Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin would retire after the elections next year, a media report said on Monday. ”The minister would like to confirm that he would not be serving another term. His decision was taken long before the change in African National Congress leadership,” said his spokesperson Vimla Maistry.
Another foreigner has been killed in South Africa as a wave of xenophobic violence spreads across Johannesburg, bringing the weekend death toll to 13, police said on Monday. The violence against foreigners, who are accused by many South Africans of depriving locals of jobs and committing crime, has spread across townships since the beginning of last week.
Ajax Cape Town players slumped to the ground — many of them in tears — after drawing 2-2 with Golden Arrows at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban on Sunday, failing to score the goal that would have earned them the Premier Soccer League (PSL) championship, which instead went to SuperSport United.
Mamelodi Sundowns had their minds on Saturday’s Nedbank Cup final and paid the price when Free State Stars thumped the defending Premier Soccer League champions 4-0 in the final league fixture of the season. Meanwhile, Santos ended in third position on the league table after beating Platinum Stars 1-0, and Orlando Pirates beat AmaZulu 4-1.
As a fresh wave of severe xenophobic violence gripped Johannesburg on Sunday, with five people killed in the Cleveland area, hundreds fleeing to the safety of police stations and shops in the CBD looted, President Thabo Mbeki announced that a panel had been set up to look into the attacks.
"Downtown Johannesburg is a wasteland this Sunday. Marshall Street is criss-crossed with makeshift barricades of rusty barbed wire, tyres and chunks of concrete. In Main Street, shops have been literally disembowelled, their heavy-duty Jozi iron shutters wrenched off and their interiors cleaned out." <i>Mail & Guardian</i> reporters Nicole Johnston and Percy Zvomuya venture into the Johannesburg CBD.
The death of two Comrades Marathon runners last year could be a message from God that he was displeased with running the race on a Sunday, a Christian runner has suggested. Hansie Louw said in a statement at the weekend that he was asking all Christians to withdraw from the race.
Bafana Bafana’s new coach, Joel Santana, faced a scrum of media photographers when he arrived on Sunday at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport. It took Santana’s South African Police Service escort less than a minute to whisk Santana out of the airport and into his car en route to his hotel.
Fraud suspect J Arthur Brown was allegedly raped in the back of a police van last week, the Sunday Times reported. Brown’s attorney, William Booth, said the former Fidentia boss — accused of theft and fraud involving hundreds of millions of rands — suffered an ”extremely humiliating” sexual assault.
Five people were killed and 50 were injured on Sunday when xenophobic attacks spread to Cleveland, Johannesburg police said. Spokesperson Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht said the violence started at about 1am. Foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, were attacked at the Cleveland informal settlement.
Hundreds of frightened foreigners fled to the sanctity of the Jeppe police station in central Johannesburg on Sunday morning following a night of deadly xenophobic violence that claimed at least five lives and left about 50 people injured. The atmosphere at the police station was tense, with helicopters circling overhead.
The target for a Super 14 rugby semifinal berth for the Sharks was clear — a bonus-point victory initially or a win by 18 points or more — as they took to the field against the Chiefs of New Zealand at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday night. In the end, it was a convincing triumph as the necessary tries were secured and surpassed.
Isma-eel Dollie as one of a few lesser surprises in the Springbok training squad of 42 members that was named on Saturday night. The new Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, has included a number of players who are not regulars for their Super 14 franchises or who had limited opportunities because of injury this season.
The Stormers beat the Lions 22-13 after a late rally in a thrilling, if not always good, Super 14 match at Ellis Park on Saturday. However, their inability to score five tries meant that only one of either the Stormers or the Sharks, who were playing the Chiefs later on Saturday, could still make the semifinals.
World superstar Bryan Habana dotted down twice as Super 14 title holders the Northern Bulls crushed the Central Cheetahs 60-20 in a final-round mini-league match on Saturday. However, the sole South African winners of the championship will not feature in the knockout stages after poor early-season form.
