The 2013/14 MTN8 semi-finals take place this coming weekend with Kaizer Chiefs to host Orlando Pirates in the first leg of the opening encounter at FNB Stadium on Saturday, August 24. In the second semi-final, Platinum Stars have home advantage first up when they play Bidvest Wits at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Sunday, August 25.

Here PSL.co.za takes a look at some important MTN8 semi-final numbers.

0 – The number of times Platinum Stars and Bidvest Wits have met in a Cup contest. Surprisingly, the two fast-rising clubs of South African football have never locked horns in a knockout game.

2 – This is the number of teams that are making their MTN8 semi-final debut. Platinum Stars and Bidvest Wits have never made the last four of the competition and they face each other in the second game on Sunday. The winner will also be guaranteed a maiden MTN8 final appearance in 2013/14.

3 – Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have met three times in MTN8 semi-finals. Amakhosi have not won any of the three meetings, with the Buccaneers winning two games and the other ending in a draw. They first met in the 2010/11 semi-finals with the first leg drawn 1-1 and the second going to Pirates 1-0. Then in the 2011/12 final, Oupa Manyisa grabbed the only goal as the Orlando side won 1-0.

5 – The number of times Chiefs have appeared in the semi-finals of the season-opening competition. Amakhosi have reached the last four in every edition since the competition became known as the MTN8, apart from last season when they were beaten in the quarter-finals by Mamelodi Sundowns.

12 – This is the number of goals have been scored to date in the 2013/14 competition. There were three each in the four quarter-finals. However, this is still off the record from the previous five MTN8 competitions, with 15 scored in the opening round of 2008.

14 – The record number of time a team has won the Top Eight Cup since its inception in 1972. There’s no guessing who the most successful team is, it is Kaizer Chiefs with 14 titles, followed by Orlando Pirates with nine.

19 – Chiefs and Pirates have met in 19 previous Cup matches over the years. Amakhosi have a slight edge with eight wins compared to the Buccaneers’ six. Five matches have been draws with two of those settle on penalty shootouts, both won by Chiefs.

Cape Town – With over 500 rhino killed in South Africa this year, the point is nearing where the population will begin to decline, a conservation organisation has said.

“Things are looking pretty depressing right now, I think everyone would agree. We’re also getting ever closer to the point where the numbers actually do start declining,” Dr Jo Shaw, Rhino Co-ordinator for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-SA) told News24.

According to the department of environmental affairs (DEA), 553 rhino have been poached in SA so far this year. This is on course to nearly double the 668 total of 2012, which was also significantly higher than the 448 poached in 2011.

Nearly half, or 345 rhino, were poached in the Kruger National Park, according to the DEA.

Despite the public outcry and several military-style operations by rangers to arrest poachers, the impact has not resulted in a significant reduction in poaching.

Poaching chain

“I don’t think there’s any one simple solution, and I don’t think there’s any one simple problem,” said Shaw.

The DEA said that 148 poachers have been arrested in 2013, compared to 267 last year, and 232 in 2011, but the WWF said that the focus should be pointed to Asia while continuing to target local poachers.

“I absolutely agree Asia is the root of the problem – obviously in South Africa we must do as much as we can to protect the rhino, but that’s not going to solve the problem. I think that’s a key point,” Shaw argued.

She said that the criminals operating higher up the poaching chain needed to be targeted.

“I would like to be seeing more arrests higher up the trade chain in this country. We do need to see, even at a national level, more significant arrests further up. That is something that could make an impact in the shorter term.”

Shaw echoed the sentiment that poaching syndicates had evolved into organised criminal gangs that operated across national borders.

“These are organised criminal syndicates who are involved in many black market products and they’re not necessarily sitting in Vietnam – for example, there are known individuals in Thailand and elsewhere,” she said.

Corruption

According to Cites (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), poachers are heavily armed in their determination to kill rhino.

“AK47 assault rifles and 303 calibre rifles have been the most commonly used weapons but, recently, heavier calibre arms (eg .375s and .458s) are now being used,” Cites said.

The reality of corruption was illustrated in Mozambique with allegations that rangers turned on the rhino they were meant to protect.

“It is tragic beyond tears that we learn game rangers have now become the enemy in the fight to protect rhino from being poached for their horns,” said Kelvin Alie, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Wildlife Crime and Consumer Awareness programme.

Rhino are virtually extinct in Mozambique and it is likely that poachers will move to exploit South Africa’s rhino as demand drives up the price of the horn, which is made of the same material as hair and fingernails.

Shaw said that anti-poaching should be focused on intermediaries who provide direct or indirect support to poachers.

“Yes, there are serious challenges in Vietnam around law enforcement and if you look along the trade chain, there are also serious challenges in transit countries like Mozambique.”

For more http://www.news24.com

Pretoria – A Pretoria East woman who admitted to having sex with dogs will spend the next year under correctional supervision, a court has ruled. 

Jana Smit’s sentence handed down by the Pretoria Regional Court last week included 192 hours of cleaning city institutions and must attend several rehabilitation programmes, the Pretoria News reported. 

Smit had previously told the court she performed the acts to please her then lover Morne Fourie.

She was also sentenced for the procurement of a child to produce pornography. 

Her name will also be placed on the national sexual offenders register. 

Smit said in her explanation of plea that Fourie gradually indoctrinated her during their two-year relationship. 

She indicated she had known her actions were wrong and that she would be punished if caught. 

News24

Pretoria – State prosecutors will be seeking a mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment for Oscar Pistorius when he goes on trial in March 2014 for murdering Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day this year.  

