Maputo – Three goals from Knowledge Musona gave Kaizer Chiefs an emphatic 3-0 first round, second leg CAF Champions League victory over Liga Muculmuna in Maputo on Saturday.

Amakhosi progress to the next round of the competition on a 7-0 aggregate scoreline.

Zimbabwean striker Musona’s hat-trick came in the opening half hour of the game and it put the visitors from South Africa firmly in the driving seat.

Chiefs began well and came close through Siyabonga Nkosi after he was set up by Matthew Rusike and Musona. But Nkosi’s effort was saved by Milagre.

Then Rusike had a chance of his own after being supplied by Nkosi, but his attempted shot hit the upright. Almost immediately, Chiefs were in lead when Musona found the back of the net.

Musona tucked away a rebound after Rusike’s initial attempt had hit the upright with the goalkeeper beaten.

After 27 minutes Chiefs went two nil ahead when Musona netted another strike and he had his hat-trick just after the half-hour mark when he scored a penalty.

When the second half started it was evident that Muculmuna had more purpose and wanted to fight back but Chiefs remained tight in their defensive structure.

In the 65th minute substitute Kingston Nkhatha had a chance on goal from a set piece, but his effort sailed over the bar.

And in the 76th minute Chiefs fullback Siboniso Gaxa tried to place a shot past Milagre but the Muculmana goalkeeper made a strong save.

Chiefs goalkeeper Reyaad Pieterse was called into action in the dying minutes of the games as he made a good save to deny Radicle.

Chiefs will now clash with either Zimbabwe champions Dynamos or DRC side AS Vita in the Caf Champions League second round.

SuperSport

Mbombela – A man and a woman found guilty of cutting up a 6-year-old girl for muti before killing her were sentenced to life in prison by the Nelspruit Circuit of the North Gauteng High Court on Friday.
Stella Sibongile Zulu (25) and Sifiso Wonder Vilakazi (49), from Masibekela near Komatipoort, were convicted of murder and abduction, a Sapa correspondent reported.

The court found that they killed Dimakatso Shabangu, who went missing on 21 April 2009.

Her body was found floating in a river four days later.

“This was planned because you knew that you will benefit. The way the child was killed was horrific,” Judge Collin Lamont told Zulu and Vilakazi.

“I can see how the child felt when they removed her parts, while she was alive. You referred to it as [if] it was like a chicken the way she was cut.”

Lamont said photographic evidence of the crime was horrific.

He said Zulu’s description of the murder corresponded with everything in the post-mortem, except for details about the child’s tongue, which she said was removed.

“The post-mortem says how it all happened… Private parts were removed, but the tongue was not removed. It shows that she was cut between the legs and the stomach,” Lamont said.

He said animals and fish ate at the child’s body while it was floating in the river.

“They were doing it [cutting her] while she was alive. Four people were holding her, and one cutting her,” Lamont said.

“Her intestines were removed while she was being cut. It was not clear that you saw everything, but that does not mean this case has no weight.”

Life imprisonment

Prosecutor Sonja Ntuli asked the court to sentence the two to life imprisonment.

“I submit that the two accused must be sentenced to life. An innocent child was killed and she could have been alive if it was not for greed,” said Ntuli.

Lamont said Zulu’s R5 000 bail and Vilakazi’s R3 000 bail would be withdrawn, as they were now prisoners of the State.

He sentenced them each to life imprisonment for murder, and 15 years for abduction, which will run concurrently.

After sentencing, Zulu asked the court for mercy.

“I am very hurt; I also feel pain about this, but I do not know anything about it. I ask the court to exercise mercy on me because I do not know anything,” she said.

Outside court, Dimakatso Shabangu’s mother, Goodness Sihle Mahlalela, said the two got what they deserved.

“I am feeling better with the judgment, but I wish… the court [had] not acquitted the other accused,” she said.

On Wednesday, one of the accused, Thabile Mnisi, 33, was acquitted because there was not enough evidence against her.

SAPA

Kuala Lumpur – A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew crashed in the South China Sea on Saturday, Vietnamese state media said, quoting a senior naval official.
The Boeing 777-200ER flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had been missing for hours when Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre news quoted Admiral Ngo Van Phat as saying he had asked boats from an island off south Vietnam to rush to the crash site.

If the report is confirmed, it would mark the US-built airliner’s deadliest crash since entering service 19 years ago.

Malaysia Airlines had yet to confirm that the aircraft had crashed. It said earlier in the day that no distress signal had been given and cited early speculation that the plane may have landed in Nanming in southern China.

Malaysia Airlines said people from 14 nationalities were among the 227 passengers, including at least 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians, six Australians and three Americans. It also said a Chinese infant and an American infant were on board.

No South Africans were reportedly on board.

Flight MH370, operating a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu, Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement read to a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Search and rescue

Malaysia and Vietnam were conducting a joint search and rescue, he said but gave no details. China has also sent two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help in any rescue, state television said on one of its microblogs.

“We are extremely worried,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing before the Vietnamese report that the plane had crashed. “The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone on the plane is safe.”

The flight left Kuala Lumpur at 00:21 (16:21 GMT on Friday) but no trace had been found of the plane hours after it was due to land in the Chinese capital at 06:30 (22:30 GMT on Friday) the same day.

“We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370,” Jauhari said.

If it is confirmed that the plane has crashed, the loss would mark the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year and by far the worst since the jet entered service in 1995.

An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER crash-landed in San Francisco in July 2013, killing three passengers and injuring more than 180.

Boeing said it was aware of reports that the Malaysia Airlines plane was missing and was monitoring the situation but had no further comment. The flight was operating as a China Southern Airlines codeshare.

An official at the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said the plane had failed to check in as scheduled at 17:21 GMT while it was flying over the sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh city.

Reuters