By Kgatliso Ramose

South African international Thulani Serero scored his first UEFA championship goal against the Spanish giant Barcelona as the stubborn Ajax Amsterdam beat Barca 2-1 at Amsterdam Arena in a Group H clash last night.

Serero’s 18th minutes goal and Danny Hoesen 42nd minutes was enough to give Ajax Amsterdam a historic victory against the struggling Messi less Barcelona. 

Ajax Amsterdam was all over Barcelona, dominated the first half and broke the shaky Barca defender very easily.

The Soweto-born who played for Ajax Cape Town before joining the Ajax Amsterdam and who is now on the Full Ham wanted list.

Serero lost a favour in many South Africans when he allegedly faked an injury while he was guaranteed a start on an important game for Bafana on their quest to secure a ticket to Brazil 2014 because he might pick an injury which will prevent him for playing against Barcelona.

Barca only goal of the match came from a penalty after Ajax defender Veltman who was red-carded after fouling Neymar Jnr on the 18 yards area. Xavi Hernandez converted a penalty.

Barca dominated the second half but failed to crack the confident and composed young Ajax Amsterdam team. Neymar Jnr almost scored an equaliser on the dying minutes after beating Ajax goalkeeper but it was ruled offside.-TDN

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Johannesburg – A German man believed to have been living illegally in South Africa for the past eight years was arrested at his home in Kibler Park, south of Johannesburg, on Tuesday, said the home affairs department.

“Willi Breuer is currently detained at Lindela Repatriation Centre awaiting deportation,” department spokesman Thapelo Moeng said in a statement.

Breuer, 61, is reportedly a close friend of Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir.

According to the City Press, Breuer secured a private audience with Zuma at his Johannesburg home last September.

He reportedly boasted during the meeting that he and his company Auxilium Africa were going to invest billions in South Africa and transform waste management, particularly in poorer municipalities, the newspaper reported.

Sapa

Ajax Cape Town recorded their first away win of the League season at a wet Lucas Moripe Stadium on Tuesday night, beating SuperSport United 2-1.

Both Thulani Hlatshwayo and Sibusiso Zuma saw penalties saved late on, but earlier goals from Eleazar Rodgers and Aiden Jenniker meant Sibusiso Zuma’s 86th-minute strike proved nothing more than a consolation.

The Urban Warriors got off to a positive start and had the ball in the back of the net in the second minute after Rodgers nodded home a cross, but play was brought back for a foul on Bevan Fransman

Rodgers and Lebogang Manyama both sent shots wide, before Bennet Chenene followed suit at the other end.

Lance Davids was lucky to get away without a booking, midway through the first half, after he laid on a heavy studs-up challenge onto the ankle of Chenene.
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Bloemfontein – It would not be just and equitable to order the eviction of residents of Eden Park Extension Five, on the East Rand, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled on Tuesday.

The SCA upheld a decision by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg that the Ekurhuleni municipality and the Gauteng housing department had failed to satisfy the test of just and equitable to secure an eviction order.

The SCA held that the municipality and the department may have been in breach of their constitutional and legislative obligations to provide adequate housing.

It found the two authorities had displayed uncertainty and confusion as to who was to be evicted.

The full Bench held that despite this, and while the position of the respondents was no doubt desperate, their conduct in illegally occupying the housing development could not be countenanced.

However, it did not tip the scales against the residents in favour of an eviction order.

The Gauteng housing department went to court in June 2011 for an order to evict people who had illegally occupied 900 RDP houses.

The department said it had a programme to build 2 408 houses, but the project was derailed by people illegally occupying some of the houses.

At the time, Gauteng Housing MEC Humphrey Mmemezi said he planned to evict the families illegally occupying the dwellings.

Mmemezi said the rightful beneficiaries of Eden Park, whose houses were hijacked, would have their houses given back to them.

It was unfair to deny the rightful owners their homes, he said.

– SAPA

Durban – The search for bodies is continuing, a week after the collapse of a large section of the Tongaat Mall, police said on Tuesday.

“The search is not terminated. We need to move the rubble and make certain that no one else was there,” said police spokesperson Mandy Govender.

A roof at the mall collapsed last Tuesday evening, killing two people and injuring 29.

Govender said members of the police’s search and rescue unit were regularly going through the site while rubble was being moved.

The mall, which was being developed by Rectangle Property Investments, was due for completion in March next year.

However the company, headed by Ravi Jagadasan, had not been granted permission by the eThekwini municipality to build the mall.

Last week, eThekwini municipal manager Sibusiso Sithole said the city obtained an order from the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban on 14 November ordering a stop to all construction.

This order went unheeded and construction at the site stopped only after the accident.

The site was also not properly fenced, but Govender said on Tuesday that it was now properly fenced and guarded.

“There are slabs of concrete still hanging there. You cannot have people going onto the site.”

Jagadasan is the son of Durban businessman Jay Singh, who is reportedly behind a string of construction projects in Durban that have been plagued by shoddy workmanship.

