By Obakeng Maje

Back-from-injury central defender Amanda Sister scored in a crowded penalty area, to give Banyana Banyana a 1-1 draw with Cameroon in a friendly international match played at the Omnisport Stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon on Monday, 22 October 2012.

By Obakeng Maje

Yaounde-Back-from-injury central defender Amanda Sister scored in a crowded penalty area, to give Banyana Banyana a 1-1 draw with Cameroon in a friendly international match played at the Omnisport Stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon on Monday, 22 October 2012.

The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana are based in Yaounde to acclimatise the players ahead of the hot conditions expected at the eight-nation CAF African Women championship 2012 in Equatorial Guinea from October 28 to November 11.

Tall Cameroonian striker Enganamouit Gaelle tested the Banyana Banyana defence with a chip over advancing goalkeeper Thoko Mndaweni as early as the 7th minute, but the Banyana Banyana gloves lady stretched and held on to the ball to stop a certain goal.

But Banyana Banyana were not as lucky second time around, when the same movement in the 27th minute saw Gaelle first to the ball ahead of van Wyk and a charging Mndaweni, to chip into the back of the Banyana Banyana net.

Banyana Banyana head coach Joseph Mkhonza tried out various options in the second half with CAF African Women Footballer of the Year 2009, striker Noko Matlou, being introduced into play at the expense of the speedy Jermaine Seoposenwe.

Bloemfontein Celtics Ladies (Sasol League Free State) striker Sanah Mollo came on for Durban Ladies (Sasol League KwaZulu Natal) goal-getter Silindile Ngubane and another Durban Ladies player, defender Charlotte Mshengu, made her Banyana Banyana debut, on for right-back Zamandosi Cele

SA were much more offensive after the substitutions were made and a period of extensive pressure on the Cameroonian final third, saw Sister stab the ball home in a packed home team penalty area with just two minutes of play left.

Sister, who missed the previous two matches against Zimbabwe due to a quadriceps injury, added much solidity to the visitors’ rearguard, while in midfield Refiloe Jane, was involved in the majority of possession won which were turned into Banyana Banyana attacks.

Playing in front of a small crowd in the 20 000-seater Omnisport Stadium, Banyana Banyana looked more attacking after the substitutions were made in the second half with Matlou in particular, showing signs of her old self, which saw her score 55 goals in 78 outings.

Banyana Banyana will open their Group A campaign at the CAF African Women Championship 2012 against Equatorial Guinea in Malabo on October 28, before facing Senegal in the same city on October 31. The South Africans will then travel to Bata for their final group encounter with DR Congo on November 3.

The semi-finals will take place in either Malabo or Bata on November 7, with the 3rd/4th place playoff and the title decider both scheduled for Malabo on November 11.

“The match against Cameroon was just the type of physical encounter our players needed ahead of what should be a tough Group A fixture against hosts Equatorial Guinea at the CAF African Women Championship,” said Mkhonza afterwards.

“Safa and our team sponsor Sasol need to be thanked for their support of the Banyana squad and I know the players will give their all at the African tournament. We were not outclassed today against Cameroon. We were competitive, and know which areas of our play to work on ahead of the tournament in Equatorial Guinea. We had our chances against Cameroon just like they did, but were kept out by some superb goalkeeping.

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Cape Town – The death toll in flooding-related incidents in the Western Cape and Eastern and Cape has risen to double figures, with more details emerging of heavy damage caused at the weekend.

In Port Alfred one house was washed away and others severely damaged by rising waters. Part of a road in the town was washed away, isolating a suburb.

Rains across the country caused havoc. On Sunday eight people had been confirmed dead, with reports of an increase to 13 deaths, 11 of which were in the Eastern Cape.

Storms and heavy rain lashed the Western Cape and Eastern Cape at the weekend, with roads and bridges washed away and many people missing and feared dead.

Repair work still being done to repair the damage by similar flooding in 2010 suffered major setbacks, said Sisanda George, spokesman for the beleaguered Eastern Cape province’s Department of Roads and Public Works.

In Port Alfred and St Francis Bay, National Sea Rescue Institute volunteer crews had their hands full helping people from flooded properties and getting people safely across flood waters where bridges had washed away.

In St Francis Bay, a large part of the road into the town had washed away and NSRI boats ferried people across the damaged area, including children who had to get ready to write matric exams.

The flooding and heavy rains had not only caused new damage, but also severely set back work done to repair the damage from 2010, George said.

“We are still trying to assess the damage, but it is widespread, throughout the province. If you think just in terms of the building materials and aggregate that had been washed away now at the construction sites, the costs should be very high,” he said.

Closer to Cape Town, the Overberg was also hard hit, with swollen rivers flooding their banks.

Rescuers saved people clinging to the roofs of their cars from a flooded river in Napier after they were swept off bridges due to heavy downpours at the weekend.

Two cars were swept off separate bridges on Saturday, Overberg fire chief Reinard Geldenhuys said on Sunday.

“We found [one] driver about 20m down the river, stuck on top of the vehicle for two hours. We deployed rescue swimmers and brought him to safety.”

Geldenhuys said Byron Lombard had been on his way to retrieve a vehicle that had been washed away earlier when his breakdown vehicle was also washed away around 2am. When rescuers found him, Lombard had been on top of his vehicle for four hours. He was treated for hypothermia.

In separate incident, a man, his wife and child were also swept into the river while driving over another bridge, Geldenhuys said.

“The family were rescued by a farmer. They were also found clinging to the roof of their vehicle.”

Later, a man who was being pursued by police jumped into the Napier river to escape arrest. He is still at large.

In the Eastern Cape, a section of the N2 between Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth collapsed on Saturday night.

