South Africa

The president of Athletics South Africa (ASA), Leonard Chuene, on Thursday announced that the outgoing CEO, Banele Sindani, will be replaced by Linda Ferns, in her new capacity as general manager of ASA. Chuene said the ASA board had unanimously agreed that Ferns will be best suited to fill the role of general manager.

The tobacco industry has reacted with mixed feelings to Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s announcement on Wednesday of an increase of 7,5% and 14,9% in tobacco tax, saying the increase will add to the attractiveness of South Africa as a target market for groups who deal in counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) says it is happy with the amount Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel set aside for HIV/Aids on Wednesday but worries about whether it will be spent properly. The total budget for fighting HIV/Aids will rise in the coming year to about R4,3-billion, a rise of about R1-billion over current spending.

The state’s claims that the trial judge who acquitted apartheid chemical and biological warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson was biased were examined in the Constitutional Court on Wednesday. Alfred Cockrell argued on behalf of the state that any reasonable person would conclude trial Judge Willie Hartzenberg had been unconsciously biased.

Lectures resumed at all of the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) campuses on Wednesday after a late-night agreement with students ended a class boycott and street protests, a UJ spokesperson said. On Tuesday, students took to the streets outside the campus in Bunting Road and police blocked the road to prevent a march.

Once a year, amateur clubs from all over the country dream of glory — a chance to take on the big boys, to face a professional side, to match skills with the best South Africa has to offer. There is one competition in the country that can turn such dreams into reality. That competition is the Absa Cup.

Protesting University of Johannesburg students stoned their leaders as they tried to call off a protest march and extend class boycotts on Tuesday. Students who had been gathering the whole morning for a march to the nearby Kingsway campus in Rossmore were angered by news of the class boycotts.

Student leaders at the University of Johannesburg’s Bunting Road campus were regrouping on Tuesday morning after being banned from marching to the nearby former Rand Afrikaans University campus. Earlier, a large police contingent blocked the route the students were expecting to take in three waiting buses.

World high-jump champion Jacques Freitag was back on the winning trail on Sunday when he defeated a strong international field at the 2005 Tallinn Indoor Jumping Gala with a height of 2,28m. His win came after a lacklustre performance at the Stockholm meeting last Tuesday when he could not manage a height better than 2,21m.

A constitutional duty rests on the state to prosecute alleged human rights abusers such as apartheid-era chemical and biological warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson, the Constitutional Court heard on Monday. The state is applying for leave to appeal against certain legal issues arising from Basson’s acquittal.