Bafana Bafana give Letsholonyane an early birthday present

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Bafana Bafana’s victory over the Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday was an early and a perfect birthday present for midfielder Reneilwe Letsholonyane who turned 31 on Sunday.

Bafana Bafana beat CAR 3-0 in a 2014 World Cup qualifier on Saturday with Letsholonyane playing a pivotal role in that crushing victory.

“It was a great game for us, three great goals and three valuable points, but personally it was an early present for me a day before my birthday and I would like to thank every member of the squad for making me enjoy my birthday in such a wonderful way, far away from home,” said Letsholonyane.

“It was not an easy game, playing away from home and above all, we did not prepare the way we wanted to. However, it did not affect us much because we knew what to expect. It was difficult in the beginning as they also needed points, and they tried to unsettle us playing in our half. Getting that first goal was crucial as it settled our nerves.”

The dreadlocked midfielder said the mission was not completely accomplished as there was the issue of Sunday’s match against Group A log leaders Ethiopia.

“We have to beat Ethiopia; there are no two ways about it. I had a feeling that they were going to win in Botswana because they are a stronger side, but then that is good because it means we have to do the business ourselves and not depend on the next team to help us qualify. It is as simple as that. We have to beat Ethiopia and top the group before we play our last qualifier against Botswana at home,” added Letsholonyane.

“But this one is going to be more difficult because it is an away game in the true sense of the word and with all their supporters behind them; it is going to be one hell of a game.

“We have to work extra hard to get the points as this is mostly likely to be the group decider. Whoever loses will have to play catch up and with only one match remaining it is going to be very hard if not impossible. If we lose this match, we have to depend on CAR to stop Ethiopia when we play Botswana, and that is not an ideal situation we want to find ourselves in.”

Letsholonyane has made 40 appearances for Bafana Bafana since his debut in September 2008 in an international friendly match against Malawi in Germiston.

Following Saturday’s match, the players were given a break on Sunday, but had a light training session in the swimming pool of the hotel.

Then it was off to the residence of the South African High Commissioner accredited to Cameroon and CAR, Her Excellency Ms Zanele Makina where Bafana Bafana were invited for lunch.

Ms Makina, accompanied by President of the South African Football Association Kirsten Nematandani, presented Letsholonyane with a birthday cake.

In return, head coach Gordon Igesund and captain Itumeleng Khune handed over a signed jersey to the High Commissioner.
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Ban on Mandela visitors – report

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Johannesburg – Newspapers speculated on the health of former president Nelson Mandela on Monday morning, more than two days since the last update on his condition was made public.

“Mandela Lockdown”, read The Star newspaper’s front page headline, accompanied by a report on his family apparently banning government and senior African National Congress officials from visiting the anti-apartheid icon.

Without citing sources, The Star said it “understood” that the family had barred visitors.

It quoted “three highly placed government sources” who said Mandela’s condition was “scary”.

No new updates

The presidency issued a statement on Saturday morning, saying he was in a “serious but stable” condition after being admitted to a Pretoria hospital early on Saturday morning due to a recurring lung infection.

But since then, no official update has been available.

The Times newspaper reported on Monday morning that there had been no change in his condition.

“No news as world holds its breath,” read the daily’s headline.

Beeld quoted ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu as saying nobody knew when “God would call Madiba”.

The Sowetan’s front page read: “Nation unites in prayer”, quoting unnamed family members saying his condition had not changed and was “still serious”.

Meanwhile, Wikipedia’s page on Mandela was vandalised, and “updated”, saying he died on 9 June, but this was quickly fixed again.

At the weekend, a fake Twitter account using talk show host Piers Morgan’s name, announced the “tragic news” that Mandela had died in his sleep. This was retweeted more than 1 300 times. But it soon became clear in the Twitter-sphere that the tweet was a hoax.

Hospital stays

Mandela has been in and out of hospital in the past few years. In April this year, he spent nine days in hospital receiving treatment for recurring lung problems.

In December last year, Mandela underwent an operation to remove gallstones and treat the recurring lung infection. He was discharged after an 18-day stay and placed under home-based high care at his Houghton home.

In January, the presidency said Mandela had made a full recovery from the surgery and continued to improve. In February last year he was admitted to hospital for a stomach ailment.

In January 2011, a virtual void of information marked Mandela’s admission to Johannesburg specialist care Milpark Hospital. With very little information to go on at that time, speculation was rife and reports of his death started running on social networks.

Finally, on 28 January 2011, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and Surgeon General Vejaynand Ramlakan addressed a media briefing on his health.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation, which customarily managed publicity for the 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, only broke its silence on Monday 31 January.