Provincial traffic and disaster management spokesman Tshepo Machae said the collapse was due to rainfall in the area. “There is a huge hole, about 25m wide and 50m deep on the N2, by the Pumba Game Reserve, between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown,” said Captain John Fobian.

The road has been closed and traffic is being diverted from Port Elizabeth to the N10 through Cookhouse.

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Durban – Instead of writing his first matric exam paper on Monday, a Newlands West teenager will attend the funeral of his eldest brother.

Romano Dean Govender, 20, was at a friend’s 16th birthday party at a hall at Hillgrove Secondary School when he was allegedly shot dead by a policeman on Saturday night. He had apparently tried to intervene in a fight between two boys, over a girl.

Niven Govender said on Sunday that witnesses had told him his nephew had tried to separate the sparring boys.

“Romano managed to break up the fight and was walking out of the school yard with one of the boys when he was shot. He died in the school car park.”

The policeman who allegedly shot him had been a guest at the party, Govender said.

The bullet entered Romano’s arm and lodged in the youngster’s heart, Govender said.

Romano Dean Govender, 20, who was allegedly shot dead by a policeman, at a party on Saturday night.

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Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) spokesman, Moses Dlamini, said it was being investigated. He said details were sketchy at this stage.

The policeman is being held at the Inanda police station. He was expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday on a charge of murder.

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Acclaimed photographer Alfred Kumalo helped to end apartheid through his art, the ANC said on Monday.

Kumalo’s work spoke volumes, providing the international community with evidence of the brutality of apartheid, spokesman Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

As such, his work helped to mount international pressure against the apartheid regime.

On Sunday night it was reported that Kumalo, 82, died from renal failure at a Johannesburg hospital.

He was born in Alexandra, and made his name as a photographer for Drum Magazine.

Mthembu described Kumalo’s career as “industrious and illustrious” and “journalism in the highest form”.

“The ANC and the people of South Africa are forever indebted to Alf Kumalo for being at their service and striving to expose a system that was inhuman.”

Mthembu extended the party’s condolences to Kumalo’s family and his colleagues in the media industry.

Kumalo, who matriculated at the Wilberforce Institute in Evaton, began his working career as a journalist and photographer for Bantu World in Johannesburg in 1951. In 1956 he took up a permanent position at the Golden City Post.

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Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has launched an investigation into the financial affairs of one the wealthiest communities in the country following allegations that millions have been looted from its fund.

Madonsela on Friday addressed hundreds of members of the Bapo ba Mogale tribal community, who have accused the North West provincial government of mismanaging its funds.

The community owns vast pieces of land which are home to mining operations by companies, including Lonmin, who in turn pay millions in royalties to the community.

However, the affairs of the community have been clouded by controversy following leadership squabbles that have seen the royal family requesting that Kgosi Bob Mogale be removed from the chieftaincy due to his alleged incapacity to run the affairs of the community.

The squabble over the chieftaincy, which is now in the hands of the courts, has resulted in three administrators being appointed by the provincial government to run the affairs of the community over the last four years. All the administrators have in the past been removed from their positions as the community has cried foul over their handling of the community’s finances, with startling allegations of corruption levelled against them.

Madonsela on Friday confirmed that she has launched a probe into the so-called D-Account, in which the community’s royalties have been paid by the mining companies in the area.

The account has not been audited for nearly 18 years and will form part of her investigation, which will include how two administrators appointed by the provincial government allegedly made off with more than R18 million and R3.6m in 12 and six months respectively.

Madonsela said she had already met Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Richard Baloyi and North West MEC for Local Government China Dodovu, who attended yesterday’s meeting, to discuss her investigation into the matter.

Among the main issues discussed was the failure by Dodovu’s office to hand over all financial documents related to the account, which the community expects will reveal widespread corruption by politicians, service providers and members of the royal family.

“We have requested the North West government, through the office of the MEC, to hand over the information related to this account but that request has fallen on deaf ears.

“I am, however, confident after the meeting I held with the MEC and the minister that the information will be given to us as early as next week,” said Madonsela.

Madonsela said she planned to speak to the former administrators about how the finances of the community had been handled and investigate whether indeed they had made off with the amount of money they were accused of by the community.

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A man and woman were found shot to death in Motswedi on Saturday morning, North West police said.

The man, between the ages of 40 and 48, and the woman, between 25 and 30, were found about 15km from the silver Opel corsa they had been driving, said Captain Tselane Nkala.

The man had been shot in the forehead and the ear. The woman had been shot once in the head.

The are believed to have been killed at 11pm on Friday evening.

Motswedi police are investigating a case of murder and have appealed to the community for information. – Sapa

Johannesburg – Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula has gone on the offensive against President Jacob Zuma, claiming he was a “politically bankrupt” leader who married “every week”.

Responding to allegations by Zuma’s lobbyists that he was an opportunist who wanted to switch allegiance because Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s campaign was fading, an angry Mbalula said on Sunday he had no time for a leader who thrived on corruption.

This came after some of Zuma’s allies told The Star at the weekend that Mbalula was not welcome in the president’s inner circle because he and Julius Malema had run an anti-Zuma campaign based on vitriolic and personal attacks rather than principle and leadership preference.

Mbalula dismissed as “propaganda” the Zuma camp’s claims that he agreed to back Zuma at a meeting at Luthuli House a fortnight ago.

He said Zuma’s lobbyists were the ones pursuing him, but he rejected them because of the ANC president’s poor leadership qualities and questionable private life.

The former ANC Youth League president said Zuma’s supporters had offered him the position of ANC deputy secretary or a spot in the party’s national executive committee (NEC) in exchange for his ditching anti-Zuma forces.

Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, declined to comment on Sunday, saying he did “not make comments on party-political matters”.

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