offer from the Road Freight Employers’ Association (RFEA) on Thursday, but talks are continuing. After lengthy discussions with the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, the RFEA offered 7% on basic salaries — not 10% as demanded by drivers.
Lamontville Golden Arrows shoved Bush Bucks closer to relegation when they trounced them 3-1 in a Castle Premiership encounter played at King Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The home side led 1-0 at interval thanks to a strike by Papi Zothwane, who converted a pinpoint cross ball from Mabhuti Khanyeza in the third minute.
Moroka Swallows kept their unbeaten record intact this season at the Rand Stadium when they scored a 1-0 win over disappointing Silver Stars in a scrappy Castle Premiership clash on Wednesday. Swallows led 1-0 at half-time. To make matter worse for the Limpopo-based Premier Soccer League club, Stars missed a penalty in the 58th minute.
A smile spread across the face of South African captain Kevin Curren when the name of his number-one player, Wesley Moodie, was drawn first on Wednesday for the Euro-African zone group-one Davis Cup tie against Germany in Johannesburg. The tie will be played at the indoor tennis arena at Ellis Park from Friday to Sunday.
Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile on Wednesday said he wants to see racial transformation in sport completed by 2010. ”We would have been there if we did what we had to do since 1992,” Stofile told reporters in Cape Town, lamenting the slow pace of transformation since apartheid ended in the early 1990s.
Bloemfontein Celtic scored one of their best victories thus far when they defeated Castle Premiership leaders Orlando Pirates 1-0 in a pulsating clash played at the Free State Stadium on Wednesday night. The foundations for the win were laid by Celtic’s uncompromising defence. It was a gutsy display and the home side earned their three points the hard way.
Dynamos dropped two valuable points when they drew 0-0 against the relegation-threatened Manning Rangers in their Castle Premiership match played at Giyani Stadium on Wednesday night. Dynamos demonstrated some elements of character from the opening minutes of the encounter but the Durbanites were equal to the task.
Prosecutor-turned-businessman Bulelani Ngcuka is to chair the new-look board of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront Holdings Company. Derick van der Merwe, MD of subsidary Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, said the holdings board has been reshaped to reflect changes to the Transnet board last year.
The National Association of Conservancies of South Africa is selling advertising on highways to help pay for clear-up operations to remove alien plants, the organisation said on Wednesday. The ”adopt a highway” project is run in much the same way as ”adopt an animal” programmes in zoos, said project coordinator Dave Peters.