Even after parting ways with coach Khabo Zondo after a string of poor results, Bloemfontein Celtic’s ambitions of improving their position on the log suffered a blow. With caretaker coaches Benjamin Reed and David Modise at the helm, Celtic lost 1-0 to the title-chasing Orlando Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.
South African Airways (SAA) is not considering major price increases this year following an escalation of international fuel prices, said CEO Khaya Ngqula on Wednesday. He was addressing a media briefing at Airways Park on the plans the airline is developing with Star Alliance, an international group of airlines.
Millions of South Africans do not enjoy freedom of expression because their languages do not have the same status as English or Afrikaans, Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan said on Wednesday. Jordan was speaking at a language conference in Woodmead, Johannesburg.
The government is considering the division of South Africa into two time zones. This is according to Portia Molefe, Director General of Public Enterprises, who was on Wednesday briefing the minerals and energy committee in Parliament on the present electricity crisis.
Incandescent lamps will be exchanged for energy-saving lamps in all provinces from April onwards, Eskom said on Wednesday. The exchange programme for compact fluorescent lamps is already under way in several of the country’s provinces and has seen more than 12-million lamps distributed in three years.
The trial of an ex-bouncer on a charge of murder will continue in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday with the state calling for ballistic evidence to be presented. Jonathan Street stands accused of killing Kyle Norris on November 19 2006 at a night club in Edenvale, Johannesburg.
Eskom may delay approval for connecting new construction projects that are bigger than a residential home to its grid for up to six months in a bid to alleviate a power crisis, it said on Wednesday. The crisis forced a shutdown of crucial mines for five days in January and since then mines have been operating with only 90% of their power.
Business confidence recovered slightly in February with the index measuring 94, up from a four-year low of 93,8 in January, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) said on Wednesday. Although there was a slight improvement, SACCI warned that overall business conditions were likely to remain under pressure.
Packages for the 2010 Soccer World Cup will go on sale in South Africa in June, sales agent Match Hospitality announced on Wednesday. ”We want to give priority to the domestic market,” the company’s chief operating officer, Pascal Portes, said at the launch of the hospitality programme in Johannesburg.
South Africa 2010 Soccer World Cup chief Irvin Khoza apologised unreservedly in a statement on Wednesday for using the word ”kaffir” towards a black journalist. In a formal statement issued through the South African Human Rights Commission, Khoza said he had decided on this action after seeing the University of the Free State (UFS) racist video on the news.
The South African government will on Friday announce whether power supply can be increased to mines while maintaining the stability of the system. The review of consumption comes in the wake of last week’s surprise announcement that the sector would lose thousands of jobs due to the power crisis.
Madiba’s 90th birthday celebrations have already begun and will continue throughout the year, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said on Wednesday. Mandela was joined by his wife and daughters in Johannesburg to hear what events have been planned around his 90th birthday, which falls on July 18.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called for police to investigate circumstances surrounding an unmarked grave near a mine clinic in the Northern Cape. Spokesperson Tshepo Motsumi said in a statement that construction workers found the remains of a mineworker on Wednesday near the PrimCure Clinic in Kuruman.
The South African Football Players’ Union (Safpu) is devastated at the death of two former AmaZulu FC players, it said on Wednesday. Safpu spokesperson Elvis Sekgobela said the union was shocked at the death of Joe Mlaba and Japie Arries. ”Arries, who was a midfielder, died at the weekend … while Mlaba, who had a short illness, died this week,” said Sekgobela.
SuperSport United cut Ajax Cape Town’s lead at the top of the Premier Soccer League to one point after a superb goal by Dane Klate gave the hosts a 3-2 victory over Ajax on Tuesday night. Kermit Erasmus scored his first goal for Matsatsantsa in the 23rd minute, but Nathan Paulse equalised six minutes later for the Cape club.
Santos continued their fine form of late when they secured a 2-1 win over Wits at the Athlone Stadium on Tuesday night. Wits started the game brightly and had early chances through Noah Chivuta, but his long-range shots did not have the beating of Wayne Roberts.
