Johannesburg – Two men and a woman have been arrested in Cape Town for possession of drugs worth about R100 000 on the street, Western Cape police said on Wednesday.

“The arrests follow after members executed stop-and-search patrols. When they searched a 39-year-old suspect they found four medium size plastic bags filled with dagga,” said police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk.

Police then followed up information at a house in Lytton Street, Observatory.

“They confiscated four plastic bags, three medium size plastic shopping bags, 32 plastic bank bags, all filled with dagga, and 85 white in colour tablets, which are used for the manufacturing of Mandrax tablets,” said Van Wyk.

A 21-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman were arrested at a house in Cornwall Street, Woodstock, after they were found in possession of 20 Mandrax tablets with an estimated street value of R70 000.

Van Wyk said they would all appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

– SAPA

KickOff.com has learnt that Golden Arrows have promoted a number of youngsters from their reserve team, including a relative of former Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain Mbulelo ‘OJ’ Mabizela.

“There’s quite a few of them that we have promoted from our reserve team, but I cannot confirm their names right now because we call each other by nicknames at training and practice matches,” Arrows team manager Vusumuzi Vilakazi confirms.

“It is true that the player in question is one of them. But we are finalizing paperwork with them currently.”

Thulani Mabizela, a 20-year-old central defender who also plays right-back and central midfield – just like the senior Mabizela – and seven other youngsters nicknamed Sulumane, S’beko, Nsimbi, Mthoko, Damien, KG and Zulu are also amongst those in contention for promotion.

KickOff.com has learnt that the young defender is Mabizela’s nephew.

Mabizela is currently in camp with Abafana Bes’thende and was on the bench in the previous weekends Ladysmith Mayoral Cup. Arrows lost to Free State Starts on penalties in the final.

Other opponents were Manzini Sundowns from Swaziland and the UThukela Select XI.

The youngster was part of Arrows’ squad during the 2011 Metropolitan U/19 Premiers Cup and was in the wanted list of Ajax Cape Town at one stage. He has also turned out for AmaZulu’s Youth Development.
For more http://www.kickoff.com

Maritzburg United insist new signing Yakubu Mohammed will add value to the team, despite Roger de Sa’s comments that the Ghanaian striker was in no shape to play.

Why Pirates didn’t sign Yakubu …

Mohammed, who today signed a four-year deal with Maritzburg, looked set to join Pirates, but the move fell through after De Sa had a closer look at the player.

“He had one session and after 30 minutes he pulled off. He was out of breath and he couldn’t keep up. So I mean really are we going to sign a player who can only do 30 minutes of training? You must remember that if you are going to bring in a foreigner he must be better than what you have,” De Sa told KickOff.com.

“That’s why our national team struggles, because every foreigner that arrives here with a half a CV, we sign. We’ve got to think local if they are not better than the locals.”

However, Maritzburg coach Ernst Middendorp clearly saw something different, and team manager Quintin Jettoo feels they have a good signing on their hands.

“He has been with us since last week Friday already. The coach was impressed with him and felt that he can add value to the team,’ Jettoo says.

Mohammed was the Ghanaian League’s second top scorer last season with 14 goals, so what went wrong?

A quick check of Wikipedia shows that Ashanti Gold are based in the southern Ghanaian town of Obuasi, which is 101 metres above sea level. Johannesburg is over 1 000 metres higher at 1 753.

It is a well-documented fact that players coming from low altitude areas struggle with adjusting, even when given some to time to adapt to the altitude change – complaints of shortness of breath and sluggishness are common.

If one needs convincing of what playing at high altitude without adequate preparation can do, a reminder of Argentina’s humbling in Bolivia during 2010 World Cup qualification should suffice. The minnows ran rings around the likes of Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez in their 3 600m high fortress in La Paz en route to a 6-1 hammering.

New Zealand rugby teams who come to play Gauteng sides are known to go for an acclimatisation period in Durban in preparation for their games on the Highveld.

Perhaps Pirates should have given Mohammed another look …
For more http://www.kickoff.com

Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter has explained the rationale behind crowding the left-back position pointing to injuries as the reason why he now has four players competing for the slot on the left flank of his defence this season.

Bafana Bafana international Tsepo Masilela, Zimbabwean Jimmy Jambo, Keagan Ritchie and new teenage signing Simphiwe Mtsweni are now all queuing up for the same position at Chiefs.

So why have so many players for one position when there is also another left-footed defender Tefu Mashamaite capable of slotting in at left-back in desperate situations.

“You said four,” responds Baxter.

“But Jimmy (Jambo) is not going to be available for quite a while to come because of injury. Then you have Tsepo who is playing so well for us at the moment but has a history of knee injuries.

“So with Simphiwe we are bringing him because we want to educate him now. Then we have Keagan who is a quality replacement if anything was to happen to Tsepo or if he (Masilela) loses his form.

“So very quickly your four becomes three and then after that your three is not too many to carry. We want to bring Simphiwe in the way we coach our fullbacks,” explains Baxter.

Jambo – who had a horrific knee injury in October last year – is already back at training and with his desire to play regularly when fully fit it will make up for interesting competition at left-back.

Baxter also adds that he is still in the hunt for a central-defender but is not panicking at all as he believes the situation at the back is manageable with Morgan Gould getting back to full fitness.

“Yes we are (still looking for a centre-back). We will see how everything goes but Morgan’s fitness is improving which eases the pressure.

“With Morgan not 100 percent fit and with Eric Matoho having a broken finger whose prognosis we didn’t know as there was talk of a week to six weeks out at one stage it was risky but then he (Matoho) played 45 minutes against United FC in a reserve match and came through without any hassles.

