The Springbok Sevens rugby squad left for Australia on Monday to participate in the opening tournament of the World Series which takes place at the Gold Coast on the weekend.

South Africa were seeded first in Pool B and faced stiff opposition from a trio of European teams headed by England, France and Spain.

“We realise that every time a South African team takes the field then the expectation is for us to win,” newly-appointed head coach, Neil Powell said.

“It is a huge motivating factor for the team and something we as a group embrace.”
The team’s preparations for the annual World Series kick-off at the Gold Coast had gone well and they were looking forward to the series, Powell said.

“A few players ended the last season with some injury niggles and they used the break and pre-season period to sort themselves.
“Playing-wise, we used the Middelburg Sevens to try out a few new ideas and I am glad for the valuable opportunities it gave us to gauge ourselves.”

The team would be without former coach Paul Treu for the first time in almost a decade, but Powell said not much had changed within the setup.

“I know a lot of other countries have changed coaching and player personnel but we are fortunate that, apart from the change at head coach, we have a settled squad and management.

“However, we are taking nothing for granted and fully realise we will have to go out there and perform to the best of our ability.
“Vuyo (Zangqa, assistant coach) and I sat down a while ago and decided we will do only some minor tweaks because our core structure is so good thanks to the great work done by Paul.”

The Springbok Sevens would be aiming to improve on their runners-up spot last season, where they also clinched three tournament titles.
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A defiant Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will not take down the billboard advertisements that say the African National Congress (ANC) proudly brought motorists e-tolls.

The party has been criticised by ANC structures for the election advertisements placed on Gauteng’s freeways.

The ANC Women’s league accused the DA of trying to be smart and opportunistic. But the DA says it is a fact that e-tolls are ANC policy and that they are deeply unpopular.

DA Gauteng Premier candidate Mmusi Maimane says: “ANC must explain why people should be taxed twice. Why pay tax, fuel levy and now e-tolls – that is what ANC must explain.”

Meanwhile, the ANC says it will not take the e-tolls billboards put up by the DA on the Gauteng’s freeways lying down.

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The Nelspruit Regional Court said on Monday that a man who attacked and robbed farm dwellers in Mpumalanga was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

A Sapa correspondent reported that Xolane Letsoalo, 27, from Ngodwana outside Mbombela, faced nine charges including theft, armed robbery, housebreaking, two of attempted murder, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

His co-accused, Freddy Nkosi, 27, faced one charge of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

The two were arrested in November 2010 and pleaded not guilty to all charges. Magistrate, Andre Geldenhuys sentenced Letsoalo to 15 years on three counts of housebreaking and theft, 10 years on two counts of attempted murder, 10 years on two counts of armed robbery, two years on theft out of a motor vehicle and eight years on possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

Letsoalo would serve the sentences consecutively.

Geldenhuys sentenced Nkosi to eight years, and said he was lucky he was not charged for the other offences. Letsoalo committed very serious offences, he said.

“A day after you committed the first robbery and stole a firearm, you went further to use the same firearm to commit another robbery.”Letsoalo could have easily killed some of his victims.

“You fired shots at two women at a farm and injured one of them. You shot at her using her own firearm. You could have easily killed her.”The two men had shown no remorse during the trial, Geldenhuys said.
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Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund is prepared to take risks as he switches his focus on building a team for the 2015 African Cup of Nations and the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Bafana leave for Morocco tonight where they will play an international friendly match at Agadir City on Friday. With the pressures of trying to qualify for Brazil 2014 now off his shoulders, Igesund is starting a new chapter with Bafana Bafana.

The team does not have a good record on the continent, but recently away wins were recorded against Kenya and the Central African Republic.

According to Igesund, winning at all costs is not the main priority at this stage. Unfortunately, Bafana Bafana have been hit by another withdrawal. Dutch-based anchorman Kamohelo Mokotjo picked up an injury whilst playing for FC Zwolle on Sunday. He was earmarked to replace another injured player, Crystal Palace’s Kagisho Dikgacoi.

Morocco, who have also failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, will host the next African Cup of Nations tournament and are taking this match seriously.

Post by SABC News Online.

