Every time things don’t go according to ideological expectation, the mask of reason slips and we’re back to name calling and chest thumping, writes Craig Dodds.
Cape Town – It was a bit like watching an old movie for the umpteenth time, one you didn’t even enjoy the first time around.
For more http://www.iol.co.za
EFF leader Julius Malema called Small Business Minister Lindiwe Zulu a “street girl” on Friday after she was physically restrained during a verbal altercation with one of his party’s MPs.
“She’s a streetmeid [street girl],” he told reporters in Johannesburg.
For more http://www.dailysun.mobi
Durban – Goals from Thulani Serero and Tokelo Rantie either side of half-time secured South Africa’s passage to next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, beating Sudan 2-1 at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Serero was instrumental in creating both, rounding off a move he began eight minutes before half-time, before turning supplier for Rantie, with a terrific through-ball which the striker buried high into the net eight minutes after the break, sending Bafana Bafana
soaring into an unassailable four-point lead at the top of group A.
Sixteen minutes of pure magic, in front of a pumped-up Durban crowd of more than 32,000, wrapped-up a hugely successful qualifying campaign in which South Africa are still unbeaten after five games.
Bafana stumbled late when Salah Ibrahim pulled one back for the visitors, after a lapse in defence allowed the striker to volley home from close range.
The goal made for a tense final 20 minutes, which belonged to Sudan. With 11 players behind the ball, Sudan were allowed to pay regular visits into the Bafana half, often troubling the hosts, who looked appropriately desperate at times.
Heading into the game without a goal on home soil in two previous qualifiers Ä against Nigeria and Congo-Brazzaville Ä
South Africa could have notched-up as many as five more, were it not for some nervous touches at the last second.
A highly-emotional affair on a cold and cloudy Durban afternoon began with a minute’s silence in honour of former captain and goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa, who was shot and killed in Gauteng on October 26.
Darren Keet was solid in only his second ever outing for the national team, having come in with the enormous task of replacing Meyiwa, who had kept four out of four clean-sheets up to Saturday.
Dean Furman was fantastic in his leadership of the team after being named skipper in his 23rd appearance for South Africa.
The afternoon’s attack belonged to Serero and Rantie. Serero, whose performances for Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands has earned him a nomination for Caf’s Africa Player of Year, looked his classy best, dazzling the home crowd with pace and skill, while producing defence-splitting passes at will.
Rantie, meanwhile, had a difficult first half after a number of chances went to waste, but followed it up with a better second which led to a fine goal, after the Bournemouth attacker danced his way through on goal, before finishing-off a world-class pass from Serero.
Despite the win, South Africa’s finishing left a lot to be desired. Bongani Ndulula should have sent the team two goals up just four minutes after Serero’s neat finish, but the young striker failed to keep his composure, somehow managing to miss-place his finish wide of an empty net.
Rantie could have bagged a hat-trick with the number of chances created by a Bafana team who put in one of their best performances of the campaign.
Reneilwe Letsholonyane capped the win with his 50th international for the country three minutes from time, coming on for Serero, much to the delight of the Durban crowd, who gave the Kaizer Chiefs veteran a standing ovation and a deafening welcome.
A nervy last 20 minutes looked to have troubled Bafana, who crept back into their shell in defence of their slender, but massively significant, one goal advantage.
A barrage of Sudanese attacks kept the home side camped in their own half, but a resilient back four atoned for the goal they let slip, which was the first of their campaign.
It was a deserved place at next year’s tournament for Shakes Mashaba and his troops, who celebrated as if they had won the World Cup after referee Mohamed Benouza blew the final whistle. – Sapa
The Belville Commercial Crimes Court on Friday convicted and sentenced former SAFA Referee, Clifford Malgas on two counts of corruption and perjury related to his role in attempted match fixing during the 2011 SAFA Second Division play-offs that took place in Cape Town.
He was sentenced to an effective four years behind bars.
Malgas was sentenced to two years for corruption and another two years for perjury, bringing the total sentence to four years.
None of the sentences were suspended and he will therefore serve an effective four years behind bars
The court convicted the disgraced official following overwhelming evidence that he colluded with convicted criminal, Philemon Setshedi, who himself was convicted and sentenced for corruption in 2013.
In her judgment, the magistrate said the act of compromising the integrity of sport was a very serious offence that warranted a custodial sentence.
As stated before, the South African Football Association is working very closely with the South African Police Services and National Prosecutions Authority to pursue the persons who are implicated in wrong-doing during the SAFA Second Division Playoffs in 2011 and corruption in football generally.
The Association, SAPS and NPA will leave no stone unturned to ensure that all corrupt elements within football are brought to book.
