This weekend, of the three Absa Currie Cup openers, there was no team that was separated by more than 2 points.

The competition with a R1.8 million winners cheque started on Friday with Griquas taking on the Sharks in Durban.
The Sharks ill-discipline dealt a huge blow to their hopes of a strong start to the competition.

A try after the final whistle by Griquas replacement loose forward Carel Greeff, which Nico Scheepers converted, however, sealed the 32-30 victory.

On Saturday, the Cheetahs, despite dominating possession, trailed the Lions 16-13 at halftime. Johann Sadie then helped the Cheetahs to regain control with their bonus point try. The lions however came with on point, the match ended 30-29.

Defending champions Western Province were held to a 24 all draw by the Blue Bulls. Jean Cook scored the levelling try 2 minutes from time.

Young fly half Tony Jantjies missed a conversion in the dying seconds which denied them a victory.
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The Presidency on Monday reports that former president Nelson Mandela continues to receive treatment at the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria.

It’s now more than two months since Madiba was admitted to the hospital to be treated for a recurring lung infection.

According to the Presidency, doctors have indicated to President Jacob Zuma that Madiba is making slow, but steady progress.

The medical team also reiterated that although his health is improving, Madiba still remains in a critical condition.

On Friday, Mandela’s daughter Zindzi Mandela told media that her father is responding positively to treatment.

Zuma has once again thanked South Africans for their prayers and for keeping the former statesman in their thoughts.
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A paramedic saw a man cutting his own throat after he failed a KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) fitness test, an inquiry heard on Monday.

“He told me he was a failure and he deserved to die,” Emergency Medical Rescue Services supervisor Agrinette Shoba said.

“He was lying on his right side… holding a broken beer bottle in his right hand, and he had grabbed his throat with his left hand, and he was continuing to cut himself; at that stage, he was bleeding profusely,” Shoba said.

Shoba was testifying before a commission of inquiry in Pietermaritzburg about the death of Sanele Ngcobo, who was found with a 13cm wound across his neck after taking part in the fitness test.

The commission is probing the deaths of eight people who took part in a four kilometre run at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg.

There were no signs indicating that there was a struggle. He had the bottle neck on his neck, half of the bottle was behind him.

The race formed part of a fitness test for RTI job applicants. More than 34 000 people qualified to apply for 90 advertised RTI trainee posts. Of these, 15 600 attended a fitness test on December 27, and a similar number on December 28.

Shoba said she was called by a young man, who told her there was someone outside the stadium who was screaming and bleeding.
She went to investigate and found Ngcobo.

“There were no signs indicating that there was a struggle. He had the bottle neck on his neck, half of the bottle was behind him,” Shoba said.

“I commented on how he was smartly dressed and how he did not seem to come from a poor family. I said I see no reason for him to do something so painful.”

At the time of his death, Ngcobo was in his final year of study for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Zululand. He was also the father of a three-month-old boy.

Shoba said when she spoke to Ngcobo he was cutting himself and he could understand what was going on.

His eyes were open, he could respond to instructions and he was verbally responsive.

“I could see how deep his wound was as he was talking, I could see bubbles coming out of his wound, his trachea was cut,” she said.
In July, Ngcobo’s aunt ,Thembi, told the commission that her nephew was desperate to find a job because he wanted to take over raising his son.

Shoba described the participants treated at the stadium as being dehydrated, hysterical and disorientated.

“They were seeing things that no other people could see. Others claimed to see their men coming to fetch them,” she said.
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Mpumalanga community safety MEC Vusi Shongwe sent condolences on Monday to the relatives of nine people who died in road accidents in the province at the weekend.

He said the province was concerned about the number of fatal accidents that continued to happen on weekends. “We continue to strengthen law enforcement and education on our roads. However, we can never win the battle of curbing the scourge of road accidents if road users are still ignoring and violating traffic rules.”

The first accident happened on Friday between Badplaas and Carolina near Buffalo Valley Farm. The driver of a Renault sedan lost control and three of the four occupants, the driver and two passengers, died. The fourth passenger was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Shongwe said the second accident happened on Saturday when two cars collided head-on at Zakheni Bridge between KwaMhlanga and Moloto Roads on the R573. The two drivers and a passenger died and two passengers were seriously injured.

