Orlando Pirates have thanked the South African football supporters for their support, following Pirates’ 3-0 win over Egyptian giants Al Ahly this past weekend.

Bucs’ win against Ahly has raised hopes amongst the Mzansi fans that as a footballing nation, SA will have a representative in the semi-finals of the lucrative CAF Champions League.

After Bucs fans, and football fans at large, paid tribute for the 3-0 win in the Champions league, the club has expressed their appreciation for the support.
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Mamelodi Sundowns striker Nyasha Mushekwi has still not completed his move to KV Oostende in Belgium. Mushekwi has spent over four weeks in Belgium as he looks to make his move abroad.

Soccer-Laduma recently reported that Sundowns are still locked in negotiations on the player’s proposed transfer to Belgium. However, according to the player’s agent, Ralph Nkomo, Sundowns are yet to reach an agreement with their Belgian counterparts.
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Soccer-Laduma can confirm that Darren Lurie has now signed a two-year deal with Moroka Swallows after impressing coach Zeca Marques.

The 22-year-old striker was training with the Dube Birds as reported by the Siya crew on 25 July in the hopes of securing a deal with the club.
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Johannesburg – Public hearings of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the Marikana shootings have been postponed, the commission said on Monday.

“The possible funding of the legal team representing the injured and the arrested miners has not been finally determined. A decision is expected by the end of the week,” it said.

The hearings would now resume next Monday.

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest in Marikana last year.

Police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers on 16 August.

Ten people, including two police officers, were killed in the preceding week.

On Wednesday, the commission heard that it was not clear whether lawyers at the commission would get interim funding from an unnamed foundation.

The commission’s chairperson, retired Judge Ian Farlam, said at the time he “may have been too optimistic in thinking they would have received a decision by now”.

Dali Mpofu, representing the mineworkers wounded and arrested at Marikana, wanted the funding for his legal team.

He intended filing papers with the Constitutional Court for a ruling on whether the State should fund their work at the commission.

He made a similar request in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria earlier this month, but it was dismissed.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A chilly week lies ahead for most of the country as a cold front is approaching, the SA Weather Service said on Monday.

It was expected to hit the Western Cape first before spreading to other parts of the country, senior forecaster Ezekiel Sebego said.

“Conditions are expected to start deteriorating over parts of the country from Tuesday onwards.”

Sebego said it would be rainy, very cold, and windy over the south-western parts of the Western Cape. By Tuesday this would spread to the remainder of the Western Cape, southern parts of the Northern Cape and western parts of the Eastern Cape.

On Wednesday, the Western and Eastern Cape were expected to experience wide-spread showers. Heavy rains were likely along the Cape south coast, affecting the Cape Winelands, the Overberg and Eden district municipalities in the Western Cape, as well as Kou-Kamma and Kouga local municipalities in the Eastern Cape.

Residents in those areas were warned of flooding. Snowfalls were expected in the south-western parts of Western and Northern Cape on Wednesday morning, spreading east towards Lesotho by Thursday.

“The public are advised that such snowfalls are highly likely to result in the temporary closure of certain mountain passes,” said Sebego.

Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga would experience mild conditions until Thursday.

The chill was expected to arrive in Gauteng by Thursday. Conditions would be cold and windy on Friday.

“Cold conditions are expected in Gauteng on Women’s Day on Friday when there will also be a likelihood of light showers.”

Limpopo would experience cold conditions on Friday, Sebego said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A former North West ANC councillor claimed on Monday he was being hounded out of his job after joining the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

“I have received a letter from the municipal manager informing me that I am suspended from my job at the municipality,” said Abner Matlhoko, section manager for the civic centre and community halls at the Rustenburg municipality.

Matlhoko accused municipal manager Maletse Mako of personally phoning trade union Samwu’s representative to inform him of his intention to suspend him (Matlhoko).

He said his suspension was triggered by the hiring of a hall in Paardekraal which would have been used for an EFF meeting last Saturday.

Matlhoko was an ANC councillor under proportional representation and member of the mayoral committee.

He said: “The only reason for my suspension is that I have dared to leave the ANC and cross over to the EFF. This is the only cause for my suspension by the municipal manager,” he said.

When EFF members arrived at the hall, they found it full of ANC supporters.

The reason given for this was that the municipality had booked the hall to launch Women’s Month. This was not true, he said.

The EFF gathering, scheduled to be addressed by former ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu, took place outside the hall.

When approached for comment, municipal spokesperson Thapelo Matebesi asked for the questions to be e-mailed to him.

He had yet to respond about four hours later.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Criticising the SA Police Service (SAPS) creates animosity between officers and their communities, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega said on Monday.

