The South African U20 Women’s National team (Basetsana) finalised preparations this afternoon ahead of the first leg World Cup qualifier against Botswana to be played on Saturday, 26 October at Molepolole Stadium in Gaborone.

The match kicks-off at 16h00.

The 2014 edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup scheduled for Canada from 5-24 August 2014 will feature 16 countries of which two teams will come from Africa.

Head coach Sheryl Botes says preparations were on track and is hopeful the team will do well against Botswana.

“We had a loosening session after a six-hour drive yesterday but everything is on track. We have had our final session at the match venue just to familiarise ourselves with what to expect.

“The girls are excited and I will be in a position to put together my starting 11 and name the captain and her deputy this evening” said Botes.

The Basetsana squad will be boosted by the experience of overseas based player, Robyn Moodaly who featured in the SA U17 Women’s National team (Bantwana) squad that participated at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in 2010. She also played a key role in Banyana Banyana’s Olympics qualification.

Bloemfontein Celtics striker, Shiwe Nogwana feels they have what it takes to come back victorious from the first leg against Botswana tomorrow.

“I am excited about being back in the U20 squad and I am looking forward to the match tomorrow as this will be my final year in the Basetsana squad. I would like to see the team progress to the World Cup tournament next year.

“Training with some of the new players has been exciting as most come from HPC and know what to expect from them,” said Nogwanya.-TDN
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FIFA President, Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter has sent his ‘deepest condolences’ on hearing of the untimely death of former Bafana Bafana and Manning Rangers striker Keryn Jordan who passed on this week after a long battle with cancer.

In his message to SAFA President, Dr Danny Jordaan, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and Auckland City, the FIFA boss said he was deeply touched to lose such a young life.

“On behalf of FIFA and the worldwide football community, I wish to extend our deepest sympathies to Keryn’s families, friends and loved ones.

“We would hope that in some way, these words of support may help bring a little bit of peace and solace in this time of sadness,” said Blatter in his letter to the SAFA President, OFC and Auckland City.

In his response, Dr Jordaan said Keryn was a true ambassador of the country whose contribution had touched the lives of people around the globe through his footballing talents.

The Oceania Football Confederation and Auckland City FC, a club Keryn played for after leaving Manning Rangers also thanked the FIFA President for his comforting words.

“Keryn’s loss is keenly felt in our part of the world. He was a fine footballer, a fine person and an exemplary ambassador of South Africa. A small corner of our hearts will forever be South Africa at the OFC and Auckland City FC,” wrote OFC head of media and communications, Gordon Glen Watson.

“To Danny (SAFA President) and the football community of South Africa, we are suffering with you and the family of Keryn Jordan.”-TDN
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The denial of bail for three suspects in the murder case of the Marikana branch chairperson of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) William Setelele is welcomed as the charges that they have to answer to are serious, North West Premier Thandi Modise said on Friday.

According to the bail application court ruling, the three suspects aged between 33 and 37 are to remain in custody until their next court appearance in the Tlhabane Magistrate Court next week Thursday.

The trio was arrested last week Tuesday in Nkaneng, Wonderkop Extension 2.

Setelele (46) was shot eight times and killed in Nkaneng informal settlement last week.

“The arrests and the no-bail ruling are an important step towards restoring peace and stability in the area. The spate of senseless killings in the area is alarming and it is important that thorough investigation is done to unmask the perpetrators,” said the Premier.

Modise reiterated her call on unions in the mining sector to respect the framework for peace and stability signed earlier this year, and to actively discourage their members from taking the law into their own hands.

“It is clear that perpetrators of these senseless killings are hell-bent in undermining the Marikana Peace Accord and the Framework for Peace and Stability. We call on communities in our mining communities to support police in their effort to bring those behind the acts of barbarism to book,” said Modise.-TDN
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Premier Thandi Modise has welcomed the commitment of religious leaders towards implementation of the National Development Plan and their response to her challenge for them to play a more active in tackling all social ills facing the North West Province.

“The enriching engagements reflected in the declaration adopted by the two-day Provincial religious summit that ended on Thursday reaffirmed the commitment of religious leaders to a partnership towards adoption of the provincial social cohesion strategy. We are heartened by the commitment to foster unity and encourage cooperation among faith groupings ” said Premier Modise.