Free State Stars’ on-form striker Diyo Sibisi is hoping to equal or overtake former Moroka Swallows star striker James Chamanga’s goal tally when the season ends on Sunday. Sibisi and Chamanga are front-runners for the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot Award.
A controversial shipment of arms from China and destined for Zimbabwe has arrived in Harare, the Weekender newspaper reported on Saturday — apparently thanks to assistance by the South African government. There are fears that President Robert Mugabe is planning to use force to storm back to power in Zimbabwe.
About a hundred members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and other organisations picketed the gates of Parliament in Cape Town on Saturday morning to protest against rising food prices and call for freedom in Zimbabwe. The event was to have been a march through the city.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai will not return to Zimbabwe on Saturday, fearing an assassination attempt, an MDC spokesperson said. Tsvangirai had been expected to return home on Saturday ahead of a run-off election scheduled for June 27.
One man has been shot dead and two injured in Tembisa, where the latest xenophobic attacks have occurred, police said on Saturday as a protest march in central Johannesburg drew attention to the week’s violence that has already gripped Alexandra and Diepsloot in Gauteng.
The Stormers are planning to hit the Lions’ defence hard where it is likely to hurt most in Saturday’s Super 14 clash at Ellis Park. The fragile Lions’ defence have leaked 41 tries this season, and after 12 matches they have conceded a staggering 345 points — almost 29 points per game.
Blue Bulls flyhalf Burton Francis put on a match-winning kicking display as the Blue Bulls edged out the Free State Cheetahs 25-21 to be crowned Vodacom Cup champions at Loftus Versfeld on Friday. It was a relieved Carel Hoffman, Blue Bulls captain, who accepted the trophy and R1-million winners’ cheque.
United States pop group the Backstreet Boys will be performing in Sun City’s Superbowl at the POSI+IVE festival on June 14 and 15, the resort announced on Friday. The band members — Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and AJ McLean — are back together after taking a break from 2002 to 2005.
Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said on Friday that those responsible for continuous xenophobic attacks in Gauteng townships will be ”severely dealt with”. He was responding to the violence in Alexandra and Diepsloot that erupted in the past week, in which three people were killed and dozens injured.
Three-and-a-half tonnes of dagga worth about R3,4-million were seized by Beaufort West police in one week, Western Cape police said on Friday. Spokesperson Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe said that in all three cases vehicles were stopped while heading for Cape Town.
Any increase in electricity prices should occur gradually over five years, Eskom was told on Friday at a summit in Sandton on the electricity crisis, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported. The government, labour, the African National Congress and community forums were represented at the summit.
Former Goodwood police station commander Siphiwo Given Hewana is to go on trial in the Parow Regional Court in September for allegedly interfering in the drunken-driving case against former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni.
A full bench of judges on Friday reserved a ruling on the bid by the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance (DA) to quash the Erasmus commission. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool to probe the DA-led city’s investigation of renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
The education minister’s budget was called ”simplistic” by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) on Friday, following the budget speech in Parliament on Thursday. ”Sadtu wishes to express its concern at the simplistic nature of the education minister’s budget speech to Parliament,” said Thulas Nxesi, general secretary of the union.
The spate of xenophobic violence in Alexandra has to be contained or it will cause problems in the future, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said on Friday after visiting the troubled township. Meanwhile, the Gauteng African National Congress has compared the xenophobia that fuelled this week’s attacks to the racism of apartheid.
The new Bafana Bafana coach, Brazilian Joel Santana, jets in to take charge of the national football side on Sunday morning. This was confirmed on Friday by South African Football Association spokesperson Morio Sanyane, who stressed that there would be no immediate press interviews.
Bedlam erupted in the Kempton Park Regional Court on Thursday when three men accused of possession of illegal firearms staged a dramatic escape. The escape took place when the three suspects were taken to the court’s holding cells, presiding magistrate Eric Mhlari told the Mail & Guardian Online on Friday.