Daily Archives: April 1, 2014

Durban to bid for Commonwealth Games


Durban – Durban and Edmonton and have both formally indicated they plan to bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, officials have said on Monday.

Prince Tunku Imran, the president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said both cities have until next March to formalise their bid proposals before the decision on the host site is made in September, 2015.

“This is an exciting development for the Games movement, one that reinforces the Games position on the world’s sporting stage,” Imran said in a statement.

Edmonton has already hosted the Games once before, in 1978, while Canada also hosted the inaugural Games in 1930 (Hamilton) as well as 1954 (Vancouver) and 1994 (Victoria).

“Canada is the birthplace of the Commonwealth Games, with the British Empire Games held in Hamilton in 1930,” said Andrew Pipe, President of Commonwealth Games Canada.

The Games, a multi-sports event held every four years featuring athletes from over 50 countries, have never been staged in Africa and Gideon Sam, President of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, said it was time the continent was given its chance.

“These are exciting times for South African sport. Over the years we have shown our ability to stage the biggest sporting events, with Rugby and Cricket World Cups being an example, plus of course the 2010 FIFA World Cup,” he said.

“We’ve done exhaustive background work and are now of the opinion the country is ready for a major multi-code sports event and we are proud to announce our intention to bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“It’s a huge step forward in our history – and that of the African continent.”

This year’s Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland while the next edition, in 2018, will be staged at Australia’s Gold Coast.
Reuters

Rhino poaching suspects in court


Johannesburg – Five suspected rhino poachers appeared in the Phalaborwa Magistrate’s Court on Monday for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, Limpopo police said.

Thulani Siwela, 28, Doctor Ngwenyama, 36, Given Mashaba, 30, Vusi Matsane, 45, and Robert Sondlani, 38, would be back in court on 2 April for formal bail applications, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

The men were arrested in Gravelotte on Thursday night, while allegedly on their way to kill a rhino at a nearby game reserve.

During a search of their car, police found a hunting rifle with its serial number filed off, 20 rounds of live ammunition and three butcher knives.

SAPA

SANDF will be deployed to CAR- minister


Cape Town – South Africa will not deploy troops in the strife-torn Central African Republic (CAR), Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Monday.
Briefing journalists in Cape Town, she said there were sufficient troops from the region, the European Union, and France.

“I can certainly say without any fear of contradiction for now there is absolutely no intention [to deploy troops in the CAR],” she said.

Over the past 15 months more than 1 000 people had been killed and a million displaced in sectarian violence in the country.

“Indeed there is a crisis in that country right now but the issue is not about the shortage of boots on the ground. The issue is about how best do you utilise the forces that you have at hand,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.

The use of troops deployed in the CAR had to be properly co-ordinated, to ensure an organised approach to ending the crisis.

“Taking from South Africa a few soldiers and sending them to the Central African Republic and maybe get more from other countries will not resolve the problem if there is no proper command and control or if there is no proper co-ordination of the few that you have currently on the ground.

“You can have thousands of forces and they can be as disorganised and will not serve the purpose you want them for.”

South African troops were deployed in the CAR last year, but withdrew after a bloody battle on 23 March left 13 soldiers dead and another 27 wounded.

SAPA

SABC bias towards ANC- Cope


Johannesburg – Opposition parties will approach the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) about what they perceive as the SABC’s preference for the ANC, Cope said on Monday.
“This past weekend we witnessed disproportionately huge coverage of ANC events on SABC platforms, including radio and TV channels, while opposition parties receive coverage so minuscule that if you blink, you could easily miss it altogether,” party president Mosiuoa Lekota said.

The Cope and other parties were seeking legal advice and had approached Icasa to end such “one-sided storytelling”, he said.

– SAPA

ANC distances itself from Nkandla


Johannesburg – The ANC has put some distance for now between itself and the public protector’s damning report on President Jacob Zuma’s private Nkandla home.
Briefing reporters in Johannesburg on Monday, party secretary general Gwede Mantashe consistently declined to give direct replies to questions on the Nkandla issue.

He said there were “processes that need to be given a chance”.

Mantashe was giving feedback on an ANC national executive committee (NEC) in Cape Town at the weekend.

He said the NEC was satisfied with work undertaken on the matter by officials and the party’s national working committee.

“It further noted that there are processes that need to be given a chance, like the pending report of the president expected in due course and progress on the work of the Special [Investigating] Unit.”

Zuma has directed the unit to investigate the security upgrades.

In her report on the security upgrades done at Zuma’s private Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal titled “Secure in Comfort”, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Zuma had unduly benefited from the improvements.

These included a cattle kraal and swimming pool, built with state money. She also stated in the report that he should refund a portion of the R246m cost.

On Monday, it was reported that Zuma told a crowd in Gugulethu in Cape Town he would not repay the money because he did not ask for the upgrades. He placed the blame on government officials.

“They did this without telling me,” he told ANN7.

“So why should I pay for something I did not ask for.”

Mantashe said on Monday the NEC had made no recommendations about the Nkandla report.

“We recommend nothing. There are reports that deal with the matter. The ANC will monitor the implementation of the report. That report [Madonsela’s] must be attended to,” he said.

“Anyone who benefited fraudulently or wrongfully must be pursued.”

He said the fact the report was discussed did not indicate whether the NEC did not favour Madonsela’s report over other reports.

Zuma given deadline

Mantashe said given the deadline for Zuma to respond to Parliament was on Wednesday, the ANC did not want to interfere in a process that had not run its course.

Turning to other issues, Mantashe said public discourse about corruption in the country indicated society held high standards on the matter.

“What we have observed in the public discourse, are the high levels of discussion on corruption; a clear reflection that we pitched our standards as a country high, and we should correctly continue to do so.”

Mantashe said the meeting also dealt with the state of the organisation, a report on elections, and international issues.

He said the NEC was concerned over the international trend of regime-change methods which undermined democracy.

“Elected governments are undermined and dislodged in many regions with Ukraine being the latest and Venezuela being threatened as well,” Mantashe said.

“We have directed our government to deal with these disturbing trends in international forums including the United Nations and African Union.”

Mantashe said any African government which took power through unconstitutional methods was acting against the AU’s constitution.

“SA as a member of the member of the AU supports [its] decision… to suspend Egypt from participating in its activism.”

On jobs, Mantashe said in-depth research would be commissioned to look into the best way of dealing with jobs that did not require high level skills, and those that were usually taken by foreign nationals.

“… Equally such an in-depth research should also look into small trading impact by foreign nationals.”

He said once the research had been compiled, the immigration policy would then be refined.

SAPA