The Siya crew can reveal that Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Surprise Moriri could be heading to Ajax Cape Town.

It was revealed in today’s edition of Soccer-Laduma, issue 803, that the Downs are preparing a bid for Ajax’s Khama Billiat. The Urban Warriors have placed a price tag of R10 million on the Zimbabwean international and it is believed that Sundowns are prepared to offer hard cash and Clayton Daniels for the highly rated 22-year-old.

However, the latest news reaching the crew is that Moriri is expected to be offered to the Cape-based side as part of the deal that will see Billiat join the Chloorkop-based outfit.

The veteran has been used sparingly at the club this season and it seems that Sundowns are willing to see the player leave in order to secure their target.

Moriri’s experience will be a welcomed inclusion within the Urban Warriors camp, with the side struggling to find their form this season. As the team flirts with the relegation zone, the former Bafana Bafana man could be the player to bring stability to the team and help salvage their campaign.

Wits have also expressed an interest in Daniels, as reported in today’s edition of Soccer-Laduma, however Moriri and the Daniels could well be sporting the Ajax jersey before the close of the January transfer window.

 For more details go to http://www.soccerladuma.com

Black Leopards have announced Abel Makhubele as the team’s caretaker coach until the end of the season. Makhubele takes over the Lidoda Duvha coaching duties, following Ian Palmer’s exit.

Palmer, who recently accepted a coaching job at National First Division Santos, parted ways with Leopards after two months at the helm of the team.

“Black Leopards today announce that assistant coach Abel Makhubele has now been appointed as caretaker coach of the first team until the end of the current 2012-2013 season. 

“The club made this announcement via a brief statement released today, Wednesday 9 January 2013. Makhubele has now been at the club for two seasons, and has proved to be a diligent, knowledgeable coach, who has a great working relationship with technical director Sunday Chidzambwa. 

“He is familiar with the culture of the team and is great with the youngsters at the club,” Leopards confirmed on the club’s official website.

Makhubele is the third coach to take charge of the Limpopo-based outfit this season, following Chidzambwa and Palmer’s spells on the bench.

Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg – A six-month-old baby was kidnapped and his nanny almost killed in Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg police said on Wednesday.

Lt-Col Lungelo Dlamini said police were searching for a Pakistani couple who were renting a room in the house where the attack took place on Tuesday.

“It is alleged that the couple were tenants at a house in Bezuidenhout Valley and had not paid rent for December 2012.”

He said it was suspected they tried to kill the nanny by slitting her throat with a sharp object and taking the baby.

The nanny was found by the owner of the house in a critical condition before being taken to a local hospital.

“It is suspected that the couple with their three children are still in Gauteng. The woman is allegedly pregnant,” Dlamini said.

Police appealed to anyone with information of their whereabouts to come forward. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

Hartswater- Those who are accused of murdering Gaesiwe Motsae(22) who was killed after she allegedly ran away from initiation school in Hartswater appeared briefly before magistrate today.

Ellen Mogwera(30),N Molale(22),Keadimilwe Gopane(27),Keikantsemang Molale(19) and John Vis(18) were denied bail by Hartswater court today.

They were arrested after Motsae,22 was beaten to death at an initiation school last year in December.

Motsae allegedly ran away from the initiation school and was later taken back forcefully by the accused.

“On her arrival she was allegedly beaten to death with knobkieries and stones were hurlted at her while her lower body dipped in the ground” Leutinant Tawana said.

“All accused were denied bail and will appear back in court on the 23rd of January for bail appearances” He said.

The were unrest outside the court as residents were chanting and singing liberation songs.

The vehemently against the bail of all accused and held placards.

By Obakeng Maje

Delareyville-A bus driver who was accused of bribery and conduct corruption was granted bail of R1000 today along with his co-accused.

The two appeared at Delareyville Magistrate Court today after their arrest on sunday.