In her keynote address delivered at the opening of the summit that ended on Thursday, Modise had urged religious leaders from across all faiths to take it seriously that government cannot do everything on its own, especially when it comes to moral regeneration. She said that different faiths must lead in praying for unity, reconciliation and social cohesion.

The Premier had called on religious leaders to play a more active role in reviving good morals in our people and assists government in its determined effort to have morally conscience communities.

“We call upon you to play a more active role in reviving good morals in our people and support our efforts to have morally conscience communities,” Premier Modise said.

The Premier hailed the summit as an important milestone that has ensured that faith leaders understand the complexities of the challenges that are facing government and communities and the importance that their contribution towards overcoming them.

In her address, the Premier had singled out gender based violence, abuse of women and children, rape, alcohol and drug abuse, murder, fraud, corruption and bribery, lack of respect for one another as social ills which needed to be tackled head-on as part of moral regeneration.

Modise called for civil society, youth formations, churches, traditional leaders and community members not to sit back when wrong things happen in their communities but to blow the whistle.

“When a citizens stands up raise issues that affect them they are not anti-government or anti-ANC. We fought for citizens to be equal and have a voice, It is the responsibility of all of us in the province to report any crime to the relevant institutions so that we clean-up the scourge of corruption that threatens our collective development” she had emphasised.

“Women and youth will never have economic muscle if tenders are given to those we know and favour. The North West should champion a model to bring our people together. We should be one at fighting corruption. Only unity will take us into the future,” Modise added

The Premier’s strong sentiments were echoed by Professor David Masoma of the National Interfaith Council of South Africa (NICSA) in his input who said that different faith organizations have an important role in nation building by promoting Ubuntu.

Chairperson of the North West House of Traditional Leaders, Professor Kgosi Madoda Zibi also agreed that faith based organizations are key in promoting good morals especially in rural communities.

He said young people must be taught how to conduct themselves at a very early age and it is a responsibility of the whole community to take the lead.

“The must reclaim the adage that it takes the whole community to raise a child.When we teach our children that they must only respect their biological parents, we risk raising a person who will be disrespectful towards others,” emphasised Kgosi Zibi.-TDN
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Pretoria – Senior counsel William Mokhari on Friday vowed to lay a complaint of misconduct against Judge John Murphy after they clashed in the High Court in Pretoria.

Mokhari said he would approach the Judicial Conduct Committee about Murphy’s conduct in court and also in his chambers.

“I will make further comment when I have filed the complaint early next week,” he said.

The two argued on Thursday over whether former police crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli should return to work.

Murphy was hearing an application by the SA Police Service (SAPS) and the National Director of Public Prosecutions for leave to appeal against an earlier ruling in favour of lobby group Freedom Under Law (FUL).

The ruling set aside a decision to reinstate Mdluli and withdraw criminal and disciplinary charges against him.

FUL did not oppose the application for leave to appeal provided that the judge ordered that Mdluli not be reinstated pending the outcome of the appeal.

Mokhari, for the SAPS, argued on Thursday that the proviso amounted to an application, which meant FUL did not follow court process.

Such an application needed to be filed correctly with the court, he said.

“I have never heard of an application, which is a substantial application like this… where a judge is already chosen,” Mokhari said.

“This is an application which relates not to the order which has been granted by your lordship. It is an application which relates to an order granted by your brother (Judge Makhoba in 2012).”

Murphy asked if the national police commissioner was opposed to the interdict being kept in place.

“Does the commissioner want General Mdluli to go back to work?” Murphy asked.

Mokhari replied: “That is presumptuous and I will not respond to the question.”

Murphy then asked: “How dare you say that to me Mr Mokhari? You are obliged to respond to me.”

“It is presumptuous because it puts the carts before the horses. It will be improper for me to respond to that question,” Mokhari said.

Murphy told Mokhari to “take a seat” and that he did not wish to hear him anymore. Mokhari refused. Murphy adjourned the court.

About an hour later, Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba came in and postponed the matter indefinitely.

Mdluli was suspended amid charges of fraud and corruption, and charges relating to the murder of his ex-lover’s husband. An inquest cleared him of any involvement in the murder. The charges of fraud and corruption were also later withdrawn.

