The Siya crew have been reliably informed that Kaizer Chiefs are due to appeal the two-game ban handed down to coach Stuart Baxter.

Baxter, who took charge of the Chiefs bench at the beginning of the current season, was shown a red card during the weekend’s 2-1 win over United FC in the Nedbank Cup, after reportedly using ‘abusive language towards the assistant referee’ and prompting Victor Gomes to send him to the stands.

As it stands Baxter will miss Chiefs’ last two PSL games of the season, against SuperSport United and University of Pretoria, but will be back in time to lead them out in the Nedbank Cup final later this month.

However, a source within the club has told the Siya crew that they believe Baxter’s sending off was incredibly harsh and are hoping to appeal the ban and have him back on their bench for their next Absa Premiership outing on May 15.

The Glamour Boys, however, will have to wait before appealing the ban, as they cannot make any appeal against the red card until Gomes’ match report has been made available to the league.

In a recent game Gomes seemed to have sent Orlando Pirates coach Roger de Sa to the stands, but because there was no mention of the sending off in his match report, De Sa was back on the club’s bench for the next game.

For more http://www.soccerladuma.com

Johannesburg – Dismissed Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] workers arrived to picket at the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) head office in Johannesburg on Monday.

“We are at the doors of the union, we are not fighting. We want national to assist us very urgently to get our jobs back,” said Phenyo Ohentswe, spokesperson for the group from Kuruman, in the Northern Cape.

“The branch and the region are dragging their feet on our case. We have lost properties and our children are no longer in school since we were dismissed in October last year.”

He said 120 workers had been fired for not attending disciplinary hearings.

“The workers are innocent. The hearings were not communicated to us.”

He said they had travelled more than 700km to plead with the national leaders of the NUM to talk to the company about reinstating them.

“We are not fighting. We want help from the national office.”

NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said the union had intervened and that some workers had been reinstated.

“The union could only talk on labour matters. Some of them are still appearing in court. We cannot negotiate with the magistrate to release them,” he said.

Seshoka said the workers seized mine machinery during an illegal strike last year, and refused to listen to the union’s plea that they go back to work.

“This was a serious offence (seizing mine machinery). We talked to them at that time they did not want to listen.”

The workers went on a wildcat strike in October, demanding a monthly salary of R15 000 for all Kumba employees.

They seized heavy mining equipment including giant trucks and bulldozers.

The police recovered the equipment and arrested 40 workers.

Seshoka said some of the workers had moved their membership to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), but now that they were in trouble they wanted the NUM to intervene.

Their strike followed wildcat strikes in the platinum and gold sectors, where workers ditched their union representation and decided to elect a committee of workers to negotiate for them.

At Lonmin Mine in Marikana, outside Rustenburg, workers obtain huge increases in September, after a violent strike in which 44 people died, 34 of them at the hands of the police.

-Sapa

Cape Town – Twelve South African pilots on a trip to raise awareness for cancer were arrested in Namibia at the weekend, it was reported on Monday.

The pilots were arrested at Ondangwa Airport on Saturday, apparently because their flight documents were not in order, the Cape Times reported.

They were released early on Sunday morning after a court found their arrest to be unlawful.

However, police refused to allow them to leave the country in their light aircraft, which had been “quarantined” until their flight papers were rectified.

According to the newspaper, the group of 20 left South Africa on 27 April on a 16-day flight trip across Botswana and Namibia.

The trip was partly a holiday and partly to raise awareness and fund for the Cancer Association of SA, which endorsed the trip.

“It’s a complete mess. We still have no permission to fly and may not fly until there is some sort of communication between the police and the Civil Aviation Authority,” trip organiser Larry McGillewie told the Cape Times.

The pilots’ lawyer, Farieda Kishi, said there had been a “procedural error” when the pilots were issued with a certificate of competency, but not a permit for landing.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Pupils are not taught to think, to solve problems or to read independently because most of their teachers do not know how to teach these skills, it was reported on Monday.

The first national evaluation of how pupils in Grades 1, 2 and 3 are taught showed that teaching was poor, that children’s ability to read was weak, and that they were likely to struggle for the rest of their lives, The Times reported.

According to the newspaper, basic education department researchers assessed the three grades in 133 urban schools last year.

They found that many teachers did not know how to inculcate problem solving and analysis skills, and concluded that the “billions” of rand spent on teacher training and development in the past 10 years had failed to produce results in the classroom.

The department’s development unit head Nick Taylor reportedly said teachers’ poor subject knowledge was “arguably the fundamental problem in the school system”.

According to The Times, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said in releasing the report that the department was particularly concerned about pupils’ poor levels of reading, especially those in the first few years of schooling.

– SAPA

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says it is meeting on Monday with all its branches to consolidate their salary demands for the gold and coal sectors.

This as South African mines express concern about the NUM’s indication that workers will demand a double digit wage increase this year. The mining industry is still reeling from months of violent strikes where workers demanded salary hikes of between R12 500 and R16 000.

NUM spokesperson, Lesiba Seshoka says the union has taken a decision that workers should receive a double-digit increase. Seshoka says they will meet with the Chamber of Mines next week to present their demands.

Gold producer, Harmony Gold is the latest to post a third-quarter loss caused by production shortfalls following labour unrest last year. Harmony Gold says it fell into the red following the temporary closure of its Kusasalethu mine because of union rivalry and violence.