Wilson Mogwera,53 and Esau Mogole,22 were arrested on sunday after their buses were impounded by the Department od Safety. The buses were considered unroadworthy and 14 of them were removed from the roads.

“The two suspects were arrested after they tried to bribe one of our employees here in the department. Wilson Mogwera as an owner offered one of our employees a whopping R60 000 prior he release his buses” Simon Mmope said.

“He was set up and working in conjuction with the police, Mogwera was arrested. He paid our worker R7000 in cash and another R30 000 were recovered in their possession” Department of Safety spokesperson said.

They appeared before magistrate today and were granted a bail of R1000 each.

Their next court appearance will be on the 25th of February.

De Doorns, Western Cape – At least 50 people were arrested on Wednesday when renewed farmworker strikes for better wages in the Western Cape turned violent.

Lt-Col Andre Traut said riot police had been deployed to contain the situation in the Boland farming town of De Doorns.

“We are taking action, and arrests are being effected,” Traut said, adding that “in the region of 50” people had been detained since the protests began early on Wednesday.

Protesters stoned cars, prompting the police to close roads. The N1 was closed outside De Doorns, forcing motorists to use alternative routes.

Farmworkers said they would not return to the vineyards on Wednesday afternoon as the situation had become too volatile.

De Doorns was also at flashpoint two months ago when Boland farmworkers went on strike over low pay and poor working conditions.

This week hopes were dashed that talks organised by the Department of Labour would yield an agreement and avert another round of protests. – Sapa

Free State – Groenpunt’s prisoners have threatened to continue burning jail cells if their grievances were not addressed by Minister of Correctional Services S’bu Ndebele.

The angry prisoners from the Groenpunt maximum security wing in the Free State went on the rampage on Monday afternoon, setting fire to the administrative block and burning their mattresses and bedding.

On Tuesday morning, Medium A prisoners joined in, also burning mattresses and bedding.

Six prison cells were badly burnt during the riot and several were locks tampered with.

The department said damage, which amounted to millions of rand, included three administration offices that were completely burnt, destroying furniture and documents.

As a result, hundreds of inmates had to be transferred to other prisons. Deputy regional commissioner Grace Molatedi said they were rearranging things at the prison, a move that would result in maximum prisoners being transferred to ensure they are properly accommodated.

Prison insiders told The Star just after 5pm on Tuesday that some of the prisoners had been transferred to Westville and Kokstad prisons.

“They said those who were taken had played a role in influencing us into burning the prison,” one prisoner said, adding that they spent the entire day locked up on Tuesday, going out only to collect food from the dining area.

Correctional Services acting national commissioner Nontsikelelo Jolingana said security had been beefed up at the prison. She said extra warders had been deployed to the prison.

She said both the SAPS and her department were investigating the incident.

Jolingana described the maximum section as a mess.

“Police have cordoned off the scene. Violent actions by prisoners will not be entertained by the department. Charges will be brought against those implicated in this,” said Jolingana.

Prisoners told The Star on Tuesday night that they would continue burning the prison cells.

“We are going to burn this prison if they don’t listen to us. We are not going to listen to anyone else except the minister (Ndebele),” one prisoner said.

The prisoners said their main grievances were the prison’s poor rehabilitation programmes and a lack of medication at the prison hospital.

The inmates also claimed many HIV-positive prisoners were denied access to antiretrovirals.

“Sometimes prisoners go for days without getting their treatment. They are treating us like animals. They don’t care if the inmates get sick if they don’t take their medication regularly,” said one inmate.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

By SAPA

Johannesburg – ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said his call for action against striking Lonmin workers in Marikana last year and the subsequent death of 34 mineworkers were not linked.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said e-mails which emerged during a commission into the shooting, in which he called for “concomitant action” against the “criminal” strikers, were a separate issue.

“Basically all it boils down to is that prior to the killing of the 34 people by police guns, 10 people had died and some of them had died in the most brutal way,” he told CNN host Christiane Amanpour.