This was after then Sunday Independent editor Makhudu Sefara wrote an item called “The making of an unnecessary crisis”.

– SAPA

Media wait for news on Mandela

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Pretoria – A media scrum was still outside a hospital in Pretoria on Monday morning where former president Nelson Mandela was believed to have been admitted.

Despite the cold weather, numerous reporters and photographers were monitoring the two entrances of the big facility.

All parking spots in the street adjacent to the hospital had been taken by 7am.

More than seven outside broadcast vans were on the scene and numerous cameras were focused on the hospital entrances.

Some passers-by enquired from the journalists how Mandela was doing in hospital.

The elder statesman was admitted to hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning.

On Saturday, the presidency issued a statement saying Mandela was in a “serious but stable” condition and suffering from a recurring lung infection.

But, since then, no official update has been available. – Sapa

Malema’s farm up for grabs

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Johannesburg – Julius Malema’s Schuilkraal farm was set to come under the hammer on Monday. Park Village Auctions was to auction off the R4 million farm outside Polokwane.

This is Malema’s second piece of immovable property to be sold off.
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Man nabbed after sister-in-law’s rape

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Johannesburg – A 29-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping his sister-in-law in Zola North, Soweto, Gauteng police said on Monday.

Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela said the man was visited by his wife’s sister on Saturday night and the three enjoyed drinks together.

After drinking, the trio then slept in the same room together.

Makhubela said the man then realised during the night that his wife was in deep sleep and not moving.

“When he saw that his wife was not moving, he went to her sister and forced himself on her. The woman tried to fight the man but did not win,” he said.

In the morning, the woman woke up and reported the matter at a police station.

The woman was taken to a doctor for medical examination.

Police then went back to the house and found the man with his wife.

“The wife was shocked when she learnt that her husband had raped her sister while she was in the same room,” Makhubela said.

The man was arrested and charged with rape.

He will appear in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. – Sapa

ANC reconsidering participation in Cape

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Cape Town – The ANC said it was reconsidering its continued participation in the Western Cape legislature, The Times reported on Monday.

This was after one of its members was asked to leave the chamber because he refused to retract his statement that Helen Suzman aimed to “kill”, according to the report.

Last month, during a debate on employment equity, African National Congress member Max Ozinsky said Suzman “wanted to kill us”.

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille objected to Ozinsky’s charge and asked deputy speaker Piet Pretorius to rule on whether it was parliamentary.

On Thursday, Pretorius ruled that Ozinsky’s claim was unsubstantiated and could open the door to tit-for-tat accusations from across the aisle of the legislature.

“(The statement) goes beyond the scope of acceptable freedom of speech, is therefore not parliamentary, and needs to be withdrawn,” he was quoted as saying.

Ozinsky refused to withdraw his statement.

The ANC on Thursday staged a walkout of the provincial legislature sitting. It claimed Pretorius’s ruling was biased.

“We will call for a rules committee meeting where the speaker (Richard Majola) and his deputy are present early this week,” ANC caucus leader Lynne Brown was quoted as saying.

The party also claimed that Pretorius’s ruling was made under pressure from the Democratic Alliance.

ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile said the party could not be part of an attempt by the DA to “sanitise” Suzman’s role in apartheid. – Sapa

“Fighter” Mandela still in hospital

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Johannesburg – Former president Nelson Mandela spent a third night in hospital on Sunday, amid prayers for the elder statesman and calls for his family and nation to “let him go”.

 

Government officials have given no update on his health since announcing that the 94-year-old was admitted early on Saturday and was in a “serious but stable” condition with a recurring lung infection.

 

“I’ve seen my father and he’s well. He’s a fighter,” his daughter Zindzi told The Guardian newspaper on Sunday.

 

But South Africans are beginning to come to terms with the mortality of their first black president and father of the “Rainbow Nation”, following a string of recent health scares.

 

‘Release him’

 

The Sunday Times newspaper’s stark front page headline was: “It’s time to let him go”.

 

It is the fourth hospital stay since December for the Nobel peace prize laureate, who turns 95 next month, after he was discharged in April following treatment for pneumonia.

 

Although the government has not identified the hospital treating Mandela, family members were seen leaving a heart clinic in Pretoria where a large media camp is gathered.

 

“We wish Madiba a speedy recovery, but I think what is important is that his family must release him,” Mandela’s long-time friend Andrew Mlangeni, 87, told the Sunday Times, using his clan name.

 

“Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow. We will say thank you, God, you have given us this man, and we will release him too,” said the former apartheid era prisoner, who was jailed for life alongside Mandela in 1964.

