Former Bafana Bafana captain Bongani Khumalo’s future with English Premiership outfit Tottenham Hotspur looks uncertain and there is a possibility that he may be offloaded at the end of the season.

Khumalo spent last season in Greece on-loan to Paok FC. The former SuperSport United defender also spent time with Reading in England before moving to Greece.

In a chat with KickOff.com, Khumalo’s business manager Glyn Binkin confirms that Spurs have not yet informed them about the players future at the club.

“Bongani is still contracted to Tottenham Hotspur and has two-years left on his contract.

“The club has not notified us about anything but we are weighing up our options,” Binkin says.
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DOCTOR Khumalo will be Kaizer Chiefs’ stand-in coach in the two remaining Absa Premiership matches – and he will not be taking any advice from coach Stuart Baxter via cellphone.
Chiefs take on Supersport United at the Peter Mokaba Stadium tomorrow night.

Asked if he would be taking calls from Baxter during the match, Khumalo emphatically replied: “No, no, no … that’s old-fashioned.

“I work with Stuart, not for Stuart – and there’s a difference.

“If I work for him, I’ll have a cellphone on the bench because I won’t know what to do. But because I work with him, there shouldn’t be much of a change.”

It will certainly be a different affair to Black Leopards’ 5-2 thumping by Mamelodi Sundowns last week. Leopards chairman David Thidiela, whose side is fighting to avoid relegation this season, was caught on camera sending texts from the stands to his technical team on what changes to make during the match.

Khumalo said his task is to simply enforce what he and Baxter have worked on in the build-up to the games against Supersport tomorrow and AmaTuks on Saturday.

Amakhosi need only a point to clinch the Premiership title.

“There will be no pressure on me. I know what is expected of me and I have sat on the bench before and led the team in more difficult situations than this.

“We won’t have to change anything because what is important is to win the two remaining matches,” Khumalo said.

The former Bafana midfielder paid a glowing tribute to Baxter, who is on the brink of winning the Premier League and Nedbank Cup in his first season at Chiefs.

“I’d like to thank him for coming on board and doing so well.

“We thought we would take it step by step and we really did not anticipate being where we are at the moment in his first year here.

“The plan wasn’t necessarily to be the best in the 2012-13 season alone, but in the long term. This is just the cherry on top and the beginning of good things. We know very well that most teams will be well prepared to try and beat us next season,” Khumalo said.
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Stones have been lobbed at Numsa’s head office in Newtown, Johannesburg, breaking six windows and damaging a sign, police said on Tuesday.
A man was seen throwing stones at the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) building at 2am on Monday, said Warrant Officer Xoli Mbele.

“The security guards tried to chase him, but he got away,” he said, adding that a case of malicious damage to property was being investigated.

“[We] are shocked and devastated by this latest attack on our head office, which is a property built on workers meagre wages,” Numsa spokesman Castro Ngobese said in a statement condemning the attack.

He said that this was not the first case the union had reported to the police.

Last year, computers were stolen from the building on more than one occasion by “well-dressed young men”, and a Numsa-owned car was stolen outside the building.

Ngobese said it was sad that after 19 years of democracy the union was still having to deal with the issues of security it had on its property under apartheid.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) also condemned the attack and called on unions to support Numsa.

“Remember that your offices could be next. An injury to one is an injury to all,” Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement.

JOHANNESBURG – Lonmin’s Marikana mine on Tuesday said workers at 13 of its shafts in the North West embarked on an unprotected and illegal strike.

Employees arrived at work earlier, but refused to go underground.

It is understood they are angry over the murder of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) regional chairperson Mawethu Stevens who was gunned down on Saturday at a local tavern.

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Johannesburg – The Gupta family has been accused of distributing food parcels at an ANC North West branch meeting to sway decisions in favour of President Jacob Zuma, it was reported on Tuesday.

Six African National Congress leaders had written a letter to the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters to protest about the alleged role of Gupta family members at the meeting on May 1, Business Day reported.

“These (food parcels) were leveraged to sway decisions of the members of the organisation (ANC),” one of the six co-signatories to the letter was quoted as telling the newspaper.

Business Day reported that repeated attempts to reach Gupta family spokesman Gary Naidoo for comment failed on Monday.

It reported that the letter was accompanied by photographs, purportedly of a convoy of luxury cars and police vehicles arriving at the venue, and of a pile of food parcels on the floor in a hall.

Gupta family members were apparently taking a break from the family’s lavish wedding celebrations at nearby Sun City.

According to the newspaper, the branch meeting was called to nominate delegates for a regional conference next month in the ANC’s Bojanala region – the biggest in North West – at which Zuma’s supporters were expecting a fight-back from those who lost the leadership battle in Mangaung.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe reportedly told Business Day his office had not received the letter of objection, but that he would dismiss out of hand any complaint mentioning the Guptas. – Sapa

Johannesburg – Mining operations at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Rustenburg, North West, were suspended on Tuesday, the company said.

“We can confirm there is a stoppage. Workers arrived for work, but did not go underground. The reason for them not going underground is unclear,” said spokeswoman Sue Vey.

National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) regional co-ordinator Mxhasi Sithethi said the situation was tense at the mine.

“People are singing outside our office, demanding the closure of the NUM office… It is tense.”

He said the protesters were members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

The NUM and Amcu have been fighting for control of the mines in the area since last year.