“We welcome this custodial sentence as it sends a strong message to criminals that they do not have a place in our sport.
“SAFA has adopted a zero-tolerance to any form of crime and anyone harboring such evil tendencies be warned,” said SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan.
-TDN
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Brisbane – Russia’s Cold War-style standoff with the West sent a chill through G20 talks aimed at heating up the world economy on Saturday, as leaders kicked off a summit in Australia.
Global warming also emerged as a focus for leaders including Barack Obama, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping of China, posing another distraction for the Australian hosts after they had committed to confining the Brisbane summit to an ambitious growth agenda.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott reminded his fellow G20 leaders that together their countries amount to 85% of the planet’s gross domestic product and 65% of its population.
The world is going through anxious times and wants reassurance “that there are people who know what they’re doing, that there are people who have a plan, a plan for growth and for jobs”, he said at the start of the weekend deliberations.
Abbott also urged the leaders to use first names in addressing each other, “because whatever disagreements we might have, I think it helps if there can at least be personal warmth amongst us”.
‘Ice Cold War’
Yet Abbott himself came into the summit locked in a war of words with Putin over the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over Ukraine in July.
Australian anger at Putin was underlined by the Saturday edition of Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper. Its front page showed an Australian kangaroo boxing a growling Russian bear, over the headline “Ice Cold War”.
While the Ukraine crisis does not figure in the formal G20 deliberations, tackling climate change, Ebola and Islamist terrorism are expected to feature in the leaders’ final declaration on Sunday.
In Brisbane, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon echoed former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s fears that tensions between Russia and the West had brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War.
“In the heart of Europe, the Ukrainian conflict has raised the fear of Cold War-style divisions that can impact our collective efforts to solve problems… this has global implications in all aspects,” he told reporters, urging G20 leaders to debate the issue.
Putin in the hot seat
Putin arrived in Brisbane facing an icy reception after the prime ministers of Britain and Australia accused him of being a bully and harbouring imperialist ambitions in the context of the Ukraine separatist crisis.
Moscow hit back with strong language against the West that included a warning for France against further delay in handing over a warship promised under a 2011 contract, as Putin and French President Francois Hollande prepared to hold bilateral talks on Saturday evening in Brisbane.
Putin is also due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the summit, and started Saturday with a separate meeting of the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Interviewed by the TASS news agency, the Russian strongman said his government was prepared to deal with a potentially “catastrophic” fall in oil prices.
Their decline to four-year lows is a boon for growth in other G20 countries but threatens to explode Russia’s deficit and is already depressing the ruble.
An overhaul of the global energy market could be a surprise outcome of the G20 summit with plans for a new agency to protect against oil and gas supplies being used as foreign policy tools, The Australian newspaper said.
Putin also assailed other G20 countries for imposing sanctions over Ukraine and the Malaysia Airlines plane incident.
But he said he would not raise the topic of sanctions at the G20. “Why should I draw attention to this, ask for something? It’s pointless.”
Climate change
Obama meanwhile was due to announce a $3bn pledge to a UN fund aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change in the world’s poorest countries, after emerging from a pre-G20 trip to China with a pact with Xi on greenhouse gas emissions.
The conservative Abbott, a sceptic on man-made climate change, wants the G20 instead to deliver on its commitment of lifting economic growth by up to two trillion dollars in the next five years through policy reforms.
The idea in Brisbane is to flesh out the growth plan – and also to close corporate loopholes that allow some multinational companies to PAY a pittance in tax depending on where they are domiciled, after a major dispute erupted over Luxembourg’s beneficial tax deals with a slew of companies.
The prime minister of Luxembourg at the time was Jean-Claude Juncker, who is now the head of the European Union’s executive commission.
In Brisbane on Saturday Juncker defended his position over the sweetheart deals, and endorsed a global fight against tax evasion in the WORKS FROM the G20.
– AFP
De Aar – Northern Cape police on Tuesday were searching for people involved in the murder of a teenager whose naked body was found on a mountain in Sunrise, De Aar.
The 18-year-old’s body was found on Saturday, said Colonel Priscilla Naidu.
“The badly bruised body of Raumoney Marsha Candice Frolick from De Aar was found by children who were playing nearby,” she said.
“She sustained visible injuries to her face, neck and head.”
The teenager was last seen at a local tavern on Friday evening.
Sapa
Kimberley – Africans are less likely than their international peers to seek treatment for drug addiction, an expert told the national SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENTsymposium in Kimberley on Wednesday.
“According to Mr Jason Eligh of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, only one in 18 people who use drugs in Africa seek treatment, opposed to the world average of one in six,” social development spokeswoman Lumka Oliphant said in a statement.
