Johannesburg – Thousands of Mpumalanga commuters were left stranded on Friday because of a strike by bus drivers.

The employees of the provincial bus service Buscor embarked on the action after pay talks deadlocked.

Domestic worker Joyce Mthembu was one of those affected.

“I am very angry and upset. I have three children to feed and now I can’t even get to work. All of my friends are also very sad,” Mthembu to a Sapa correspondent.

Buscor executive chairwoman Nora Fakude-Nkuna described the strike as unfortunate.

“Buscor regrets the current situation and inconvenience that the  strike will cause to passengers and businesses in general,” she said.

“Our employer organisations will continue to engage with the unions… to find a settlement as soon as possible,” Fakude-Nkuna said in a statement.

Drivers were demanding, among other things, a 20 percent wage increase, while employers were only offering 6.5 percent.

The nationwide strike was organised by the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union.

Satawu national spokesman Vincent Masoga said members had good grounds to protest.

“We feel that the strike is justified as, after protracted discussions, they have still not delivered what the workers feel is needed,” he said.

“It is time to make them feel the same pain and frustration the employees feel.”

Talks to resolve the impasse resumed earlier in the day.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Fans of the man once known as Tha DoggFather, now reincarnated as the peace-loving Snoop Lion, are in for an extra treat when the US rapper visits South Africa in May.

Wheras it was first reported that Snoop would only perform in Durban on May 18 as part of the MTV Africa All Stars Tour, the Computicket website reveals that Snoop will also perform in Cape Town and Johannesburg, news that is sure to put a smile on the hip hop star’s many fans around the country.

For more www.iol.co.za

Mahikeng – 

An elderly man who raped a 10-year-old girl has been jailed for 25 years, North West police said on Friday.

Captain Aafje Botma said the 71-year-old man was sentenced in the Mahikeng Regional Court on Wednesday for raping the girl in Mogopa Village in Groot Marico in 2010.

He had asked her to buy bread for him at a shop. On her return he invited her into his house and raped her.

The girl’s teachers suspected something was wrong and informed the police. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

Potchefstroom-North West University provisional suspended the student representative councilor Orapeleng Daniel Matshediso.

The suspension came about after Matshediso was being accused of misconduct.

According to the letter that was sent to Matshediso also in our possession, he has been suspended as a president and as a member of the institutional student representative councilor.

The letter states: Please note that in terms of paragraph 5 of the students disciplinary rules of the North West University you are hereby provisionally suspended as president and member of institutional student representative council of the North West University until such time as the disciplinary hearing regarding the charges of misconduct is finalised.

According to university, Matshediso is prohibited to participate or attending any meetings or assemblies as a president or a member of the institutional student representative.

The disciplinary hearing will be heard on the 07th of May whereby Orapeleng Matshediso is accountable of 13 charges.

Our attempt to get Matshediso side of the story was futile as said he was busy addressing media.

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews for full details of a suspension letter

Johannesburg – The SA Football Association (Safa) is seeking to match Bafana Bafana against world champions Spain in commemoration of former president Nelson Mandela’s birthday.

Safa president Kirsten Nematandani on Thursday revealed an invitation to this effect had been sent to the Spanish Football Federation.

“We have yet to receive a reply,” said Nematandani.

“So there is nothing definite to the proposal at this stage. But we are holding thumbs.”

Nematandani said it would be difficult to secure the fixture for Bafana against the number-one ranked team in the world.

“We also have to take into account that they will be playing in the Confederation Cup rehearsal for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil during June and this could be another complication,” said Nematandani.

“We shall just have to wait and see.”

Nematandani said a July 18 date (Mandela’s birthday) would not be possible, and sometime in August would be targetted. – Sapa

AmaZulu coach Craig Rosslee insisted the relegation battle was still far from over despite coming away with all three points from their latest Absa Premiership outing on Wednesday.

An 81st minute goal by Ayanda Dlamini steered Usuthu to a narrow 1-0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic at the Moses Mabhida Stadium with victory moving the Durban side onto 28 points, four clear of the drop zone.

“We are still involved in a dog-fight with the relegation battle,” Rosslee said afterward. “The fact of the matter is we’ve targeted getting three points in our home games…we achieved that objective tonight and don’t want to look too far ahead.