“We must ask: Are we not creating animosity between police and communities with these utterances, which are unfortunate?” she said at the memorial service of three murdered police officers in Kuils River, Cape Town.

The officers were killed at the end of last month.

She said it was time to “introspect and think deeply” about what was being said about police, so that they were not positioned as the enemy.

Constable Lungisa Depha, 36, was shot dead on Sunday, 28 July while recording details at the scene of a car crash in Mitchell’s Plain.

Phiyega said he was arresting a suspected drunk driver at the time.

The same day, Sergeant Landile Yengo, 43, was shot in his Khayelitsha home while getting ready to go to work. He died on his way to hospital.

The next day, Sergeant Bafundi Mdlalo, 34, was shot dead in his Mitchell’s Plain home.

Seven police officers were killed in the province last month.

Phiyega said the Western Cape was being targeted.

In the past financial year, 303 officers were attacked in the province, compared to 77 attacks in Gauteng.

“…These criminals, whether they like it or not, are under a lot of pressure,” she said.

“I have a message for them. We will not back down.”

Phiyega said criminals were not welcome.

“This is not a country for criminals. We shall reclaim this space for our nation.

“Those who are not interested in staying in this peaceful, wonderful country of ours can take leave.”

Criticising the police

Last week, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa also questioned criticism directed at the police.

“What we are saying is that criticising the police is not a problem if they think there are weaknesses. But if they say nothing positive, they open them [police] up to criminal attack,” he told Sapa.

He was referring to the Western Cape community safety department’s increasing criticism of police in the province.

At the start of the memorial service on Monday, Phiyega and family members were led to a table in front with photos of the officers, surrounded by thick white candles and flower arrangements.

Their widows, dressed in black, collapsed at the sight of the photos and were escorted, wailing, back to their seats.

One of the dead officers’ young daughters, dressed in a frilly pink dress, sucked a lollipop and played on the floor, seemingly unaware of what was going on.

Police colleagues and relatives in the large hall sang a mournful tune as Phiyega lit the candles and gazed into the flames for a moment.

The officers would be buried in the Eastern Cape at a date still to be confirmed.

– SAPA

Cape Town – A 4-month-old baby and her 7-year-old brother were raped in Ceres at the weekend, Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer said on Monday.

He said the baby had been sleeping in bed with her parents when a man snatched and raped her in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Her brother was in the house and raped at the same time.

Lamoer said it was believed that the man had been staying in the house, on a farm, at the time.

“The child is currently at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, where she had reconstructive surgery, and she will stay there for a long time,” Lamoer told reporters on the sidelines of a police memorial service in Kuils River.

“As you can see, there is a sick society outside. Some men can’t take the responsibility and we need to make sure this person is arrested.”

– SAPA

Durban – A woman, who claimed a clinic told her to take her sick baby to a sangoma, has withdrawn her complaint against the KwaZulu-Natal health department, it said on Monday.

Department spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said the mother had not filled in the register to show that she visited the Mpathe clinic near Dundee.

Two patients who visited the clinic on the same day did not recall seeing the woman there, he said.

A farmer, Paul Theunissen, previously said one of his employees had told him of the baby being referred to a sangoma.

He said he was told one of the nursing sisters told the woman to take the baby to a sangoma because “the ancestors were cross with her”.

“We went out to collect the baby, who was covered in some kind of muti and was sicker than before, but the sangoma was reluctant to let her go,” he said.

“Eventually we managed to take the baby to a private doctor, who diagnosed bronchitis,” said Theunissen.

Theunissen said he lodged a complaint with the hospital. The complaint was confirmed last week by Dundee Provincial Hospital spokesperson Mbali Ntshingila.

Mkhwanazi said on Monday that Theunissen instructed the woman not to speak to the health department and she then withdrew her complaint. He said the department was disappointed by this lack of co-operation.

– SAPA

Durban – A man who allegedly shot dead a colleague at the King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban has launched a second bid for bail in the city’s magistrate’s court.

The court was told on Monday that he abandoned an earlier bail application in June, but wished to bring a new bail application.

Khulekani Aubrey Ntuli, 43, allegedly killed Sipho Mfayela, 54, on 28 February after he was told the results of a misconduct disciplinary hearing appeal.

As Ntuli’s lawyer, George Pooran advised Magistrate Vanitha Armu that his client was again seeking bail, a woman in the public gallery began crying loudly and had to be escorted from the court room.

He was arrested in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, in May, after nearly three months on the run.

He faces charges of murder, pointing a firearm, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

The matter was postponed to 14 August.

– SAPA