“And so with those two getting back it eases the pressure,” says Baxter.
For more http://www.kickoff.com

The 2013/14 League season has finally been given the green light after a League arbitrator dismissed disputes by both Thanda Royal Zulu and Chippa United.

The League had already released the fixtures, but were unable to include the names of First Division winners Polokwane City and promotion play-off champions Mpumalanga Black Aces.

This after Thanda and Chippa disputed the final NFD table of the 2012/13 season following the chaos at the start of the campaign when many fixtures were not honoured.

A statement released by the PSL reads: The arbitrator handed down his awards in two matters today, 24 July 2013, namely Thanda Royal Zulu vs. Mokoena (N.O.), the NSL and others, and Chippa United vs. The NSL.

In the Thanda Royal Zulu matter, the Arbitrator ruled that: Mokoena (Arbitrator, 25 May 2013) had jurisdiction to act as an arbitrator and to hear the appeal by Thanda Royal Zulu; Thanda Royal Zulu’s application is dismissed; Thanda Royal Zulu to pay the costs of the High Court application and the arbitration, save for the costs of SAFA.

On the Chippa United matter, the Arbitrator also dismissed their application with costs.

PSL CEO Brand de Villiers welcomed the conclusion of the arbitration: “We are relieved that this matter has been resolved and we can now focus on the start of the new season. Our priority right now is to plan for next week’s Absa Premiership fixtures and the MTN8 competition.”
For more http://www.kickoff.com

Mine workers at the Batho Pele shaft of Anglo American’s platinum mine in Rustenburg say they won’t resume work until their safety can be guaranteed. Two of their colleagues, 31-year-old Mashabela Phuku and 45-year-old Tsembele Joseph Mashele got trapped underground on Saturday after a rockfall.

Their bodies were taken to the surface on Wednesday night, three days after the incident.

AMCU chairperson at the mine, George Tyobeka, says the mine must be inspected first before they will resume their duties.

“We are going to finalise some issues with management including the contractors and the big important part of it is we need also to conduct the audit in all the sections here in Batho Pele mine, to make sure this thing cannot happen again. We want to identify, check all the sections, not specifically the section that had a fall of ground. Then maybe, going forward, things will be turned. But really, I don’t foresee the upliftment of the operations right now, because this thing is very hectic.”

Meanwhile, Anglo Platinum mine has undertaken to look after the families of the two mine contractors killed in an accident at Amplats’ Batho Pele shaft in Rustenburg.

“At the moment our priorities is really to make sure that we look properly after the employees’ family, and that we support them through this terrible time for them.”
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The ANC has been accused of turning Parliament into a dumping ground for poor performing politicians. This after the ruling party deployed former Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale to Parliament.

Under Mathale, Limpopo misappropriated more than R2 billion that resulted in five departments being placed under administration. The Democratic Alliance (DA) Chief Whip, Watty Watson, says that deploying Mathale to Parliament was an insult to the institution.

The DA says Mathale’s deployment might be a strategy by the ANC to keep him away from Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters.

ANC spokesperson, Ishmael Mnisi, says the ANC issued a statement when Mathale was to be deployed to Parliament. “We said in that statement that we really appreciate his effort and the people that he has been working with, however the ANC felt it necessary that we should give him a relief from the province and deploy him elsewhere, hence comrade Mathale is deployed in Parliament.”

Mathale resigned last Monday as Limpopo’s Premier.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Cape Town – Farmworkers regularly complain of atrocities by farmers, yet most don’t report it to the police for fear of dismissal or victimisation, NGOs say.

Mawubuye Landrights Movement’s Shirley Davids said that in five months workers had reported 20 cases in Ashton and Robertson to them.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Pretoria – A group of Gauteng traditional healers performed a ritual for former president Nelson Mandela on Wednesday, outside the Pretoria hospital where he has been treated for 47 days.

The healers burnt incense in a pot, knelt on the ground, sprinkled tobacco, sang and summoned the Madiba ancestors to heal Mandela.

Khubane Mashele, the chairperson of the traditional healers’ interim council in Gauteng, asked the spirits of those who had passed during the struggle to help heal the anti-apartheid icon.

“We summon the great kings and soldiers of the struggle to help us in calling the ancestors of Mandela, and help him heal because we still need him,” Mashele said in xiTsonga during the ritual.

Earlier in the day, a group of traditional leaders from the North West arrived at the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital to deliver messages of support and a bucket of flowers.

Kgosi Madoda Zibi, chairperson of the house of North West traditional leaders, said they hoped to convey a message to the Mandela family.

“We have been mandated by the North West traditional leaders to come and express our well-wishes,” Zibi said.

“We just want to thank him for his contribution to the liberation of his country.”

Zibi and his delegation were told to place the flowers and a card at the wall outside the facility’s Celliers Street entrance, where messages of support had been left since Mandela was hospitalised on 8 June with a recurring lung infection.

– SAPA

Pretoria – The DA wants the transcripts of the tapes, which led to charges against President Jacob Zuma being dropped because they are confidential, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard on Wednesday.

“As things stand at the moment, it is accepted that the representations [for Zuma to the NPA] were confidential,” said Advocate Kemp J Kemp, for Zuma.

“What is at issue, is access to confidential material, not access to material which the status of, as confidential, is an issue.”

He said there was no challenge to the confidentiality of the representation.

“The applicant [the DA]… wants the full transcription of the telephone conversations because it is at the moment confidential.”

In March 2012, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) gave the NPA 14 days to produce the documents.

Kemp contended that the documents were part of the confidential representations, and, therefore, did not have to be produced, as per the order.

– SAPA