“They had died in what I still see as a ‘criminal’ way…. I was appealing to the authorities to take action to prevent further deaths.”

He said that after he made that call, police decided the strike had to come to an end and “another situation unfolded”.

“(The two situations) are de-linked because I was calling for peace. I was calling for the saving of lives. Then, the following day, it (the shooting) happened in the most horrendous way,” Ramaphosa said.

“A long part of my life was spent serving mineworkers, and there is just no way that I could ever have said that mineworkers should be killed.”

Ramaphosa was the first general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.

He said the African National Congress had achieved a lot for South Africa in the country’s 18 years of democracy, but acknowledged that more needed to be done.

“The ANC has been the first to say that we have challenges:

there are problems that we are facing and there are weaknesses within our structures,” Ramaphosa said.

“We need to re-establish the moral compass of our organisation.”

He said many South Africans perceived the ANC in a negative light, and this needed to change.

“The ANC has bared its own soul… and has admitted a lot of those (negative) things. Now that, to me, is indicative of a party that is quite ready to start a process of correcting quite a lot of those perceptions,” Ramaphosa said,

“Perceptions, in life and in politics, can soon be a reality and we need to address them.”

Ramaphosa said he was not thinking about succeeded President Jacob Zuma at the party’s next elective conference.

“The party line in the ANC is that you are chosen, you never choose yourself. You never raise your arm. The people choose you,” he said.

“I was minding my own business, and the people said ‘we want you to come into this position’ and I heeded that.”

Ramaphosa was elected as deputy president of the ANC at the party’s national conference in Mangaung (Bloemfontein) in December.

He said he was confident the ANC would win the general election in 2014, with Zuma as its leader.

“He is going to lead our party into the next election. He is going to be the face of our campaign and all of us, as members of the ANC, are going to rally behind him.”

Ramaphosa said the ANC would wait for a report into the reported R200 million renovation of Zuma’s private home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, before discussing the saga.

“Now, we are waiting for the results of that (investigation) and I think we should all wait and see what the outcome of that is.” – Sapa

Western Cape – Police fired rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of striking farm workers in South Africa’s prime grape-growing region on Wednesday after a protest for higher wages turned violent.

Scores of police clad in riot gear fired rubber bullets at the strikers, who hurled stones from behind barricades of burning tyres, according to a Reuters reporter on the scene in De Doorns.

The strike in the Western Cape, also home to the country’s multi-billion dollar wine industry, restarted on Wednesday after being suspended in December, when warehouses were set on fire and at least two workers died in clashes with police.

The farm workers, many of them seasonal workers employed to pick and pack fruit, want their minimum daily wage of R69 more than doubled to R150. – Reuters

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The Department of Basic Education has called on schools to consider being no-fee institutions. Eighty percent of public schools have implemented the policy and the department is now calling on more schools to join in. 

Department spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi says they are quite impressed with the outcome of the programme. 

“We had given ourselves a target of 60% by 2014 and we are sitting at 80%. For us the no-fee paying policy has yielded the necessary dividends. We still call upon other schools be part of no-fee paying school that can also accept that it will be in the best interest of all learners if they are given access to no-fee paying schools.”

The Department also says it’s all systems go for the new school year adding that at least 98% of textbooks have already been delivered to inland schools. Textbooks and stationery have also been delivered in Limpopo, where problems were experienced last year. 

Meanwhile, Human Rights organisation Section 27 has not ruled out approaching the courts again if they find that learners are being short changed regarding textbook supply. 

The organisation took the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshega, to court last year after learners in four grades in Limpopo did not receive textbooks at the beginning of the year.

Attorney Nikkie Steyn says the organisation will be monitoring school readiness. “We, together with four other legal organisations working on the right to education will be monitoring the delivery of textbooks and workbooks to all of the provinces all over the country to make sure that a similar crisis to what happened in Limpopo are avoided and that all learners across the country have got the books they need.”

Motshekga and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will visit a number of inland province schools today. Coastal schools will open their gates next week.