Through tears, grief and unimaginable pain, Veronique’s mother, Destiny May, 32, said she could finally sleep peacefully, while the man who took her daughter’s life would begin his own nightmare behind bars.

Lelethu Nkosana, 27, was sentenced to an effective life behind bars after pleading guilty to the little girl’s horror rape and murder as per a plea and sentencing agreement between the state and the defence.

Having spent much of the day crying while proceedings were under way, May said after judge Den Ngoqo delivered his verdict that she hoped her journey to healing could now begin.

Reading out his client’s plea to the court, defence attorney Mxolisi Moolman said Nkosana admitted to breaking into a bedroom in De Booi Street, Langa, Kariega, with the intent of raping and killing the child in October 2025.

He said at all times he was aware his actions were unlawful.

“I met the deceased in the street while she was playing with other children,” Nkosana said.

“She asked me for money, which I agreed to give her if she accompanied me to my relative’s room.

“On our arrival, I realised that the door was locked.

“It was at that point that I formulated the plan to break down the door and enter the room.”

Nkosana said once inside, he undressed Veronique and raped her.

Afterwards, he said, he felt overwhelmed with shock and fear by what he had done.

He then started to panic.

“It was at that point that I decided to strangle her until she was non-responsive.

“I know that my actions were unlawful and that I had no right to take the deceased’s life ... but I proceeded with my actions.”

He said after his case was transferred to the high court, he had consulted Moolman on the contents of the docket, including witness statements.

The nature and importance of DNA evidence were explained to him.

It also emerged that Nkosana had a previous conviction for violating a protection order.

He is unmarried and has a four-year-old daughter who lives with her mother.

He relied on odd jobs to assist in the maintenance of his child and to earn a living.

Moolman said Nkosana acknowledged the seriousness of the offences and was remorseful.

“He expressed a desire to plead guilty and at no stage did he deny the wrongfulness of his conduct,” Moolman said.

“The accused intends to change his ways and look at his incarceration as an opportunity to better himself and to learn more skills to rehabilitate himself.

“Pleading guilty is the first step towards rehabilitation and an integral part of showing remorse.

“The accused, by pleading guilty to the charges and taking responsibility for his actions, has shown that he has good prospects for rehabilitation.

“By entering into a plea agreement, he has spared the state witnesses, especially the family of the deceased, the trauma of having to testify and relive the traumatic events.

“The interest of justice was further served by cancelling the need for a lengthy and expensive trial, as well as speeding up the finalisation of the matter.”

Ngoqo said what was disturbing about the case was that a child was preyed on by an adult who was supposed to protect her.

Instead, Nkosana took advantage of the fact that Veronique trusted him.

When she asked him for R8, Nkosana decided to take advantage of the situation.

“As if raping the child were not enough, he decided to kill her,” Ngoqo said.

“The accused now wants the court to accept that he is remorseful for what he did because he pleaded guilty.

“He said he saved the family from a trial, of having to relive the ordeal.

“No. It is not remorse that led him to plead guilty.

“The evidence was so overwhelming he would in any event have been convicted.

“I do commend him for taking responsibility for what he did, but him being remorseful is not something I can accept.”

He said the only suitable sentence was one of life behind bars.

His name will also be added to the National Register for Sex Offenders.

“The court would like to advise the family of the deceased that while the accused has been sentenced to life, he may be considered for parole at some stage,” Ngoqo said.

“You have a right to attend those proceedings.

“You can make submissions on whether you agree with him being released or if you are opposed to it.”

May said she had planned to say something to Nkosana after sentencing but she was in such an emotional state that she could barely talk.

Nkosana, however, turned to May and briefly apologised before being led back down to the holding cells to start serving his sentence.

May said she appreciated that her daughter’s case was taken seriously, adding that there were too many cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide that went unsolved.

She also thanked God for giving her the strength to be in court.

“My heart is sore, my soul is ripped.

“But at least I don’t have to stress about not knowing where my child’s murderer is.

“I thank God for not letting the culprit get away.

“I am so disappointed in him [Nkosana] because we trusted him.”

She said Nkosana was also a father to a little girl and should have known better.

“I forgive him because to carry on with life, I must forgive him,” May said.

“I must carry on and be strong.”

She said in court she just kept thinking of how cruel Nkosana had been.

“My child did not deserve that.

“No-one deserved that.”

She said whenever she thought of her daughter, she remembered how brave, beautiful and intelligent she was.

“I think from tonight, I will sleep peacefully because the nightmare is over and I finally believe I will survive.”

GBV activist Ntombozuko Jafta said it had been an extremely traumatising time for the family.

“It was traumatising when they had to view the body,” Jafta said.

“The community of Kariega, especially in Langa, are traumatised; they are still scared.

“This was a person living two houses away from the May family.”

While SA continues to commemorate Women’s Month, investigating officer Warrant Officer Mbulelo Grootboom of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit said knowing that one rapist and murderer had been removed from the streets made him feel good.

“It makes me feel good because it sends out a strong message that we are not only opening cases, we are investigating cases and ensuring perpetrators are convicted so justice can be served to the families,” Grootboom said.

“I kept a picture of Veronique on my desk and looked at it every day.

“I will now hand it over to the family.

“It kept me going every morning when I saw that little girl in the picture.”

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On Monday, the DA unveiled six mayoral candidates ahead of the November 4 local government elections.

They are Retief Odendaal (Nelson Mandela Bay), Hattingh Bornman (Kouga), Luvuyo Sizani (Makana), Bettie Lawens (Inxuba Yethemba), Eldrige Ruiters (Dr Beyers Naude) and Lorraine Smith-Johnson (Blue Crane Route).

DA provincial leader Andrew Whitfield said the local government elections had to be viewed within a broader strategic imperative: ensuring the DA reduced the ANC’s support to below 50% in provinces where the governing party remained heavily dependent on voters.

One of those provinces, he said, was the Eastern Cape.

“It’s why we have fielded the biggest number of mayoral candidates that we’ve ever fielded.

“The DA doesn’t just put up mayoral candidates in municipalities to put faces on posters.

“We do a very serious analytical and strategic exercise to identify where we can credibly win and win with a majority.”

Whitfield said the DA’s strategy in the election campaign was to focus on where it could win and where the party could grow.

“Those two strategies have very different plans in place across the province to make sure we deliver the best results sustainably between 2026 and 2029 with a view to 2031 having many more mayoral candidates sitting around these tables.

“We believe that we will retain the Kouga municipality with an increased majority.

“We believe that we can win Blue Crane Route and start to turn the tide on the decaying services in that municipality.

“We believe that we can win Dr Beyers Naude with a majority.

“We believe that we can win Nelson Mandela Bay and put Retief Odendaal back into City Hall so we can continue to get the unqualified audits, deliver better services and start to turn the engine of economic growth in the Eastern Cape around,” he said.

Odendaal said the metro had become the poster child of how quickly a municipality could collapse.

“Our problem is not necessarily financial, like so many of these other municipalities, but our problem is the fact that we haven’t got skills, and if you don’t professionalise the municipal administration, there is no way that you’re going to be able to get service delivery going in municipalities.

“So the key to our offer in Nelson Mandela Bay is the professionalisation of the municipal administration to be able to get skills back into the city.

“We’ve seen that right now in Nelson Mandela Bay, nine of the executive director positions are vacant.

“There’s no top management, including the city manager, and that has resulted in the city going into a state of paralysis, and it’s got an impact not just on service delivery, but also on our economy,” he said.

Bornman said one of the priorities for the new term was to invest in the industrial development zone in Humansdorp.

“We have as a municipality the lowest unemployment rate in the province, and we need to keep on building that.

“Our electricity prices have become so expensive, and we cannot allow our communities to live in that expensive electric environment, so we’re investing heavily into making electricity cheaper for residents.”

Asked if the DA was prepared for other parties such as the PA going after the same constituencies, particularly the coloured vote, DA provincial chair Yusuf Cassim said the PA had not actually grown.

“There have been by-elections, specific by-elections, outside of the Eastern Cape.

“They have not won any DA wards in the Eastern Cape, not a single one,” he said.

“The wards that they have won have been ANC wards. And even those, they didn’t get a majority.

“There were instances like, for example, in Dr Beyers Naude where they got a very small section of the DA’s vote.

“What might work in a by-election doesn’t work in a general election.

“There were really undesirable tactics that have been used to try and create the impression of growth.

“We don’t come in as tourists and then leave after a by-election.

“We are intimately connected with these communities because they are our communities.

“We live in them, and we want to see them flourish.”

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Panic broke out at the beach on Saturday afternoon when the beloved family pet was washed out to sea.

According to the National Sea Rescue Institute, Bean was washed out 200m after being caught in a rip current.

“At 2.52pm on Saturday, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Gqeberha duty crew, on station conducting routine training, responded to reports to the NSRI’s emergency operations centre of a dog in distress offshore of Pollok Beach.

“The NSRI launched the rescue craft Rescue 6 Alpha while Coastal Water Rescue swimmers responded from the shore.

“Lifeguards had launched from Pollok Beach to assist, along with a bystander who had paddled out on a Malibu rescue board to help.

“When the NSRI rescue craft arrived on the scene, half a kilometre offshore, an NSRI rescue swimmer named Mike Vermeulen entered the water and secured the dog, bringing him safely aboard.

“Wrapped in blankets and warmed by the rescue swimmer’s body heat, the dog, appearing hypothermic, was brought safely to the NSRI Gqeberha rescue station, where warming procedures continued.”

Bean is believed to have broken free from his leash during an afternoon walk and plunged into the ocean.

As his owners and bystanders tried to retrieve him, he was caught in a rip current and swept out to sea.

“Bean is now safely home, where he enjoyed a warm shower and is recovering in the care of his owners.”

NSRI commended the swift, co-ordinated response that contributed to saving Bean’s life.

Bean’s owners declined to comment on the incident and asked not to be named.

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Facing a determined Northerns opponent, the Joburg Squash player fought back from 2-1 down to level the match before taking control of the fifth game with superb movement around the court to secure a 3-2 victory.

She was joined in the U19 winners’ circle by Northerns top seed Juan-Corne Brand, who also had to dig deep before overcoming Western Province’s Joseph Feast 3-2 in another absorbing final.

In the U17 divisions, Northerns’ Starla Phillips held off a strong challenge from Border’s Kate van Biljon to claim the girls’ title 3-1, while Christian Swanepoel was a cut above the rest in the boys’ section, defeating provincial teammate Ruan Botha 3-0.

It was a disappointing end to the championships for Janse van Rensburg, who had won the Growthpoint U17 title in 2024 and 2025. She had also lost to KwaZulu-Natal’s Makayla Naidoo earlier in the tournament to finish third in her section.

For Robinson, however, the victory represented the culmination of several years of hard work, with the emotions flowing as she began to appreciate the significance of her achievement.

“This has been a big goal for me since I started playing this tournament, so I’m very proud to have got the win,” she said.

“I am just so grateful to everyone who has helped me over the past few years to make this sort of result possible.”

Brand had to overcome the disappointment of squandering a match point in the fourth game against Feast in a contest which showcased the best of South African junior squash.

Although the lapse handed Feast a lifeline, Brand regrouped superbly and took an early lead in the deciding game, establishing an advantage he maintained despite a determined effort from his Cape Town opponent.

The final scoreline of 3-11 12-10 12-10 10-12 11-6 reflected the quality and intensity of a match played at the highest level.

In the U17 girls’ final, Phillips recovered strongly after coming under early pressure from longtime rival Van Biljon to secure a deserved 3-1 victory.

Both players entered the final unbeaten, with left-hander Phillips particularly pleased to beat a player who had defeated her in the Growthpoint U15 girls’ final in 2024.

After dropping the opening game 11-8, Phillips seized control with accurate length play, repeatedly pushing Van Biljon into the back corners before capitalising on loose returns with her skillful short game.

There was a brief moment of concern in the fourth game when Phillips, leading 10-6, allowed three match points to slip, but she kept her composure to produce a winning backhand drop and seal the national title.

“I’m feeling good and very happy right now,” Phillips said afterwards.

“I’ve had some good results this year, and also a few bad ones, but I am glad I was able to finish it off today.

“Kate and I have been playing each other for many years and always have a good game, so I’m happy to get the win today.”

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The Mdantsane-based Mthatha boxer enrolled at a rehab facility after disappearing for weeks from his management team amid reports of addiction.

The talented boxer lost a BSA-ordered rematch to Thinumzi Gqola for the SA mini-flyweight belt in December after previously surrendering his title to Gqola in August 2025.

His camp, led by manager Mla Tengimfene, appealed against the outcome, with the BSA review process siding with him and ordering the return fight, which Gqola won with a more definitive outcome.

Tengimfene said his charge was already battling addiction when the rematch took place at the Orient Theatre in KuGompo City.

“It was such a difficult camp because Mtho kept disappearing to engage in this unfortunate addiction, but we are not making excuses for the loss,” he said.

Tengimfene’s All Winners Boxing Club in Mdantsane is renowned for helping boxers beset by substance abuse, having helped a slew of them, including reigning WBC mini-flyweight champion Siyakholwa Kuse.

With Ngxaka having succeeded Kuse in winning the SA title, Tengimfene has since embarked on a mission to help the left-hander turn his life around.

“Mtho is already receiving help in a government institution after being accepted for intake.

“We will help him as we did to Kuse to fulfil his dreams of becoming a world champion.”

Kuse made history when he became the first boxer in the province to win the coveted green and gold belt by dethroning Filipino Melvin Jerusalem in their rematch in May.

He is scheduled to make the first defence of the title against Ryusei Matsumoto in Japan on September 27

Tengimfene is confident that Ngxaka will also kick his demons and mend his ways.

However, the six-month period Ngxaka will spend in rehab will cost him his SA rating as boxers who have been inactive for over a year are dropped.

In a letter seen by the Daily Dispatch, Tengimfene pleaded with BSA to treat Ngxaka’s situation as a special case and let him retain his fifth ranking.

“Mr Mthokozisi Ngxaka is institutionalised in a substance abuse facility for a minimum of six months,” he said.

“Currently Mr Ngxaka is rated fifth in the SA mini-flyweight rankings, and his absence and inactivity may lead to him being dropped out of the top ten (sic).

“My request is for Mr Ngxaka to be kept in the ratings as he is getting treatment for the situation he is in.

“Substance abuse is prevalent in the youth, and the fact that he is getting help should be treated as a special case and positive steps towards recovery to harness community upliftment programmes.”

BSA said the matter was receiving attention.

Having last fought in December, Ngxaka will likely return to the ring after completing the rehab programme in six months.

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The Gqeberha side suffered their first defeat of the new PSL season after losing 3-0 to Orlando Pirates at Kings Park Stadium in Durban on Sunday.

Second-half goals from Gamphani Lungu, Lebone Seema and Daniel Msendami were enough to hand the Buccaneers a win after their disappointing draw against AmaZulu on Wednesday.

The Chilli Boys remained without a win in three matches after draws against Golden Arrows and Richards Bay, and this may have put early pressure on coach Truter.

Following the draw against AmaZulu at the same venue, the Buccaneers were looking to redeem themselves against the Chilli Boys, who were looking for their first win, and did that in style.

Ahead of the match, the coach did mention that in their previous two matches his players had struggled to keep the momentum going in the second half, and that was something he planned to fix in their game against the Buccaneers.

However, it appears that it may take some time for his players to overcome their habit of slacking in the second half.

“I think for 60 minutes the structure was good,” Truter said.

“We were in the game for 60 minutes, toe-to-toe, and the Pirates threw everything at us. We knew it was a team that wanted to play in the space behind us due to their speed, so we had to drop deeper at times.

“They exactly got their goal in the 50^th minute in the second half, so it speaks to concentration, especially during a crucial period of the game.

“But this has been our Achilles’ heel in the past two games as well, where in the second half our intensity drops.

“It’s (the loss) tough to take, especially how good we played in that hour, but we will move on. It’s game three of the season.

“It’s a Chippa team that will get better. It’s a Chippa team that, if we tweak one or two moments, especially in attack, we should be getting out.”

The coach mentioned that travelling for home and away matches may put some strain on players, which could explain their energy drop in the second half as they continue to investigate what the problem is.

“We need to understand that wherever we go, it’s a two-hour flight. Once you get off a flight where you were sitting down, you have to recover.

“So, how many times do you really spend recovering before you work on tactics and fitness.

“And you need to acclimatise. Coming from the coast to inland is another factor.

“We played in Dobsinville in the rain and then from the inland came back to Durban, again the coast. So, it’s a lot of things we need to look at.

“Not having a home venue plays a big role.

“The travelling does have an effect on the boys.”

Chippa’s next PSL fixture is away against Siwelele FC next Tuesday. The Chilli Boys are 13^th on the log with two points from three matches.

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The selection is the latest achievement in a water polo journey built on dedication, perseverance and hard work, while also highlighting the strength of Kingswood’s water polo programme and the support provided by its coaches and wider school community.

For Sheard, who grew up on a farm outside Cathcart in the Eastern Cape, the journey began almost by chance in Grade 4 when she picked up a water polo ball with a friend.

“I had so much fun and immediately fell in love with the sport,” she recalls.

That early enthusiasm has developed into a successful career. Sheard has represented Eastern Province since Grade 7 and previously earned South African colours when she travelled to Türkiye with the U16 national team while in Grade 10.

Her selection for the U18 World Championship represents her biggest sporting achievement to date.

She believes resilience and determination have been central to her progress.

“I never gave up when things became difficult, especially with all the training and preparation before tournaments,” she said. “I always try to push myself to become better after every practice and training session.”

Sheard’s sporting commitments extend beyond the pool. She also captains the Kingswood first hockey team, balancing the demands of two high-level sports while continuing to excel in both.

She credits Kingswood’s head of water polo and first team coach, Kyle Kumm, with playing an important role in her development.

“He has really helped me become the best player I can be by teaching me new things and always pushing and encouraging me,” she said.

“He is always there if I need help.”

As she prepares to leave for Spain, Sheard is looking forward to testing herself against some of the world’s leading young water polo players.

Her goals are to continue developing her fitness and strength, gain valuable international experience and learn from players and teams from around the world.

For Kingswood, her selection provides further recognition of the school’s commitment to developing young athletes and creating opportunities for them to compete at the highest level.

Sheard will now look to make the most of her opportunity on the international stage as she takes the next step in an already impressive sporting journey.

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WP’s route to the title began with a dominant Pool A campaign, beating Western Province Peninsula 5-1, Eastern Province 12-1 on the opening day.

They went on to sweep aside SA U18 Boys 6-1 and beat North West 2-0 to finish the group unbeaten.