Johannesburg – Two security guards accused of stealing copper from a municipal warehouse have been arrested in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Monday.

The men, aged between 26 and 29, were taken into custody on Sunday after they allegedly faked a robbery in Havelock Road, Captain Thulani Zwane said.

They alerted police to a robbery that took place while they were on patrol. They said five armed men forced them to open the store and stole a drum of copper cable, Zwane said.

“After further investigations police found that the guards had made a false statement.”

The stolen copper, with an estimated street value of R150 000, was found at a nearby house. Zwane said the men were found in possession of a bolt cutter believed to have been used to open the warehouse.

“Police believe that the guard may be linked to previous robberies at the warehouse.”

The men were expected to appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court soon on charges of housebreaking, theft, and perjury.

– SAPA

Cape Town – The tabling of new regulations requiring prospective municipal managers to undergo competency tests was welcomed by the DA on Monday.

The regulations arise from the Local Government Municipal Systems Amendment Act.

“The DA has pushed for over two years for these regulations to be tabled and is pleased that the new Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Lechesa Tsenoli has heeded our calls,” Democratic Alliance MP John Steenhuisen said.

The new regulations include compulsory competency tests for all those applying for the position of municipal manager.

“Those dismissed for misconduct or convicted of an offence are prevented from serving as municipal managers,” Steenhuisen said.

“Now that the regulations have been tabled, the minister must ensure that they become effective without any further delay.”

– SAPA

Cape Town – Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said he “felt sorry for God” as he celebrated his 82nd birthday on Monday.

Tutu made brief reference to the strife in Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo as he introduced former UN secretary general Kofi Annan – who delivered the 3rd annual Desmond Tutu International Peace lecture at the University of the Western Cape.

“Can you imagine what it must be like for God… looking down saying those are my children in Syria, those using chemical weapons are my children, those dying are my children,” Tutu said.

Annan praised Tutu’s contribution to world peace.

“Desmond has always found the courage, no matter how uncomfortable or dangerous, to speak truth to power,” he said.

Annan later warned serious challenges remained and that new threats were emerging in Africa, despite progress on the economic front.

Sub-Saharan Africa was the world’s “most recent economic success story” and achieved successes in health care, education and gender parity.

“But real and exciting as this progress has been, we cannot afford to become complacent, “Annan said.

Annan warned the growth experienced in Africa had not yet resulted in the eradication of high rates of poverty and unemployment.

“Despite Africa’s extraordinary wealth of natural resources, poor governance and lack of transparency have too often led to corruption, exploitation and environmental damage,” Annan said.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Acting judge Patrick Maqubela’s death was extremely unlikely to have been natural, the Western Cape High Court heard on Monday.

“My submission is that the State has proved a non-natural cause of death,” prosecutor Bonnie Currie-Gamwo said in closing argument in the murder trial of Maqubela’s widow, Thandi.

Judge John Murphy said that while both medics on the scene at the time testified an unnatural death could not be excluded, he was unsure whether the State had gone far enough to prove suffocation.

Thandi is charged with murder, forgery, and fraud. Her co-accused, her business associate Vela Mabena, is charged with murder.

The indictment originally alleged that Maqubela and Mabena caused the death of the judge by suffocating him with a piece of plastic cling wrap placed over his face.

Murphy subsequently ordered the indictment to be amended so as to allege, in the alternative, that death was caused if not by strangulation, then by means unknown to the prosecution. The court said the amendment had been to “better serve” the proper administration of justice.

Maqubela’s body was found in his luxury Bantry Bay apartment on 7 June 2009.

Currie-Gamwo said a security guard and two friends who gained access to his flat that day found no forced entry or break-in, no damage to the door, nor signs that anything had been removed.

They said they were met by a strong stench and saw the body shrouded in a sheet, covering a pillow on the judge’s face.

Murphy said another official in the complex testified that when he entered, the pillow was on the judge’s face and the sheet was further down by his chest.

Cellphone records

Currie-Gamwo said it was likely the scene had already been disturbed at that point.

“If the sheet was over the pillow, it rules out the possibility that, in the throws of death, the pillow fell over the face,” Murphy said.

“I don’t know if it rules out natural causes but it puts someone in the room after death and why didn’t they take appropriate action [to help him]?”