The chairman of the Central Drug Authority, Mogotsi Kalaeamodimo, told the symposium it was important to dispel the stigma associated with DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT.
The department of social development and the Authority organised the symposium to discuss and develop methods for treating people with drug and ALCOHOL ADDICTION.
The department advocated family-based programmes to deal with social problems, including substance abuse, and educating communities about drugs.
Sapa
Bafana will be aiming for a win at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday, which would be enough to see them safely qualify for next year’s Afcon tournament, wherever it will be held
Reneilwe Letsholonyane believes that the time is right for Bafana to start scoring at home, where they are yet to notch up a single goal during this qualification campaign.
“Previously, we’d do well at home, but lose away, not even getting a draw,” Letsholonyane said on Wednesday.
“It’s different because we’re getting three points away and we’re not winning at home yet, but at least we’re getting a point, which is not bad.”
For more http://www.goal.com
Shakes Mashaba has named the Bafana Bafana starting line-up with Sean Furman set to lead the side against Sudan in the penultimate round of 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Doncaster Rovers midfielder Dean Furman has been awarded the captain’s armband and will lead the side on Saturday in place of the late Senzo Meyiwa.
Mashaba has made three changes to the line-up with Darren Keet in goals, while Orlando Pirates midfielder Oupa Manyisa comes in for Mandla Masango and Anele Ngcongca replaces the suspended Thulani Hlatshwayo.
For more http://www.kickoff.com
London – More details about what drove a South African woman to suffocate her three disabled children in a fit of depression before trying to kill herself will be heard by a court on Friday, reported the UK-based Press Association.
The case against Tania Clarence, 42, who has admitted the manslaughter of Olivia, 4, and 3-year-old twins Ben and Max by diminished responsibility will be outlined at the Old Bailey in London.
Accepting her plea last month, prosecutor Zoe Johnson QC said the mother-of-four killed the children “because she wanted to end their suffering” and at the time “she could not see any alternative or any other way out of their joint suffering”.
Justice Nigel Sweeney will hear the facts of the case and mitigation, but will sentence at a later date.
The court has heard that Clarence confessed to killing the children at her home in the wealthy south-west London suburb of New Malden on 22 April.
She left three notes before allegedly smothering the children, who all had type two spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a condition which affects muscle strength.
She then tried to kill herself by taking a DRUGoverdose and slashing her wrists.
Clarence was discovered bleeding and crying by her nanny and a neighbour, who had gone to the home after becoming concerned for her safety.
They arrived at 21:00 to find the home in darkness and put on a light on a mobile phone before going upstairs, calling out to Clarence as they went.
Johnson said they “got to the first floor and found Mrs Clarence in a bedroom”.
“She was telling them to go away, saying that it was too late, and clearly seemed disturbed and devastated.”
Asked if she had taken anything, the court heard that Clarence replied: “I took something yesterday, but it didn’t work.”
Johnson said that even from the light from the phone it was obvious she had tried to commit suicide as there was blood coming from her wrist.
Police were called and the neighbour checked if anyone else was in the house.
He opened the door into the children’s bedroom and saw the twin boys dead, but was too shocked to continue his search of the house.
The nanny told police that as she searched the house she was calling out to Clarence, but the South African shouted back: “Just go, it is too late, just go, just go.”
Police arrived at around 21:30 and the three children were pronounced dead at the scene at 21:41.
Clarence confessed to the triple killing to a female police officer at the scene, saying: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Asked why she was sorry, the tearful mother said: “I killed them. I suffocated them.”
Clarence was taken to St George’s Hospital where she was treated for a self-inflicted one-inch cut on her left wrist.
‘I’m guilty’
At the hospital she was told she was going to be taken to the police station, and cried out: “Why do I have to do this, I’m guilty,” the court heard.
Two other notes were found in the house. One discovered on top of a pile of clothes in the master bedroom read: “Gary, I don’t want to be saved please. I can’t live with the horror of what I have done. I thought the pills would work, they didn’t.”
A third note was addressed to the nanny, who was described in court as “a significant member of the family”. Its contents were not divulged.
The court heard that Clarence’s husband Gary was away in South Africa and was not due to fly home until 24 April.
Clarence was not at the Old Bailey to enter her plea in person, although her husband, an INVESTMENT banker, has attended every hearing in the case.
Children with SMA type two have weakness in their muscles which means they cannot stand unaided, may have difficulty with other movements and are vulnerable to respiratory infections.
Although it remains a life-limiting condition, improvements in care mean that most of those affected can live long and fulfilling lives.
– SAPA
The Guardian 