A 25-year-old Bloemfontein woman, Michelle van Deventer, was seriously injured when she jumped five floors to escape a fire in her flat on Monday, police said. Inspector Lorraine Kalp said the incident happened at 5.20am. ”She was admitted to the Medi-Clinic hospital in Bloemfontein in a stable, but serious condition.”
Businessman Tokyo Sexwale has rejected as ”kite-flying” reports that he had been asked to run for the position of African National Congress president. ”The articles are spurious,” he said through a spokesperson on Monday. ”They are kite-flying, nothing more than a red herring, and we treat them with disdain.”
The African National Congress (ANC), which turned 95 years old on Monday, will celebrate its anniversary with a mass rally in Witbank, Mpumalanga, on Saturday. The party said in a statement it was expecting 20Â 000 people to attend the rally, with President Thabo Mbeki being the main speaker for the day.
Gauteng provincial minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia will provide feedback on the crime operation he launched six months ago at the end of January, his spokesperson said on Monday. ”A detailed evaluation will be undertaken later this week to identify the successes of Operation Iron Fist and to establish what challenges still need to be overcome,” said Phumla Sekhonyane.
The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) shares the Department of Education’s concerns about dysfunctional schools, it said on Monday. ”It would be necessary to first profile these [dysfunctional] schools in order to determine exactly where the problems lie,” Naptosa president Dave Balt said.
SA Rugby has announced that the newly appointed managing director, Jonathan Stones, is scheduled to take up his new position on January 15. Confirming the news of the appointment, board chairperson Mpumelelo Tshume said he was pleased to welcome to SA Rugby a businessman of Stones’s calibre.
The government’s taxi-recapitalisation programme is for the benefit of the commuter and not the operator, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said on Monday. In a statement, the council’s secretary general, Philip Taaibosch, said miscommunication and incorrect reporting had been allowed to carry on for too long.
The South African biofuels industry on Monday welcomed the government’s approval of a draft biofuel strategy, to be fine-tuned in consultation with the industry. ”This is an enormously positive step for the development of a local renewable fuel industry, which is welcomed by all involved role players,” said Fanie Brink, managing director of Biofuels Industry Development.
Former Springbok star Gerrie Germishuis is in a critical condition in hospital on Monday after being shot while trying to tackle a robber at his Johannesburg home. A spokesperson at the city’s Milpark Hospital said that Germishuis was in a ”critical but stable condition” in the trauma intensive-care unit after being shot three times on Saturday.
Confusion reigned at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday when a Pretoria High Court judge arrested for drunken driving failed to appear at the court. After waiting outside the court for about half an hour, journalists learnt that Judge Nkola Motata, who was arrested on Friday, had already been released on bail. He will appear at the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court on February 27.
In a nail-biting finish that had the spectators at the Wanderers on the edge of their seats, the Highveld Lions prevailed by five runs to beat the Warriors in their Supersport Series match. The men from the Eastern Cape requiring 265 runs at the start of the day to bring off victory.
The Rest of South Africa team were 220/4 scored off 68 overs in reply to Pakistan’s formidable first-innings total of 485/9 declared at stumps at the De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley, on Sunday. The not-out batsmen were skipper Morne van Wyk on 70 scored off 134 ball’s (8×4) and Jacobs with 69 (118 balls, 10×4).
Moroka Swallows squandered a golden opportunity of climbing from eighth position in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) log to a challenging fourth place after their 2-2 draw against Black Leopards on Sunday. In other matches, Jomo Cosmos beat Amazulu 4-2 and Bloemfontein Celtic and Santos played to a 2-2 draw.
The bodies of a husband and wife who were swept out to sea along with their daughter by a wave in Camps Bay in the Western Cape were recovered in Bakhoven, police said on Sunday. Spokesperson Captain Randall Stoffels said paramedics tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the woman on Sunday.
Four tourists were trapped for about two hours in darkness inside the Cango Caves near Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Sunday. The four were separated from their group, but when the cave lights went out, they were unable to find their way out.
Fourteen retired top cops are to assist police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in the fight against crime, the Sunday newspaper Rapport said. The 14, all former commissioners, were asked in October to assist Selebi on an advisory council on policy matters.
