Rustenburg – National police commissioner Riah Phiyega will not give evidence  before the Farlam Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday, said its chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam.

“The national commissioner will not be giving evidence today but  tomorrow (Thursday),” Farlam said after the lunch adjournment.

Phiyega arrived at the Rustenburg Civic Centre on Wednesday morning and waited all day to give evidence before the commission, said Makhosini Nkosi, the commission’s consultant to her.

“The national commissioner is here and will give evidence when the re-examination (of Lonmin miner Mzoxolo Magidiwana) is completed,” Nkosi said earlier in the day.

“She is waiting to be called by the commission.”

However, advocate Dali Mpofu, for the injured and arrested miners, later indicated he would take all afternoon to re-examine Magidiwana, who was wounded in the shooting at Marikana on August 16.

The commission is probing the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana. On August  16, 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead and 78 were injured when  the police opened fire while trying to disperse a group gathered on  a hill near the mine.

Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed near the mine in the preceding week.

Nkosi said Phiyega denied reports that she laughed and joked when footage of the shooting was shown in October.

The Times reported that Phiyega joked with a state law adviser while a prelude to the killings was being screened.

The commission adjourned for lunch on Wednesday after Magidiwana  broke down and cried when new footage was screened.

“It is terrible,” said Farlam. “Even if he is prepared to carry on, I don’t know if we should subject him to further interrogation.”

Said Mpofu: “It is definitely new footage although it shows old footage. It is definitely new footage,” he said.

The eNews footage is of the shooting, with a reporter on the scene explaining what is happening. 

The hearing continues. – Sapa

Klerksdorp-Parastatal Eskom and the Matlosana (Klerksdorp) municipality, North West, were in talks on Wednesday about an unpaid electricity account.

“Right now, the political head and management (of the municipality) are meeting with Eskom, so they are still in negotiations,” municipal spokeswoman Ntswaki Makgetha said.

Once there was an outcome, the media would be informed, she said.

Beeld reported that Eskom planned to cut the municipality’s power on Thursday unless it paid R91 million.

Cutting the power was a last resort, Eskom spokeswoman Hilary Joffe was quoted as saying.

She said the municipality had been R91m in arrears for more than three months and that no agreement had yet been reached to avoid the cut. – Sapa

Cape Town – A young purse snatcher was hunted down and burnt to death by residents fed up of crime.

The unidentified man is the 18th victim of mob justice in the Cape since the start of last year.

Dogs gnawed at the man’s charred remains in the street where it was left by residents as a warning sign to other criminals.

Witnesses said the man, believed to be in his 20s, was cornered after he allegedly snatched a handbag from a woman who was on her way to the train station early on Tuesday morning.

The woman was on her way to work when she was approached by the thief.

She screamed for help, alerting residents as the man dashed off with her handbag.

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

Senzo Meyiwa has declared he is on a mission for greater consistency.

Meyiwa who dished out a Man of the Match performance in the Soweto Derby against Kaizer Chiefs over the weekend, revealed at training this morning that he will strive to be more consistent in the remaining league matches.

Prior to the clash against Chiefs, the KwaZulu Natal born goal-minder came under a lot of criticism, after conceding eight goals in the three matches against Maluti FET College (four), Moroka Swallows (three) and Bloemfontein Celtic (one). However, in the recent clash against the perennial rivals Amakhosi, Meyiwa dished out a superlative display to ensure that the Mighty Buccaneers remain five points behind the leaders.

“It is not going to be easy,” said Meyiwa, referring to the race for the league title. “We have a number of tricky encounters left and all the teams are desperate for the three points.

“As a keeper it is very important to be consistent because often, that is the difference between winning and losing titles. Hence I have doubled my efforts in training to ensure that I am ready when called upon.

“I’m currently starting our matches but that doesn’t mean I can relax. There is a lot of competition from Brighton (Mhlongo) who is working very hard at training to get his chance. Furthermore, the fact that Moeneeb (Josephs) is back training, is another motivation for me to remain focused.”

Regarding his clean sheet in the match against Chiefs, Meyiwa complemented his back four and said it was a team effort.

“Awards are great,” he said. “The Man of the Match award I received will go a long way to motivate me to continue doing well but this award could not have been achieved had it not been for the four guys playing in front of me. This is much there award as it is mine. Hopefully this can be the start of something great…..after all, a team that keeps clean sheets doesn’t lose matches.”