“The objective is to make sure the club survives in the PSL, it keeps its status. We know there’s 15 more points to play for, there’s obviously that magical target, but we just got to make sure it’s one game at a time and we apply ourselves accordingly for each one.”

AmaZulu appeared to have been fortunate to have come away with the win after the visitors had dominated the entire first half and the early parts of the second period too.

It was only because of some poor finishing and several strong Tapuwa Kapini saves that Rosslee’s men had stayed in the contest, although Siwelele were thankful to their goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb for keeping them in the contest during the final 30 minutes.

“They may have had chances, but we had more effective chances,” the home coach explained. “So it’s not a fact that we were lucky, I think considering what we had and the players we had out there, we came away with a good three points.”

The winner came in the 81st minute when Dlamini rounded a defender and goalkeeper Tignyemb, who had parried a difficult save from a Thokozani Mshengu shot into the path of the striker.

Substitutes Mshengu and Kagiso Senamela had also made a huge difference after coming on.

Rosslee added: “We came into the game a bit thin because of injuries. I thought it was evenly balanced and very tactically contested.

“I think KG (Senamela) and Mshengu made a difference for us and they got us going a bit. It was an invaluable thee points.”

For Celtic boss Clinton Larsen it was a fifth consecutive match without victory and one that left them in 10th spot on the log.

“Once again the team played well without getting the result,” the coach said. “I’ve been saying that for the past few weeks now, but we’ll keep the faith. I think the team is still improving with every game.”

Larsen also felt they deserved more from the game, but refused to give up on a top-five finish.

“We dominated the first half and should have put the game to bed,” he added. “Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, but with 15 points still to play, I believe we can still finish in that top six looking at tonight’s results.”

For more http://www.psl.co.za

SECURITY fears after recent incidents of fan misbehaviour at games has prompted organisers to reduce Dobsonville Stadium’s capacity for Saturday night’s clash between Moroka Swallows and Kaizer Chiefs.

Despite huge interest in the PSL fixture, Swallows will sell only 15000 tickets for the 18000-seat venue.

Swallows’ brand and communications manager Siyabonga Sangweni said: “We expect a huge crowd because Chiefs are in the running for the league and have a big following.

For more http://www.sowetanlive.co.za

The North West Provincial government has approved the establishment of a provincial traffic college to meet the demand for the recruitment of new traffic officers and continuous training of provincial and municipal traffic officers.According to Premier Thandi Modise, the envisaged provincial traffic college to cater for the training of 400 traffic officers traffic officers over the next three years is to be kick-started at an estimated cost of close to R10 million.

Premier Modise said that for the current financial year the provincial road traffic management authorities in partnership with State and Security, Sector and Training Authority is targeting the recruitment of 120 trainees.

“The use of colleges outside the province has proved to be expensive for the province and resulted in fewer officers being trained and undergoing refresher courses as the thirteen established colleges tended to give first preference in their intakes to local recruits,” stressed Modise.The new college to be housed at the old Batswana High School Hostels in Mahikeng 

 is expected to offer courses for traffic officers diploma, examiners of vehicles, examiners of driving licences, inspector of Driving License Testing Centre, Dangerous goods, Weigh Bridge Management and speed detection.

Other refresher courses to be offered at the college for the benefit of 505 provincial traffic officers and 200 from municipalities for a maximum of 10 days will include amendments of Legislation, street survival, firearm training, advanced driving, case floor management, speed management.

Platinum Stars’ influential defender Benson ‘Mayanga’ Mhlongo says it is time for them to enjoy the benefits of playing under no pressure after attaining the Top 8 mandate that management had laid down for them at the beginning of the season.

Stars have suddenly emerged as the biggest threat to disturbing Kaizer Chiefs’ smooth run to the League title as champions Orlando Pirates continue to lose grip on their title defence.

For more http://www.kickoff.com

A well-placed Mamelodi Sundowns official has confirmed to the Siya crew that Sibusiso Kumalo has officially signed a pre-contract with the club.

News broke earlier this week that the 22-year-old was on the verge of joining the Brazilians after failing to agree new terms with his current club, Moroka Swallows. However his representative, Tim Sukazi, revealed that the proposed deal with Downs had not been concluded at the time.

For more http://www.soccerladuma.com