He was reinstated, but was again suspended in 2012 pending the court application to review the withdrawal of the criminal and disciplinary charges against him.

Sapa

Johannesburg – A joint initiative to curb rhino poaching was launched on Friday by SA National Parks (SANParks), Bavaria 0.0% and five South African retailers.

SANParks CEO David Mabunda said: “We are in a crisis situation that requires funding for expert human and technical resources”.

SANParks was working with Bavaria 0.0%, a non-alcoholic beverage, and Woolworths, Spar, Shoprite Checkers, Massmart and PicknPay to raise funds through the “Adopt So Our Rhinos Don’t Die” campaign.

From every purchase of any six-pack of Bavaria regular or fruit-flavoured malt drinks, the retailers and Bavaria would donate money for the “adoption” of a rhino.

“All money will be held in a ring-fenced trust fund that is managed by Rand Merchant Bank under the audit of the National Treasury,” Mabunda said.

“The trust fund will also be made available to any rhino conservancy that applies for assistance to ensure that we are able to help as many rhino as possible.”

SANParks is the custodian of 80 percent of Africa’s rhinos and home to 91 percent of the world rhino population.

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa endorsed the campaign.

She said that over 500 rhino had been killed through illegal poaching since the beginning of the year.

“I brim with jubilation to know that help is at hand and that at last South Africans across the land will unite and stand together to make a difference, and protect the world’s natural heritage for generations to come,” she said.

Sapa

Pietermaritzburg – An off-duty Road Traffic Inspectorate officer gave the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court his impression on Friday of the night Maj-Gen Bethuel Mondli Zuma was arrested.

Essop Abubaker was testifying in the case of Zuma, who was to have become Gauteng’s new provincial police commissioner.

Zuma faces charges of failing to stop when ordered to, drunk driving, attempting to escape from custody and defeating the ends of justice.

Abubaker said he was watching television with his wife at their home in Pelham on the night of December 2008, when he heard sirens and went outside to investigate.

He said one of the officers, who he knew, told him they were chasing a suspect who had entered the premises, which they had surrounded.

Another witness, police member Bonginkosi Magwaza, told the court the officers asked for his help catching the man. At the time, he was attending to a complaint in the area.

Magwaza said two women emerged from the house. One of them told the officers it was her house and that the man they were looking for was there to visit her husband.

A while later, Zuma emerged from the house.

Magwaza will be cross-examined when the case resumes on Monday.

Sapa

Johannesburg – The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) confirmed on Friday, that it has received allegations of defeating the ends of justice against national police commissioner Riah Phiyega.

“The matter does not fall under the matters investigated by the IPID. So the executive director of the IPID will assess it and make a decision on whether it must be investigated by the IPID,” spokesperson Moses Dlamini said.

The case was reported on Wednesday. Phiyega said the allegations against her “will not stick”.

“You can try as much as you like, but you will not succeed. No mud thrown at me will stick,” she said in a statement on Friday morning in response to a report in The Star.

“I remain determined to ensure that nothing, absolutely nothing, deters me and my leadership team from the new journey of rebuilding the SAPS [SA Police Service], especially the crime intelligence division.”

The Star reported on Friday that Phiyega allegedly tipped off a senior police officer, who allegedly accepted a bribe from a criminal, that crime intelligence was investigating him.

But Phiyega denied tipping off the officer, saying he had become aware of the investigation after the DA asked a question about it in Parliament.

Calls for investigation

DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard said because the allegations against Phiyega were serious it was important for her actions to be investigated.

“If commissioner Phiyega is innocent, she should not oppose an investigation. Indeed she should encourage one.”

Kohler-Barnard said the reputation of the police could not continue to be battered by “dodgy and corrupt officials”.

Phiyega said it was “interesting” that the allegations surfaced from “faceless people” shortly after her decision to put former acting crime intelligence boss Major General Chris Ngcobo on special leave. A vetting process found discrepancies in Ngcobo’s qualifications.

Phiyega said she was not formally informed of the case of defeating the ends of justice against her, but was aware of the allegations.

They were from people who wanted to discredit her. She said it came as no surprise given some of the “mischievous activities conducted by crime intelligence in the past”, Phiyega’s office said in the statement.

“It is clear that this is a lame attempt by certain individuals within crime intelligence to discredit her and derail the process of flushing out those within the SAPS, who have no integrity and have no interest in taking the SAPS forward,” her office said.

