EASTERN CAPE – One teenager was killed and 57 pupils injured when a school bus and a truck crashed on the N2 highway between Mount Ayliff and Mount Frere on Tuesday.
Eastern Cape police said a truck and bus assistant also died in the crash.
The bus driver apparently lost control of the vehicle and then collided with the truck, before a van bumped into the wreck.
Safa plans to utilise the remaining Fifa calendar dates after Bafana Bafana’s World Cup qualifier away to Botswana next by month playing a friendly match against a West African country.
KickOff.com has been informed that although the match is yet to be sealed, the targeted opposition is Gabon, with the game set to be played there. Gabon were 2012 Africa Nations Cup co-hosts and reached the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Bafana will open up their 2014 World Cup qualifiers on June 3 against Ethiopia in Rustenburg before the short trip to Botswana for another qualifier five days later.
With the Fifa calendar dates remaining open after the Botswana game, Safa also plan to take steps to keep the team active.
“Yes, we have a home friendly match proposed for that date but we are yet to confirm the opposition. Yes it might be what you are saying (Gabon) and it might not be,” says Safa CEO Robin Petersen.
Bafana – wallowing in a lowly position in the Fifa rankings – last played a match in February against Senegal and are faced with having to play more friendly matches because they will not have any qualifiers to play as 2013 Africa Nations Cup hosts.
Countries that failed to qualify for the 2012 Afcon finals will play in the second round of qualifiers for next year’s tournament over the weekend of June 15-17.
Due to automatic qualification, Bafana have avoided a possible top-ranked nation in the qualifying draw for 2013 since they sit bottom of the general standings of the countries that have participated in the last three editions of the finals, which is the criteria used by CAF to determine the teams for Pot 1 and 2 of the draw.
The Blue Drop drinking water report proved the failure of the ANC’s “jobs for pals” policy in Mpumalanga, the DA said on Tuesday.
“Of the 18 local municipalities in our province, 10 languish on the bottom half of the performance scale, with four among (the) 10 lowest scoring municipalities,” provincial chief whip James Masango said.
The report, which covers the period January to December last year, showed the number of municipalities awarded Blue Drop status had risen significantly, from 66 in the 2011 report, to 98.
The latest Blue Drop report, a national assessment of drinking water quality, involved an audit of 153 local, district and metropolitan municipalities. This time it included nearly all 931 plants in the country’s water system.
“When one considers the criteria, it becomes apparent that most municipalities do not have the necessary skills and competencies to manage water delivery to their residents,” said Masango.
The DA said it was not surprised to find that the Nkomazi, Albert Luthuli, Thaba Chweu and Bushbuckridge municipalities were ranked the lowest in the country. – Sapa
Afrikaners are worried about the state of governance in South Africa, ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa said on Tuesday.
“There was a feeling that leadership needs to shape up and address the issue of good governance,” Phosa said after a meeting between the ANC and 19 Afrikaans bodies in Johannesburg.
He said other issues of concern related to service delivery, especially at local government level, security in urban and rural areas and the position of the Afrikaans language and culture.
Afrikaans groups at the meeting included the Afrikanerbond, the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk, the Voortrekker Monument, the Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuurvereniging, the Afrikaanse Taalraad and the Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools.
The ANC delegation included Phosa, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina
Joemat-Pettersson and Public Enterprises Deputy Minister Enoch Godongwana.
The convenors of the ANC Progressive Business Forum, Renier Schoeman and Daryl Swanepoel, also attended the meeting.
Phosa said he felt the discussions were going well.
“There were no holy cows… we said talk like you talk in the northern suburbs, don’t hide things, we want to hear things,” he said.
“We must embrace them and deal with the issues. We are not here to be buddy-buddy. We made it clear to them we not looking for votes, we are looking at issues that affect the nation… things which worry the nation.”
Phosa said the organisations spoke about their reservations, and said their merit was being undermined by government appointments.
Some raised issues about black economic empowerment.
Phosa said he was touched when one of the organisations spoke about positive citizenship.
“They want to participate, they want to give input into the policies.”
He said the ANC had also raised issues, such as rural security, with the Afrikaans organisations.
“We said, well, there must also be security for farm workers, you must treat them in a humane manner. We (are) giving each other both sides (of the story)… so not one perspective dominates,” said Phosa.
The Freedom Front Plus earlier said the ANC had ulterior motives in holding talks with Afrikaans groups.
“(It) has more to do with the ANC’s forthcoming election conference and the political survival of Mr Gwede Mantashe, then it has to do with a real concern for minority groups’ and Afrikaans people’s interests,” FF Plus leader Pieter Mulder said in a statement.
“Talks with hidden agendas, however, bedevil relationships, break trust between groups and result in nothing.”
He said the FF Plus had always been in favour of talks, and the party’s history of talks with the ANC proved that, but he wanted to know what the “sudden interest” was.
“If the objective with the talks is to go gain the political support of minorities for the ANC and to boost individual candidates’ images with a view to the ANC’s election conference, it is doomed to fail,” said Mulder.