On Sunday afternoon, a Toyota Quantum travelling between Standerton and Morgenzon left the road after a tyre burst, leaving three passengers dead and 12 others seriously injured.
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Police in the Northern Cape say the situation at Kutlwano Township near Windsorton remains volatile after the community went on the rampage on Sunday.

They stormed and looted 10 tuck-shops belonging to foreign nationals. The incident was sparked by the shooting of a 23-year-old parolee, Frennie Meit by the police.

Meit allegedly stabbed one of the police officers while being questioned at the police station a few minutes after his arrest for theft.

The community retaliated by attacking foreign nationals as well as looting their shops.

More police were deployed to the area, and 10 people were arrested for public violence.

Police spokesperson Sergio Kock says, “The situation is stable and the police are currently there. The public service K9 and the flying squad are monitoring the situation. They are still there and they say it’s stable although we have intensified patrols.”

He adds that they will continue to monitor the area.
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Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Co-operative Governance Minister, Lechesa Tsenoli, are meeting with the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro leadership in Port Elizabeth to assess the financial status and the stability of the metro.

This after several meetings with senior government officials, including Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to rescue the embattled municipality from collapse.

Gordhan says: “We are here to generally evaluate the financial health of this metro and its institutional health. We are here to work with you, to build on the successes you have and the good things that are working in this city but equally to understand your challenges better so that we can assist you with those challenges and surely they can’t be about R2 million or R3 million that need to be attended to one way or another.”

Gordhan adds that the Metro is important in growing the province’s economy.

“Nelson Mandela Bay Metro is a very vital city in the province of the Eastern Cape. It’s a metro as you know by definition, it’s a kingpin or a queenpin, it’s key to the economic and social and developmental welfare of both the region that it dominates but also the province more generally as well.”
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Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini says divisions within the federation will not result in a split. This after the National Union of Metalworkers ( Numsa) launched a scathing attack on Dlamini, accusing him of factionalism.

Numsa also wants the federations’s Special Central Executive Committee(CEC) meeting scheduled for Wednesday to be cancelled. The CEC has been called to discuss the recent sex scandal involving Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

Dlamini says the organisation belongs to its members and it will sail through any difficulties it confronts as it grows.

“I have full confidence in Cosatu’s ability to deal with its own challenges and also to deal with the national challenges, it’s capable of growing and going through this one without a split,” explained Dlamini.

Numsa says the Cosatu president is fanning the flames.

“Part of his responsibilities is to ensure that Cosatu is united all the time, that Cosatu implements its resolutions. But it’s not to impose his views in the public about so and so having brought Cosatu into disrepute,” says Numsa president Cedric Gina

“We don’t take lightly the views from the Cosatu president who has had prior knowledge of the matter to say that Vavi has brought Cosatu into disrepute. So why are you calling the CEC then; what must the CEC do when you’ve already decided this is the outcome of the CEC,” added Gina.

Vavi has apologised to the nation for his part in a sex scandal. But Cosatu’s general secretary is still facing another probe.

He’s accused of maladministration in relation to the sale of the old Cosatu house. Some believe this is the battle before the war.

Analyst Tinyinko Maluleke says it’s soon going to be worse off than it is. He says that it’s best for Cosatu to seek a neutral body for the Vavi saga because no one is neutral.
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The fatal shooting of a Lonmin union leader on the eve of the anniversary of Marikana tragedy undermines peace efforts and calls for united action to unmask those behind the spate of violence that has claimed lives within the mining sector in recent months, North West Premier Thandi Modise said in condemning the gruesome murder on Monday.

The female shop steward was reportedly shot outside her house near the National Union of Mines (NUM) offices at the Western Platinum division around 10:00 am.

“We are saddened by this cruel and senseless act. We have repeatedly called on AMCU and NUM to engage constructively instead of resorting to strong arm tactics and repugnant acts of crime to bully each other,” said Premier Modise.

“One death in the ongoing conflict is a death too many as it reopens old wounds. Those who do not value life nor committed to coexistence are not only a threat to peace and stability but to the livelihoods of miners in the area,” stressed Modise.

A series of assassinations have characterised the rivalry between NUM and its rival the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

The latest murder comes just a week after the killing of a 49-year-old Lonmin worker and a taxi owner.

“It appalling that we still have people who still resort to these vicious acts in spite of the Marikana Peace Accord and the Framework for Peace and Stability signed early this year,” said the concerned Modise.