While this was a largely new-look group, WP retained about six to eight players from 2025’s championship-winning squad, providing a core of experience around which the younger players could grow.

Erasmus, a seasoned provincial outdoor and indoor hockey player who also represented SA at international level indoors, said the blend of experience and youth made the achievement particularly satisfying.

“Unbelievable. Very emotional for the guys. I think a lot of the guys, it’s their first time in the team, so they are new, young guys.”

Having played and coached at various age group levels for WP, the pressure of representing WP at IPT level was always going to be present, but Erasmus said the team focused on controlling what it could.

“The pressure’s always on Western Province [at] interprovincial tournaments, naturally.

“When you do win IPTs consistently, it kind of adds to it.

“So we did understand that, and I think the biggest challenge is always us.”

WP set the tone with their fast, attacking style and went on to finish the pool stage unbeaten.

“We played with the style of hockey we wanted to. So we give and go, moving the ball fast and creating space for your teammates.

“I think when the guys do their job like that, it kind of sets the tone,” Erasmus said.

That approach carried into the semifinal, where WP turned a cagey opening into a 6-0 victory after increasing the tempo and maintaining pressure on KZN.

“We wanted to ramp up the speed of the game at the start, just to make the second half physically demanding for the opposition,” he said.

The final against the Northern Blues presented a different challenge, with WP forced to manage a high-scoring contest and defend against a dangerous penalty-corner attack.

Erasmus said the players showed the character required to get over the line, with goalkeeper Khotso Mabona proving decisive in a dramatic shootout.

“I always believe that it’s an opportunity for your goalkeeper to do something special. And [Khotso] was unbelievable for us.”

For Erasmus, the achievement goes beyond another trophy.

Several players are approaching the end of their U21 careers.

He believes WP’s responsibility is to help develop players capable of progressing to the national level.

“We kind of feel like it is our duty to get the level of our hockey players to the highest level possible to produce national players.

“If we can contribute positively to the national programme, then we are doing our job towards South African hockey,” he said.

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When the dust settled on the season, the two sides had produced a remarkable 15 tries — nine by Grey and six by Selborne — excluding the penalty try awarded to the visitors in the second half.

With 20 minutes remaining, the scoreboard made astonishing reading, with Grey, who led 35-26 at halftime, holding just a two-point advantage at 42-40.

Eventually, however, the power of the Grey pack proved decisive as their maul marauders repeatedly shoved Selborne backwards, paving the way for hooker Micah Wessels to cross for an incredible five tries.

The home forwards also showed plenty of deft touches with ball in hand, with locks Juandre van Jaarsveld and Jean Nel producing thrilling tries.

Flyhalf Nathan Trytsman added to Grey’s dominance with a superb goalkicking display, converting nine of their tries.

Although they struggled to plug the gaps in their defence, Selborne were never overwhelmed by the Grey scoring avalanche and gave as good as they got in a furious effort to remain within striking distance.

From 35-19 down in the 28th minute, the visitors showed tremendous character to take the lead for the first time seven minutes into the second half.

Hooker Reece Rasmussen pounced on a Grey mistake to put Selborne 40-35 ahead.

Among their scores were two superb efforts by centre Iviwe Kabale as the Selbornians repeatedly found ways to punch holes in the Grey defence.

Their lead was short-lived, though, as Grey responded by going ahead 42-40 and then scored a further three tries in nine minutes to surge to a lead of 61-40, effectively settling the outcome.

Selborne had the final say when wing Zwelethu Nojaholo found space down the left to score the final try of the match on the hooter.

Across town, Pearson High produced a commendable effort against a strong Parel Vallei side before the Somerset West visitors moved through the gears after halftime.

Playing at the Hannes Strydom Field, Pearson scored twice and trailed only 19-10 at the break.

But Parel Vallei proved masters at building and sustaining pressure, doing so with precision and commitment after the restart.

The visitors ran in four unanswered tries to establish a commanding 43-10 lead with 10 minutes remaining and effectively settle the contest.

Pearson refused to give up, though, and were rewarded when captain Dewald Niemand crossed for a late try to make the final score 43-17.

That was his second try, while Lili Giyose scored their first try, and Keano Beling kicked two conversions.

In Makhanda, hard-running Graeme College wing Asakhe Ranuga crossed for an early try against Muir, setting the home side on their way to a 54-27 victory.

After taking a heavy beating against Grey High the previous weekend, the Kariega side showed plenty of guts and determination, but Graeme ultimately had too many weapons across the field.

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A rampant New Zealand side ran in eight tries when they romped to a 50-19 win over an under-prepared Bulls side who had to cut short their off-season break to prepare for last Saturday’s high-profile tour game at Loftus Versfeld.

Ackermann has warned that much bigger and tougher challenges await the All Blacks in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test series against the world champions, which starts in earnest in Johannesburg at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 5.10pm).

“Obviously the Springboks are match-fit, and there are quality players,” Ackermann said.

“The All Blacks maybe had the scoreboard luxury against us to try a few things from deep in their own half that I don’t think they’ll get away with against the Springboks.

“That’s the way they play sometimes, but they may find themselves a bit in trouble with that.

“They [the Springboks] have played a long time together and they’ve got some of the best heads in the world putting a plan together.

“The Springboks will be well prepared. Time will tell.”

Ackermann said his team had been punished for being too eager to force things through individual brilliance rather than going through phases.

“The Boks will plan well, but I feel if you’re a bit more patient with the ball in hand, we could have finished a few opportunities,” he said.

“Hopefully the Boks will take that [lesson].”

Ackermann said Johan Grobbelaar and Elrigh Louw, who were released from the Bok squad to play in the match, had made a big impact off the bench.

“Obviously, it’s great for them to have a taste of the All Blacks and feel that on the field,” he said.

“They now can take that knowledge back to the Boks.

“When they were made available, it’s great for us as a team, but it’s also our obligation to serve SA Rugby, to make sure they get that extra game time if they can.

“Credit to Grobbies and Elrigh. They both made a difference in that second half.

“If you look just at Grobbies, if you had to put a pin on him and follow him, the work rate he got through and the metres he covered.

“They had one training session, but they made the effort to get all the knowledge and get everything done.

“We went in with a very basic plan. We just wanted to say, ‘Can we keep to that plan and see where it takes us, even if there are mistakes?’

“And that’s the great thing. We actually were better in that in the second half than the first half when we were fresh.

“Credit to them. They really did well.”

Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee said his team had shown character against the tourists, despite the scoreline.

“It’s easy to drop your heads after that scoreline in the first half, but I just asked the boys for character and just to fight because that’s part of our values here at the Bulls,” he said.

“You never want to lie down.

“The game could have gone horribly wrong in that second half.

“But the fight that the boys showed and their character — when we do set up phases, and we’re patient with the ball, then you get the reward.”

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Set against the scenic backdrop of Mutango Lodge in the Dinokeng Conservatory, Pretoria, the U15 tournament brought together 36 schools from every province, thanks to the support of Sanlam and the Motsepe Foundation.

The schools were split into two groups, Botho and Ubuntu.

Coach Zenzo Khumalo suggested that the R400,000 cash prize could be used to build netball courts at the school, which does not have any.

However, the decision on how to use the prize will be made by the school and the school governing body.

Idlangemabala defeated Jabulile Secondary School from Orange Farm, Gauteng, 17-15 in the final to win this year’s championship.

“This is our fifth year at the nationals, but we’ve been participating in the tournament since its inception in 2019, though we’ve been knocked out in the provincial knockouts on occasion,” Khumalo said.

“This is the first time tasting the gold, and it’s so sweet.

“The girls were motivated at the start of the year after finishing 13th the previous year due to mistakes.”

“So, this year, we went back and trained harder because we wanted to win the national championships.

“On Saturday morning, I told them that we are only three games away from reaching our goal, even though we played seven games here in Pretoria on Friday in cold weather, which we are not used to.”

“I’m happy for these girls to have won the competition.

“From where we come, it is difficult with limited resources. We had to make plans to get balls to train, and we don’t even have a proper netball court, but we’re here, and we won gold; it’s so sweet.”

Asked what they planned to spend the winnings on, the coach replied: “I’m not sure what the school will decide on right now, but we’ll talk with the school management, SGB, and the principal about how to use the money.

“However, the money must benefit netball. As I said, we don’t have a netball court.”

In the Botho stream, Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool from Pretoria used home-ground advantage to defeat their neighbours and defending champions Helpmekaar College, from Johannesburg, 18-17 in a heated final to become this year’s champions.

Affies coach Anelle Greef applauded her team for the hard-fought victory.

Gqeberha schools Framesby and Pearson High School finished in 11th and 16th places respectively in the Ubuntu stream.

“At the beginning of the season this was definitely the motivation,” Affies coach Greef said.

“This was the outcome that we needed and we wanted, so this year we came prepared, and this year we played as a unit, and I think that is what made us the champs today.

“This is a very emotional win for me. I coached these girls from last year in the U14, so seeing how we started last year and how they played this year has been an amazing journey.

“Last year’s U15 group finished third in the nationals. I am so proud of the girls for winning this year’s competitions, although we were faced by so many injuries.

“I also would like to thank the Kay Motsepe Foundation; it’s a privilege to be part of this, and I think they are great.”

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But after 15 years in the industry, worsening health forced him to return home about six years ago.

“I cannot work now. I started developing these terrible bouts of headaches while still in the mines and would get dizzy and sometimes fall,” he said.

“I was released [from work] for medical reasons.”

Now 46, Mgwali has found life back home tough. His deteriorating health has left him unable to work and struggling to support his family.

“My health has deteriorated to such a point that I cannot stand on my legs for too long. But what is even more painful is that I had to leave my job because my sickness affected my ability to stand on my legs.

“As if that was not enough, though they gave me some of my money, I was told the rest had gone towards my provident fund contribution. To this day, I have never received a cent of that money.”

But there could finally be hope for former mineworkers such as Mgwali who returned home because of illness, injury or other circumstances.

Premier Oscar Mabuyane recently revealed that more than R1.897bn in compensation and benefits had been paid to more than 24,200 former mineworkers, widows and their dependants in the Eastern Cape through the government’s Project Thubalethu initiative.

However, he said about R10bn remained unclaimed by more than one million former mineworkers and their families across SA.

An estimated 370,000 former mineworkers live in the Eastern Cape, giving the province one of the country’s largest concentrations of potential beneficiaries.

Mabuyane appealed to traditional leaders to help trace eligible former mineworkers and their families, saying many people remained unaware that they could be entitled to compensation for occupational diseases, injuries and other mine-related benefits.

“For generations, many people from the Eastern Cape left their homes to work in South Africa’s mines. Many returned with injuries, occupational diseases such as silicosis and tuberculosis, or left families struggling after their deaths. These men and women deserve justice, recognition and dignity,” he said.

“We are turning commitments into realities. Akukho mntu ongazokuyiclaima imali yakhe yasezimayini — sikhona!

“Working together with relevant government departments and partners, including Thubalethu, SAEC, RMA, Health and the Department of Employment and Labour, we are making every effort to ensure that qualifying ex-mineworkers and beneficiaries are assisted to claim what rightfully belongs to them.”

Mgwali was among hundreds of former mineworkers from King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality who attended an ex-mineworkers screening programme at the Jerald Raymond Hawkes Stadium in Mthatha on Sunday.

They were able to verify their records, check and follow up on unpaid benefits and claims, and undergo health checks as part of Project Thubalethu. A similar programme was held in Mqanduli on Thursday.

The initiative is being implemented in partnership with the Eastern Cape Office of the Premier, SA Ex-Mineworkers Council, Rand Mutual Assurance, and the departments of health, employment and labour, and social development.

Several former mineworkers told the Dispatch of chronic illnesses and permanent injuries they suffered during their years on the mines. Some said they had been consigned to poverty because they could no longer work, while others survived on pensions insufficient to cover their medical and household expenses.

Mgwali said he was on regular medication and his condition severely limited his employment prospects.

“I have missed out on a lot of opportunities and I am now really struggling. I cannot work anywhere because my health is deteriorating. I am still young but there is nowhere I can be employed now,” he said.

His father was also a mineworker, but Mgwali said the family had never received money they believed was due to him, despite several attempts to obtain assistance from institutions including TEBA.

Fellow Sikhobeni villager Zola Mzazi started working on the mines in 1980 and over the years worked at several operations, including Sibanye gold mines.

After 36 years, he returned home and is now struggling to survive. The 61-year-old is diabetic, takes chronic medication and relies on a government pension to support himself and his family.

“To tell you the truth, I am like an empty box. I look good on the outside but inside, the body is damaged. Most of my organs are shattered now,” Mzazi said.

A 64-year-old Mbozwana resident who worked at Lonmin mines from 1996 to 2013 said he contracted TB twice while working there before eventually returning to the Eastern Cape.

“I don’t want to lie, I started bunking work so they could fire me,” he said.

He said he received about R80,000 after leaving the mine, but the money soon ran out and he survived by doing odd jobs around his village.

He also walks with a limp and cannot stand for long after breaking his left leg in a bicycle accident when he was younger. His children and grandchildren now depend on his pension.

Sipho Mbhotoli worked at Lonmin platinum and chrome mines from 1984 to 2017. He has four children who are still at school and said the roughly R150,000 he received after leaving his job had long since run out.

He now suffers from chest problems, despite having been given a clean bill of health when he left the mines.

Mbhotoli welcomed efforts to help former mineworkers claim benefits that could still be due to them.

Widows are also hoping the project will provide answers.

Nosandile Lamani, 53, attended the programme after her husband, who left the mines in 1980, died in 2017 while trying to obtain money he believed was owed to him. She said he had developed chest problems after returning home.

Nokuphumla Dadlana’s husband returned home from the mines on oxygen after contracting Covid-19 and died in 2021.

“It has been too difficult for me. I am hungry. We have children who need to go to school and there is no money,” the Gubevu villager said.

Project Thubalethu steering committee and SA Ex-Mineworkers Council member Sonwabile Xaba said many former mineworkers had returned to the Eastern Cape suffering from serious occupational diseases and injuries, while others had died.

“According to national records, about 47% of ex-miners, from official records starting in 1965, have died, leaving wives and dependants,” he said.

Xaba said the former Transkei region accounted for about 78% of registered former mineworkers, while many others were still not reflected in official government records.

He said the poor health of returning mineworkers also placed additional pressure on the Eastern Cape’s already strained public health system.

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England’s decision to reappoint Joe Root for a second spell as full-time Test captain, starting with this week’s opener against Pakistan, is an obvious move but arguably an indictment of the lack of leadership in their set-up.

Root, one of the best batsmen of his generation, has already led England in a national record 65 Tests, mainly during five years from 2017-2022.

He initially stood down as skipper following a dire run of one win in 17 Tests.

“The last couple of years, it (the captaincy) sucked the life out of me,” he said a few months later on a podcast. “I was a shadow of the person I wanted to be... Once I’d made the decision it was a real relief.”

But, despite a modest return of 27 wins, 27 defeats and 11 draws as Test captain, Root is putting himself through it all again.

England have no realistic alternative after former skipper Ben Stokes’s dramatic announcement during the third Test at home to New Zealand in June that he was retiring from international cricket.

Harry Brook, vice-captain under Stokes, is already the skipper of England’s white-ball teams and it may have been too much to expect him to lead the side in all three formats.

It was Brook’s altercation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand in November last year which led England to impose a midnight curfew.

When Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson were omitted from the second Test against New Zealand after breaking that curfew in a London bar, Root was installed as acting captain.

Root announced last week he is ditching the curfew.

None of England’s other batsmen besides Brook are certain of their place, and none of the bowlers are candidates to be captain, not least because of fitness issues.

Ollie Pope, back in the squad for the first Test against Pakistan at Headingley, has previously been England’s vice-captain.

But after he was replaced in that role by Brook, he was dropped from the team during England’s 4-1 Ashes thrashing in Australia.

England appear to want Root to remain Test captain until at least the end of next year’s home Ashes.

That is a run of 13 Tests, which also includes a tough tour of South Africa later this year, and a series away to Bangladesh, who on Sunday delivered one of the all-time great upsets with a commanding nine-wicket win away to Australia.

England will hope Root will be a more astute skipper second time around.

“I am a very different player and have a different way of looking at the game than the last time I captained, in a good way,” the 35-year-old said when he was stand-in captain against New Zealand.

But the fear is leadership could render Root, who is in sight of surpassing India hero Sachin Tendulkar as Test cricket’s all-time leading run-scorer, a less effective batsman.

That is the last thing England, who have lost seven of their last nine Tests, need as they look to move on from the Bazball era.

Root said earlier this month he would not “rip up” the playbook of ultra-aggressive cricket but rather “tweak” things, in the hope of guiding England to the kind of series wins over powerhouses India and Australia that eluded Stokes and former Test coach Brendon McCullum, who remains in charge of the white-ball teams.

England were often accused of arrogance under Stokes and McCullum, especially once results started to go against them.

The three-Test series against Pakistan, starting on Wednesday, is set to reveal whether England under Root will be able to turn the tide. - AFP

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Finding buyers, understanding new markets, securing finance, navigating export requirements and establishing the right commercial partnerships can all become barriers to expansion.

This week’s Eastern Cape Export Symposium and Exhibition in KuGompo City aims to bring many of those connections together under one roof.

Running from August 19 to 21 at the East London International Convention Centre, the seventh edition of the symposium will connect export-ready businesses with buyers, investors, financiers, government institutions and potential commercial partners from South Africa, elsewhere on the continent and international markets.

At the centre of the programme is a Hosted Buyer Programme designed to connect businesses directly with verified international buyers, investors and strategic partners.

Business-to-business matchmaking sessions will provide further opportunities for companies to explore potential deals and partnerships, while a 60-stand exhibition will showcase products, services and investment opportunities.

For Eastern Cape businesses, the proposition extends beyond traditional export promotion.

The province has an established manufacturing and industrial base, three commercial ports and two Special Economic Zones, while sectors ranging from agriculture and automotive manufacturing to energy and electrotechnical industries offer opportunities for increased trade.

This year’s symposium is also being co-hosted with the Continental Energy Infrastructure and Investment Forum, bringing energy and infrastructure into the conversation about expanding trade.

It reflects a simple commercial reality: businesses cannot become globally competitive without the energy, transport, logistics and infrastructure required to produce goods efficiently and move them to market.

The symposium has consequently drawn together a broad group of strategic partners, including the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay metros and the South African Electrotechnical Export Council.

ECDC acting CEO Thobile Buthelezi said the intention was to connect opportunities with the institutions and investors capable of turning them into projects and commercial activity.

