Durban – The woman who built President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead has been charged with corruption and 18 counts of fraud.
Thandeka Nene, 42, is accused of exaggerating her experience as a builder to win government tenders to the value of R118 million. She is also accused of bribing a public works official to secure the work.
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Johannesburg – A broken security fence around President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home has been fixed, the Sunday Times reported.
The newspaper reported that by Thursday afternoon, all sections of the R6.2 million outer fence had been fixed and logs that had previously been used to prop up areas which had collapsed were removed.
Two trucks belonging to a company specialising in fencing projects were also parked in the area.
The fence was erected outside the president’s 8.9ha private homestead in KwaZulu-Natal less than two years ago.
There is also a 3m-high internal fence that cost R8.2m.
On Sunday, the newspaper corrected its previous report that the Betafence Projects company had erected the collapsed fence. It said the company had only erected the inner fence which was “in good repair”.
Sapa
Johannesburg – The department of international relations was on Sunday checking up on reports that three South Africans were killed in an attack in Afghanistan.
“We are still trying to get information. But it is a weekend, so it will be difficult,” said department spokesman Clayson Monyela.
“And even if we do get information, we won’t release it until the next of kin are informed.”
The Associated Press on Sunday reported that three South African nationals and one Afghan were killed in an attack on a guesthouse in the capital Kabul.
The chief of Kabul police, Gen Mohammed Zahir, said that the head of an international aid group was killed, along with his son and daughter, on Saturday.
He gave no ages for the children, and did not identify the organisation.
Zahir said one of the three attackers wore a police uniform.
The attack was the second in as many days on guesthouses occupied by foreigners, and comes amid a spike in violence in the Afghan capital.
The US and NATO formally end their 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan on December 31.
Sapa
Johannesburg – Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi tried to intervene in a spat between actors and the founder of soap opera Generations, the Sunday Times reported.
“I was fighting for my show and this Vavi comes around and thinks he can f**k with my show,” the soap’s creator Mfundi Vundla told the newspaper.
“No way that was not going to happen.”
He said Vavi had contacted him via sms and “demanded” to speak to him following the sacking of 16 actors after they went on strike over a wage dispute in August.
Vundla said that along with Vavi, Sports and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula also tried to intervene in the matter.
A relaunch called “Generations – The Legacy” will air on SABC 1 at 8pm on Monday.
Meanwhile, a case, involving the fired actors, is still before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
Comment from Vavi was not immediately available.
Sapa
Jerusalem – An umpire and former captain of Israel’s national cricket team died on Saturday after being hit by a ball, just two days after the death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes due to a freak head injury left the sports world reeling.
The Israel cricket association said Hillel Oscar died after being hit by a ball which had just been struck by a batsman.
Oscar, 55, was officiating in a match in the southern port city of Ashdod.
ICA chief Naor Gudker told AFP Saturday’s game was the last in the national league season.
“We’re simply in shock,” he said from the hospital where Oscar was pronounced dead.
“He was an international umpire. He officiated in European championships, he officiated in games in Israel: his future was ahead of him,” Gudker said.
“He was a player for the national Israeli team and he was captain of the national team.”
Police said they were investigating his death.
“We know a ball was hit in his direction, he tried to escape it, he fell – what happened there is still being investigated,” Gudker told AFP.
“The entire Israel Cricket Association and players bow their heads in his memory. He was a wonderful man, cricketer, and umpire,” Gudker said.
Israeli police have ruled out any foul play in the incident.
Fatal accidents are rare in cricket. But Oscar’s death comes just after Australian batsman Phillip Hughes died of a severe head injury caused when he was hit by a ball during a New South Wales match in Sydney.
Hughes, who would have celebrated his 26th birthday on Sunday, collapsed face first onto the pitch after being struck by a bouncer bowled by Sean Abbott.
Hughes was wearing a helmet, but the rising ball struck him on the side of the neck in a “freakish accident”, according to the Australian team doctor Peter Brukner.
The Australian international, who played 26 test matches and 25 one day internationals for his country, died on Thursday in hospital after never regaining consciousness.
His death has sparked a spontaneous #putoutyourbats tribute, which has gone viral.
On Sunday, Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke wrote a moving birthday tribute to Hughes, calling him the brother he never had.
Clarke added he has “struggled to comprehend how this tragedy could happen to one of life’s true characters and gentlemen”. – Sapa-AFP
Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma has filed a notice to oppose Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s reported application to have access to government documents relating to Nelson Mandela’s Qunu property.
“The state attorney filed a notice to oppose the action, pending instructions from the president,” presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said on Sunday.
Maharaj could not provide details of when the notice was filed, or any other information.
In October, Madikizela-Mandela’s attorney Mvuzo Notyesi told Sapa she filed papers in the Mthatha High Court challenging Mandela’s estate, seeking the rights to his Qunu home.
Madikizela-Mandela was the former president’s second wife for 38 years.
It emerged she was left out of his will, after he died in December last year.