The Sunday Times reported that Singh was a director of Rectangle Property Investments until February.

On Tuesday, the DA urged the province’s Economic Development MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu to fire the board of Ithala Bank for providing R83m for a failed project on Durban’s Point Waterfront development.

According to the Mercury newspaper on Tuesday, the R83m was signed for despite there being no surety from Harikrishen Hansraj, whom the newspaper described as an agent for Singh.

– SAPA

Pietermaritzburg – A ruling on an application by senior police officer Lieutenant General Bethuel Zuma for a discharge on charges including driving under the influence will be given next week.

The State opposed the application in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, saying Zuma’s alleged offences were committed five years ago and variations in details could be expected from State witnesses.

The gist of the State’s evidence was that a prima facie case existed against Zuma.

On 31 August Zuma was appointed Gauteng’s new police commissioner, replacing Mzwandile Petros. Hours later, he was removed from the post after it emerged that the criminal case against him was still pending.

Zuma has pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to stop when ordered to, driving under the influence, attempting to escape from custody, and defeating the ends of justice.

His lawyer Sergie Brimiah cited differences in evidence given by traffic officers against Zuma.

Brimiah said the State witnesses must have discussed the incident as some of the evidence was tailored to bolster the State’s case.

Zuma’s defence was that he suspected the roadblock which he drove through, in Pietermaritzburg in December 2008, and the officers manning it, were bogus.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Kwazi Zimu said the gist of evidence given by traffic officers was that Zuma drove through a roadblock, and when he was found, officers believed he was over the alcohol limit.

He said a portable breathalyser showed he was far over the legal limit, and when they wanted to take him to their head office for a blood alcohol test, Zuma escaped.

He evaded an officer, who tried to handcuff him, and could not be found until two hours after he went through the roadblock.

By then it was too late to subject him to a blood alcohol test that would stand up in court, argued the State.

Zimu said when evidence was poor the court would rely on credibility. In this instance, there was acceptable evidence proving Zuma was guilty of ignoring the roadblock, driving under the influence, and escaping.

The ruling on the application would be handed down next Tuesday.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A man was arrested in Uitenhage on Tuesday for illegal possession of ammunition and drugs with a street value of about R80 000, Eastern Cape police said.

Cocaine, tik and Mandrax, and two magazines with ammunition were found in the roof of the man’s house in Acacia Road, police spokesperson Basil Seekoei said.

The 23-year-old would appear soon in the Uitenhage Magistrate’s Court.

– SAPA

Bloemfontein – The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed a DA appeal on Tuesday for a review of the appointment of senior managers at the Kouga municipality.

The DA had challenged the Eastern Cape municipality’s appointment of several directors on the grounds that this was against the requirements of the Municipal Systems Act.

The Eastern Cape High Court dismissed the application, but granted the opposition party leave to appeal to the SCA.

On appeal, the DA contended that there had been no consultation with the municipal manager, as was required by the act.

The DA further submitted that, in the absence of an approved organogram, the contracts of employment were invalid by virtue of provisions of the act.

The SCA rejected both grounds.

The court held that, according to the act, the decision to appoint managers had to be taken after consultation with the municipal manager. This had happened.

The SCA called attention to the high court’s approach and said its judgment was “rather cryptic”.

The court noted that leave to appeal was granted without reasons being given, which left the SCA none the wiser as to the considerations that weighed with the lower court.

The SCA said it was left with no guidance as to why the matter was thought to be deserving of its attention.

– SAPA

Mbombela – The trial of an Mpumalanga man accused of raping five women and robbing three other people has been postponed to May by the Nelspruit Regional Court.

“We have another matter on trial and we cannot proceed with this case,” Magistrate Willie Wilkens said on Tuesday.

He apologised to the witnesses in court for the delay and postponed the matter to 5 May.

Henry Shijayi Shai, 27, was arrested on 22 May 2011, following a tip-off from one of his alleged victims.

Shai has pleaded not guilty to five counts of rape and three counts of robbery. He will remain in custody.

The court heard that in April 2011, Shai allegedly attacked and raped five women, aged between 21 and 27.

That year he also allegedly attacked and robbed two other people.

He allegedly committed the first robbery the previous year.

The crimes were allegedly committed in villages around Hazyview.

– SAPA

More than 14 000 fodder bags have been distributed to farmers in Mahikeng, the department of agriculture said on Monday.

“Farmers who applied for drought relief in the North West province are continuing to receive fodder as a means of reducing the impact of drought on their livestock,” said spokesperson Bonolo Mohlakoana.

She said the distribution started on 19 November and 23 346 farmers had applied for the drought relief.

Farmers with 30 or more livestock had received 14 bags.

In the case of those with fewer than 30 animals, the number of bags was based on framework calculations.

“It is expected that over 100 000 bags would have been distributed by the end of this process,” Mohlakoana said.

– SAPA