“CEIIF and the Export Symposium reflect ECDC’s commitment to creating platforms that connect policy with implementation, opportunity with investment, and ideas with delivery.

“By bringing together government, industry, investors and development partners, we are moving from opportunity to implementation, and from dialogue to delivery.”

Africa’s expanding marketplace

Another opportunity for Eastern Cape businesses is closer to home.

The African Continental Free Trade Area is progressively creating a larger integrated African market, opening opportunities for businesses capable of expanding beyond South Africa’s borders.

The symposium will examine market access and regional value chains as businesses consider how they can position themselves to participate in increasing intra-African trade.

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said strengthening relationships between government, business and international markets was central to the province’s ambitions.

“The Eastern Cape has established itself as one of South Africa’s leading destinations for trade and investment.

“This year’s Symposium reflects our ambition to build stronger partnerships between government, industry and international markets, and to move from dialogue to delivery on the opportunities before us.”

For a small or growing Eastern Cape business, however, perhaps the most tangible opportunity will simply be access.

Instead of having to individually find prospective buyers, financiers, export organisations and development agencies, businesses attending the symposium will have representatives of those markets and institutions gathered in KuGompo City.

The conference and exhibition take place on August 19 and 20.

Attendance is free, although registration is required.

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Arsenal captain Odegaard delivered a man of the match performance capped by the final goal in his team’s dominant 3-0 victory in Cardiff on Sunday.

Riccardo Calafiori netted Arsenal’s opener after just 24 seconds, and Kai Havertz was also on the scoresheet before half-time in the annual curtain-raiser to the English top-flight season.

Just four months ago, Odegaard lifted Arsenal’s first Premier League crown since 2004 after they finished seven points ahead of second-placed City.

The Norway midfielder believes the dynamic display against City, now managed by Enzo Maresca instead of Pep Guardiola, showed the north Londoners have not lost their hunger for silverware.

“We played some brilliant football. Great performance and a great way to start the season,” Maresca said.

“We showed our level today.

“We showed we’re ready. We’re serious, and we want to do it again. We want to attack it.

“When you get a taste of how nice it is, you want to do it again. We want to win everything.”

Installed as the bookmakers’ favourites for a second successive title, Arsenal begin their Premier League charge at home to promoted Coventry on August 21.

City open their bid for a first title since 2024 with a visit from Bournemouth on August 24, and Maresca admitted they have a lot to improve before then.

“We have many things to work on. The season’s just started so there are many things we need to do better,” he said.

“The goal we conceded after 24 seconds unfortunately affected the game.

“Disappointed with that because in this kind of game the level is so similar that when you concede a goal, it then becomes difficult.”

Maresca endured the joint-heaviest defeat by a City manager in their first game in charge, tying a 4-1 loss for Harry Newbould’s side against Arsenal in 1906.

It was also Maresca’s joint-worst loss as a manager in England after a 3-0 defeat against Brighton during his time with Chelsea in 2025.

Since the start of the 2023-24 season, City have only won two of their nine matches against Arsenal, showing the widening gap between them that Maresca must find a way to close.

“After the goal, the reaction was quite good. We had three or four chances to score and draw the game.

“Unfortunately, we conceded the second one and it became more complicated,” he said.

“From next Sunday we start the Premier League and the focus has to be on that.” — AFP

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The Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) event, which runs from August 19 to 21 at the East London International Convention Centre in KuGompo City, will bring together exporters, investors, business leaders, development finance institutions and policymakers from South Africa and international markets.

This year the symposium will be co-hosted with the Continental Energy Infrastructure and Investment Forum (CEIIF), broadening its focus beyond exports to include investment, infrastructure and energy.

The partnership reflects the increasing importance of reliable energy and infrastructure to the competitiveness of Eastern Cape businesses seeking to expand into domestic and international markets.

The symposium will also explore opportunities arising from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the potential for local businesses to increase trade within the continent.

ECDC said the event was intended to connect businesses with commercial opportunities rather than focus solely on policy discussions.

A hosted buyer programme will match export-ready businesses with verified international buyers, investors and potential strategic partners, while business-to-business meetings will provide companies with opportunities to pursue commercial relationships.

A 60-stand exhibition will showcase businesses, products and investment opportunities across a range of sectors.

The conference programme on Wednesday and Thursday will include panel discussions, workshops and sessions examining market access, regional value chains, infrastructure and investment.

The Eastern Cape has three commercial ports and two Special Economic Zones, alongside an established manufacturing and industrial base, which the province hopes to leverage to increase exports and attract further investment.

Premier Oscar Mabuyane said the symposium formed part of efforts to strengthen the province’s trade and investment position.

“The Eastern Cape has established itself as one of South Africa’s leading destinations for trade and investment. This year’s Symposium reflects our ambition to build stronger partnerships between government, industry and international markets, and to move from dialogue to delivery on the opportunities before us.

“I welcome all delegates to the Eastern Cape and look forward to the outcomes this platform will deliver for our province and our country.”

The symposium follows Tuesday’s Provincial Economic Stakeholder Engagement, at which government, business, labour, investors and other sectors are expected to discuss barriers constraining investment and job creation in the Eastern Cape.

ECDC acting CEO Thobile Buthelezi said combining the export symposium with the energy and infrastructure forum was intended to connect investment opportunities with potential financiers and industry partners.

“CEIIF and the Export Symposium reflect ECDC’s commitment to creating platforms that connect policy with implementation, opportunity with investment, and ideas with delivery.

“By bringing together government, industry, investors and development partners, we are moving from opportunity to implementation, and from dialogue to delivery.”

Delegates are expected from across South Africa, the Southern African Development Community region and other international markets.

The symposium’s theme this year is Powering Trade Opportunity: Connecting Infrastructure Opportunities, Energy and Strategic Partnerships in a Changing Global Economy.

Attendance is free, but registration is required through the symposium website.

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The clash in Darwin had been touted as a mismatch after Bangladesh crumbled to an innings defeat in their only warm-up game and went into the first Test without injured pace spearhead Nahid Rana.

But in one of the biggest upsets cricket has seen, the visitors pulled off a historic victory on Sunday to leave top-ranked Australia shell-shocked and facing recriminations.

Australia have suffered surprise home defeats in the recent past, including an eight-run loss to the West Indies at the Gabba in 2024.

But the manner of this crushing loss, with Bangladesh dominating each of the four days, had Australian media Monday slamming it as “a disaster” and the “most embarrassing” ever.

Former captain Ricky Ponting, who scored more than 13,000 Test runs, said it was time for tough decisions.

“I’m the last one to want to make change,” he told Channel Seven when the Test was in its death throes.

“As a captain or as a player I wanted to keep a group together, so it has to get to a bad point before I start saying you’ve got to leave somebody out.

“But there’s been enough evidence for me coming here (Darwin) to suggest they weren’t going to lose anything, or much at all, by starting that regeneration, bringing in another opener, bringing in someone at three ... I think that has to happen.”

Except for Steve Smith (71 and 44) and second-innings century-maker Cameron Green, the Australian batting was poor with too many soft dismissals.

Weatherald and number three Labuschagne are most at risk, both averaging under 27 since the start of the Ashes against England in late 2025 and rapidly running out of lives.

“The 1-2-3, as Ricky and I will tell you, are absolutely fundamental to the set-up of a batting team,” former opener Matthew Hayden told the same broadcaster.

“When they are constantly putting that middle order under pressure, Steve Smith arriving way earlier than he ever needs to be, then you’ve got to start to answer those questions.”

Josh Inglis was the spare batter for Darwin, but skipper Pat Cummins said selectors could look for alternatives outside the 13-man squad, acknowledging the batting failures were “a little bit of a trend”.

A rejuvenated Matt Renshaw coming in for Weatherald is the most obvious change for the second Test starting in Mackay on Saturday.

But there is also growing support for a younger generation to be given a chance, with Sam Konstas, Campbell Kellaway, Ollie Peake and Cooper Connolly knocking at the door.

“You have to bite the bullet at some stage,” Australian great Mark Waugh said while former opener David Warner, whose place in the team has proved hard to fill since he quit in 2024, added: “I think we’ve got to start blooding some youngsters.”

With Australia facing a tough three-Test challenge in SA as their next assignment in October, throwing in at least one youngster at Mackay to gain experience would make sense.

Australian media suggested Kurtis Patterson or Nathan McSweeney were the two frontrunners to take Labuschagne’s spot, although neither has been in outstanding form.

Darwin was the first of up to 21 Tests Australia will play over the next 12 months, and the tried and tested bowling unit of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon is seemingly still in favour, despite their advanced years.

Returning from injury, Hazlewood shut down debate over whether he remains Australia’s first-choice attack bowler with a six-wicket haul in Bangladesh’s first innings.

Veteran off-spinner Lyon, also on the comeback from injury, appears most vulnerable with the 38-year-old outbowled by Bangladesh counterpart Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Understudy Todd Murphy, 25, is considered first in the pecking order to take over. - AFP

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Australia’s Gibson saved five match points in the 12th game of the second set before Sabalenka came through in the tiebreaker, managing a final winner to get the job done 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) in just under two hours on a windswept Grandstand Court.

“I’m super tired; this is crazy weather,” Sabalenka said.

“Talia played great tennis and was more aggressive in the second set.

“She put more pressure on my service games. I’m glad I stayed calm and pulled it out in straight sets.”

Sabalenka won Cincinnati in 2024 and is hoping for a deep run to carry her into the US Open, where she’ll be seeking her first Grand Slam title of the year.

The Belarusian has won three titles in 2026, but none since Miami in March.

She advanced along with Australian Open winner Rybakina and Roland Garros champion Andreeva, who powered on in convincing style.

US hope Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, had to work harder for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over 43rd-ranked Russian Liudmila Samsonova.

Fellow American Ben Shelton — up to sixth in the world rankings after his Montreal Masters triumph last week — was sent packing by 79th-ranked Jaime Faria of Portugal.

World number two Rybakina, coming off a runner-up finish to Iga Swiatek in Toronto and inching closer to Sabalenka in the rankings, defeated Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-4.

Andreeva crushed Oleksandra Oliynykova with the loss of just one game, breaking five times and saving all seven break points she faced in a 6-1, 6-0 rout.

Rybakina said that she is concentrating on recovery after a tough Toronto run and was glad to get off to a low-stress start.

“Today I’m happy with the serve,” she said.

“Definitely it helped me a lot. Last week in Toronto was very difficult. A lot of three-set matches.”

Seventh seed Swiatek, the defending champion who bagged her first title of a rocky season in Toronto, hammered Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-3, 6-0.

Gauff and Shelton headlined an evening session that proved tricky as blustery conditions gave way to brief rain that halted both matches for just under half an hour.

Gauff pulled out victory with a storming finish, winning the last five games.

Shelton fell victim to the same sort of surge from Faria, who rallied from 4-1 down in the second set to post his first top-10 win with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over the American.

Men’s second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime was aiming to kickstart his US Open preparations after pulling out of his home Masters with back pain.

Auger-Aliassime, playing for the first time since a five-set quarter-final loss to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, defeated 2022 Cincy finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-5.

Auger-Aliassime looked fully recovered as he throttled Tsitsipas in 88 minutes, breaking the 49th-ranked Greek three times in the second set and firing his seventh ace on match point.

Fourth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev opened his campaign with a business-like 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Argentine Marco Trungelliti.

US sixth seed Taylor Fritz smashed a racquet in anger just five minutes into his match with compatriot Alex Michelsen but recovered his poise in the swirling winds to earn a 6-3, 6-4 win. - AFP

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The Provincial Economic Stakeholder Engagement will also include representatives from academia and civil society and is intended to develop practical measures to stimulate economic activity and turn development commitments into investment and employment opportunities.

The provincial government is expected to use the meeting to provide an update on the implementation of its Provincial Economic Development Strategy and progress made in different sectors.

It will also examine challenges affecting communities and hampering economic development, major projects and inclusive growth.

The engagement comes as the province continues to grapple with the challenge of generating sufficient economic growth and employment.

Mabuyane said recent employment figures showed that while the Eastern Cape had made progress in creating jobs, economic growth needed to accelerate substantially.

“The latest employment figures remind us that while the province has made progress in job creation, we must significantly accelerate the pace of economic growth if we are to absorb more people into the economy.

“We need to turn our economic assets, investment opportunities and export potential into productive activity, stronger businesses and sustainable jobs,” Mabuyane said.

Discussions at Tuesday’s gathering are expected to focus on practical solutions rather than simply diagnosing the province’s longstanding economic problems.

Mabuyane said the government wanted to make the Eastern Cape economy more competitive and attractive to investors while strengthening its links with regional and international markets.

“Our focus is to build an economy that is more competitive, investment-ready and connected to regional and international markets.

“We want to see stronger partnerships between government and the private sector, increased investment in productive sectors, greater participation by Eastern Cape businesses in global value chains and, ultimately, more employment opportunities for our people,” he said.

The engagement will also serve as a precursor to the seventh Eastern Cape Export Symposium and Exhibition, which runs from Wednesday to Friday at the East London International Convention Centre.

The symposium is aimed at attracting investment, expanding exports and creating sustainable employment in the province.

Tuesday’s economic engagement will be held at the East London Golf Course in KuGompo City from 1pm.

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Marie Ngah scored twice and Naomi Eto once in the final in Rabat as the Indomitable Lionesses became queens of African football for the first time after finishing runners-up on three occasions.

Cameroon lost at home and away to Algeria in the final qualifying round, but the organisers later increased the number of teams for the tournament from 12 to 16.

The four highest-ranked losers, led by Cameroon, were added for the two-yearly competition, which Morocco hosted for the third consecutive time.

It was a sad climax for Malawi, ranked 153rd in the world, who had reached the title decider with the Chawinga sisters, captain Tabitha and Temwa, scoring nine goals between them.

Among those who saw Cameroon succeed after losing the 2004, 2014 and 2016 finals to Nigeria without scoring was embattled Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

He was flanked by Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe from South Africa and first vice-president Fouzi Lekjaa.

The CAF leadership have backed Infantino, who is fighting to save his job after a barrage of criticism for his aborted plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors.

Debutants Malawi defied their status as the lowest-ranked nation at the marquee African women’s football event to reach the final after beating defending champions Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana and Algeria.

The Scorchers started the final impressively, with the Chawingas’ power and pace creating several threatening situations.

But Malawi failed to score and, as the opening half progressed, so did the performance of Cameroon, who took a 20th-minute lead.

A cross was headed off Malawi goalkeeper Mercy Sikelo onto the crossbar, and Ngah nodded the rebound into the net for her fourth goal of the tournament.

As they became increasingly adventurous, Cameroon doubled the lead on 29 minutes when Eto, with her back to goal, swivelled and struck the ball into the corner of the net.

Ngah netted three minutes again into added time at the end of the opening half, heading an Eto cross into the net.

After scoring twice in the opening half, Ngah should have completed a hat-trick early in the second period but, after taking the ball past Sikelo, fired wide.

Malawi contained Cameroon as the second period progressed and Temwa Chawinga was just wide with a low shot after a goalmouth scramble.

By reaching the semi-finals, Cameroon, Malawi, third-placed Algeria and Morocco qualified for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

The number of African qualifiers could swell to six as losing WAFCON quarter-finalists SA and Ghana have secured places in inter-continental play-offs. - AFP

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The match also marked a significant milestone for captain Dayaan Cassiem, who led SA onto the field for his 99th international Test cap, moving to within one appearance of a century for his country.

Spain made the early breakthrough in the 12th minute, although the goal arrived with an element of controversy.

The first touch in the build-up appeared to be played with the reverse side of the stick, but because the incident occurred outside the 25, SA were unable to refer the decision, with umpire David Tomlinson not allowing the referral.

Before SA had fully recovered, Spain struck again.

José Basterra doubled the advantage just a minute later to leave the South Africans facing an early 2-0 deficit.

Spain continued to apply pressure and Basterra grabbed his second of the afternoon in the 28th minute, sending his side into the half-time interval with a commanding 3-0 advantage.

SA emerged after the break with far greater purpose.

They enjoyed more possession in dangerous areas, began asking significantly more questions of the Spanish defence and created opportunities to work their way back into the contest.

Penalty corners offered SA one of their clearest routes back into the match, but several opportunities went unconverted.

Eventually, the pressure told.

In the 45th minute, Mustapha Cassiem produced a penalty corner of the highest quality, sending an inch-perfect drag flick into the top corner to give SA the breakthrough their improved performance deserved.

At 3-1, there was suddenly life in the contest heading into the final quarter.

SA continued to search for another goal and created a handful of opportunities that could have made the closing stages particularly uncomfortable for Spain.

The chances were there, but the finishing touch proved elusive and the Spanish defence ultimately held firm.

Meanwhile, the SA women started with a 4-0 defeat against England in Pool D at the Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen.

Against a highly rated England side, SA were made to pay for a difficult opening quarter as two goals in quick succession gave their opponents early control of the contest.

Darcy Bourne opened the scoring in the 10th minute before Tess Howard doubled England’s advantage just three minutes later.

The quick double left SA with an immediate challenge, but the African champions continued to compete and worked hard to find opportunities to play through the English pressure.

England, however, showed their experience and efficiency.

With SA seemingly set to reach half-time just two goals behind, Lizzie Neal struck in the 30th minute to make it 3-0 and give England a significant cushion heading into the interval.

For SA, the challenge after the break was to stay connected and continue asking questions of an England team packed with players accustomed to performing at the highest level of the international game.

The South Africans continued to battle, but England added their fourth in the 41st minute through Olivia Hamilton to effectively put the result beyond reach.

Importantly, there was no further damage on the scoreboard.

SA kept working through the final quarter and continued to compete until the final hooter, even with the result already decided.

The 4-0 scoreline was a disappointing start for Inky Zondi’s side, but the opening encounter also provided an immediate reminder of the margins at World Cup level.

England punished their opportunities, particularly during decisive periods in the first half, while SA will know there are areas they can sharpen as the tournament progresses. — SA Hockey Association

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Big news in Knysna is that the days of our roaming herds of cattle are allegedly over … and that means my flowers might just be safe in future.

Since I came here 11 years ago, there has been an issue with cattle roaming Knysna.

While it’s been fascinating to see how herds of them get right up to Knysna Heights, stroll down George Rex Drive as if they were going to the Heads, we have all got used to them.

I stopped planting flowers at our gate long ago because cows eat the whole plant or the pigs chomp them.

I actually like the cows because they mow the lawn and add a pastoral feel to living in Knysna.

Our neighbours, on the other hands, detest the cows.