Mantashe said the ANC had an obligation to understand the concerns of Afrikaans bodies in the country.
“Whether they vote for us or not, we have an obligation to understand where they are coming from, and their concerns.”
He said the organisations had voiced some concerns, and wanted to make a contribution to South Africa.
“People want to make a contribution in making South Africa work and making South Africa a better country to live in.”
The Afrikaans language also featured in the discussions.
“What came out was that there is no intention of elevating Afrikaans at the expense of other languages,” Mantashe said.
Phosa and Mantashe said more meetings of this nature would be held and there would be feedback on the progress made.
“Our view is that maybe we should meet more with not only them (Afrikaans groups), but with many other stakeholders in a much more structured and regular way, and give feedback to each other about problems and issues raised in this meeting,” said Phosa. – Sapa
The National Soccer League (NSL) has today unveiled the new rules that will apply during the Promotion Play-Offs.
This is in accordance with the amendments to the NSL Rules that were approved on 15 November 2011. The League also announced the dates for the Promotion Play-offs: the first match to be played on Wednesday, 23 May 2012 and the last match on Saturday, 23 June 2012.
The new rules will affect both the Premier Division and National First Division teams who will contest the Promotion play-offs.
According to the new rules:
The Promotion Play-Offs will now be contested by three teams instead of four as per previous norm.
The three teams consist of the team finishing 15th in the Premier Division and the teams that finished second and third in the NFD.
They will contest a round-robin of fixtures to be played on a home and away format with three points allocated for a win and one point for a draw.
Six fixtures are required to complete the play-offs with one match and one bye occurring on each date.
The winner of the play-offs will therefore participate in the Premier Division (from the three teams)
A public draw will he held as soon as the three participating teams are known; the date and venue will be announced by the League in due-course.
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BY Obakeng Maje
BY Obakeng Maje
Newly appointed coach, Stuart Baxter took time to address the players and technical team this morning.
Stuart Baxter was appointed as Kaizer Chiefs coach yesterday and agreed to a three year contract with Naturena-based team.
He was flanked by the Executive chairman,Kaizer Motaung and Director of Football, Bobby Motaung when having few words with the players for the very first time.
“I can not say much,but i am honoured to work with you. And by working together we can have the best out of you” he told players.
Baxter promise to continue playing with “flair” and “african style” and bring back trophies to this club. Kaizer Chiefs was known as Cup specialists as they once dominated the local football.
The European coach come with intensive experience as he once coached in Europe and also not a stranger to local football. He coached our national team, Bafana Bafana.
By Independent
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Women are more likely than men to eye up members of the opposite sex while on holiday with their partner, according to a survey.
A total of 56 percent of men admitted ogling other women on trips away with wives or girlfriends, the poll by travel agent sunshine.co.uk found.
But as many as 74 percent of women on breaks with their male partner confessed to checking out other men.
The survey also showed that 77 percent of those eying up the opposite sex try to cover it up, such as waiting until their partner was not around or hiding the fact behind sunglasses.
Some of those surveyed pretended to be looking at a member of the same sex, while others just made sure their partner did not see.
Sunshine.co.uk co-founder Chris Clarkson said: “When looking into whether or not men and women in relationships ogle other people on holiday, despite being with their partner, it was interesting to see that women were the guiltier party. Either that or women are more honest.”
A total of 1,972 people who were in relationships and who had been abroad on holiday in the past 12 months took part in the survey. – Sunday Life
By Genevieve Serra
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A convicted child rapist is on trial for a sexual attack on a young girl that has left her paralysed and barely able to speak.
Stephen “Foxy” Isaacs is accused of brutalising his young victim, beating and burning her after her torturous rape.
On Monday, a defiant Isaacs appeared in the dock of the Cape High Court where he insisted he is innocent.
The grim trial of one of the Cape’s most notorious rapists kicked off with chilling testimony from two boys how they found the tiny, broken, bleeding victim.
The boys have given a detailed account of how they helped rescue the little girl who had been left for dead.
The boys, aged 12 and 15 years old, were playing in bushes close to their home when they saw the girl crawling out from behind some trees.
They described how they ran over to her and carried her to the nearest street before running off to call her mom.
Isaacs pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, rape, assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm and attempted murder.
Investigators claim Isaacs convinced the girl to go with him to an industrial area called Azla on Friday, October 22, 2010.
Along the way, he allegedly dragged her into an area known as Boombos in Darling.
Here he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him before raping her.
Police claim Isaacs hit the girl on the head and face when he was done raping her and then strangled her and burned her with cigarettes.
He allegedly dragged her into bushes along Evita Bezuidenhout Boulevard where he left her for dead.
The brave little girl, who was nine years old at the time of the horrific incident in October 2010, survived the traumatising ordeal.
She was blind for three months after her horrific ordeal due to a lack of oxygen to the brain.
And she was left paralysed in her right arm and both her legs.