Currie-Gamwo said cellphone records placed Thandi Maqubela at the flat at the time.

“The only person, on the State’s version, who had access to that flat the entire day, was accused number one [Maqubela].”

The State said the judge’s clothes also pointed to possible human intervention. A security guard last saw him alive two days previously wearing a suit.

Currie-Gamwo said a tracksuit top and pants had been put on over the judge’s suit and another tracksuit top draped over his shoulders, underneath the sheet.

“It means somebody was trying to create the impression that the deceased didn’t leave the flat that morning and [they] did so in a hurried fashion,” she said.

The pedestal next to his bed contained various flu medications.

“It also appears odd because no medications were found inside the body of the deceased. Again, perhaps, someone was trying to create the impression he was ill.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A Johannesburg teacher who was suspended for allegedly sending a 16-year-old pupil a picture of himself naked will be back in court in November, Gauteng police said.

“He is going to appear in court again on 6 November 2013,” said Warrant Officer Moses Maphakela. The appearance would take place at the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court.

The teacher was arrested in August.

EyeWitness news reported earlier on Monday that the teacher was out on bail after the mother laid criminal charges against him.

The Gauteng education department reportedly said an independent investigation had been launched into the school and the district office’s handling of the case.

“The teacher is suspended and we have put in place an independent investigation that will cover all circumstances regarding this case,” spokesperson Gershwin Chuenyane was quoted as saying.

“The department will be guided by the outcome of the investigation on what action to take.”

According to the report, on 30 July the teacher engaged in a late-night WhatsApp chat with the boy’s mother, thinking it was him. The teacher allegedly sent numerous sexual images and made sexual suggestions.

The mother saw an image of a man sitting naked in a bathtub appear on the screen of her son’s cellphone, it was reported.

She has not been named to protect her son’s identity. The mother went to the national education department. She said it took over a week for the teacher to be suspended.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Two opposition parties voiced concern on Monday over reports that former police chief and convicted fraudster Jackie Selebi was spotted shopping in Pretoria.

“If Mr Selebi had indeed made a miraculous recovery from his illness or not been adhering to all his parole conditions, the decision to release him could potentially be reviewed,” Democratic Alliance MP James Selfe said.

Freedom Front Plus spokesperson Pieter Groenewald said Selebi’s “shopping spree over the weekend” made a mockery of the country’s justice system.

“Medical parole is being used as a political instrument to get loyal ANC supporters out of jail.”

Selebi was released on medical parole last year after serving only 229 days of his 15-year prison sentence.

Selfe said the correctional services department stated at the time of his release that Selebi had “a medical condition which is terminal, chronic, progressive and has deteriorated or reached an irreversible state”.

“It was reported that Mr Selebi had end-stage renal disease for which he was receiving dialysis. End-stage renal disease means the person has irreversible kidney damage and they end up on dialysis for life,” Selfe said.

Given public scepticism about medical parole in South Africa, it was essential that the department monitor convicted criminals released on parole to determine whether the parole conditions remained valid.

“There cannot be one law for the politically connected and another for the rest of us,” Selfe said.

Groenewald said: “The message is that if one has the right political connections, one can commit crimes and if you are sent to jail it will only be temporarily.”

Life of luxury

It was clear Selebi was leading a life of luxury while owing the State R17.4m for legal fees, he said.

Selebi was pictured in Beeld newspaper on Monday being chauffeured in his luxury BMW 6-series to a shopping centre in Monument Park to buy the Sunday papers.

He walked without any assistance and, according to Beeld, seemed to be in good health.

Selebi told reporters his illness kept him at home and prevented him from driving.

The medical parole board on 20 July 2012 decided that Selebi could be released because he was suffering from irreversible kidney failure, high blood pressure and diabetes.

His sudden decline into ill health surprised independent doctors, who said kidney failure was normally a disease with slow progression.

At the time of his release on medical parole, Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said Selebi was being sent home because his department had limited capacity to provide care for terminally ill patients.

Selebi was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on 3 August 2010 for taking bribes from convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti.

He collapsed at his house in December 2011 after his final appeal failed.

– SAPA