They say they drop ticks and give their dogs and cats biliary and worms.

Apparently, a bull chased a woman in Knysna Heights.

Miraculously though is that nobody has been seriously injured or killed in the cow-versus-car incidents that have happened on the N2, especially near Nekkies.

Over the years, I have lost count of how many times this has happened and I’ve seen what a car looks like that hits a cow and it’s a mangled wreck.

People who I have interviewed over the years have got terrible frights, but fortunately escaped unharmed except a few with whiplash.

There was some talk a couple of months ago that the municipality was going to find grazing land for these cows since they are owned by township farmers who shepherd them through town to the greenest grass.

There was an outcry from residents against the RDP farm and so now the powers-that-be have taken a paradigm shift in approach.

The Knysna municipality as of last week adopted a zero-tolerance approach to roaming livestock as part of its ongoing efforts to improve public safety, protect road users and ensure compliance with municipal bylaws, it says.

“The municipality has commenced with the impoundment of roaming cattle found on public roads and in other public spaces.

“Livestock owners are reminded of their responsibility to ensure that their animals are properly contained and do not pose a risk to motorists, pedestrians or surrounding communities.”

While it wasn’t specified, this presumably also applies to the pigs that dig up pavements to eat the roots of grass and plants, leaving a bulldozer trail behind them.

This is very disheartening for house-proud people who try to keep tidy verges.

Again, I gave up long ago on the verges which the municipality only mows once in a blue-moon anyway, and so the cows and pigs were quirky and welcome here.

I may not have minded the wandering livestock, but most residents do.

From now, on members of the public are encouraged to report roaming livestock by contacting the emergency services control room on 044-302-8911 or 060-998-6969.

Reports may also be submitted via email to public safety manager Siyasanga Vandala at svandala@knysna.gov.za.

“We appreciate your co-operation in helping to create a safer environment for all,” the municipality says.

“Community vigilance and prompt reporting play an important role in preventing accidents and ensuring the effective enforcement of municipal bylaws.”

So now on to flowers since they are popping up early on the Garden Route this year and since I can now cultivate some blooms since the cows are gone.

We’ve had enough rain, this winter feels to me like it’s been a whole lot milder, and the signs of spring coming are everywhere.

There are tiny green shoots on trees which were naked during winter.

While it’s still too early for those miraculous peach blossoms, I can feel the earth is shifting.

The Chincherinchee lilies are out.

The bulbs and the whole plant actually hide until spring and then they suddenly pop out of the ground, even on patches of lawn, with exquisite little white bell-like flowers.

It was my mom’s favourite and it flowers the same time she died so I imagine they’re sent by her.

We walked on the dunes at Buffalo Bay last weekend and the walk was peppered with the smiling yellow faces of the Bietou Bush.

This plant is native to the southern coast of SA and can be found in areas like the Garden Route, particularly in strandveld, fynbos, seafront, and grassland gardens and its main flowering time is winter, so I guess it’s putting on its last show.

The vygie flower (Mesembryanthemums) is to be found everywhere on the Garden Route and the Western Cape.

It grows prolifically on the dunes of our local beaches and it’s like a brilliant iridescent star amongst other vegetation.

My favourite one is the cerise colour, but among the fireworks in the fynbos these vygies come in a carnival of pink, purple, yellow, orange.

There are more than 1,600 species in the country and a whole lot of them are found in our area and the Cape Floristic region.

Along with the vygies, other fynbos plants on the Garden Route typically bloom during the spring months.

From now on, we can expect to see bursts of colour as the fynbos flowers, including ericas and other species, show themselves everywhere, alongside the roads and in the forests.

The biggest hint, though, that spring is on its way are the annual Canola flowers.

Canola oil and animal feed are made from the seeds of this plant, but for just a few weeks, August to September, the humble plant gets to be an aesthetic wonder.

Many of us who live here make a trip to Swellendam especially to see this extravaganza since it is only about two hours from George.

The Canola fields can be found all along the N2 highway between Hermanus and Mossel Bay including little towns along the N2 like Riviersonderend, Caledon, Onrus, Botriver, Swellendam and Riversdale.

Then there’s the big one, when SA’s wildflowers burst into bloom in one of nature’s greatest shows on earth.

From now until the end of September, people trek to witness a natural marvel when the Cape West Coast, Cederberg and Namaqualand landscapes turn into a thick carpet of flowers in vivid colours.

There are so many options to enjoy the flowers.

The town of Darling hosts an annual wildflower show over the third weekend in September as it celebrates an integral part of the Cape Fynbos Kingdom.

This comprises renosterveld, sandveld and strandveld where more than 1,200 different species of flowers can be found.

You can flower-hunt as far as SANParks’ Namaqua National Park to see the flowers and in particular the Namaqualand daisies this area is famous for.

Last year, I stayed at the Darling Lodge Guest House and it was a treat in all respects, the perfect place to stay in flower season.

Cycling through the Columbine Nature Reserve on Wow eBikes from Paternoster was an unforgettable experience.

Thing is, these flowers are at their best between 10am and 3pm when it’s about 18°C or more.

If it’s cold and miserable, the flowers sulk and stay closed, which is why it’s ideal to spend more than one day.

Have a look at Cape Country Routes info@capecountryroutes.com for accommodation in flower regions, but also activities.

And get going if you are headed for the flowers because they have bloomed early and who knows how long they will be out.

On this happy note, I am going to plant an African daisy in my pavement pots and see how long it lasts.

I was alone in a forest somewhere between Porto, Portugal, and Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Ahead of me lay kilometres of uphill walking.

For a moment, I wondered whether I had made the right decision to embark on this journey.

Portugal was in the grip of a heatwave.

I removed my backpack and sat down.

With trembling hands, I reached into my bag for another handful of peppermints.

For a moment I felt all alone in the forest.

My insulin pump and my thoughts were my only companions – and, at that time, also my greatest challenge.

As I waited for my blood sugar to rise, my mind drifted back over 30 years of living with Type 1 diabetes.

It means that every day is carefully planned.

Every meal, every kilometre walked, every change in temperature and every burst of physical exertion can affect blood sugar levels.

On the Camino, there is no room for carelessness.

Every day required careful planning, frequent monitoring and complete dependence on God.

Sitting in the forest, I realised that the journey had had started about 30 years earlier – the day I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, while I was seven months pregnant with our first child.

The diagnosis felt like a life sentence. I had to decide what I was going to do with it. Would I allow diabetes to define my identity? Would it be the lens through which other looked at me?

That day I made a decision that has guided my life ever since. I have diabetes.

Diabetes does not have me.

I decided that diabetes would not steal my dreams or limit God’s purpose for my life.

Instead, I chose to live life to the fullest, trusting that God could still use me to fulfil the purpose for which He created me.

In January, a friend inspired me to walk the Camino – a nearly 300km ancient pilgrimage from Porto to Santiago de Compostela that thousands of people undertake every year.

My husband’s and my first question was simple: “Can I really do this with Type 1 diabetes and an insulin pump?”

The answer came surprisingly quickly.

The very next day I felt a deep conviction that I should go. Philippians 4:13 became my anchor: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

For the next five months, everything revolved around the Camino.

I trained with a fully loaded backpack, adjusted my diet and carefully weighed every item I wanted to take with me.

Only later did I realise that the heaviest weight was the invisible baggage I had carried in my heart for years.

As my legs grew stronger, something inside me also became lighter.

Some mornings on the Camino I saw the sun rise over vineyards while church bells echoed through tiny villages.

Other days I walked in silence, listening only to my footsteps and the rhythm of my breathing.

It was in that silence that I discovered how clearly God still speaks when we are willing to listen.

I looked again at the colourful peppermints in my hand.

They would raise my blood sugar so that I could continue the journey.

But while they strengthened my body, I realised that something else had changed.

Somewhere along the Camino, the burdens I had carried for so many years had quietly fallen away.

My heart felt lighter. I saw people differently.

I noticed God’s goodness in small moments that I might once have overlooked.

The Camino had not only carried my feet forward. It had transformed something deep within me.

Sixteen days and almost 300km after leaving Porto, I finally placed my backpack down in the square in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

In that moment, I realised I had never walked alone.

There had always been three of us: God, me... and my insulin pump. Together we were far stronger than I could ever have been on my own.

That day in the forest, a handful of peppermints raised my blood sugar levels.

But the greatest healing I experienced on the Camino wasn’t in my body – it was in my heart.

If there is one lesson I brought home from the Camino, it is this: the greatest obstacles we face are often not the ones beneath our feet, but the ones we carry in our hearts.

Whether your burden is illness, fear, disappointment or loss, God is able to carry you far beyond what you ever imagined possible.

Sometimes all that is needed is the courage to take the very first step.

Liza Troskie: Victory Family Church Somerset East

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Concerns about jobs, tourism and the wider local economy are therefore legitimate.

But if the discussion is about accountability, then accountability must follow responsibility.

The reported increase in the rental demanded for Playland raises an important question: what happens when a commercial decision that may make sense on a balance sheet undermines the sustainability of an attraction and the wider economic activity around it?

Restaurants, accommodation establishments, traders, transport operators and other businesses benefit from the visitor traffic generated by attractions such as Playland.

That is precisely why the commercial decision cannot simply be presented as a municipal decision.

The municipality does not own the property, set Transnet’s rental charges, negotiate Transnet’s commercial leases or operate Playland.

The commercial terms of the lease therefore cannot be determined by the municipality, nor can the municipality be held accountable for a decision over which it has no authority.

That does not absolve the municipality of its responsibilities.

The municipality has a clear role in supporting the local economy, facilitating investment, engaging stakeholders, advocating for tourism and addressing infrastructure within its mandate.

Where municipal infrastructure is not performing, residents are entitled to answers, intervention and corrective action.

The municipality accepts that responsibility.

But those responsibilities should not be conflated with the commercial decisions of a state-owned enterprise or private operator.

The same principle applies to the wider discussion about Kings Beach and Ironman.

Major attractions and events contribute to the local economy and Nelson Mandela Bay has a clear interest in retaining and growing them.

But the commercial decisions of property owners, operators, event organisers and investors cannot automatically become municipal decisions simply because they have consequences for the local economy.

There is a more important question for the city.

What kind of tourism destination do we want Nelson Mandela Bay to become?

Playland matters.

So do Ironman, our beaches and coastline, marine economy, heritage, arts and culture, hospitality sector, sporting events, business tourism, conferences, adventure tourism and smaller attractions.

A resilient tourism economy cannot depend on one attraction, one event or one commercial operator.

It needs a broader ecosystem of attractions, investment, infrastructure and experiences capable of sustaining the destination when individual businesses or events change.

That is not a dismissal of Playland.

It is recognition that the long-term economic interests of Nelson Mandela Bay are bigger than any single attraction.

The Playland discussion should therefore be used to ask the right questions: What decision was made? Who made it? What authority did they have? Why was it made? And what consequences does it have for the wider economy?

Those questions should be asked of every institution involved.

If a commercial arrangement can be changed, the parties with authority over that arrangement must be part of the solution.

If municipal infrastructure requires intervention, the municipality must act.

If businesses require commercially sustainable operating models, those businesses and their partners must address them.

If the wider precinct requires coordinated investment, government and the private sector must work together.

This is not about finding an institution to blame.

It is about ensuring that responsibility sits with those who have the power to make, influence or correct the decisions in question.

The Municipality has no interest in seeing businesses fail or important attractions disappear.

It has every interest in seeing Nelson Mandela Bay grow as a tourism and investment destination.

But the municipality cannot be the financial backstop for every commercial decision made in the city.

Equally, where the Municipality has the authority and responsibility to act, it must answer for its performance.

That is the standard residents should expect from us, and one we accept.

Playland is part of the economic and social fabric of Kings Beach. Its future matters.

So does the future of the people and businesses that depend on a vibrant visitor economy.

If we genuinely care about that future, then every institution with a stake in Kings Beach must look beyond its immediate interests and consider the wider value of the destination.

Accountability must follow responsibility.

If we are going to ask difficult questions, let us ask them of everyone who has the authority to answer them.

Sithembiso Soyaya, spokesperson, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality

The foundation is a baby haven providing temporary safe care, therapeutic support, education and love for abused, abandoned or neglected children from newborn to six years old.

The tour kicks off on August 14 at the Wilderness Beach House Backpackers before moving to Plettenberg Bay and then Gqeberha. It will visit a total of five locations.

Tickets cost R150, with 10% of every ticket sale going directly back into the community where the show takes place.

The Gqeberha leg will be hosted by well-known local personality Roland Gaspar.

The night will begin with Thanks For Sharing, a tighter, road-ready version of the show comedians Brendon Roux and Sabrina Titus first debuted at Ground Culture in Cape Town.

Roux returns from three chaotic months living in the forest with a hoard of stories too good to keep to himself, covering deep-woods misadventures, unforgettable characters and the kind of oversharing that has audiences laughing until it hurts.

Titus, a comedian who never planned on becoming one, joins him with her own brand of chaos, turning the awkward, messy and hormone-related into comedy gold.

Once the laughter settles, Liam Tuffy will take the stage and turn the night into something else entirely.

Fresh from the main stage at the SPAR Kirkwood Wildsfees, the Cape Town-born, Gqeberha-based singer-songwriter brings pop, indie, folk and rock with honesty that never wavers.

Audiences can also expect meet-and-greets.

“Literally, words cannot describe it. We have a lineup of people who have been doing it for years, and I mean artists are struggling in SA,” Roux said.

“Now we are there to get all these kids going around the country making money for their art, and we give back to charity, and it all just feels unreal.

“So we are still finding the words, but I think after the first show it will all sink in.

“So now it is just trying to stay regulated and not get too excited because there’s still a lot of work ahead of us. But beyond excited, dreams are coming true.”

The company was built by Roux, a comedian and media entrepreneur, co-founder Vincenzo Mazzola, the creative force behind the Lekker Lekker Media brand, and Tamlyn Thomas, founder of the LMB Online network.

With Gaspar as director, the company signs artists at zero upfront cost, giving them a full marketing, branding and PR team, along with access to 11 tourism and lifestyle platforms nationwide under the LMB Online network.

Roux said the selection of comedians and artists for the tour came from relationships built throughout his career in the entertainment industry.

When his life “fell apart a bit”, he met Thomas from LMB, and they joined their marketing agencies.

Living between Gqeberha and Plett, Roux, whose business operates locally, said he realised the partnership had given his own career a resource boost.

Reflecting on how he was brought up, he said when one person received something “magic”, they shared it.

The artists in the lineup are people he met along his journey, including Tuffy, who he met while living in the Bay.

“I had just fallen in love with his music and his passion for the art. Then I met Sabrina at a comedy gig and it was just this raw talent,” Roux said.

“She got into comedy accidentally. She joined a competition because she saw R5,000 as the prize but did not know it was for comedy.

“I met all the artists five years ago at media events.

“There is literally a no-ego rule because we are getting more artists by the week, but the whole thing is built around collaboration, and it feels like God has provided them.”

He said Thanks For Sharing began as a full-hour comedy show he performed with Titus.

The stories were relatable, he said, including those about a woman from the Cape Flats who was a single mother, unemployed and facing various trials and tribulations.

At the same time, audiences could find positivity in those realities through humour.

“I nearly lost everything in my business not so long ago and have fought tooth and nail to get out of it.

" So the stories are real, they are of hope and magic.

“We truly just love SA. It feels like there is a turn in this belief in what Mzansi can do.

“Every show, every musician we choose, has that little magic in them.

“If you can feel someone’s set or their music between your heart and your stomach, they will be at a Lekker Lekker Media performance,” Roux said.

At least eight artists will be paid through the tour, while sponsors will be announced soon.

Roux said some of the musicians and comedians would change from show to show, ensuring each performance was different.

For the Cape Town show, Anton Taylor was also added to the lineup, along with a drag queen performance.

The Gqeberha show will feature Titus, Roux and Gaspar on comedy, before Tuffy closes the night with a 45-minute music set.

Roux said the team also aimed to bring big-name comedians to the metro while building relationships with venues in the Bay.

Explaining the decision to support Zanethemba, Roux said the team was obsessed by the foundation’s work.

“And so for this first show as well as every other show in the future, we have devoted all proceeds to them, and we will choose another charity after a year of making a tangible difference.”

Tickets are available online through Fixr.

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Though I had a wet midyear break with a much-needed road trip, I returned on Wednesday with no further rain in sight.

Seems our friends have been proved correct; it will always rain if you go away with the Weather Guru.

In a very saturated Langkloof, any rainfall now turns farm roads into mud baths and docile streams into running rivers again, with water still being fed to the overflowing Kouga and Churchill dams.

With the countryside beautiful and green, all farm dams full and new dams of water appearing where there were just dry ditches, farmers have a lot to be grateful for.

That is except for the damage to infrastructure and most especially access roads, caused by the recent floods.

The famous road engineer, Thomas Bain, was entirely correct when he said that there were only three challenges when building roads and passes.

That is water, followed by water and finally water.

This I experienced first-hand over the weekend when I undertook a journey into the Kouga mountains in the Langkloof.

I had been dying to take this trip ever since the May floods but was prevented from doing so due to part of the R62 being washed away between Kareedouw and Joubertina.

To the locals’ and travellers’ delight the road has now been re-opened, though repairs are still ongoing along the R62, leading to many stop-goes which add to the travelling time.

Besides Meiringspoort, all the passes Bain built have stood the test of time and the weather.

Incidentally, though he assisted with Meiringspoort, he said it would never work and the only solution was to get out of the riverbed and go over the top, as he did with the Swartberg Pass.

This is one mean feat, considering that he did not have access to the technology of today.

Most of the passes that we travel on today were built in the late 1800s and la ot of traffic and water has traversed these roads and passes since then.

Travelling the farm roads where most of the tributaries start and later run into the mighty Kouga River, one gets an idea of how much water moved through the area during the recent floods.

The devastation it caused can only be realised when one sees it first-hand.

I was interested as to exactly how much water moved through the areas and consulted Google and Meta AI to assist.

I, however, got lost in all the zeros, but according to the experts (Gamtoos Irrigation Board) a volume of 6.6 Kouga Dams flowed over the wall by July 3 2026.

That is a massive 126-million cubic metres of water x 6.6, if one can imagine how much water that is.

Then one must also remember that the Kouga was at about 40% before the rains came.

One cannot truly comprehend that amount of water unless you have stood at the dam wall and seen the mass of water behind the wall.

Just imagine, in a utopian world if we could have stored all that water, we would almost certainly never have a water crisis for decades to come.

That is if our metro could plug a few of that ever-increasing number of water leaks.