On Monday, the 12-year-old boy told Judge Lee Bozalek that the girl’s face, chin, neck and arms were covered in cuts and scratches.
“She couldn’t stand and she couldn’t talk… we carried her to the shop and then we went to call her mother,” said the boy.
“We couldn’t carry her anymore because she was heavy.”
His friend told the court that the girl looked like someone who was drunk when they first saw her.
He added they only realised it was their schoolmate when she got closer to them.
“She was wearing her school pants and a pink top,” said the boy.
“She was carrying one school shoe in her hand and a packet of chips.
He told the court that she tried getting up several times but wasn’t able to.
Earlier on Monday morning a 17-year-old girl, who was with the child on the day of the violent attack, said Isaacs had spent the afternoon playing with them.
She told Bozalek that Isaacs was gesuip and afterwards went to sit against a wall and watched them play.
The teenager told the court the girl wanted to go look for her mother when it started to get dark.
“But we told her she can’t go because it was dark… then she said she was thirsty and was going to the shop,” she said.
The friend said she and the other kids went to look for the girl when she took long to return.
“She wasn’t at the shop when we got there and then we saw her walking through the bush towards Azla,” said the girl.
“[Isaacs] was walking behind her in the same direction.”
She said she didn’t see her friend again until the next afternoon.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
*This article was published in the Daily Voice
By Neo Maditla and Murray Williams
A Constantia priest was brutally attacked after Sunday service and left for dead, locked in the church’s strongroom – and was only found on Monday morning when the church secretary arrived for work.
The attackers tried to gouge out the eyes of Father Andrew Cox, 50, and tried to break his fingers before dumping him, bleeding and dazed, in the storeroom which they locked from the outside.
But Father Andrew, of the Constantia Catholic Church, said he has already forgiven his assailants.
Cox who lives on the church property, said he heard a noise and before he knew it three people came from behind some bushes and attacked him.
Cox told the Cape Argus on Tuesday morning that the three attackers were wearing balaclavas so he couldn’t identify them. “It was dark and I couldn’t see. All I saw was a knife glinting in the moonlight.”
He said the attack happened around 7.30pm and lasted about 30 minutes. “They tried to gouge my eyes out, stuffed plastic in my mouth and they also tried to break my fingers. At one point I managed to get the knife away from them but I couldn’t bring myself to stab them.”
He said they tied him up and dragged him inside the church before they made off with R3 500 of the church’s money.
Cox said he believed it was two men and a woman that attacked him. “If they were all men then one of them, his voice hadn’t broken yet.”
He said he didn’t realise at the time that they had stabbed him in his upper left thigh and his back.
Inside the church’s storeroom, Cox lay on the concrete floor on top of his South African flag as well as the Springbok flag.
“During the night I realised that the bleeding hadn’t stopped and I spent the night praying.”
He was rescued by the church secretary when she came in at 8am on Monday morning.
Cox said he had air to breathe in the strongroom because he had asked for air vents to be put in when they built it five years ago, just in case an incident like this happened.
It was not the first robbery at the church.
“Last year we had three robberies in one week while I was away on holiday. The year before that people made off with R60 000 that was stolen after a church fund-raiser.”
The attack has been met with dismay by the Catholic Archbishop of Cape Town, Stephen Brislin.
“It’s absolutely terrible,” he told the Cape Argus on Tuesday.
“I have spoken to him. (Cox) He was obviously quite shaken, but he said he had spent the night praying, and that he forgives them.
“A priest would never fight back – and he’s one of the gentlest and kindest people I know,” the archbishop said.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed the attack on Cox.
He said that no one had been arrested.
Traut asked if anyone had information they should contact the investigating officer, Warrant Officer Brown at 021 710 7335/47-Cape Argus
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By SHAIN GERMANER
Mikey Schultz kept his cool when he was photographed thousands of times during the Brett Kebble case, but on Monday he had a few choice words for a photographer at Pretoria News’sister paper The Star.
Schultz was appearing on charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court when he swore at photographer Dumisani Dube.
“F*** you, you piece of s***,” he muttered audibly, looking directly into the camera lens as he climbed into a white Mercedes C63.
The former bouncer and hitman stands accused of assaulting Ashraf Cajee outside Sandton nightclub Taboo in May last year.
Cajee claimed he was accosted by Schultz when he and his wife were leaving the Sandton club after dropping off their son for his birthday.
During the fight, Schultz allegedly bit Cajee’s cheek and, with several friends, beat him.
But missing dockets and missing prosecutors have stalled the case, which was to go to trial on Monday. Despite having set court time aside, the State prosecutor was said to still be on leave, forcing a postponement.
Although it was reported two months ago that Cajee had withdrawn the charges, the National Prosecuting Authority is pursuing the case and the Hawks confirmed that Schultz was under investigation for other crimes.
Schultz confessed to shooting mining magnate Brett Kebble seven years ago. In exchange for testimony against the alleged mastermind behind the shooting, Glenn Agliotti, Schultz was given protection from prosecution.
The Star
The Guardian 