 

Prayers

 

Song filled the morning air at the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, a key flashpoint in the anti-apartheid struggle, as worshippers prayed for their hero.

 

“I mean Tata is 94. At 94 what do you expect?” said churchgoer Sannie Shezi, 36, using an affectionate term meaning father.

 

“He lived his life, he worked for us. All we can say is God help him. If things happen they will happen, but we still love him.”

 

Mandela’s third wife Graca Machel has been at his hospital bedside after calling off a trip to a London conference.

 

While Twitter users expressed sadness and urged a quick recovery, they were also prepared for the worst.

 

“Madiba has served us well, a real blessing a definition of a leader but it’s time to let him Go. We can’t hold on forever,” said one tweet.

 

While the official description of his health as serious was unusually sombre, presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj told AFP on Saturday that Mandela was breathing on his own.

 

“The truth of the matter is a simple one. Madiba is a fighter and at his age as long as he is fighting, he’ll be fine,” he said.

 

‘Legend in our country’

 

Cricketer AB de Villiers joined world figures, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and the White House, in sending best wishes for Mandela.

 

“He’s a legend in our country,” he said on a tour in England, voicing hope that Mandela would recover soon and “maybe even get that big 100 when it comes to birthdays”.

 

Mandela was being treated at his Johannesburg home when his condition worsened and he was taken to hospital in Pretoria at 01:30 on Saturday.

 

Pulmonologist Guy Richards told AFP that recurring pneumonia was rare unless there was previous lung damage.

 

“For example if you had tuberculosis, then often those damaged areas will be colonised with bacteria which are able to cause recurrent infections,” he said.

 

Mandela was diagnosed with early-stage tuberculosis in 1988 and also has had treatment for prostate cancer and suffered stomach ailments.

 

In December, Mandela spent 18 days in hospital, his longest as a free man.

 

In March he was admitted for a scheduled overnight check-up before returning later that month for 10 days with pneumonia.

 

Zuma in March appeared to prepare the nation for Mandela’s passing, saying it “should be thinking about” his going home.

 

Controversial television footage in April showed a frail, distant and unsmiling Mandela being visited at home by ANC leaders, sparking accusations that his party was exploiting him.

 

AFP

Let’s unite and pray for Mandela- Modise

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We owe it to world icon and former President of South Africa, Dr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela to continue to unite in prayer and trust God for his speedy recovery, North West Premier Thandi Modise said on Monday.

 

“To many across the globe, in our country and province, Tata Madiba is a unifier and a symbol of reconciliation. Though we know that he is not immortal like all of us, we are inspired by his fighting spirit and wish his family all the strength for them to unite in love and continue to give him all the support he needs. We are confidence that he is receiving the best medical care and treatment that the best of our facilities and medical specialists have to offer,” said Premier Modise.

 

“Though we should appreciate that there are a few people the world over who match Madiba’s stature as the greatest freedom fighter and statesman the world has known, the zeal to keep the public informed about his condition should not erode his dignity,” added Modise. 

 

 

A R1 rifle found abandoned in Makgobistad

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By Obakeng Maje

Makgobistad-North West police allegedly discovered an R1 rifle in a pit toilet at Manawana village on Wednesday at around 17:00.

Police got a tip-off from a member of the community regarding an abandoned firearm that was found by a passerby. “The latter allegedly saw a firearm after trying to use the toilet and called the police” said colonel Sabata Mokgwabone. 

The police immediately responded to the call and went to the scene where, upon arrival they found that the house was abandoned as there was no one staying in the premises. 

“According to information received, police discovered and removed the rifle from the shallow pit toilet, but at this stage is not yet linked to anyone.

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North West man nabbed with dagga

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By Obakeng Maje

Makgobistad-A 51 year-old suspect got a surprise of his life when police caught him on a roadblock while allegedly transporting dagga after 12 midnight. 

The suspect was arrested on Thursday while driving white Toyota Corolla along Bray road at Mokgobistad. 

“The Police were doing crime prevention around Disaneng village. They were also busy in a roadblock at about 00:30 when they arrested the suspect” colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said. 

The arrest came after a white Toyota Corolla was stopped and searched, and the police discovered dagga that weighed 500g in black plastic and confiscated it. 

“The suspect is expected to appear before Mmabatho Magistrates’ Court on Monday for dealing with dagga” Mokgwabone said. 

“To the members, this was not just a success, but a step towards shaping the future of many young people in Makgobistad that is being ruined by drugs” Zukiswa Mbombo said.

Police in the area are doing everything in their power to fight the problem. 

The Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo thanked all members for hands on approach in fighting crime and making sure that the suspects are arrested.

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