I now wonder why the authorities have never contemplated building a few storage or flood control dams higher up in the Kouga catchment.

I suppose cost is one of the main factors.

One could wonder if more of the controversial farm dams were allowed, would the flow of water be stemmed.

This I doubt, as I saw quite a few farm dam walls washed away by the flood waters.

The masses of water started accumulating in the tributaries halfway up in the catchment and at Brandhoek, about 65km from the dam wall as the crow flies, and devastation could already be seen.

This is where the Huis River joins the Kouga.

Here, streams turned into torrents hundreds of metres wide and left scars and piles of rocks where the water ran that can still be seen three months later.

This left many farmers within the catchment stranded.

Some were stranded for up to two months as communities worked together to try to repair roads and tracks to get to their lands and livestock.

It amazes me how resilient these communities are in restoring these roads and in some cases making them better than they were before the floods.

In some instances, it will take years to restore all to normality.

Though every farm road showed clear signs of damage, with many washaways on downhills, the maximum devastation we saw was in the mountain valley near Assegaaibosch.

The area and road around the low water bridge was completely washed away, with the camp area called Ragels Rivier destroyed.

I was, however, amazed that the low water bridge survived the flood waters.

Much to my disbelief, most of the mountain passes we travelled that are cut into the mountain side, were not severely damaged.

The weekend’s rain that fell on the already saturated earth has caused immediate run-off, with streams and rivers now running strongly once again and further raising dam levels.

Our trip was not without problems, but luckily a guardian angel, by the name of Cuan Korsten, saved the day when a turbo pipe got dislodged causing our vehicle to go into limp mode in the middle of the mountains, with not much passing traffic.

Therefore, my safety tip for the week is especially for travellers.

This week in history:

2006: Widespread snow reported over large parts of the province, especially Robert Sobukwe Town (Graaff-Reinet) and Barkley East

Dam Levels

100.41% up from previous week at 100.19%

Impofu 100.85%

Weather Safety Tips:

When on isolated roads, where possible travel with at least one other vehicle. You never know when you can get stuck on a less-travelled wilderness road.

Now on Facebook, Instagram, and X: @WeatherGuruEC

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The quarterly labour force results released on Tuesday show this.

Millions of people are looking for work, while the number of employed people has fallen sharply over the past year.

The most telling figure is perhaps that the labour force grew by 160,000 people in just three months, while employment increased by only 13,000.

That is the challenge in a nutshell.

More people are willing and able to work, but the economy is not creating jobs quickly enough to absorb them.

There is no shortage of discussion about what needs to be done.

The government talks about attracting investment, fixing infrastructure, improving skills and creating a better environment for business.

All of these things matter. But more can be done, and the urgency needs to match the scale of the crisis.

Creating jobs must become the focal point of economic policy in the Eastern Cape.

That means asking a simple question of every major government decision. Will this help create or protect jobs?

It means removing the delays that frustrate businesses and investors. It means making sure water, electricity, roads and other basic infrastructure work.

It means using government procurement to create opportunities for local businesses and ensure small companies can grow.

It also means protecting the jobs we already have.

The province’s automotive sector has been a powerful economic engine for decades. Its difficulties are therefore not simply an industry problem. They are an Eastern Cape problem.

At the same time, the province needs to broaden its economic base and turn its considerable assets in manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, tourism and energy into real investment and real employment.

Skills development is important, but training people for jobs that do not exist is not enough.

Investment announcements are welcome, but announcements do not pay salaries.

What matters is getting projects off the ground and businesses expanding.

The province has people who want to work. It has businesses that want to grow. It has major economic assets.

Job creation must stop being one item on the economic agenda. It must become the agenda.

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The programme, which has been running for three years, crisscrossing the province and providing platforms for all boxers to fight in their own districts, encountered financial hiccups before the finals at the Orient Theatre in March.

Organisers frantically embarked on a last-ditch effort to raise funds to accommodate scores of district boxers who had qualified for the finals.

The financial crunch came as the directors had already clinched a partnership with top Irish boxing club Holy Family, which sent its boxer Joshua Badmus to the finals in March to gauge competition and kick-start working relations.

Badmus stopped WSU student boxer Inam Waziya in their 62kg clash to win the Ludumo Lamati Belt, an accolade designed to inspire young boxers in honour of retired Mdantsane boxer Ludumo Lamati.

Lamati made international headlines after miraculously recovering from a ring injury he suffered in his bout against Englishman Nick Ball in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2023.

Launched three years ago to keep youngsters off the streets and away from unsavoury activities such as drugs and alcohol, the programme unearthed a slew of talented boxers who went on to achieve big things in sport, some representing the country at major international championships.

Boxers such as Masibulele Sigwela, who was the lone provincial representative in the SA boxing team that recently competed at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, recently-turned professional prospect Amila “Auditor General” Gongqa, Ayabonga Meko and a host of others, have come through the programme.

Mpucuko director Ncedo Cecane said rising costs to continue with the programme had led to it being shelved after it initially punched off in Komani in May for the 2026 edition.

“To us, providing this platform for young boxers was the best way to take them off the streets while nurturing their talent to pave the way for a better future for them,” he said.

“Remember the majority of these children come from underprivileged backgrounds where even securing identity documents is a challenge.

“I cannot think of the number of them we helped to organise documents such as passports and identity documents so that they could travel to international championships.”

Cecane said despite initially attracting a slew of corporate companies such as cellphone giants MTN, EC Gambling and Betting Board, the provincial liquor board and betting outlets, which used the platform to drive their community awareness programmes, the financial strain proved too much to handle.

“Initially everything looked good and rosy as we partnered with big businesses and were able to host our tournaments in all the districts, providing young boxers with a platform to fight in front of their families and friends.

“But with some of our partners drastically slashing their budgets, it became increasingly difficult for us to raise funds for these events.”

Cecane said the March finals at Orient Theatre were nearly cancelled as pleas to companies hit a brick wall.

“We nearly cancelled the tournament but thought about the scores of young boxers we had already promised to accommodate at hotels.”

He could not say if the programme would resume should a financial partner come on board.

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NMU’s acting secretary in the department of nursing science Lumka Cube and postdoctoral research fellow, scientist and community advocate, Dr Itumeleng Zosela, were among the young leaders celebrated for shaping the future of SA.

Cube is the founder of the nonprofit Grab and Go Foundation, which she established in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She was honoured in the civic society category.

Zosela’s work in nanomedicine, youth empowerment and Stem (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education earned her recognition in the Health and Wellness category.

Cube’s work has earned her several honours, including the humanitarian award at the 2026 Fabulous Awards, runner-up in the Herald Citizen of the Year Awards for the Gqeberha region, and nominations for the 2026 Santam Women of the Future Awards and Women Supremacy Awards.

She said she was inspired by her mother’s resilience and compassion, and believes a lasting legacy is built not on personal success but on uplifting others.

“This recognition is both humbling and inspiring, and I am grateful to have been acknowledged alongside many remarkable young leaders who are creating meaningful change across SA,” Cube said.

Zosela, 33, is conducting research into nanoparticle-based approaches to cancer treatment, as well as inspiring and developing youth from disadvantaged communities to be primed as the future scientists, innovators and problem-solvers.

As a postdoctoral research fellow at NMU’s DSI-Mandela Nanomedicine Platform, she leads the cancer research group’s postdoctoral programme, developing innovative nanoparticle-based therapies for targeted cancer treatment.

Her academic journey spans microbiology, medical biosciences and nanoscience.

She completed her PhD in physiology, specialising in nanomedicine, at NMU in 2025.

Her doctoral research investigated the potential of green-synthesised gold nanoparticles, produced using medicinal plant extracts, for cancer therapy, with a particular focus on colon cancer.

She was also selected as one of only four South Africans for a prestigious research internship at Novartis in Basel, Switzerland, where she gained international experience in pharmaceutical formulation and drug delivery.

She said she was passionate about translating scientific knowledge into solutions that could improve human health.

“Being recognised by Mail & Guardian is deeply humbling,” Zosela said.

“It is a reminder that the work we do, whether in the laboratory, in our communities or through mentoring others, can have an impact beyond ourselves.”

Zosela is also a co-founder of the Own Your Path Foundation, which works to empower young people, particularly pupils from disadvantaged communities, to recognise their potential and take ownership of their futures.

Through the foundation, she mentors high school pupils, encourages problem-solving and confidence, and exposes youth to educational and career opportunities, particularly in Stem fields.

She credits Prof Thandi Mgwebi with encouraging her to pursue postgraduate studies after a period of uncertainty about her career.

That support helped her recognise her potential and pursue a career in science.

She seeks to offer the same encouragement to others.

“I believe every young person deserves to have someone who tells them that their dreams are possible.

“Sometimes all it takes is one opportunity, one mentor or one person who believes in you to change the direction of your life.”

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The Herald

Question: Why must a general maintenance project be launched?

Isn’t there supposed to be a roads repair department within the metro?

If so, why are we paying so much for routine repairs that should have been done by them?

Are the workers in that department being paid for doing nothing?

Where did the sudden R61m come from?

Who stands to benefit from the allocation of this tender?

I hope the R61m project is divided among multiple SMMEs so that all of the metro’s unemployed can benefit.

Multiple contractors will guarantee that the work gets done faster and more families will benefit.

Like our freedom charter states: “The people shall share in the wealth of the country.”

The operative phrase is “the people”, and not an individual who has influence in the metro and is able to “grease” the palms of the officials.

Let’s monitor who comes to work in our wards to repair the potholes.

Elroy Swart, Gelvandale

In line with that call, the Richmond Hill citizen action group has called on the metro to fence off the little Horse Memorial park on Russell Road.

The green patch lies between Russell Road and Rink Street and the short linking one-way thoroughfare at the start of Cape Road.

According to the layout plans of then Port Elizabeth, the patch is a satellite of grand old St George’s Park, down the road — and it could easily be fixed up and showcased as a turnaround showpiece for the city.

It would dovetail with the metro’s efforts to spruce up the city in the lead-up to the 2027 Cricket World Cup, and it could be the blueprint for how to resurrect the Bay’s deteriorating park system.

That is the argument of the Russell Road Regeneration Project, which has been working for the past four years on restoring the busy thoroughfare that divides Richmond Hill and Central.

The project team descends on the Horse Memorial park every Friday to clean up the rubbish, mow the grass, fix benches and install empty bins.

But they are fighting a losing battle as every night it is trashed again by the people who sleep there, and at the end of the week the team is faced with a mess including litter, broken benches and drug paraphernalia.

Project founder Steve de Beer said he was frustrated but still hopeful.

“The Horse Memorial is one of our prized heritage assets and tens of thousands of people drive past here on Russell Road every day,” he said.

“It should be a shining gem but currently it reflects all the ills that beset our parks and our city that come from neglect and lack of accountability.

“The best efforts to keep it spruce are just not sustainable.

“However, if we can just get the metro to ringfence it, like they have done with St George’s, it can be locked at night, which will stop guys sleeping here.

“Then we can work with the city to create a shining example of how our parks can be managed and enjoyed.”

The Horse Memorial features life-size bronze figures of a kneeling soldier offering a bucket of water to a tired horse.

It was unveiled in 1905 to honour the 300,000 horses that suffered and died during the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902).

De Beer said he had several ideas as to how the little park could be improved, in consultation with the metro.

“A few tables and more benches could be introduced to allow people to sit here to eat their lunch.

“We would bring in indigenous plants to go in the flowerbeds, and we could fix the Horse Memorial inscriptions, which are faded quite badly in places.

“This park, like all our parks, should be an oasis for our people and our visitors to enjoy and we need to find a way to prevent a few uncaring people from destroying them and making them unsafe.”

He said the Russell Road Regeneration Project was also calling for the three streetlamps in the adjacent slip road to be fixed.

“They’re currently not working, which means the CCTV cameras we have installed are not effective.

“We have been calling on the metro to fix them but so far without success.”

He said the hope was that the municipality would also crack down on the illegal taxi ranks which had mushroomed in the slip road.

The regeneration project, sponsored by the Greater Stellenbosch Trust, has been clearing Russell Road and adjacent open space and park land of huge loads of rubbish, plastic sheaths from stolen cables and caches of syringes and other equipment used by drug addicts.

Project members have also been removing alien vegetation and planting indigenous trees.

The aim is to create a “circle of hope” linking social, environmental and economic renewal, extending west from Russell Road to the Horse Memorial, south to the entrepreneurial node in the Lower Baakens Valley, and north to the maritime history node in Central.

Questions were sent to metro spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya on Friday morning.

He said on Friday evening no response was available yet.

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The Herald

This was the message from award-winning Nelson Mandela University Prof Darelle van Greunen who addressed a recent Fig Tree Legacy Fund Business Breakfast.

The event brought together everyone from activists to business people at the Boardwalk International Convention Centre on Friday morning in aid of the Missionvale Care Centre.

The fund was launched in 2025 with the goal to raise R30m over five years to fund education and training programmes in honour of the centre’s late founder, Sister Ethel Normoyle.

The business breakfast also explored how AI could be used to enhance Normoyle’s vision while not deviating from their roots by better equipping the centre as well as the community they served in a rapidly advancing technological world.

Van Greunen, who leads a research, engagement and innovation group at Nelson Mandela University, said the pace of the change was extraordinary, however, one should not only ask what the latest technology could do, but begin where Normoyle began which was the people.

“Technology is not just technology for the sake of technology, we should ask what are the needs of the Missionvale community, where are the people struggling to access education, health care, information or economic opportunities.

“How can we use technology to broaden that aspect, how can we strengthen what already works by adding technology, how can we use innovation to extend care without losing the human connection at the heart of that care.

“AI, information and communication technology still has to have a human element, what AI produces depends on what we as humans put on it.

“We need to get off this thinking pattern that AI will destroy and change.

“When used appropriately, AI can remove the admin burden on staff, it can save you time, help teachers develop lesson plans, assessments, so AI will not take your job, but your job will be taken by a person who knows how to use AI,” Van Greunen said.

Missionvale Care Centre marketing manager Linda van Oudheusden said the event was aimed at both networking and ensuring the future of the facility.

“Van Greunen was selected to be our guest speaker because she is an amazing woman, it is also Women’s Month, her topic is very appropriate.

“We are sort of new to the whole AI thing, [but] I love what she said that humanity must come first.

“We are using technology to not replace people but to save time so that we can be with people more.

“The next step is to make sure that the youngsters and the kids have access to that as well,” Van Oudheusden said.

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The Herald

The dispute turned physical in one case, with mechanic Robbie Breakspear admitting that he punched a customer’s friend during a confrontation at RBS Gearbox and Diff in Newton Park.

Breakspear is no stranger to the headlines, as it was reported in 2019 that there had been a dispute involving a customer who alleged his vehicle had been stuck with the mechanic for about two years.

A separate legal battle centred on a rental dispute in which Breakspear was ordered to vacate a Lovemore Heights property after a magistrate found he was more than R65,000 in arrears.

The latest dispute erupted last week after salon owner Lorinne Smit published a Facebook post about her experience with Breakspear.

The post attracted more than 100 comments, with other people also claiming to have had problems.

The Herald spoke to three people who described their experiences, with claims involving amounts up to R40,000 and vehicles allegedly remaining out of service for extended periods.

Breakspear has disputed their accounts.

Smit said she had spent about R35,000 on her vehicle and had been without transport for nine months in 2024.

She claimed Breakspear had initially quoted her R8,000 for what she described as minor repairs but that the work had subsequently extended to other issues including the diesel pump and the vehicle’s injectors.

Smit claimed her van had been in good working order before the problems arose, but that she had subsequently needed three other mechanics to work on it.

She also alleged that Breakspear had used the vehicle for a personal trip while it was in his possession.

“He is a smooth talker ... He is the most dishonest mechanic that I ever met,” she claimed.

“He quoted me R8,000 for minor repairs, which I had to pay immediately.

“I had just come back from a Kalahari trip that was 2,300km with no problems, but a boost pipe had to be refitted and a diagnostic test was done at a Kalahari garage showing the bus was in perfect condition.

“He took my bus with his family for a pizza as a test drive and then told me how awesome it drove and the incredible power it had.

“But four months later, I had to tow it out of his so-called workshop.

“Three other mechanics have tried to fix what he [allegedly] broke.”

Breakspear disputed her version, saying the job ultimately required about R35,000 worth of work and that Smit had only wanted to pay R8,000.

“I spent R15,000 on parts and labour to repair her vehicle and she couldn’t pay anything more, so I kept her vehicle and waited for payment,” he said.

Smit said she eventually took a friend with her to the workshop in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

“I am a woman and I felt he was treating me unfairly, so I hoped he would be more realistic with a man,” she said.

She alleged that Breakspear punched her friend when they arrived.

Smit said she had not gone to the police for fear of retaliation.

“We decided not to report him to the police as nothing will happen anyway.”

Breakspear admitted hitting the man.

“He came into my yard and I said to him, ‘You believe I’m a crook, tell me that to my face.’ And I lost it and I did smack him but not hard,” he said.

Breakspear said the dispute was an example of the difficulties he faced when dealing with customers who brought him older vehicles with multiple troubles.

“The bottom line is, yes, I can work on a car,” he said.

“But I don’t have a magic wand and I’m not God who can perform miracles.”

He said quotations were often estimates because additional problems could only be identified once a vehicle was being dismantled and repaired.

“How do I work on a car according to someone’s budget?” he said.

“The motor trade is hardcore because how do you quote something when you’re in the process of working?”

Business owner Hannes Marais claimed his experience with Breakspear had left his vehicle at the workshop for more than two years.

Marais said he had spent about R43,000 on repairs in 2024 but the vehicle was still not running when he eventually collected it on a rollback and took it to another mechanic.

He said the mechanic who had subsequently worked on the vehicle had arranged a replacement gearbox for R21,000.

“This whole ordeal took longer than two years, multiple excuses, never being available to meet, always on an emergency call-out ...”

Marais said he was also questioned about whether Breakspear had actually removed and dismantled the original gearbox because the replacement mechanic allegedly found no signs that this had happened.

He said an employee went to report a case to the police on November 29 2024 but was turned away by a constable who told him it was a civil matter.

Breakspear said he had initially overquoted on the vehicle because he did not want the job after it arrived at his workshop in poor condition.

He said the gearbox casing was damaged and water had entered it.

However, he said the gearbox was subsequently repaired.

Breakspear also alleged that Marais had threatened him.

“I said to him, listen, you’re big enough, just come and stand in front of me and say it to my face,” Breakspear said.

“But he didn’t come.

“These guys are big but when it comes to the crunch they are a bunch of soft-belly bastards.”