Madikizela-Mandela claimed Mandela may have committed land fraud when he registered a plot of land in Qunu, Eastern Cape, in his own name.
She claims that abaThembu king Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo gave her the land when Mandela was imprisoned and that it was rightfully hers. She contends that the registration of the house under Madiba’s name was unlawful and should be set aside.
The Sunday Times earlier reported that Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyers want Zuma and the Department of Rural Development to produce information that would prove the claim that the Qunu property belonged to Mandela or to prove the validity of the property’s title deed – claims that she disputes.
Sapa
Kabul, Afghanistan – The latest Taliban strike in Kabul killed a South African father running an education charity and his two teenage children, officials and the group said Sunday, as the city police chief resigned after a spate of attacks.
With the US-led NATO war against the Taliban nearing its end, the insurgents have targeted foreign compounds, embassy vehicles, US troops and a female member of parliament in recent weeks.
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By Reginald Kanyane
Potchefstroom- A collision on the N12 30 kilometres outside of Potchefstroom this morning has left one woman dead and two men critically injured.
ER24 paramedics arrived on scene and found a magled SUV lying on its side in the middle of the road.
”On closer inspection paramedics discovered that two of the occupants had been ejected from the vehicle and lay some distance away. Another lay bent over the one passenger door” ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said.
ER24 paramedics assessed the occupant near the vehicle and found that she had already succumbed to her injuries prior to the paramedics arrival.
The two remaining patients were found in a critical condition. The patients were stabilised and transported under advance life support supervision to Potchefstroom Hospital for further treatment.
Local authorities were on scene for further investigations.
-TDN
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Bokone Bophirima Provincial Government will on Monday commemorate World AIDS Day to mark the evolvement North West Province has made towards achieving long term vision of the National HIV/AIDS, STI’s and TB Strategic Plan 2012-2016 and the Millennium Development Goals.
This year, the World Aids Day theme is Zero Stigma and Discrimination, casting the spotlight on the struggles of ordinary people who often have to deal with stigma and discrimination in their communities.
Government and partners will also use the platform to sensitize communities on new policy directives, mobilize communities to get tested for HIV and get screened for TB with the aim of reducing HIV rate by 50% in 2016 and revitalize key prevention interventions by encouraging active community participation on health issues.
Premier of Bokone Bophirima Honourable Supra Obakeng Mahumapelo will deliver keynote address at the event scheduled to take place as follows:
Date : Monday, 1 December 2014
Venue : Lotlhakane Sports Ground, Mahikeng
Time : 09:00
-TDN
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Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba has made some few changes to the original Nelson Mandela Challenge squad he announced on Tuesday, 25 November to face Cote d’Ivoire in the 20th Edition of the event.
Bafana Bafana and Ivory Coast meet on Sunday, 30 November 2014 at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. The match kicks off at 15h00.
With the match not falling on a FIFA calendar, some clubs have refused to release players though most, for the sake of the late global icon’s legacy, have given coach Shakes Mashaba their unqualified support.
Kaizer Chiefs are the only club not to have released their players while Ayabulela Magqwaka (Ajax Cape Town) is facing disciplinary issues with his club and Orlando Pirates’ Oupa Manyisa has been excused in order to recuperate.
Mashaba has meanwhile brought in Brandon Petersen, Abbubakar Mobara and Thami Sangweni (all Ajax Cape Town), Chris Komane (Chippa United), Phumlani Ntshangase (Bidvest Wits), Motjeka Madisha (Mamelodi Sundowns) and Siphelele Luthuli (University of Pretoria).
“People are aware that this match falls outside the FIFA calendar and that is why we want to thank all clubs that have made their players available. All the players should be in camp by tonight as some are travelling because they played last night, while others requested to report late. Cancelling this training session (Thursday afternoon) is a not a blow because as I said, most of them played on Tuesday and Wednesday night and we would not have had a heavy session anyway,” said Mashaba.
Despite the minor setbacks of certain players withdrawing, Mashaba says the match remains important ahead of next January’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea.
“There is no national team match that is less important. Over the years we have seen the countries that come out to play against Bafana Bafana in this competition and it shows how big the Nelson Mandela Challenge has become and we can’t take this match lightly.
“But what we would like to see is that it becomes an official match in our league here at home and also on the FIFA Calendar. We need to have a fixed date where everyone knows when it will be played, because it is for a good cause. This idea started small but has grown to be an international encounter,” added Mashaba.
Bafana Bafana will travel to Mpumalanga on Friday morning (28 November). Their first stop will be a visit to the SOS Children’s Home in KaMagugu to spend some time with the little ones.
The South Africans will have their training session at the Mbombela Stadium in the afternoon (15h00).
Meanwhile, Cote d’Ivoire have already arrived in Nelspruit.
They will hold their training sessions at Ingwenyama Lodge on Friday, 28 November at 15h00 and at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday, 29 November also at 15h00.
-TDN
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The Guardian 