This week Soccer-Laduma spoke to Steven Pienaar, another player who has tested the PUMA evoSPEED boot.

Asked what he likes most about the Puma evoSpeed, Pienaar said, “It’s so ultra-light and comfortable, probably the best boot I’ve ever had from PUMA. It just fits you perfectly from the first minute you try it on. That’s the most important thing for me about a perfect boot.

So how is the evoSPeed different from other boots? Pienaar says the new microfibre upper is softer and lighter than ever! “This gives me a much better touch and feel of the ball. All I can say is just try them on and you will feel the difference.”

As a South African player who’s made it overseas and admired by many, the Siya crew asked Pienaar what his advice would be for aspiring footballers. He said, “Always work hard and believe in yourself, because there are ups and downs in your career. That’s why you must become strong!

“The most important thing is to stay fit. Along with the team, my goal is to qualify for international football in this campaign and go as far as we can in the cup competitions.”

To learn more about the evoSPEED, visit http://www.puma.com/football
For more http://www.soccerladuma.com

Sheldon Lawrence will know by the end of this week if he has done enough to secure a contract at Moroka Swallows.

As reported by the crew, the former Maritzburg United and Mpumalanga Black Aces midfielder has been training with the Birds for almost a month now.
For more http://www.soccerladuma.com

Six men are expected to appear in the Groblershoop magistrates’ court today, (2/09) on charges of dealing in dagga. It is alleged that on Friday, 30 August 2013 at about 16:00, police were engaged in special operations when they

stopped at an accident scene on the Upington/Groblershoop road. The drivers of a Ford Sierra and a bakkie allegedly lost control of their vehicles causing both to overturn. In total there were six men in the vehicles. No serious injuries were sustained. When police stopped to assist, the men informed police that they were fine and that they did not need any assistance however police officials at the scene insisted in helping. When they inspected both vehicles, they discovered that the vehicles were packed with dagga. The vehicles were bound for Keimoes from Bloemfontein. All six men aged between 35 and 60 were arrested and charged for dealing in dagga. The dagga weighed in at 287kg’s with a street value of R1,4 million.
For more http://www.soccerladuma.com

By TDN
Orkney-North West Department of Social Development, Women, Children and People with Disabilities in partnership with the provincial departments of Health and Sports, Arts and Culture will tomorrow co-host the provincial golden games at Oppenheimer Stadium, in Matlosana Local Municipality, the departmental spokesperson Vuyisile Ngesi said on Wednesday.
“The main objective of the provincial golden games is to embrace active ageing, create awareness of the abilities and capabilities of older persons in sport and recreational activities,” Ngesi said.
About 500 participants aged 60 years and older from various community based service centres and clubs in the four district municipalities will compete in athletics, soccer, jukskei and other sporting codes.
Later in the day, Ngesi said the MEC’s of the hosting departments will award certificates, and medals to the winners and announce the winning team to represent the province at the National Golden Games to be held in Gauteng in October this year.
The provincial games will be held as follow:-

Date: 05 September 2013
Venue: Oppenheimer Stadium, Matlosana
Time: 09h00 am
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Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele has once again urged President Jacob Zuma to disclose his personal finances. A fortnight ago she exposed her assets to the public and challenged Zuma to do the same in the interests of transparency and accountability.

Ramphele was speaking to residents in Tembisa on the East Rand. In responding to Ramphele’s call, the Presidency said that as a member of cabinet President Zuma discloses his personal finances annually to the secretary of Cabinet.

“How long are we going to wait for the truth to come out so that we know what our President owes, what our President owns and this is what South African voters and citizens should insist on. Don’t give your vote in 2014 to anybody who is not telling you what they own because to the extent that they are not telling you, they will be in business in government, their families are in business with government. They are stealing every rand that should be going to ARV’s, to textbooks, to houses, to jobs,” says Ramphele.

During her visit, she also slammed the living conditions under which many people in Tembisa. She says the promise of freedom has not been realised.

While she said there were small pockets of excellence in the area such as the pristine Phomolong Clinic, the vast majority of Tembisa was not being adequately serviced.

“We need a clean competent government because the only reason the people are living that way, they don’t have houses, they don’t have schools, they don’t have clinic, they don’t have roads and they don’t have jobs. This municipality has been in the news for all the wrong reasons because those who are in leadership don’t believe they are accountable to ordinary South Africans.”
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za

Suspended Congress of SA Trade Union (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi’s family says they have accepted his apology and he deserves another chance.

Vavi’s wife Noluthando said in a statement on Wednesday, that it had been an emotional and politically taxing time for the family.

“Still, we have accepted his apology and believe he has so much to give to South Africa and deserves another chance to make this contribution. I love him and he retains both my respect and support,” she said.

“Two weeks ago, my husband was placed on ‘special leave’ pending unspecified disciplinary action against him by the federation. However, as is his right, he is challenging this action through appropriate channels,” Noluthando said.

“It is in part against this background and the desire to give my husband space and time to prepare for his case against him that I have appointed John Dludlu… as the Vavi family spokesperson with immediate effect.”

She said she would not comment on the merits or demerits of the case against her husband.

I love him and he retains both my respect and support

Former journalist and Absa head of communications John Dludlu has been appointed spokesperson for Vavi’s family.

Last month, Cosatu announced that Vavi had been put on special leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing relating to an affair he had with a junior employee.

In July, the employee accused him of rape. He admitted to having a consensual affair with her. The woman subsequently withdrew a sexual harassment complaint against him.

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), a strong ally of Vavi’s, this week said it had served Cosatu with legal papers challenging the general secretary’s suspension.

The Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) and SA Football Players’ Union (Safpu)were co-applicants.

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said they wanted Cosatu to rescind and uplift the “unconstitutional and unprecedented” suspension of Vavi.
Source:www.sabc.co.za

The ruling party was convinced that a fire at its Johannesburg headquarters on Tuesday night was a malicious act, spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said.

“The bottle was strategically placed under the couch at reception — a bottle filled with chemicals. The couch caught fire as the bottle exploded,” said Mthembu on Wednesday.

“In our books that is grounds to be confident that this was arson,” he said.

He said the chemicals that filled the bottle left fumes that were still lingering in the building. Mthembu added that a bomb unit, police and other experts all confirmed that the attack was indeed an arson attempt.

“It is pretty clear what we are dealing with and we view such actions in a serious light.”

The ruling party expressed disappointment at the act and said such actions did not have a place in a democratic nation.

“We have avenues to address issues and this attempted arson is not one of them. This was a criminal act.

“South Africa does not need such incidents. An attack at the offices of the governing party or any political office under a democracy is something we do not need.”

SA Police Service Brigadier Neville Malila confirmed an investigation into an alleged arson attack was underway.

Mthembu applauded security staff on duty.

“Security personnel used fire extinguishers to put down ballooning flames that were almost reaching the ceiling of the reception area,” he said.

The ANC said it was unclear what motives were behind the attack.

Work at Luthuli House would continue as usual on Wednesday.
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za

Dozens of community members from western Thembu land in the Eastern Cape have marched to the office of the Premier Noxolo Kiviet to hand over a petition demanding to be placed under the controversial AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.

The Western Thembu Kingdom was dissolved by the Nhlapho Commission.

They also want all chiefs that were sworn in without Dalindyebo’s approval to be removed.

“We have waited patiently after the Nhlapho Commission that our plight will be addressed immediately, but to our dismay the process is prolonged or ignored continuously which make us suspicious that there is a strategic influence on those traditional leaders who benefited in the apartheid era and continued to be in the centre stage in post-apartheid,” says Unathi Mlindazwe.

Mlindazwe says that they have decided to march so that their pains and sorrows can be heard by those in authority. The people who attended the march came as far as Queenstown, Cofimvaba, Lady Frere, Hewu and Cala.

“We demand that our king to be given the authority to serve his people of western Thembu land with immediate effect,” Mlindazwe added.

Deputy Director-General in the Department of Traditional Affairs Sidumo Mathetha accepted the memorandum and promised to hand it to the relevant people.
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za

South Africans need to take an active role in the country’s development, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. “We need to reclaim this term ‘development’,” he told a conference on the state of South Africa’s social economy.

Previously, development was “all premised on mineral wealth and not on people. We need to go back and realise our deficiency in investing in people”. South Africans often tended to define empowerment in “rather narrow” terms, Manuel said.

Rather, the focus needed to be on getting everybody working, “even if it’s not narrowly for gain”. The disempowered were often disengaged and discouraged because of lack of access to information and resources. “People no longer build their own houses,” he said.

Co-operatives formed through people working together and pooling their resources could achieve much more than individuals. This collective power could be harnessed to promote social economic development.

Manuel related a story of when his wife was injured in a car crash in Nairobi and was admitted to a not-for-profit trust hospital. “She said she never experienced such good healthcare in South Africa. The staff at the not-for-profit hospital do it as a national service. “What is wrong with us? Why have we not found more innovative ways of building houses in the face of such need?” he asked.

Co-operatives were often started to meet basic needs. “But what starts out as a survival mechanism becomes something much bigger.” There remained a vast gap between the education received by children from wealthy families and those from poor families. “That investment in people is at the epicentre of that transformation.”

Innovative solutions, between the poles of private enterprise and non-profit organisations, had the potential to help achieve many of South Africa’s development goals, Manuel said.

The National Development Plan, as a broad strategy for improving the standards of living of ordinary South Africans, needed input from the public to fill in additional details to achieve its goals. “We can’t for a moment presume to have covered the entire spectrum of life.”

Manuel said that when the international community saw strike action in the country, in the context of the vast divide between South Africa’s rich and poor, they “wonder how we can hope to have a stable country”.

Ensuring the health and wellbeing of workers now would help secure better levels of productivity. “If we neglect workers today, we sow the seeds of future instability. It is happening now.”
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za

The South African Broadcasting Commission (SABC) management and media workers union, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have reached a wage settlement.

The union and the public broadcaster have agreed to an 8.5% across the board increase for members inside the bargaining unit.
It was a final agreement after protracted negotiations.

Employees will receive an 8.5% increase, backdated to April and a further R1500 once off payment, tax free, to all employees.

“As the SABC we are very happy that we have shown that we have a good relationship with our unions. There are many stakeholders at the SABC and we cannot achieve the strategy that we are looking to achieve if the unions are not on board and if the workers are unhappy,” says SABC Chief Operations Officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

He says that he is happy that an agreement has been reached.

CWU chief negotiator Macvicar Dyasopu says, “We have finally arrived at an amicable settlement after protracted negotiations. Our desired outcome was 10% and we realised that we are miles apart from management who were offering 6.5% but through skillful negotiations we managed to arrive at a middle ground.”

He says that the agreement of 8.5% with a sweetener of R1500 non-taxable once-off was amicable.

“Basically any negotiations are characterised by a give and take process. It is characterised by compromises and as such we as labour will never say we are happy that we have arrived at 8.5% but it is something we can live with considering the current prevailing conditions on the ground,” he added.

On Tuesday, trade union Bemawu signed the wage deal.
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za