Another customer, Luke Biller, said his experiences with the mechanic had left him without a proper running vehicle for his business.

“I run a little shuttle service between PE and East London airports,” Biller said.

“At the time [in 2005], I was living in Grahamstown (Makhanda), and I had a problem with one of my vehicles and was referred to Robbie.

“We know each other and I thought he could do something decent for me.”

Biller said he had dropped his vehicle off with Breakspear to repair his gearbox.

“When I got the vehicle back, it was p...ing oil everywhere so I refused to pay for his work.

“He was threatening me, telling me that he wanted to collect my car to remove the gearbox.”

Biller said that after the 2005 incident he reported a case to the police.

However, he could not find a case number to check on the progress.

Breakspear said that without payment he had been forced to take action.

“I drove to Grahamstown and saw the car parked outside a Steers, so I jacked it up to remove the gearbox,” Breakspear said.

“He didn’t pay me, so the gearbox belonged to me.

“While I was jacking the car up, Luke’s wife appeared and begged me not to remove the gearbox.

“I gave in.”

Breakspear maintained that his customers often brought old cars with multiple problems and he did his best to fix them.

“You can’t bring me a 15-year-old vehicle and expect me to know what is wrong with it.

“I’m going to find problems.”

Attorney Alwyn Griebenow said there were certainly grounds for a fraud case.

He said if the allegations came from multiple people the courts would be able to determine the intent to commit fraud.

“If it was a one-off and there was only one complainant, we would battle to prove a criminal case at the end of the day.

“But if you’ve got numerous complaints, there’s the same modus operandi right through and it’s not that difficult to prove a case against this guy.

“The matter should definitely go further.”

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The Herald

There certainly doesn’t feel like much to celebrate.

On Monday, August 3, the bodies of teenagers Ethan Coetzee, 19, and St Stithians College pupil Cameron Waldeck-Cooks, 17, were found in a room at a guest lodge in Mpumalanga.

While police initially opened an inquest docket, results from a post-mortem suggested Cameron had been strangled while Ethan allegedly took his own life.

Cameron’s father, Derrick Cooks, said she had travelled to Sabie for a hiking trip as part of her preparation for the Gold level of The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment.

“She was invited to join two families on a hiking trip in Sabie, Mpumalanga; she saw it as an opportunity to work towards that goal,” he said.

There have been reports that Ethan and Cameron were in a relationship and that he was allegedly “controlling” and “jealous”.

Imagine sending your teenage daughter on a trip with trusted friends only to get the devastating news that she was found murdered, allegedly by someone close to her.

To lose a child is a parent’s worst nightmare and now both families’ lives are ruined because of an act of violence.

More often than not in cases of femicide, women are killed by men who they know and trust.

Cameron’s killing is just one case that has made headlines recently.

Gender-based violence in SA is a crisis of epic proportions and the government needs to redouble its efforts to curb it.

The Herald recently published a story about 15 young people from Bloemendal and surrounding communities who completed an intensive three-day gender-based violence “train the trainer” programme hosted by Unisa.

Held as part of the Bloemendal My Plek community initiative, the programme focused on self-care, support, GBV awareness and practical tools that the participants could take back to their communities.

Unisa’s regional manager in the Eastern Cape, Raseela Daya, highlighted the university’s social responsibility ethos and its commitment to working with communities.

“Unisa has a responsibility to uplift communities. GBV and femicide is a societal challenge that affects us all.”

We applaud the university for taking the initiative to make a difference in our communities and hope that other institutions follow suit.

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The Herald

Second-half goals from Gamphani Lungu, Lebone Seema and Daniel Msendami were enough to hand the Buccaneers a win after their disappointing draw against AmaZulu on Wednesday.

The Chilli Boys remained without a win in three matches after draws against Golden Arrows and Richards Bay, and this has put early pressure on coach Brandon Truter.

Following the draw against AmaZulu at the same venue, the Buccaneers were looking to redeem themselves against the Chilli Boys, who were looking for their first win, and did that in style.

Pirates were on the front foot in the opening half as they went in search of an opener, but they were unable to find a way past a Chippa side who were sitting deep in their own half, restricting the opposition to efforts from distance.

Chippa relied on transition and nearly caught the Buccaneers twice on the break.

Despite dominating the opening half, Pirates could not create enough clear-cut chances as there was no creativity from the midfield.

Chippa came into their own midway through the first half and worried the visitors when a teasing shot from outside the box by Sirgio Kammies urged goalkeeper Sipho Chaine to dive near the post and keep it at bay.

Oswin Appollis was lively in the first half, but the rest of the players looked rather flat.

Pirates had the best chance of the match immediately after the interval when Chippa gave the ball away in their own half, and Patrick Maswanganyi did well to beat the defender before his efforts were saved by goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali.

Pirates’ second-half pressure paid off when Lungu scored just before the hour mark with a shot outside the box to net his second goal of the season.

Seema doubled the lead three minutes later with a free header from Deon Hotto’s corner after he was unmarked inside the box.

It was a better second half from Pirates as they came back with more energy, while the Chilli Boys struggled to cope with the high pressure from the Buccaneers.

Pirates continued to dominate, and substitute Msendami made it 3-0 when he capitalised on a mistake by the Chippa defence.

The victory saw the Buccaneers move to first on the log table with seven points, tied with Kaizer Chiefs and AmaZulu but have a superior goal difference.

• AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane has challenged himself to turn his striker Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya into a powerhouse in his homeland of Zimbabwe.

Zwane, himself a former ace goalscorer, believes the 23-year-old hot striker has what it takes to emulate his country’s legends such as Peter Ndlovu, Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat.

Ngwenya was on target once again when AmaZulu beat Siwelele 2-0 at the Kings Park Stadium at the weekend, netting his fifth goal of the season across the league and the MTN8.

“We will work on Thando. I think Thando last season was something else,” Zwane said.

“Even though I still say he scored six goals, he knows he missed.

“I don’t know how many 1v1s a goalkeeper can beat.

“He could have easily scored 15, 16 goals before he got injured.

“I remember in one game in Joburg, he said, ‘Coach, I can’t keep up with the tempo of the game,’ and I told him to soldier on.

“He’s got the right attitude.

“He is still young, but I think he will get to the level of the Musonas. I am his mentor and coach, and I will push him to reach that level.”

Ngwenya joined AmaZulu from his native Zimbabwe side FC Platinum at the start of last season. — Additional reporting by Sihle Ndebele

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The Herald

Mikel Arteta’s side used the annual curtain-raiser to the English top-flight season as an opportunity to prove their long-awaited title triumph has done nothing to sate their appetite for success.

The Gunners took just 24 seconds to show new City boss Enzo Maresca the standard required to keep up with the champions.

Riccardo Calafiori’s quick-fire opening goal was followed by a clinical Kai Havertz header before halftime.

Arsenal overwhelmed sloppy City with their trademark intensity and Martin Odegaard netted after the interval to cap a resounding victory.

The glamour friendly at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium also allowed Arteta to parade Arsenal’s close-season recruits.

Bruno Guimaraes, signed from Newcastle for £75m (R1.64bn), slotted into midfield with ease, while Christos Tzolis, lured from Club Brugge for £34m (R744m), gave a lively display including two assists.

The north Londoners will start a campaign as champions for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

Already installed as favourites to win their first successive English titles since the 1930s, Arsenal look primed for a sustained spell as the Premier League’s pre-eminent force.

Their vibrant performance was the perfect warm-up before promoted Coventry visit the Emirates Stadium for the opening game of the Premier League season on August 21.

It was a dispiriting wake-up call for Maresca, who will have noted how much more dynamic and cohesive Arsenal looked compared to his spluttering team.

Pep Guardiola won 20 trophies in a glorious decade in Manchester, including the FA Cup and League Cup in his farewell season, but City have not won the title since 2024 and finished seven points behind Arsenal in second place last term.

Hand-picked to succeed Guardiola after quitting Chelsea in January following a turbulent reign lasting less than two seasons, Maresca now knows it will take a huge effort to close the gap on Arsenal, starting with City’s opener at home to Bournemouth on August 23.

Arteta believes his players are still hungry for trophies, with their painful Champions League final loss to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties in May providing motivation for this season.

The Gunners took less than a minute to underline Arteta’s point with a beautifully crafted opener.

Myles Lewis-Skelly featured in Arsenal’s midfield despite being linked to Chelsea and Manchester United and the teenager showed why he is in demand with a deft pass that split the City defence.

Calafiori surged onto Lewis-Skelly’s ball, evading City’s woeful marking to slot a composed finish past Gianluigi Donnarumma from 12 yards.

The left-back’s goal was the quickest in the Community Shield since 1968 and rampant Arsenal struck again in the 27th minute.

Odegaard was gifted space to float a cross to the far post and Tzolis, left unmarked by Abdukodir Khusanov, headed it back into the six-yard box, where Havertz climbed above Ruben Dias to nod home.

In his first showpiece occasion for City after his £116m (R2.5bn) move from Nottingham Forest, England midfielder Elliot Anderson struggled to exert any influence.

City talisman Erling Haaland was largely anonymous, wasting two good chances in the first half.

Arsenal captain Odegaard showed his Norway teammate how to do it three minutes after halftime.

Tzolis rolled a pass into Odegaard’s path and he slalomed through the City defence before leaving Donnarumma embarrassed with a clever dummy and close-range finish.

Only City, in 2019, have gone on to become Premier League champions among the previous 15 winners of the Community Shield.

On the evidence of their stroll in the Cardiff sunshine, Arsenal’s 18th Community Shield victory will not be the last silverware lifted by Odegaard this season. — AFP

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Those questions took centre stage at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex (MBTC) on Saturday during the Women in Arts Manyano (WIAM) Imbadu Dialogue, held as part of the complex’s Women’s Month programme and the 2026 Women in Arts Manyano Festival.

The dialogue formed part of the 10th-anniversary celebrations.

It also marked the 70th anniversary of the historic 1956 Women’s March.

MBTC community arts development official Monwabisi Nzimela said the two milestones provided different opportunities.

“These milestones provide an important opportunity to reflect on the legacy of women who have shaped SA’s history while engaging on the contemporary realities and challenges facing women today.

“The dialogue sought to foster meaningful engagement with at least 150 youths, women leaders, academics, entrepreneurs, arts practitioners, community representatives and young people through critical discussions on leadership, empowerment, social justice, mentorship and intergenerational learning.

“The panel at the dialogue consists of Dr Babalwa Magoqwana, Akhona Ndlunguane, Sharon Rother and Aphiwe Taleni and was facilitated by Sesethu Gqomo-Seyibokwe,” Nzimela said.

Among the schools represented was Ethembeni Enrichment High School.

The panel explored issues including sociology, women’s empowerment, performing arts education, youth development, community arts programmes, entrepreneurship, business development, strategic partnerships and youth empowerment.

For the teenagers in the room, however, the discussion became particularly personal.

One of the issues raised was the perception that maths and science are careers better suited to men, with young people pointing to the dominance of men in those fields.

Magoqwana challenged the stereotype by pointing to Rhodes University scientist Prof Tebello Nyokong.

“Cancel stigma by saying it did not match reality.”

Magoqwana said Nyokong had produced more work than anyone on the continent and was the biggest scientist.

The questions then moved beyond careers and into the personal lives of the young women in the room.

One pupil asked what challenges women were likely to face when they started working.

Another asked about the role Lillian Ngoyi played in 1956.

A third came from a pupil who wanted to know how being raised by a single parent had affected her.

Taleni responded by urging the teenager to consider what might lie behind the question before allowing her circumstances to define her.

“Rejection will find you everywhere in life.

“Unfortunately, it starts at home sometimes. Do not personalise what you are experiencing.

“I am a single mother, raising my own child.”

The discussion also highlighted another challenge that can confront women long after they have entered the workplace.

This is trying to reconcile professional ambitions with family life.

Rother told the teenagers she had once considered abandoning her dream job and career because she struggled to balance work and family.

“My children said, how could you do that?

“For them, my identity was engraved in what I did outside of the home.

“As we speak of the women of 1956, there are stories, so what story is your story?

“The arts are where we tell stories.

“Through visual arts, music, dance.

“We express the hardships and challenges.

“Sadly, one of the themes that come up a lot for women is gender-based violence in theatre.

“In the arts, you cannot be of a generation that thinks that it will land in your lap.

“You have to work hard.

“There is no substitute for hard work. You could make a lot of money in one project.

Ndlunguane, meanwhile, encouraged teenage girls to start with themselves, urging them to discover who they were before deciding what they wanted to achieve.

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The Herald

MK Party leader and former SA president Jacob Zuma has called on citizens to vote his party into power in the November local elections, promising it will improve people’s lives.

In an attack on President Cyril Ramaphosa, Zuma, who led the country for nine years and faces criminal charges in relation to alleged corruption arising from the 1999 arms deal, said the country was led by a “criminal” who hid money under a “bed”.

Zuma was speaking at the Bridge To Heaven Christian Fellowship Church in Mthatha on Sunday as the MK Party crisscrossed the Eastern Cape on the campaign trail.

Accompanied by the party’s national and provincial leaders, Zuma said if elected, MK would ensure better governance.

The party’s leaders have also been visiting the Eastern Cape’s traditional kingdoms, including the AmaMpondo AseNyandeni kingdom on Sunday, to “strengthen and solidify working relations with traditional councils”.

“It will come to an end that one person leads the country alone, not knowing whether the person is smart or not, whether they’re a criminal or not,” Zuma said.

“Right now we have a criminal who is leading the country. I forget his name.

“He takes money and hides it in a bed and yet he is leading the country.

“We are suffering here. There are orphans.

“Who can say what this person who is leading us has done for us?

“He has charges. We want to end that because it’s our country.

“We must unite as black people with Umkhonto weSizwe ...

“With us, no black person will suffer. In this coming election, please vote for Umkhonto weSizwe,” he said.

The party’s representatives will be in the Mhlontlo area on Monday.

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Daily Dispatch

Nake, who won the Overtakers half marathon last weekend in 68:26 at an average pace of 3:14 per kilometre, this week won the shorter race in 46:37 at an average of 3:06 per km.

Luyolo Ngcongolo of Powered Up Runners, who won the 10km a week ago, was second in 46:59, maintaining the same pace of 3:07 per km over both distances.

Third place fell to Thandikhaya Siyongo of Scenery Park in 51:30, securing him first place in the 35+ age group. He was followed by Owen Tshibo of Hollywood in 52:31 in overall fourth position, Sinokhanyo Dumaxake of Real Gijimas fifth and Athi Nako of Easy Equities Born2Run sixth.

The first veteran 40+ was Bulelani Mgubo of Overtakers who was 7th overall, while the second 35+ runner, Stanley Masuku of Oxford Striders, was 8th, Malixole Kalideni of the host club 9th and making up the top ten was top junior, Luthando Tyinkana of Nedbank East London.

A new name on the junior prize list was Achuma Ndlabeni, no club listed and Keanu Ekron of Oxford Striders in 58:12 and 58:16 respectively.

The 50 + Masters section was surprisingly close with Siyabulela Madlavana and Christophe Bernardie of Nedbank, along with Craig Leibach of Oxford Striders in 59:13, 59:37 and 59:48 respectively.

In a much weaker field than is the norm, Mzoli Mpalala of Hollywood secured the 60+ grandmaster race in 64:02, from Mark Berndt of Oxford Striders and Rowan Fetting of Fort Hare in 72:46 and 75:49.

The 70+ was won by Michael Forbes of Oxford Striders, from Charl Pienaar of Old Selbornians and Mike Heathcote of Easy Equities Born2Run.

Caryn Lategan, her sister Lauren Ranger and their Easy Equities Born2Run club mate, Cindy Nel, secured the podium positions in the women’s race with times of 59:51, 62:52 and 63:15.

Lategan and Ranger were the first two veteran 40+ runners and were joined by Andrea Ranger, also of Born2Run, in third place, while the promising Mbali Tube of Real Gijimas was just ahead of Ranger, filling fourth position. Nel was the winner of the 35+ category.

In the 50+ race, Michelle Conroy won her second age group category in succession with a 69:58. She was followed by Riana Kay of Buffalo Road Runners and Caroline Swart of Oxford Striders.

In the 60+, Debbie Gee, Annette Meyer and Eleanor Ragaval, with first and third from Striders and second place belonging to Gonubie Harriers all on the podium, while Helen Nel was the 70+ winner.

The first junior was Imange Norayase of Boxer in 71:30 and Ayolo Mntwapi second in 74:58.

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Michael Carrick’s side led twice, through Harry Maguire and Patrick Dorgu.

But they were undone in defence as AC Milan scored three goals from close range before Ruben Loftus-Cheek raced clear to add a fourth and give former United manager Amorim a win against his old club.

This was only United’s second defeat in a run of six preseason matches, which included a win over Atletico Madrid and a 1-1 draw with European champions Paris Saint-Germain.

“On the whole, (pre-season has) been very good, I think there are a lot of positives to take from it,” Carrick told MUTV, United’s in-house television station, in a post-match interview.

But the former United and England midfielder added: “We’re disappointed with today. We didn’t play well today, so there are reasons for that.

“In some ways, we need to learn from it; we need to improve, some of the boys playing some of their first minutes.”

Saturday’s match saw Marcus Rashford make his first United appearance since returning from a loan spell with La Liga champions Barcelona.

United captain Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty for the second successive friendly, with Milan goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani diving to his right to stop the shot after the Red Devils skipper had fired wide against Leeds in midweek.

Fernandes did at least provide the second-minute corner that was headed powerfully by Harry Maguire to give United the lead.

But Milan levelled after a defensive mix-up allowed Goncalo Ramos to break into the area and square for Samuel Chukwueze to roll home.

United were awarded their penalty just before half-time after Koni De Winter tugged back Youri Tielemans.

United regained the lead after Dorgu seized on a loose backpass from Filippo Terracciano, but Milan equalised again when Chukwueze’s wayward shot was turned in by Alphadjo Cisse at the far post.

Rashford, frozen out by Amorim and loaned out to Premier League rivals Aston Villa before his temporary spell at Barcelona, came on as a substitute on the hour.

Milan went ahead in the 68th minute when Chukwueze’s cross was headed home by Ramos, and three minutes later former Chelsea midfielder Loftus-Cheek sprinted through for Milan’s fourth goal.

“A lot of the boys will be better for the minutes,” said Carrick. “We’ve got a good squad, so there’s decisions to be made.”

Portuguese boss Amorim was sacked as United manager in January after 14 months in charge, with Carrick, now in charge full-time, leading the club to a creditable third-place finish in the Premier League after initially being brought in on a caretaker basis.