South Africa’s youth culture is undergoing pervasive Americanisation, while the country’s long tradition of artistic activism is evaporating, complains the newly anointed poet laureate, Keorapetse Kgositsile. But rising literary editor Ntone Edjabe disagrees, pointing to the popularity of new forms of expression among young South Africans.
The Gauteng department of education has threatened to close down 200 badly performing schools, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. Spokesperson for the department Panyaza Lesufi said the department has given principals until the end of January to present plans to turn their schools around.
South African Airways (SAA) said on Sunday it strongly objected to news reports headlined ”SAA Sex-Pest Shock”. A Sunday newspaper had made a number of highly defamatory and untrue allegations, and its article was riddled with errors, the airline said in a statement.
The African National Congress (ANC) said on Sunday it considers as inappropriate and irregular public pronouncements of an official of the South African Human Rights Commission regarding the minister of justice and constitutional development and applications for a presidential pardon by prisoners aligned to the Inkatha Freedom Party.
President Thabo Mbeki should appoint a judicial commission to investigate the 1999 arms deal, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday in the wake of new revelations on the affair. The media reported on the weekend that Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is investigating alleged ”substantial payments” from BAE Systems to a senior South African Defence Ministry official.
The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) is investigating charges of defeating the ends of justice after claims of a cover-up in the Robert McBride car-crash investigation, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Sunday. Witnesses said McBride appeared to be drunk, and that they were intimidated and assaulted.
Businessman Tokyo Sexwale has been approached by senior Cabinet ministers to run for the position of African National Congress president later this year, a move which would pave the way for him to become the president of South Africa when Thabo Mbeki retires in 2009, the Sunday Times reported.
A Labour Court judge has slammed former justice minister Penuell Maduna in a landmark ruling in favour of a whistleblower he fired, the Sunday Times reported. Maduna and current Scorpions boss, Vusi Pikoli, formerly director general in the Department of Justice, were taken to court by the former deputy director general in the department, Mike Tshishonga.
Don’t be surprised by the fact that SuperSport United mesmerised Kaizer Chiefs in a vibrant Premier Soccer League showpiece at Loftus on Saturday night and humbled Amakhosi on the eve of the club’s 37th birthday with a comprehensive 2-0 victory.
He could not do it for almost a year while with Orlando Pirates, but Phumudzo Menenzhe scored the crucial opening goal that paved the way for Wits University’s 3-0 Premier League win over Maritzburg United only minutes after coming onto the field at Bidvest Stadium as a second-half substitute on Saturday afternoon.
The selectors have named an unchanged squad for the three-Test series against Pakistan, which starts with the first Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday. Convenor of selectors Haroon Lorgat said on Saturday that he was very pleased with the way South Africa had performed in the last two Tests against India. South Africa won the series two-one.
A Pretoria High Court judge was arrested for drunk driving on Friday after he drove into a wall north of Johannesburg, the Sunday Times reported. Judge Nkola Motata allegedly resisted arrest and was put in a police car by five metro police officers in Hurlingham, the paper’s early edition reported on Saturday night.
United States talk-show host Oprah Winfrey on Saturday promised to give free Aids testing, counselling and — if necessary — treatment to the 152 girls chosen for her new school in South Africa. Hoping to encourage more openness about the disease underwent an HIV test herself to persuade the new pupils at her new Leadership Academy for Girls to follow suit.
South Africa completed a come-from-behind series victory when they beat India by five wickets on the fifth day of the third and final Test at Newlands on Saturday. Captain Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock set South Africa on the way to their win with aggressive batting early in the day before rain caused a delay of three hours 45 minutes.
Continued monitoring and support is necessary to aid underperforming schools, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Saturday. North West provincial spokesperson Mxolisi Bomvana said the North West provincial minister of education’s decision to ”dismiss and redeploy principals” is not going to improve the quality of education in the province.
A 55-year-old man was shot dead in a hostage drama in Danville, Pretoria, Tshwane metro police said on Saturday. The man was shot by his 61-year-old landlord following a squabble on Friday night, spokesperson Louise Brits said. A murder case has been opened.