Striker, Sthembiso Ngcobo has told kaizerchiefs.com that the Nedbank Cup presents the Club with an opportunity to win some silverware and continue with the proud culture of the Club to win trophies.

‘Valdez’ as Ngcobo is affectionately known at the Village was the hero the last time the Glamour Boys won a trophy back in December 2010 as his brace and one goal from Siphiwe Tshabalala sent rivals, Orlando Pirates packing with a 3-0 thumping in the Telkom Cup final played at FNB Stadium.

The KwaZulu/Natal born striker has found it tough to break in to Stuart Baxter’s team with Bernard Parker, Lehlohonolo Majoro and Kingston Nkhatha doing well this season.

He has showed in the past three games in particular against Orlando Pirates when he came on as a substitute that he can still stand up and be counted as Chiefs prepare for a tricky Nedbank encounter against Polokwane City at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday morning.

“We are all looking forward to the game against Polokwane City. With the Coach (Stuart Baxter) preparations for the game are the same as when we prepared for the Soweto Derby. The competition for places remains fierce and everyone wants to play which is good for the team,” said Ngcobo following a grueling training session at the Kaizer Chiefs Village on Tuesday.

“We know that it is going to be a tough game. I have been here for a while now and we suffered against lower division sides in the past couple of years. We are not taking this game lightly.

Ngcobo also sees the Nedbank as an opportunity for the Club to bring silverware to the Village; “We want to win this Cup and we know we have to beat Polokwane City to take a step closer to our dream. I am also happy the game is being played in Durban, my home province.

“We have a good record in Durban and hopefully we will continue doing well at Moses Mabhida Stadium,” added Ngcobo.

Kickoff is at 20h30.

On Sunday, 10 March 2013, SAFA participated in the 35th CAF Congress wherein the future of the sport on the continent was discussed by all 54 Members of CAF.

We are encouraged by the report that CAF made a surplus of USD18 million in the last financial year and look forward to helping it to build on that success.

We are also excited by the launch of the CAF Hall of Fame and look forward to the induction of the continent’s football heroes into this Hall of Fame. We congratulate FIFA President, Mr Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter and the President of CAF, Mr Issa Hayatou, as the first two inductees into the CAF Hall of Fame.

“We also congratulate the new Members of the CAF Executive Committee (Exco) on their election and wish them well in their important work. We have no doubt that they will take our confederation to new heights and we look forward to working with the CAF Executive Committee to improve the sport on the continent,” says SAFA President, Mr Kirsten Nematandani.

Whilst we may not have been able to get our candidate elected to the CAF Exco, “we are truly grateful for the strong support shown by our sister federations who voted in support of South Africa’s candidate. This is indeed encouraging for South Africa’s future role in African football,” says Mr Nematandani.

SAFA notes with concern the deviation from the 2012 COSAFA decision that the two positions reserved for the Southern Zone on the CAF Exco would be allocated to a candidate from the Indian Ocean islands and the other to a candidate from the mainland.

SAFA regrets that this decision was not implemented when a second candidate from the islands continued to participate in the 2nd round of voting after the first candidate from the islands was elected. SAFA will therefore engage COSAFA vigorously on the matter.

We thank President Issa Hayatou for his unstinting support of South Africa’s candidacy and his continued confidence in the South African Football Association as a valued member of the CAF family.

JOHANNESBURG – The search is on for new technology that will allow scientists to process the massive amount of information that will be gathered by the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).
The SKA will be the world’s most powerful radio telescope and will be managed by a consortium of countries. The telescope will mostly be built in South Africa.

A four-year partnership has been struck with IBM and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (Astron), to develop the computer systems that are required.
These will include complex algorithms to process the data and allow scientists to study it.
The SKA’s Jasper Horrell said the computers and systems will also have to be able to survive desert conditions.

“If we tried to build the SKA within a day, it wouldn’t be possible because the computing technology and algorithms that are needed haven’t been developed yet.”

According to the Astron website, the aperture arrays and dishes of the SKA will produce massive amounts of data, but the power to process all of it does not exist yet.

When the SKA is completed, it will collect “megadata” from deep space containing information dating back to the Big Bang more than 13 billion years ago.

For more details go to www.ewn.co.za