It appears the prosecution will rely on witness statements that screams were heard coming from Pistorius’s house before and after several gunshots rang out, Eyewitness News reported.

The State has a list of 107 witnesses it will call on, including neighbours, police officers, ex-girlfriends of Pistorius and the athlete’s sister Aimee.

Pistorius claims the shooting was an accident as he believed there was an intruder locked in the bathroom but the State is alleging that it was pre-meditated murder.

But the State will also argue that even if his version is believed, by firing four gunshots blindly through the locked toilet cubicle door, Pistorius intended to kill the person behind it.

The athlete’s legal team now have six months to start preparing for trial. 

News24

Johannesburg – Nelson Mandela has countless streets named after him, his own foundation, his own fan page and now his own social network.

The website mandela.is allows users, called “citizens”, to connect, share inspirational thoughts, photos and articles in an effort to emulate the apartheid icon’s positive impact on the world.

The site is the brain-child of two Mandela grandsons and it was set up by the company behind Lady Gaga’s online social community littlemonsters.com.

“It’s a social network around the inspiration my grandfather gave to the world,” said Ndaba Mandela, 30.

“People can share what Mandela inspired them to do, to give back to their communities.”

Hospitalisations

Few people today command the same global adoration as Mandela, 95, who for many embodies peace and forgiveness.

He walked free after 27 years in jail for opposing apartheid and united a deeply divided SA as its first black president in 1994.

Four years ago the UN declared his birthday on 18 July Mandela Day – calling on people around the world to spend 67 minutes doing good for others to mark the number of years he spent as an activist.

But four hospitalisations in a year are a reminder of Mandela’s old age and mortality.

He has spent over two months in hospital for a critical lung infection and is on life support machines.

“We only celebrate our icons, our leaders when they have passed away,” Ndaba said.

“We came together as a family and said ‘guys, let’s not wait until he is dead, let us start the celebration now [while] he is still moving, talking, communicating,'” said Ndaba.

Business

Entrepreneur Ndaba developed the idea with his cousin Kweku, 28, who has a background in entertainment and marketing.

The cousins’ parents Makgatho and Makaziwe are Mandela’s children with his first wife Evelyn Mase, whom he divorced in 1958.

Mandela.is quietly launched in March this year.

Still in the beta phase, it has around 1 000 members, some of them already vocal.

Kukogho Samson, a 28-year-old Nigerian journalist, often posts his poems:

“Seek the honour in doing good: A word to sweeten sour mood, A loaf for mouths that lack, A cloth to cover naked back.”

Kathleen Ndongmo, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Cameroon, is outspoken about justice in Africa, lashing out at child marriage in Nigeria and corruption in Guinea.

The platform combines features from Facebook and Twitter into one site where users post information, pictures and multimedia.

Posts are tagged with key words like “inspire”, “everyday heroes”, and “random act of kindness”, which facilitates searches by other members.

“Rather than focus on Nelson Mandela’s singular achievements, our goal is to engage a global community in dialogue about the inspiring acts of those all around us,” the site states.

“This is a business like any other business,” said Ndaba, though he insists the priority is “to create a platform that is credible, respectable and enjoyable by users”.

“It’s not about the money, but to make the people understand who is Nelson Mandela and give back to their communities,” he said.

AFP

Pretoria – The first witness will start testifying at the Seriti Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on Tuesday.

This was part of the first phase of the public hearings into the country’s arms deal where several government departments and entities would be called to make presentations.

Navy members from the department of defence and military veterans were expected to be first.

First phase

The commission officially started on Monday with evidence leader Tayob Aboobaker and Ramagaga Matshego giving opening statements outlining the commission’s processes.

Aboobaker said the first phase of the commission dealt with executive justification.

Matshego said the defence department, arms procurement parastatal Armscor, and the national treasury would make presentations on the rationale behind the armaments acquisition.

The SA Navy, SA Air Force, and Armscor would address the commission on the utilisation or non-utilisation of the equipment.

The trade and industry department would give evidence on the “realisation of job opportunities and the offsets anticipated to flow” from the arms deal.

“The evidence to be presented during this first phase will be limited to the terms of reference [of the commission] which deals with the rationale, utilisation, and the offsets, including jobs [from the arms deal],” she said.

Delay

The commission’s official opening, after a five-month delay, was postponed on 5 August after it was decided that time was needed to decide how to proceed with declassifying documents relevant to the inquiry.

In a statement the commission said the main reason for the adjournment was the resignation of one of the commissioners, Judge Francis Legodi.

This resulted in the remaining two commissioners, Judge Willie Seriti and Free State Judge President Thekiso Musi, not being properly constituted.

President Jacob Zuma had since decided that the commission would continue with just two commissioners.

Seriti on Monday made it clear that the commission was properly constituted.

SAPA

Aisha Fundi did not return to the site where the body of her husband Hassan was found, after he was brutally killed by striking Lonmin mineworkers a year ago.

“It’s like living it all over again. It takes your breath away. I would rather not go back there.”

Instead Fundi chose to join the mine employees in prayer earlier in the week to remember her security guard husband who with his colleague Frans Mabelane was attacked and their vehicle torched five days before 34 mineworkers were shot dead by police.

“I have a young daughter who was like a princess to him and it hurts badly every day to see how much she misses her dad,” Fundi said. “Life has been nothing but difficult for us.”

She is not alone.

In Potchefstroom on Tuesday, Elizabeth Maubane joined the North West police in a day of prayer to honour her brother, Tsietsi Monene, and his colleague, Warrant Officer Sello Lepaaku, who were killed in Marikana last year.
For more http://www.iol.co.za