“I would be quite negligent as president if I did not have a Plan B tucked away at the back of a drawer,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter at a press conference before yesterdays EURO 2008 final. Blatter was making reference to South Africa’s ability to host the world cup in 2010. If something was to seriously go wrong and South Africa are not able to host the world cup, FIFA will have a plan ‘B’ in place. It is understandable that they have a plan ‘B’ as no one knows what will happen. I am sure it is pretty standard when organising a tournament of such magnitude that plans are put in place. We may not know exactly what the plan ‘B’ is with many thinking that plan ‘B’ will result in Australia hosting the world cup in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
How do they expect us to survive now? This is getting out of hand! The retail price of petrol will increase by between 75 to 81c a litre on Wednesday next week. The price of unleaded petrol in Gauteng will now cost R10.70 a litre and R10.50 at the coast. Gone are the days people will drive up to a service station and ask to have their car filled up. You will start to find more and more people asking to have R100 or R200 of fuel put into their car, just enough to get them from point A to B. The days of being able to just get into you car and drive without a plan are over! Read the rest of this entry »
“Should we emerge victorious, which I believe we will, sure we won’t be arrogant, we will be magnanimous and say ‘let’s sit down and talk,’ and talk we shall.” These were the words of Zimbabwe’s President, Robert Mugabe at his last election rally held today in Harare. The presidential runoff election is set to go ahead tomorrow and it looks set to be a one man battle as opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai will not be taken part in the vote. Read the rest of this entry »
“MDC leader (opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai) saw this wave of political hurricane coming his way. He is frightened, frightened of the people.” These were the words of Robert Mugabe at a rally this week. This statement comes after Tsvangirai decided to pull out of the runoff vote which is meant to take place tomorrow (27 June). The ruling ZANU PF party is adamant that the vote will go on regardless. What is interesting to note is that, this runoff vote may be outside the law. Read the rest of this entry »
Today the opposition party in Zimbabwe, the MDC officially pulled out the presidential runoff vote which was set to take place on Friday 27 June. The leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai had said on Sunday that he was going to pull out of the vote but the ruling government had said they will only accept his pulling out if he makes it official in writing. So today, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said,”They are now happy recipients of that letter from the MDC. In the letter we are stating clearly that we are not participating in this election.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Springbok squad for the away leg of the Tri-Nations was named today. The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Shark winger, JP Pietersen ahead of Tonderai Chavhanga. Chavhanga did not have the best of times in the two matches he played against Wales this month but one may have thought that he would be selected based on the good form he showed in the Super 14. Pietersen himself has not been in the best of form since last years World Cup but seems to have been selected ahead of Chavhanga. Odwa Ndungane seems to have leaped frogged both Pietersen and Chavhanga in the pecking order. Odwa Ndungane started his first test for South Africa on the weekend against Italy and did not have a bad game and is deserving of his place in the team. Whether Ndungane or Pietersen started on the wing together with Habana, waits to be seen. Read the rest of this entry »
Following on from yesterdays decision by Morgan Tsvangirai to pull out of the presidential election runoff, he has today taken up refuge at the Dutch embassy in Harare due to fears for his safety. “Tsvangirai has indeed asked through the MDC, his party, if the Netherlands would be able to provide him with security in the coming days,” Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said. As expected, many have wondered why Tsvangirai has done this; is it genuinely a fear about his safety or is it an attention seeking stunt for the international community? Read the rest of this entry »
Opposition party, MDC, leader Morgan Tsvangirai has today announced that he will pull out of the presidential election runoff which was meant to take place of Friday 27 June in Zimbabwe. “We in the MDC cannot ask them to cast their vote on the 27th when that vote would cost them their lives,” Tsvangirai told reporters. The news comes as a shock to many who had expected Tsvangirai to challenge Mugabe in the runoff and hope to take over as president of the country. But now that Tsvangirai has pulled out of the race, what is going to happen? Read the rest of this entry »
The Springbok team to start against Italy in Saturday’s once off test in Cape Town has been named. It is no surprise that the team has a lot of changes following on from the two victories against Wales. The major change in the team for Saturday’s game is seeing Francois Steyn starting at flyhalf. Regular Springbok flyhalf, Butch James, has been rested for this game. Many had expected Stormers flyhalf, Peter Grant, to start in the number 10 jursey but coach Peter de Villiers has opted to give young Steyn the start. Read the rest of this entry »
The cost of living in South Africa is getting out of hand. Yesterday, Eskom got the go ahead to increase electricity tariffs on the 1st of July by 13.3%, this after a 14.2% increase in December last year. Thank goodness the tariffs were not increased by 60% as Eskom had hoped for. Now that there has been a further increase in the price of electricity, you can be sure that the price of food is going to continue to go up. Read the rest of this entry »