The JSE widened its losses by midday on Wednesday as profit-taking and negative sentiment continued to dampen the market. By noon, the JSE’s broader all-share index declined 1,4%, led by a 2,72% pull back in the platinum-mining index. The gold-mining index retreated 2,71% and resources dipped 1,85%.
Students, security personnel and police engaged in running battles at Durban’s Mangosuthu University of Technology on Wednesday. Rubber bullets were used by university security personnel and the public-order policing unit to disperse about 500 protesting students at the Umlazi campus, south of Durban.
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From ”uninspired and boring” to ”down to earth” and ”confident” were some of the varying opinions about African National Congress president Jacob Zuma expressed by members of the Jewish community on Tuesday night. Zuma was invited to speak at a forum on South Africa’s future, hosted by Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein.
African National Congress treasurer general Mathews Phosa has called for an improvement in the country’s black economic empowerment (BEE) policy and urged the legal profession to consider whether the current BEE "framework" is "functional" and whether it is assisting emerging black entrepreneur.
Gold Fields said on Wednesday an employee who was trapped at its Beatrix mine had been rescued but another was still missing after an accident on Tuesday. The company — the world’s fourth largest gold miner — said the incident occurred after the ground shifted in a stope 750m below the surface at the number one shaft of the mine in the Free State.
Security guard Richard Engelbrecht was on Wednesday given two life sentences — one for the rape of Mitchells Plain schoolgirl Annestacia Wiese and the second for murdering her by strangulation. He was also sentenced to ten years imprisonment for indecently assaulting his three-year-old stepdaughter two years previously.
Actor and popular Soweto pub owner Shimmy Mofokeng was shot dead by hijackers while approaching his driveway in Leonard Lane in Mulbarton, Johannesburg police said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Captain Julia Claassen said Mofokeng (53) was shot in his upper body as he was about to drive into his yard in his white Kia kombi on Monday.
The council of the University of the Free State must ”go” because they do not want to transform, the African National Congress chairperson in the province, Ace Magashule, said on Tuesday. ”I cannot agree with those people who want to say everything at the University of the Free State was still fine,” Magashule said.
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With live video
South Africa’s Standard Bank Group said on Wednesday full-year headline earnings per share rose 23,4% to R1 033,4 cents, but it warned it would take a short-term hit from its deal to sell a 20% stake to China’s biggest lender ICBC. Africa’s biggest bank by assets said normalised headline earnings per share rose 20,6%, and normalised return on equity was 24,8%.
Newspaper columnist Jon Qwelane on Wednesday at a public forum organised by the South African Human Rights Commission refused to apologise for calling a former colleague a ”coconut” for objecting to a recent, blacks-only Forum of Black Journalists event. The forum discussion was frank and at times heated.
Power rationing was an option under scrutiny to minimise the impact of power cuts on South African mines, the Minerals and Energy Affairs Department said on Tuesday. Mining companies were forced to cease operations for five days in January due to the shortage of electricity supply.
A Cape Town nurse who was detained in Saudi Arabia would soon be brought back to South Africa, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. Dannelene Noach (54) reportedly went missing in November last year from a hospital in Riyadh.
The South African theatre industry needs transformation, the co-producer of the musical The Lion King, Lebo M, said on Tuesday. He expressed his thoughts following the Naledi Awards in Johannesburg on Tuesday. He said the fact that so few black South Africans won awards was a sorry indication of the role of black people in the theatre industry.
The emergence of the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ) indicates there are problems in the media, South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) CEO Tseliso Thipanyane said on Tuesday. ”What is going wrong in media rooms to lead to the establishment of the FBJ?” he asked at a discussion on how the media cover race and racism
Three men convicted of killing a 15-month-old baby on her mother’s back in 2006 were each given two life sentences in the Johannesburg High Court, a media report said on Tuesday. Khensani Mtileni, 15-months-old, was killed by a stray bullet during a shoot-out between the cash-in-transit robbers and security guards
Former South African president Nelson Mandela personally congratulated 23 students who were awarded the Mandela Rhodes scholarship for 2008 on Tuesday in Johannesburg. The 89-year-old Mandela slowly entered the room of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation where the students were anxiously awaiting the moment they would meet him.