Tickets for this weekend’s eagerly anticipated MTN8 semifinal first leg fixtures are selling fast and fans have been encouraged to book their seat to avoid disappointment.

There are only under 16 000 tickets left for the MTN8 semifinal first leg fixture between Kaizer Chiefs and Soweto rivals, Orlando Pirates that will be played at the FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Tickets are still available for the first leg fixture featuring Platinum Stars and Bidvest Wits at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Tickets for all the MTN8 semifinal first leg fixtures can be purchased at Computicket and Shoprite/ Checkers countrywide.

Within the first 10 hours of the tickets being made available for the MTN8 semis, over 15 000 tickets were sold for the Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates fixture. The PSL can today confirm that the R40 category tickets for the Kaizer Chiefs against Orlando Pirates was sold out yesterday afternoon. The only categories available are R60 and R150 for this encounter.

Football supporters who had purchased a R40 ticket earlier for the Soweto derby have been given an opportunity to upgrade their tickets to a R60 or a R150 ticket through Computicket and Shoprite/ Checkers.

MTN 8 SEMI-FINAL FIXTURES: Saturday, 24 August 2013

Kaizer Chiefs vs. Orlando Pirates 15:00 (FNB Stadium)

Sunday, 25 August 2013

Platinum Stars vs. Bidvest Wits 15:00 (Royal Bafokeng Stadium)
sOURCE: http://www.psl.co.za

Pretoria – A lieutenant-colonel in the SAPS’ Crime Intelligence unit is claiming R420 000 in damages from the minister of police and from two senior officers after they allegedly leaked classified information pertaining to her and spread false rumours that she and her husband were HIV-positive.

The officer, who will not be named to protect her from further humiliation, stated in papers before the Pretoria High Court that these false rumours were spread during February 2010. Apart from it being hurtful, it was also defamatory, she said.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Cape Town – School days are set to be lengthened, by up to an hour each day, to accommodate the teaching of a third – African – language to every pupil.

Each day will be between 24 minutes and an hour longer for pupils.

This emerged in the Incremental Introduction of African Languages in South African Schools draft policy, which provided details of how the policy would work.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Pretoria – The African National Congress under President Jacob Zuma had moved away from the vision of its predecessors, the DA’s candidate for Gauteng premier, Mmusi Maimane, said on Tuesday.

“Instead of non-racialism, we are retreating back into the politics of division. Instead of reversing the legacy of apartheid, our people remain as impoverished as they ever were,” Maimane told a poorly attended student meeting at Tshwane University of Technology in Soshanguve, Pretoria.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Cape Town – The driver of the bus which crashed on the Koue Bokkeveld Mountains told his employers the vehicle’s brakes had failed before the vehicle veered off the road.

The vehicle was transporting employees of Tractionel Enterprise, a Joburg electrical company, to Lambert’s Bay when it went off the road on the Katbakkies Pass near Ceres.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – Six men allegedly linked to an international child-pornography ring have been arrested in parts of South Africa, The Times reported on Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said they were arrested last Thursday. Two were teachers from Florida and Carletonville with the others being a school principal from Mbombela, a lawyer from Lichtenburg, a Pretoria dermatologist and a North West businessman.

Another 26 people were being investigated and more arrests were imminent, police told the publication.

Raids

Police also raided several homes at the weekend in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Free State.

“Police raided 15 properties and seized 672 DVDs, 22 memory sticks, eight laptops, two computer tablets, 39 external hard drives, 25 books,” said Makgale.

The case had links to Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, western Europe and Australasia.

The newspaper reported that children as young as 5 were believed to have been groomed to have sex with each other and adults.

The images are believed to have been generated overseas, and police – with the help of their international counterparts – are investigating whether children from South Africa participated.

Police overseas were also investigating if any of the children were murdered.

The six accused face several charges including child-pornography manufacturing, possession and distribution.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A man shot two relatives in Vanderbijlpark on Tuesday before killing himself, according to reports.

Stefanus Labuschagne, 50, was shot dead and his wife, Sonet, 45, was injured in the shooting at a soap business, Beeld reported.

The shooter, Gert Derks, 57, is then believed to have swallowed some tablets and fled from the scene. His body was later found in his bakkie.

“After the shooting it is suspected that [Derks] drank some tablets and fled from the scene in an Isuzu bakkie. Police chased him until R59 towards Meyerton where he stopped and died in his vehicle,” Sapa quoted police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini as saying.

Beeld reported that bystanders speculated that a possible love triangle or family strife led to the shooting.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A police captain from Mbombela was arrested and charged with illegal trafficking in firearms, Beeld reported on Wednesday.

Additional charges of corruption and theft were also laid against Captain Godfrey Lubisi, 57, who was arrested at work.

Police said the arrest followed a year-long investigation, after rumours that weapons were being sold from the Nelspruit police station for as little as R2 000.

Lubisi allegedly sold a .22 rifle, a collector’s item dating back to 1925, to a member of the public in January.

Lubisi reportedly took the man to the store where firearms submitted by members of the public for later destruction were kept.

He gave Lubisi over R2 000, as he had apparently agreed to also supply a firearm licence.

The investigation was delayed because no one wanted to make a statement, then two weeks ago, new information came to light.

It emerged that Lubisi had also illegally sold a Taurus .357 Magnum revolver for R2 000.

On Tuesday, police also found a large number of firearm licences that had to be collected from the police station, allegedly under the seat of Lubisi’s car.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said police would oppose bail.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele called on President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday to disclose his personal finances.

“I call upon President Zuma to publish his accounts immediately. What is there to hide?” she asked reporters in Johannesburg.

“South Africans deserve a president that sets a good example for the rest of the country to follow.”

She said Parliament required all members to disclose their private financial interests.

“President Zuma has used a convenient technicality to sidestep this requirement. From his inauguration… the president has dodged the issue for over 1 565 days to date. With each passing day suspicion about his integrity mounts,” Ramphele said.

Set an example

She said she was disclosing her own financial affairs for the country to scrutinise, in line with the need for accountability, and to set an example for Zuma.

Ramphele said her net worth as of 27 June this year was R55 436 063.

She had shares worth R1.38m with Anglo American, Gold Fields, Sibanye Gold, and the PTI Select Managers Fund.

Her primary residence in Camps Bay, Cape Town, was valued at R10m. A total of R1 146 139 was in retirement annuity and R1 574 064 in a provident fund.

Her family trust held R30m and her investment trust R10.9m.

“My income for the tax year ending 28 February 2013, was R346 000 – a sizeable drop from previous years due to my resignation from all board commitments… ahead of my entrance into politics.”

Ramphele said her wealth would not distance her from South Africa’s poor.

“I am one of many leaders of this country, as with [former] president [Nelson] Mandela, who was not poor,” she said.

“Being comfortable or having a measure of wealth is not a barrier to linking with poor people. What is a barrier is the abuse of power and stealing from poor people as this government has done consistently.”

– SAPA