It was not clear whether the protest on Tuesday was related to the death of an Amcu official at the weekend.

Amcu North West regional organiser Mawethu Steven was shot dead by four men at a tavern in Photsaneng, in the informal settlement of Nkaneng, on Saturday.

On Monday, Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa appealed for “calm” in the platinum belt following the shooting.

“We would like to call on all our members during this difficult and emotional time to remain calm and allow the law to take its course,” he said.

Twin brothers were also shot dead at Nkaneng, in Wonderkop, on Saturday.

Sithethi said one of them was an NUM shopsteward.

North West police said the brothers were shot dead by a group of armed men draped in blankets and wearing balaclavas.

The group stormed into a shack on Saturday night and asked them the whereabouts of another, who was not identified.

The brothers were shot when they said they did not know the man.

“The one brother, who was shot two times, died on the scene, while the other brother died on arrival at the Andrew Saffy Memorial Hospital,” Brigadier Thulani Ngubani said at the time.

Two women, who were in the shack at the time, were wounded.

One was shot in the thigh, and the other was hacked with a panga. They were taken to hospital and were discharged on Sunday. – Sapa

The auction will take place at the former ANC Women’s League president’s Orlando West, Soweto, home on Tuesday next week.

This follows a judgment against her in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on May 6 2011.

She was hauled before the courts in 2009 by Abbotts College, which trades as the Independent Institute of Education, in a bid to recover money owed to it.

According to court documents, Madikizela-Mandela in January 2008 agreed to pay Abbotts College R40000 in accommodation fees for Nobantu Vutela, cited as her great-niece.

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JOHANNESBURG – Stadium Management on Tuesday said leads are being followed to track down those responsible for a heist at the FNB Stadium and a breakthrough is expected within the next 48 hours.

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Cape Town – It is back to work on Tuesday for thousands of bus drivers who have striking for almost a month for a double-digit salary increase.

On Monday a protracted strike came to end when striking bus drivers affiliated to the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union agreed to return to work after reaching salary deal with employers.

They initially persisted in their demand for a double-digit wage increase of 18% and then brought it down to 13% before accepting the new deal of 9.5%.

The deal will take effect from April 1.

A further 0.5% would kick in later said Klaus Heimes of the SA Bus Employers’ Association (Sabea).

“In effect, the wage agreement is a 10% increase from October, to make it more affordable for the employers,” he said.

Lift the lockout

General Secretary of the South African Roads Bargaining Council, Gary Wilson told the SABC that employers have been called on to lift the lockout so that the workers can return to work.

The Transport and Omnibus Workers’ Union said Golden Arrow buses will be back in operation and apologised over the inconvenience caused by the strike. 

Bus drivers parked their buses on April 19, leaving thousands of commuters stranded across the country.

They later intensified the protest action, when they took to the streets picketing in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions expressed support for striking bus drivers and their wage demands, saying drivers needed a better living wage.

Commuters turn to loan sharks

Strike-hit commuters who have been inconvenienced by the protracted nationwide bus strike can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Commuters affected by the strike have resorted to using loan sharks to pay for their transport, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry said earlier this month. 

“The workers will feel the effects of the strike long after it has ended,” chamber member Michael Bagraim said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, the Bombela Concession Company’s Gautrain bus service, Mega Express, reached a deal on Thursday night with majority union the United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) for a 9% increase, effective from April 1.

Utatu deputy general secretary Pieter Greyling said at the time workers’ transport allowance was also increased from R35 a day to R45, effective from Friday.

Strike season

However, analysts predict that South Africa’s strike season is just getting started.

With the country experiencing tough economic times and unions emboldened by hefty wage increases granted last year to end strikes, analysts predict difficult months ahead.

Crispen Chinguno, a sociology fellow at the University of Witwatersrand who is exploring the dynamics of strike violence, told AFP earlier this month: “It’s going to be very tough, perhaps one of the very toughest collective bargaining (rounds), since the attainment of democracy.”

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Kimberley-Assets of the accused in a Northern Cape fraud and corruption case involving the Trifecta Group were provisionally frozen on Monday.

Northern Cape NPA spokesman Mashudu Malabi said the court confirmed a provisional restraint order on Friday was obtained by the Asset Forfeiture Unit against most of the parties involved.

The court would decide later whether the order should be made final against the parties who opposed the order.

The National Prosecuting Authority alleges the Trifecta Group entered into a number of lease agreements with the provincial department of social development in which the rentals, or rental space, were grossly inflated.

As a result, the Trifecta Group received or would receive, at the end of the lease agreements, rentals of R57 million.

The freezing order means payments received by a number of Northern Cape politicians and official of the department of social development from the Trifecta Group would remain frozen pending the outcome of the court proceedings.

The Trifecta Group, the trustees of the Shosholoza Trust, and government official Palesa Lebona opposed the restraint order.

The other accused in the case are the director of Trifecta Alfeus Scholtz and Northern Cape ANC heavyweights John Block, Alvin Botes and Yolanda Botha.

Social development officials Rodney Saal and Cecil Ryland were also arrested in connection with the case.

Malabi said the order was made final against the individuals on Friday.

He said the court found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that payments to the entities and individuals were corrupt payments or kickbacks and that inflated rentals were paid as a result of corruption.

Earlier, the case against the group was postponed to August this year.

-Sapa