Ngcobo on special leave

Phiyega placed Ngcobo on special leave on Monday, instructing that criminal investigations and disciplinary action against him be initiated.

Major General Bongiwe Zulu assumed Ngcobo’s role until further notice.

The Star, quoting “highly placed sources”, said Ngcobo instructed crime intelligence officers to open the case against Phiyega on 19 October.

Explaining the alleged tip-off she gave, Phiyega said a question was received in Parliament and during the process of gathering information to enable the police to prepare a response, the DA enquiry ended up in a provincial commissioner’s office after passing through various officials.

At that point the commissioner called Phiyega to ask about the investigation, so it could not be argued that she alerted the commissioner about the investigation, her office said.

“Simply put, the national commissioner committed no crime,” the statement read.

Kohler-Barnard said she would write to the police ministry to ascertain what steps were being taken to gain clarity. She would also follow up on her original question in Parliament.

The SA Police Union (Sapu) called on President Jacob Zuma to relieve Phiyega of her duties.

“The latest controversy around General Phiyega adds to the many costly blunders the national commissioner has committed since taking office,” spokesperson Solly Bulala said in a statement.

“Sapu calls upon President Jacob Zuma to convene a board of inquiry into the fitness of General Phiyega to hold office. The SAPS can ill afford to have such a character at its helm. It is clear that the general is a liability.”

Sapu called on Phiyega to take a leave of absence to avoid dragging the police’s name through the mud.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – ANC heavyweight Malusi Gigaba criticised opposition parties and NGOs on Friday for telling foreign countries South Africa has failed since achieving democracy.

“All around us, the opportunists, the pessimists, the opposition and the counter-revolutionists are telling us what we have achieved in the last 19 years has been nothing and this revolution faces its inevitable doom,” he told the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) in Kempton Park.

“If you go to raise money overseas, why use the name of [former ANC president] OR Tambo? Why speak ill of our country and demean the progress we have made?”

He said certain opposition leaders went to countries like the US and spoke ill of development in South Africa so they could get money from them.

“They do so because they seek funding to pursue their agenda,” said Gigaba, an ANC national executive committee member who is also public enterprises minister.

“[Since 1994]… We have given children more access to education than the apartheid government ever did,” he said.

Working together

Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele is on record as having said the South African education system was better under apartheid.

Gigaba said foreign powers were responsible for two world wars, centuries of colonialism, and the world financial crisis, which ruined the lives of millions.

“You don’t see Americans come to us and say ‘we are bad people’.”

He said mistakes would happen in the struggle to make South Africa a better country.

“We must be the first to admit our mistakes and correct them,” he said.

“We can’t allow for our opposition to gain an upper hand on our movement by the mistakes we have made.”

Gigaba said the tripartite alliance’s members needed to work together to prevent opposition parties from gaining a foothold in next year’s elections.

“In the coming election there is a choice between the movement for liberation, and on the other hand, right-wing opportunist riff-raff.

“We must put aside everything else and focus on the overwhelming victory of our movement. The ANC and the people are one,” he said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Due process must be followed by officials suspended from Cosatu and its affiliates, SA Communist Party (SACP) deputy chair Thulas Nxesi said on Friday.

“We don’t want to hear that there are splits [in Cosatu], we are begging you, as the communist party,” he said at the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) national general council in Kempton Park.

“Even when comrades are found guilty of charges we require that they maintain discipline… Whenever there are due processes, we request people to observe the internal processes.”

In August, Cosatu put its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on special leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing after he admitted to having an affair with a colleague.

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has brought a high court application to have the suspension overturned. The union has also reportedly threatened to break away from the Cosatu.

Nxesi criticised unions and members that wanted to break away.

“It is opportunistic and completely unacceptable when we hear some comrades, who are threatening to break away from the union and form splinter groups for their own vested gains,” he said.

Nxesi, who is also the public works minister, said he previously mentioned “to the displeasure of some” that South Africa could learn something from Zimbabwe’s land reform process.

“Essentially it is about breaking down large scale farms and promoting intensive small scale farming,” he said.

“This is not a call for illegal land grabs. In South Africa we have a Constitution which recognises… the process of land distribution.”

– SAPA