United begin the 2026/2027 English top-flight season away to newly-promoted Hull on August 22.

• Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez was jeered by Chelsea supporters after coming on as a substitute during a 3-1 friendly win over Real Sociedad at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Several fans made their feelings known when Fernandez, who has previously made clear his desire to leave Chelsea, came on in the 62nd minute to replace Reece James.

But other supporters gave their backing to the 25-year-old, who told the Blues in May he wanted to leave.

Chelsea placed a reported asking price of £120m (R2.6bn) on the Argentina international, but no bids have yet been received during the summer transfer window. - AFP

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The Commonwealth Games alumnus, who studies at Mandela University in Gqeberha, had the honour of being team captain and flag bearer of his nation at the global sports event in Glasgow, Scotland, recently.

“It was amazing,” the 24-year-old Tanzanian said upon his return to the Friendly City.

Representing a small team – the delegation totalled 24 participants across the various codes – and waving the national flag at a competition of this magnitude “meant a lot” to Saliboko.

Despite his prowess in the pool, he was surprised to learn that he had been chosen as the face of his country.

In fact, he admits to being “shocked and overwhelmed” when he was informed four days before departing for the Games.

Even though it was not his first rendezvous against global opposition, the prospect of lining up alongside some of the world’s best remains daunting.

“It is nerve-racking every time,” the Madibaz stalwart, who took part in five numbers, said.

He nevertheless makes a point of enjoying the experience because, in his own words, “moments like these do not last forever”.

Though not touching sides in the much larger pond on this occasion, Saliboko gives a thumbs-up to his performance in the 200m freestyle – his final race of the gala.

“What made it particularly special was the preparation, especially mentally, and the [other] things I did to put myself in the right mindset to perform well.”

It also gave him perspective.

“Everyone has different schedules, competition calendars and experiences, so it was valuable to understand where I fit in. Overall, I was able to take that experience and use it to look ahead.”

He does not doubt that mental fortitude is his most significant takeaway from the Games. The last event, in particular, shows the importance of being able to respond well after difficult performances.

The secret is to focus on the things he can control and coming back stronger rather than allowing past races to sour his mood.

As the captain of the full squad, he decided it was his responsibility to motivate the rest of the athletes.

“I drew on my experience as a swimming captain,” he explained how he demanded character, sportsmanship and pride in their country from his peers.

As for Madibaz Sport and the university at large, Saliboko said he could all but “feel their support even from Gqeberha”.

“I appreciated knowing that people back home were behind me during such an important opportunity.”

He now hopes to offload some of the lessons he took from the Games onto his Madibaz teammates.

“It taught me the value of planning ahead, understanding what needs to be done before competitions and approaching each meet with the right mindset.” - Full Stop Communications

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The first-year Mandela University dietetics student will represent South Africa in Santa Fe from September 3 to 6, competing in the 10km race, 3km knockout, and relay events.

She made her debut for the country in 2022 aged 15 and views the global event as a “full-circle moment”.

“It makes this international junior competition very special,” the talented 19-year-old said this week.

As a full-time student, Horne has been able to spend additional time in the pool through an extended academic programme.

“I have really been using the extra time to my advantage; working on skills that I need to improve.”

She has specifically focused on speed-play work, which means alternating between an easy and fast pace.

While a high placing in South America is on her mind, Horne’s main goal is to produce her best-ever performance. This means arriving on foreign soil with a competitive mindset.

She expects the conditions – it will be winter in Santa Fe – to provide an additional challenge.

“The water will be fairly cold, so we will probably be swimming in wetsuits. It is a bit different because it fits your body differently and causes a bit more resistance around the shoulders.”

Despite her competitive juices flowing over time, Horne has learnt not to measure her development purely through results.

“I have realised I must appreciate what my body can do while dealing with the challenges and pressures of going to university and juggling everything.”

She credits coach Andrew Dean and her parents as pivotal in her journey thus far.

“It takes a village to build an athlete,” she said.

“I have been privileged to swim under Andrew, and he has helped me through so many ups and downs.”

Other forces behind her that are allowing her to pursue her sporting goals are Madibaz Sport’s high-performance facility and the dietetics faculty.

Her first semester proved particularly challenging while she adjusted to two very different workloads.

“I don’t think I fully understood the amount of work that would be required,” she admitted. “I have learnt to take responsibility and find a way to manage things better.”

Her studies have also changed her approach to nutrition and recovery – in essence opening her eyes to different ways of going about her business.

“I have learnt to question things, research them and look at the evidence rather than simply accepting what you read.

“I understand why certain foods work well before or after training. I used to drink chocolate milk for recovery but now understand the science behind why it can be effective.”

Horne looks forward to competing against the world’s leading swimmers and to mentoring her younger teammates.

“I know how it felt going to my first international competition. Everyone was such a good role model for me, so I am excited to be that for others,” she said. - Full Stop Communications

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Opposition councillors accused Mpac chair Luxolo Namette of being railroaded into approving the massive write-off without first scrutinising supporting documents to see what the amount was spent on and assess whether the metro received value for money.

According to a report, acting city manager Lonwabo Ngoqo sought legal advice to assist the municipality in investigating and addressing its UIFWE, which has accumulated over the years.

The metro has the highest UIFWE in the country, sitting at nearly R30bn and recently had its equitable share allocation for the 2026/2027 financial year temporarily withheld by the National Treasury.

The Treasury subsequently paid over R725,210 on July 31.

Ngoqo told councillors he had prepared an affidavit, which he still needed to sign, and intended using it to report matters to the police against people implicated in the UIFWE.

The legal opinion makes it clear that the municipality cannot simply assume that older UIFWE has prescribed.

Instead, it must assess each item individually to determine if it remains legally recoverable.

Under South Africa’s Prescription Act, legal claims and debts are subject to time limits.

If a creditor fails to take legal action within the prescribed period, the debt may become “prescribed”, meaning it is extinguished and can no longer be recovered through the courts.

Section 32(2) of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) requires a municipality to recover UIFWE from the person liable for it, unless a council committee has investigated the matter and council certifies the expenditure as irrecoverable and writes it off.

Writing off UIFWE does not absolve officials or political office-bearers from potential criminal or disciplinary consequences.

The amounts identified for write-off date from the 2009 financial year through to the 2021 financial year.

They include:

• 2009 — R16.04m;
• 2010 — R70.19m;
• 2011 — R159.61m;
• 2012 — R470.68m;
• 2013 — R567.37m;
• 2014 — R1.4bn;
• 2015 — R1.33bn;
• 2016 — R1.33bn;
• 2017 — R8.79bn;
• 2018 — R3.1bn;
• 2019 — R2.4bn;
• 2020 — R1.43bn; and
• 2021 — R1.98bn  

According to the legal opinion from Joubert Galpin Searle, the municipality should not assume that all items placed on the UIFWE register by a particular date have prescribed.

“As Circular 68 [issued by the National Treasury on May 10 2013 and updated in April 2026] explains, prescription begins only once the municipality has sufficient factual knowledge to institute recovery proceedings, including the identity of the responsible person and the causal link to the UIFWE amount,” the legal opinion read.

“Each item must therefore be assessed individually.

“We therefore recommend, at least in relation to UIFWE, that the metro conduct an item-by-item prescription assessment, supported by the factual record for each UIFWE entry, to determine whether recovery remains legally enforceable or whether the debt has prescribed and is for that reason irrecoverable.

“The metro must place an item on the UIFWE register within five days of suspecting that the expenditure is UIFWE.

“Within 10 days of the entry of an item on the UIFWE register, the metro is obligated to prepare an incident report detailing all of the information giving rise to a cause of action in terms of Section 32 of the MFMA.

“We thus recommended to the metro that it regard all items of UIFWE on the UIFWE register up to June 30 2021 as being irrecoverable based on prescription.

“An item to Mpac recommending this course of action will need to be prepared.”

As Namette moved to adopt the report during a meeting on Thursday, councillors raised concerns that no Section 32 report had been presented to the committee, which was contradictory to their mandate.

Opposition councillors asked for more time to read the documents, including annexures from Ngoqo’s affidavit, which he said was about 500 pages.

However, Namette would not budge and maintained the meeting would go ahead.

“Here we’re criticised in the media that we’re not dealing with issues.”

ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom questioned whether Ngoqo was effectively saying the city had written off R23bn without Mpac conducting any investigation.

“That’s in contravention of the legal advice given because it says each item must be assessed individually,” Grootboom said.

“Are these items coming individually in the form of a Section 32 report?”

DA councillor Morne Steyn said the committee had not done a single thing about UIFWE in the last two years.

“Now, we’re sitting here in what is probably the final meeting before the council term ends.

“We asked before the beginning of this meeting to have regard for the rules to apply our minds.

“You’re 100% into pushing these items.

“It’s concerning.”

DA councillor Gert Engelbrecht said the DA was not opposed to writing off the amount but needed time to go through the documents presented.

“We’re not even given Section 32 reports, and how do you think the funds are written off?” he said.

“They need to come to Mpac for consequence management, for preventative measures.

“This is a stunt to put in front of the National Treasury so that the National Treasury can see we’ve written off R23bn, but we’re just shifting responsibility.

“We’re sitting with 17 years of corruption.

“I’m still on the point of why we’re not getting sufficient time to go through these documents.”

Responding to the councillors, Ngoqo said everything he had said and the legal opinion covered the Section 32 reports.

“It does indicate the amounts in those reports. It would be duplication. Here is a presentation, here’s a report.”

Engelbrecht said an external company had been appointed to do Mpac’s job and the committee was expected to rubber-stamp the report and send it to council.

“The National Treasury warned us against this, that Mpac should be sitting and going through reports.

“We need to go through these reports.

“As public representatives, we need to go through these to see who’s implicated.

“We can’t have officials be players and referees because why are we here as the watchdog of this municipality?”

DA councillor Werner Senekal said some officials had been with the municipality since 2009.

“We don’t know who those officials are because we’ve not been presented with a Section 32 report.

“Section 32 places that duty on us to go through those documents.

“We need to see the 500 pages, study them, go through them and do a thorough analysis and in good conscience, I cannot agree to this item, the way it’s been handled.

“There’s too much being left to chance.”

ANC councillor Xolani Notshe said it had been explained that should there be wrongdoing, it would be uncovered and investigated.

“The ANC supports that we take the item to council for council’s approval,” Notshe said.

“Also, for the acting city manager to continue opening a case, being mindful of the affidavit that has been prepared.”

After the meeting, the DA wrote to the auditor-general and the Treasury to request urgent intervention.

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The victory catapulted Harlequins to top position on the log after their closest rivals, Kruisfontein United, stumbled to a 27-20 defeat against Joubertina United.

Saturday’s clash, at a venue that has become a fortress for Harlequins, was a tight affair between two of the competition’s best teams.

When the sides met in a first-round clash at the Madibaz Stadium in April, Quins emerged 20-10 winners after a hard-fought battle.

The win has left Harlequins well placed to clinch a home quarterfinal at the Adcock Stadium on September 5.

The Madibaz, who started the day in seventh spot on the log, still have work to do in their final two outings if they are to qualify for the playoffs.

Harlequins face Progress (home) and Jeffreys Bay (away) in their final two outings while the students will end the league phase of the competition with games against Jeffreys Bay (away) and Trying Stars (home).

The try scorers for Harlequins were Mzwanele Besman, Dayle Nel, Liqhawe Mokuena, and there was also a penalty try for the home side worth seven additional points.

Progress kept their hopes of securing a berth in the playoffs alive when they scored a vital win 25-22 over Trying Stars at the Central Field in Kariega.

Next up for Progress is a tough clash against high-flying Harlequins at the Adcock Stadium on Saturday.

Champions Gardens were made to fight hard before they were able to emerge with a narrow 32-25 win over Brumbies in Makhanda.

The Derrick Ferreira Stadium in Kariega will be the focal point for many club rugby fans on Saturday when Gardens host a wounded Kruisfontein outfit gunning to reclaim their position at the top of the log.

After slipping to a 29-20 defeat against Kruisfontein in Humansdorp last week, Park returned to winning ways when they beat Star of Hope 33-14 at Londt Park.

In a new format, teams ending in odd-numbered positions on the log at the halfway stage were sorted into one group and sides finishing in even-numbered positions were placed in another group.

In the Top 12 Division (odd numbers), Star of Hope, Joubertina, Brumbies, Kruisfontein United, Gardens and Park will play one another, and in the second group (even numbers), Jeffreys Bay, Progress, NMU Madibaz, Hankey Villagers, Trying Stars and Harlequins will face off.

Officials will compile joint logs for the two groups, and after five matches within each group, the best performing clubs will qualify for the quarterfinals, which are set to take place on September 5.

After initial confusion over how the new system would work, EPRU officials have been sending out a weekly newsletter to clubs briefing them on which teams would face one another in the quarterfinals with regard to the latest log.

On the joint table, drawn up to include both groups, the eventual quarterfinal lineup will be: No 1 v No 8, No 2 v No 7, No 3 v No 6 and No 4 v No 5.

Saturday’s fixtures:

Top 12 (odd numbers): Gardens v Kruisfontein United, Star of Hope v Brumbies, Park v Joubertina United. Top 12 (even numbers): Harlequins v Progress, Trying Stars v Hankey Villagers, Jeffreys Bay v NMU Madibaz.

Middle 12 (odd numbers): Born Fighters v Kwaru, African Bombers v Despatch Oostelikes, Spring Rose v Kirkwood. Middle 12 (even numbers): Central v Motherwell, Missionvale v Suburban, United Barbarians v Evergreens.

Bottom 12 (odd numbers): Adelaide Rangeres v Helenvale, Police-Crusaders v Klipfontein, Kareedouw Tigers v Middelburg Eagles. Bottom 12 (even numbers): Middelburg Excelsior v Lily White, Windvogel v Orlando Eagles, Despatch v St Marks.

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Ndeya, a chartered accountant, has also worked for the Auditor-General of SA and forms part of the Section 154 intervention team that was deployed to the metro in December by the co-operative governance department.

This appointment comes in the wake of CFO Jackson Ngcelwane going on indefinite sick leave.

Ndeya was appointed at a special council meeting convened at 5pm on Thursday.

The appointment of an acting CFO was the only item on the agenda.

According to a report tabled before the council, Ngcelwane is on sick leave for an indefinite period.

Ndeya’s appointment is intended to ensure continuity and maintain oversight of the municipality’s financial affairs until Ngcelwane returns.

“Should council appoint an internal employee in an acting capacity, the incumbent shall be remunerated in accordance with the approved acting allowance applicable to acting senior managers of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and relevant legislative prescripts.

“Should council appoint a Section 154 secondee to act as chief financial officer, the incumbent shall be remunerated on the same salary scale and total remuneration package applicable to the current chief financial officer position, subject to the applicable legislative and contractual requirements.

“The financial implications arising from either appointment option can be accommodated within the approved budget provisions for the office of the chief financial officer,” the item read.

According to the item, the acting appointment would ensure:

• Continuity in financial administration and governance; 
• Compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and other applicable legislation; 
• Adequate institutional leadership during the preparation of annual financial statements; 
• Effective engagement with the National Treasury, provincial treasury and auditor-general; 
• Minimising operational and compliance risks associated with a prolonged or intermittent absence of the chief financial officer. 

Leaked recordings from the meeting indicated that AIM councillor Khusta Jack was the only one against the appointment, while 64 councillors voted in favour.

Jack said he had an issue with the process undertaken by the municipality.

“We regard this process as very curious,” he said.

“To convert the Section 154 secondees into positions which they had never applied for nor had been vetted for is a serious anomaly.

“It is in line with the modus operandi that has been happening in this institution where flouting of rules and norms has become the order of the day.

“Do we know where the Section 154 secondees come from, where they were working and what follows them because there’s no CV and we’re following blindly?

“Surely the position of CFO cannot be occupied by anyone. I’d like to believe candidates have been vetted.”

GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon said the city should appoint the most suitably qualified person, adding that Ndeya’s accounting background made him a logical choice.

ANC councillor Xolani Notshe questioned whether a Section 154 appointee was eligible to serve in the role.

Acting city manager Lonwabo Ngoqo confirmed the team was eligible but said he needed to inform the co-operative governance department that council had considered their appointments so arrangements could be made for the salary issue.

Budget and treasury political head Khanya Ngqisha said an additional recommendation was that should Ngcelwane return before the three months end, he would resume his position.

“I want to avoid a situation if the CFO comes back in two months instead of three months.”

DA councillor Brandon Pegram said the CFO position was a critical role and caution was needed.

“Our municipality cannot afford uncertainty when it comes to our finances.

“We’re in a difficult financial environment. Service delivery pressures are already high.

“[Ndeya] served in the AGSA office for about six years, so this gives me great hope that he will be exceptionally careful with what he does going forward,” Pegram said.

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That was the assessment from Springbok Women assistant coach Franzel September after the South Africans overhauled Fiji, who were leading 10-5 at the break at Churchill Park, to win the second of two Tests by 29-22 and claim the inaugural Ubuntu–Bula Trophy.

“We wanted a clean sweep, so that was mission accomplished,” said September.

“We expected Fiji to come back stronger in the second test after winning 55-12 in the first, and they did. This was a proper test match.”

September said match conditions were not easy and a fired-up Fijian side, who led twice during the match, added to the challenge.

However, three second-half tries by debutant wing Maria Tshiremba confirmed South Africa’s dominance.

“The players and especially the coaches were really happy for Maria – we backed her and selected her for this match, and she responded so well,” said September.

“We are very proud of her. It was also pleasing that a couple of the other combinations we tried worked well. From that perspective, we learned a lot, and it is always pleasing when a player rewards the faith coaches put in her.”

September said he was satisfied with the grit shown by the squad when they were put under pressure by Fiji, who were successful in their off-load game.

“We were tested in different areas this time around, and it was great for us as we needed to adapt and adjust our strategies. We have our DNA of first phase possession to fall back on, but we also showed other areas of strength, and that was a big plus for us.”

Next up will be New Zealand’s Black Ferns in Johannesburg early next month, but September said they will apply their minds to that one once back in the country.

“We are just going to enjoy the moment and the win,” he said.

“We came to win both Test matches, and we did, so it was mission accomplished. The hard work was rewarded, and that is pleasing.”

The squad return to South Africa on Monday evening. - SA Rugby

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The bout for Gingqi’s SA junior-lightweight belt on September 26 will mark the first time Matiti and Nathan work together after announcing their reconciliation in February.