“We wish to convey our condolences to the family and call on the community to provide police with information that will assist them in their investigation,” said the Premier reiterating her previous call for intensified law enforcement to ensure that peace and stability prevails.
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Durban – Slain KwaZulu-Natal councillor Makhosonke Msibi was a “visionary and hard-working” leader, the ANC said on Monday.

“Comrade Msibi, 48, was one of the comrades who recruited thousands of members for the ANC in Ulundi since he joined our movement.

“We have lost a person who ensured that the ANC was on course to emerge as the dominant force in the area generally and in particular at the next election in Nongoma,” said provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala.

Msibi was the branch chairman of the ANC in Ulundi. He was shot dead on Sunday.

KwaZulu-Natal police said a man shot him several times at his home.

“We can confirm that an ANC councillor was shot dead at his home on Sunday at 7pm,” Lt-Col Vincent Mdunge said.

He said a man knocked at the door soon after the councillor had returned home from a meeting in Nongoma. His son opened the door and a man asked to see the councillor.

“The man fired shots at him when he emerged. He tried to run into his bedroom but it was too late… he suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was declared dead at the scene.”

He said the motive for the shooting was not known and no arrest had been made. A case of murder was opened.

Zikalala said political killings were an indication of political bankruptcy and immaturity among those who had been rejected by the people of the province.

“The perpetrators should learn from history. These acts simply serve to make us even more determined to entrench full democracy and free political activity throughout KwaZulu-Natal.”

He said Msibi was shot dead barely hours after he had returned from a ceremony welcoming hundreds of new members from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the National Freedom Party (NFP) in Nongoma.

KwaZulu-Natal co-operative governance MEC Nomusa Dube said she was saddened by the councillor’s murder.

“We are deeply saddened by the brutal killing of one of the committed and tireless servants in the field of local government in the province,” she said in a statement.

“We do not know the cause and the motive. We are, however, worried that the killing of councillors is becoming a disturbing trend, noting that it is not happening for the first time,” she said.

“If this cowardly use of violence was carried out with the intention to subvert the will of the people it will not succeed.”

Zululand District Municipality mayor and NFP president Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi called on police to arrest those involved in the killing of Msibi.

“I call on police to investigate and arrest the perpetrators, as we do not want our province to be involved in political violence once again. It is worrying when political leaders are getting killed especially when electioneering intensifies.”

KaMagwaza-Msibi is not related to the slain councillor.

She also called for political tolerance in the area ahead of the national elections next year.

“I call on the people of Zululand to practice political tolerance as the 2014 elections campaign intensifies… We know the terrible pain that came with political violence and we don’t want our province to experience that painful past again,” she said.

The ANC Youth League said Msibi’s death was a great loss to the people of Ulundi and the ANC.

“To us, comrade Msibi was not only a leader, but also a father, and for him to be gunned down in a senseless manner like this in his home where he was supposed to be safe is really disheartening,” said Nontembeko Boyce, convenor of the provincial task team.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions said it was shocked and angered at the murder of Msibi.

“The use of murder, and issuing death threats, to resolve political disputes is absolutely repulsive and a grave threat to our democracy,” said spokesman Patrick Craven.

“The practice (political killings) must be stamped out, and the maximum sentences imposed on all those found guilty.”

Sapa

Johannesburg – Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane should give clarity on the future of provincial police commissioner Mzwandile Petros, the DA said on Monday.

Democratic Alliance MPL Kate Lorimer said Petros’s contract would expire on August 15.

“The premier must indicate whether the executive has been consulted, and explain the delays in clarifying the future of this position,” she said.

Earlier this month, police spokesman Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale said national police commissioner Riah Phiyega was handling the matter.

“Lt-General Petros and the national commissioner General Riah Phiyega are in discussions about his contract and other matters… Phiyega will make an announcement in this regard in the near future,” said Makgale.

Lorimer said an update was needed on what was happening.

“If the premier and… Phiyega are at loggerheads over Gauteng’s top cop, we deserve to know,” she said.

Lorimer said the uncertainty surrounding Petros’s contract did not help the fight against crime, or the morale of the police service in the province.

Mokonyane’s spokesman Thebe Mohatle said he could not immediately comment on the matter.

“Any matter pertaining to that will be duly communicated when the time is right,” he said.

Petros served as provincial commissioner of the Western Cape for seven years and has held his current position in Gauteng for almost three years.

Sapa