Analysts say South Africa’s gold, platinum and coal producers have been agreeing to above-inflation wage increases for years, but steeply rising power and other costs mean another round of big wage hikes would push many into the red. 

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

Major-General Charl Annandale will be in the witness stand for a third consecutive week at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry in Rustenburg in the North West on Monday. 

Advocate George Bizos for the legal resource centre will continue to cross-examine Annandale.  Last week Bizos asked why Annandale did not accept personal responsibility for what had happened at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana on August the 16th last year. 

However, Advocate for the police Ismael Semenya objected to the question. Bizos is also expected to ask Annandale about what he termed the side-lining of the overall commander Major General William Mpembe. 

Bizos found it strange that Mpembe left in a police helicopter as soon as he heard that a shooting incident had taken place at Wonderkop. He had also argued last weeek that the police had limited resources during the August 16 shootings, leading to their plan resulting into a disaster.

Last week, the commission also heard that the police had experienced problems with their radio communication network. Annandale explained that only one radio channel was available to the police and that the analog system they used only allowed for one person to communicate at a time.

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

Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa was the hero of the day in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Sunday following his exploits between the sticks.

Meyiwa saved two penalties during the game, in their 1-0 loss, as he helped the team advance to the Group Stage of the CAF Champions League with a 3-2 aggregate win.

For more http://www.soccerladuma.com

Two SABC crew members who were arrested while trying to broadcast a soccer match in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been released and hope to return to South Africa on Monday, it was reported.

Two technical crew members were kicked out of the TP Mazembe Stadium, in Lubumbashi, minutes before the start of the CAF Champions League clash between Orlando Pirates and TP Mazembe on Sunday afternoon, the SABC reported.

A radio reporter’s cellphone simcard was confiscated.

The crew members were arrested, but were later released and were escorted to their hotel. According to the national broadcaster, they hoped to leave on Monday.

The matter had been taken up with the consul general in Lubumbashi, who would assist the SABC crew, international relations and co-operation spokesman Clayson Monyela was quoted as telling the SABC.

Even though Pirates lost 1-0 to TP Mazembe in the DRC, they went into the clash with a 3-1 lead from the first leg at Orlando Stadium two weeks ago, and have made it through to the group stages of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League.

The SABC broadcast the first leg of the match. It was reportedly agreed that it would also broadcast the DRC match, but this did not happen.

SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said the issue would be discussed with the relevant authorities.

Orlando Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza voiced disappointment about what had happened, and told the SABC he would raise the issue in two weeks’ time at a CAF meeting. – Sapa

President Jacob Zuma has called for diplomatic relations with India to be kept in mind when the Waterkloof wedding plane issue was considered.

Zuma said the Indian High Commission could not be blamed.

He said the Indian High Commission had made an application referring to their request to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base, but the application was wrongly handled. Zuma called for consideration of the fact that the Guptas were of another country and their issues had to be handled with understanding.

The Cabinet on Friday announced a seven-day investigation into the debacle and five officials have been put on special leave or suspended.

In a statement, the Gupta family said it was “flabbergasted” by the publicity surrounding the wedding of Vega Gupta and Aakash Jahajgarhia at Sun City last week, and distanced itself from alleged incidents of racism and impropriety at the nuptials.

The family has also issued “a general apology to all affected, including the South African and Indian governments, the local authorities, the South African public and especially our guests” following an outcry after wedding guests from India landed at Waterkoof.

“We also regret any incidents at the Sun City venue of which the family was unaware. The allegations of racism regarding the staff are definitely untrue. If there was an isolated incident involving any of our guests, the Gupta family apologies unreservedly to any party affected.

“Vega and Aakash were in fact given a spontaneous send-off by the largely black service staff, reducing the family to tears of appreciation,” the family said, expressing surprise at reports of racism by guests against black staff at Sun City.

The family also set the record straight on the reports of “racism and an incident of attempted sexual advancement” by stating that the family was not involved in the recruitment of any staff.

“In fact, months before the event, it was brought to our attention that a service provider had advertised for white butlers. We immediately corrected that approach as our commitment to employment equity goes beyond legal requirements towards our moral obligation. This applies to both our business and private lives.”

Sun City MD Richard Hawkins said he had not received any complaints of racism from his staff. “It’s all been coming through third parties and we have not received any complaints from staff.

“Any issues of racism would be investigated in full if they come through,” Hawkins said.

The Gupta statement added: “Sun City management were left with the responsibility to deploy staff as required. The issue of bodyguards and toothbrushes etc is rejected with the contempt it deserves. It smacks of mischief-making of the worst order.”

On the alleged attempted sexual advances by guest towards a masseuse at the resort, it said: “As a family, we are obviously hugely upset by the incident. We take matters of this nature very seriously. For the record, it should be noted that guest directly requested the service from the hotel’s outsourced spa.” 

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

By Obakeng Maje

Kanana-North West police arrested a man after he allegedly raped his ex-girlfriend in Kanana Location.

“It is alleged that a 44 year-old man went to his ex-girlfriend’s house and asked to reconcile. A woman allegedly refused and ordered a man to leave” captain Adele Myburgh said.

A man allegedly negotiated his way by asking to sleep over. He was allegedly allowed to sleep in a different bedroom said police.

A 44 year-old man woke up and asked his ex to join him in bed, the argument ensued between the two which led to rape.

He allegedly fell asleep after rape and a woman called the police.

A suspect was arrested and will appear at Orkney Magistrate Court on Monday.

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