Their relationship soured after Duncan Village’s Phumelela Cafu bolted from Matiti’s Xaba Promotions to join Nathan just before he got a title.

Cafu dethroned Kosei Tanaka to win the WBO junior-bantamweight belt in Japan in October 2024.

But it was the defection of another Matiti boxer, Landile Ngxeke, to Nathan that strained relations, with Matiti challenging the move through Boxing SA, which sided with Nathan on the basis that Ngxeke was a free agent.

Though other Matiti-promoted boxers such as Mpumelelo Tshabalala followed suit, the animosity went up a notch, with the two often slugging it out on social media.

The matter escalated when Matiti’s SA junior-featherweight champion, Siyabulela Hem, lodged a challenge to Lindelani Sibisi, managed by Nathan’s No Doubt Management company, for his national featherweight belt on the basis that as a champion he should get first preference.

Supported by the BSA sanctioning committee, Hem’s challenge encountered obstacles as Nathan argued it was Makhanda’s Bongani Fule who deserved first preference due to his mandatory position.

Caught in the middle, BSA took the matter to arbitration.

After hearing presentations from both parties, it ruled in Fule’s favour, who lost a points decision to Sibisi at the Jan Smuts Stadium in KuGompo City in May.

However, Matiti and Nathan stunned all and sundry when they were seen embracing each other, announcing their cold war had thawed.

Nathan said he was delighted to work with Matiti for the Gingqi-Khanyisa bout.

“Xaba Promotions and No Doubt Management put their differences aside earlier this year, and this has led them to work together to deliver a mouth-watering contest between Gingqi and Khanyisa,” he said.

“Boxing is the winner here.”

Matiti predicted yet another thrilling bout as Gingqi vies for his fourth title defence against unbeaten challenger Khanyisa, who will also risk his IBF Continental Africa belt in the fight.

Gingqi is fresh from a debatable loss to Azinga Fuzile in April in a fight which saw his stock rise despite the defeat.

Not expected to hold his own against the former world title challenger, Gingqi was gutsy, with some feeling he deserved the decision.

This has made him a big favourite against Khanyisa, who is yet to lose a fight in 11 bouts while Gingqi’s loss to Fuzile was his second in 18 bouts.

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Bangladesh recorded their first-ever Test win on Australian soil Sunday with a comprehensive victory over the world’s top-ranked Test team.

“This is the biggest win so far for Bangladesh in any format,” Najmul said.

“Going forward we want to do something special in the future.”

Fresh from fielding a video call from Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, Najmul said he was determined to make sure his team played just as well in the second Test, which starts in the North Queensland city of Mackay on August 22.

Leading into the Test in Darwin, Bangladesh lost a Test match to Zimbabwe by an innings and 85 runs, then were thrashed by a Cricket Australia XI in a warm-up game.

“We need to be consistent as a team,” Najmul said.

“Against Zimbabwe we didn’t play well but the confidence still was there because we won against Pakistan in Bangladesh (in May).

“So that gives us confidence. Before we came here, we had the belief that we will play good cricket here.”

Najmul said he would stress to his team that they would need to play just as well in the second Test, as Australia were sure to bounce back.

“As I said before this Test match, we wanted to play five days of good cricket, so nothing’s changed,” he said.

“Going to the next Test match we need to follow the process, accept the challenge and enjoy those challenges.

“And they have a quality bowling attack, so we have to again play good cricket.

“As a bowling unit we have to be disciplined again.

“This match gives us confidence, but I’m not thinking too much about this one - next match, we need to play good cricket again.”

Najmul said he was conscious of what the win would mean to people back home.

“In Bangladesh we all know the fans are really crazy about cricket,” he said.

“We’ve given something to them, at least some sort of happiness in their faces - that’s the beauty of this game.

“In our culture we’re pretty emotional sometimes. Sometimes, when we lose, they cried, so I think this win, we give them the happiest moment.” - AFP

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Unbeaten Ferreira, whose marginal International Boxing Organisation belt was also on the line in this unification bout, improved her record to 11 wins (4 KOs), while France-born Canadian Veyre dropped to 11-2.

Veyre had already been deducted two points for holding — once in the fourth and again in the seventh — and she was warned on several other occasions during the contest, yet she was still competitive.

Ferreira, who started the first round boxing on the back foot and using her jab well, pressed the attack for much of the fight, living up to her moniker, “The Badger”.

Bernice Ferreira defeats Caroline Veyre

Veyre was disqualified for excessive holding #ShieldsScott pic.twitter.com/TyYGkVSczQ

— Sal Arteaga (@sal__arteaga) August 16, 2026

Veyre, who was deducted two points in her previous fight, was found wanting on the inside.

Her holding wasn’t the result of fatigue — as is often the case — but rather a technical inability to box at close quarters.

On the outside she handled herself well, at times landing accurate combinations that forced Ferreira to retreat.

The ending was a little anti-climactic, with no celebrations coming from the new champion’s cornermen, Bernie Pailman and Colin Nathan.

The victory makes Ferreira South Africa’s first female WBC titleholder and fifth overall, after Sugar Boy Malinga, Dingaan Thobela, Kevin Lerena and Siyakholwa Kuse. - TimesLIVE

The visitors went to the break trailing just 21-17 after an even first half in Townsville but then leaked 35 unanswered points to crash 56-17 after the hosts stepped on the gas.

It followed a narrow 35-32 defeat against Les Kiss’s team in Osaka last week.

“We showed we can do it for 40 minutes. You know, we’ve played two good halves of rugby against Australia (over two Tests), we’ve got blown away in the second half,” Jones said.

“They won the air, won the breakdown. We weren’t good enough to defend our errors. Congratulations to Australia.”

Despite the heavy loss, Jones said it was all part of the learning experience for his mostly inexperienced side, with 10 players fielded in Townsville having fewer than 10 caps.

Two of those in the starting line-up — winger Yoshitaka Yazaki and fly-half Ryunosuke Ito — were university students.

“It’s a great experience today, albeit quite a difficult experience. But sometimes the most difficult experiences are the best experiences,” Jones said.

“We’ve got boys today that are amateur players. They’ve got to go back to university probably next week, probably Monday.

“They train with 150 players, one coach, one physio. Wouldn’t happen anywhere else in the world.

“So, yeah, when you put all of that together and the experience they’ve picked up, it’s a great learning experience for them.”

Japan captain Warner Dearns was similarly not worried by the size of the defeat, as the side builds towards the World Cup in Australia next year.

“I think giving our younger guys experience like this before the World Cup, it sets us up really well for having good depth going into the World Cup,” he said.

“The boys are obviously still learning Test match level footy, and it’s a bit of a challenge sometimes. But they’re having a lot of fun, and we’re having a lot of fun playing with them.” - AFP

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The second-round battle lasted for more than two and a half hours, and it proved too much for the 24-time Grand Slam champion, who was playing his first match since he lost to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-finals more than a month ago.

Top-seeded Alexander Zverev, the French Open champion who fell to Sinner in the Wimbledon final, was more fortunate, squeezing out an opening 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Cameron Norrie in a match that took two hours and 45 minutes and ended at 2.15am (8.15am SA time) on Sunday.

Britain’s Norrie has now lost all eight of his matches against the German, winner of the Cincinnati title five years ago, who is hoping a return to Ohio will help him shake off an abrupt exit in Canada last week.

Norrie had wrapped up the opening set before Zverev began to find his footing to level the match.

Norrie saved six break points in a 12-minute game to begin the deciding set but was broken twice as Zverev advanced.

“I needed to get a match rhythm,” Zverev said.

“The confidence was not there after Canada.

“The first set was not great, but the other two were at a high level, and I’m happy about that.”

Djokovic, who claimed the last of his three Cincinnati titles in 2023, claimed the opening set against Argentina’s Tirante with little fuss.

But the sweltering afternoon temperatures took a toll.

“It was a combination of the heat and humidity, all those things,” he said. “Everything involved makes it worse.”

Djokovic won a brutal 18-minute third game of the second, saving four break points over nine deuces.

But he was bent over in distress between several points and even dropped to his hands and knees after one particularly gruelling exchange.

Djokovic took a medical timeout after that game, with the physio and then a doctor coming on court to assist with assessments and ice towels.

After Tirante took the second set, both players cooled off in the locker room.

Slightly revived, Djokovic set the pace again in the deciding set.

But it all went wrong in the ninth game, when Djokovic saved three break points before getting it wrong on a drop shot to bring up a fourth break chance that his opponent converted.

Tirante clinched the biggest win of his career in the next game as Djokovic again failed to land a drop shot on match point.

The Serb, who must now try to regroup before the US Open starts on August 30, admitted he might have played his last match in Cincy.

“It looks like I won’t be back, unfortunately, to play here,” he said.

Tirante called the win the best of his career.

“I managed the nerves of playing a legend like Novak. It was all so much pressure.”

In the WTA draw, Philippines sensation Alexandra Eala advanced to the third round 6-1, 3-0 as injured Elena-Gabriela Ruse quit their match during a weather delay.

The Romanian had received treatment on her right ankle just before play was halted by a thunderstorm, Ruse pulling the plug during the delay.

Eala, the emerging WTA star who captured her first WTA title in Washington this month, will next play ninth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova, who beat Turk Zeynep Sonmez 6-2, 6-3.

“I was playing well and feeling really focused,” Eala said.

“I tried to stay in the zone.

“A retirement is not the way you want to end a match,” she added. “Injuries are not fun.”

Roland Garros finalist Maja Chwalinska advanced 6-2, 6-2 over Spain’s Cristina Bucsa.

Wimbledon winner Linda Noskova followed suit with her 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Britain’s Katie Boulter.

There was heartbreak for Payton Stearns, who grew up just blocks from the tennis center. She lost 7-6 (9/7), 1-6, 7-5 to Dane Clara Tauson, who played through back pain but rallied from 4-1 down in the final set to win. - AFP

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NW made a strong start to the pool stage, opening with an 8-0 win over Free State before following that with a 10-0 victory over Eastern Province.

Those results put them in a strong position heading into their final Pool B match against Western Province, with both sides having won their opening two games.

WP edged that encounter 1-0 to finish top of Pool B, leaving NW second and setting up a semi-final against the SA U18 Girls.

The defeat proved to be NW’s only setback of the tournament, as they responded by edging the SA U18 Girls 1-0 in the semi-final to book their place in the title decider in Gqeberha on Friday.

NW held their nerve to win the final 1-0 on a shootout after the match finished 1-1, avenging their earlier pool-stage defeat and securing the national title.

Hubach said the side’s progress through the pool stage was built around taking each performance as it came and steadily building momentum.

“We just tick the boxes every day and make sure we build on yesterday’s performance and just keep climbing the ladder until we get our ultimate goal, which is the gold,” Hubach said.

That approach was evident in the semi-final, where NW held their nerve despite facing sustained pressure and conceding eight penalty corners to their two.

They made the most of their limited opportunities, with Germarie Spershott scoring from a final-minute penalty corner to secure the 1-0 victory.

Hubach said the performance demonstrated the maturity her players had developed throughout the tournament.

“The girls just used the minimum opportunities that we had, which was fantastic. It’s the maturity that comes through and the growth that comes through that they’ve shown results.”

For Hubach, the belief that NW could go all the way was present from the outset.

“I think the attitude and the mindset of the girls, from day one that they could go all the way. If they stuck to what we believed in and what we put out on the game plan from the start, then they would have gone all the way.”

That belief was matched by a strong sense of togetherness, something Hubach identified as a defining characteristic of her champions.

“The team spirit is just incredible. It’s something really, really special, how they put themselves together and hold each other accountable, but can have fun at the same time.”

Having already faced WP in the pool stage, Hubach knew her side would need to handle the pressure differently in the final.

She felt they had forced the game too much in their earlier meeting, but was pleased with how they responded when WP increased the intensity.

“Today [Friday evening] Western Province really brought it to us, and they picked up the pressure, but I think our girls just dealt with it very, very well.”

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The old rivals will collide in the first of the back-to-back Tests in front of a sellout 62,000 crowd at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday, where the Boks are determined to lay down a marker for the rest of the series (kickoff 5.10pm).

After the Ellis Park showdown, the sides square off in Cape Town for the second Test at the DHL Stadium (August 29), the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg (September 5), and a series finale at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore (September 12).

The Boks concluded two days of intense training on Saturday, where the objective was to get the entire squad aligned with an eye on the RGR series after a Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires last week.

The travelling squad, which included 26 players and a host of coaches, returned to SA in two groups on Monday night and Tuesday.

They spent most of the week having flush-out and gym sessions to get the players back into the local time zone and match-ready following the physical Test against Los Pumas, which the Boks won 17-10.

The squad returned to the training field on Friday and had another field session on Saturday before having the next day and a half off to spend time with their families before switching into full-blown Test week for their RGR series opener.

Bok hooker Johan Grobbelaar and utility forward Elrigh Louw were released to play for the Bulls in their RGR match against the All Blacks on Saturday evening, and rejoined the national squad on Sunday.

“It was important to manage the players who travelled to Argentina well and afford them sufficient time to recover from the match and switch back into the domestic time zone,” Erasmus said.

“That is why we only started training as a full group late in the week.

“But we are pleased that the players are well recovered and ready to give everything for the forthcoming Tests against the All Blacks.

“It will undoubtedly be a very challenging tournament, but we are looking forward to it as a collective.

“This series is almost like playing the knock-out stages of a Rugby World Cup because we are facing one of the world’s best week in and week out, and we all understand the magnitude of the RGR series.

“It’s a new and exciting challenge, and we have been putting in a lot of work behind the scenes, especially the group of coaches and players who remained behind in SA in the last two weeks.

“So we will fine-tune the areas of our game, which we would like to improve next week as we get ready to take the field.”

Erasmus has indicated a period of experimentation is likely to come to an end when the RGR series kicks off.

“When we get to the Greatest Rivalry, we’ll start steadying out on teams, on more or less the same kind of team, and not chop and change so much because it’s a new competition,” he said.

“We’re not happy that we played well against Argentina, but we’re very happy that we ground out a win.

“Even if we drew, we would have learned a lot about grinding out a win when the crowd is going crazy in Buenos Aires.

“It was an opportunity to play important matches with close results, like in the World Cup.”

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It was a third consecutive victory for the New Zealanders after wins over the Stormers in Cape Town and the Sharks in Durban in the opening three games of a tour which also includes four Tests against the Springboks.

Rennie said his team had shown improvement during the tour, but he was frustrated his team left points out on the field at Loftus ahead of Saturday’s Test at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

“50 points against a very good Bulls side is a positive,” he said.

“We played a team that was prepared to play today and really took it to us.

“I thought our set piece was really strong, especially the scrum, which from a discipline point of view was a lot better against the Bulls.

“We created so many opportunities, 11 line breaks to one.

“So we probably left a few points out there, which is a little frustrating.

“But I can’t fault the efforts, and a number of boys will be better for the opportunity to run around at altitude.

“I thought we had a lot of opportunities to really play on top of the Bulls and force defenders to make decisions, and it was almost like we were training for the Springboks.

“We’re coming a lot harder defensively, so it’s good for us.

“We’ve now got a game at altitude, and guys got an appreciation for that. I thought we worked really hard in those circumstances, and we’ll be better for it.

“So, what we know is that the intensity level, the quality that we’re going to come up against next week is three, four, five-fold. We’ve played reasonably well on tour, and we know we need to up the ante.”

Stand-in All Blacks captain Codie Taylor said his team had shown improvement in each of the three tour games.

“I’m sure the Springboks are going to be asking a lot more questions come Saturday,” he said.

“From where we started with the Stormers and built our way through these club games, I feel like we made some great strides as a forward pack.

“However, by no means are we the finished product.

“There’s going to be so much more we can work on, and it’s going to be even tougher come Saturday at Ellis Park. But we can be really happy and confident with the steps we’re making.”

All Blacks and Blues loose-forward Anton Segner was named man-of-the-match after an impressive all-round display at Loftus.

“Yeah, there were a lot of good performances,” Rennie said.

“I thought Pete Lakai was excellent too till we took him off, and Anton Segner was massive.”

“So yeah, those guys are applying a lot of pressure, and obviously there is also Josh Moorby, who started the last Test against Ireland and played the Italian game off the bench.

“I thought Leroy Carter was really strong out on the wing. I’d like him to dive a little earlier next time, maybe score just on the line rather than two metres over it.

“I look at those guys work really hard, and that creates opportunities for us.”

Segner said the conditions were different to what he’s used to in New Zealand.

“It’s definitely different over here. I mean, it says on the tunnel on the way in that I think we’re at 1,350 meters (altitude) here, and that matters,” he said.

“And I could definitely feel the difference, and I’m sure the rest of the boys could too.

“But credit to the Bulls. I don’t think the scoreboard reflects how hard a game it was, especially there in that second half.

Scorers:

Bulls 19: Tries: Ruan Vermaak, Stravino Jacobs, Marcell Coetzee. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2).

New Zealand 50: Josh Moorby (2), Codey Taylor (2), Leroy Carter (2), Rieko Ioane, Wallace Sititi. Conversions: Beauden Barrett, Josh Jacomb (4).

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Despite impressing in many areas, the Stormers XXIII battled to convert their dominance of territory and at scrum-time, leaving them largely frustrated by the hosts

The opening exchanges were fierce, with neither team taking a backward step and the defences dominating proceedings.

The home side got up and running with a penalty from flyhalf Revaldo Fleurs and they managed to hit double figures when scrumhalf Tom Bursey picked up a loose ball to score against the run of play.

Despite dominating territorially, the Stormers XXIII found themselves behind, and it got even worse on the stroke of half-time, with Pumas wing Banie Britz scoring from a cross-kick to make it 15-0 at the break.

The visitors got on the scoreboard early in the second half, with Mfundo Ndhlovu scoring after getting a good offload from young Markus Muller.

The Mpumalanga side responded with a maul try before lock JJ Scheepers bashed his way over to secure the bonus point and make it 29-7.

The Stormers XXIII remained a threat in the dying stages and looked certain to score on multiple occasions, but could not find the finishing touch.

The Pumas next host defending champions Griquas on Friday afternoon while the Stormers XXIII make the trip to Pretoria to face the struggling Bulls XV.

Scorers:

Pumas 29: Tries: Thomas Bursey, Banie Britz, Jan-Henning Campher, JJ Scheepers. Conversions: Nevaldo Fleurs (3). Penalty: Fleurs.

Stormers XXIII 7: Try Mfundo Ndhlovu. Conversion: Kyle Smith.

Other scores: Griquas 55 Sharks XV 21, Lions 29 Boland Kavaliers 38. - Stormers Media

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