Table of contents for 2021-09-13 in Cape Times

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za Dubai-based DP World has made an opportunistic, R12.7 billion offer for Imperial Logistics considering the good prospects of the Pan-Africa integrated market access and logistics solutions provider, but analysts disagree whether the valuation is fair. According to PSG Asset Management fund manager Justin Floor, the bid is too low. Floor said in a phone interview on Friday that they owned some 7.5 percent of Imperial’s shares on behalf of investors and planned to vote on the DP offer in the imminent shareholders meeting this Friday, with a longer-term perspective of the company. Another stock exchange analyst, who chose to remain anonymous, however, did not agree with Floor and said the DP World offer was fair considering the downside risks and length of time that was likely…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za ONLINE shopping in South Africa is on target for becoming the R63 billion- a-year industry by 2025 after taking broadsides from the July looting that saw volumes patter down and suppliers suffer stock losses and logistic bottlenecks. According to Euro Monitor, which did a survey among major retailers offering e-commerce trade, an 18 percent growth trajectory was being achieved a week before the looting, but numbers dwindled sharply thereafter, putting the industry into a tailspin that it is only now recovering from. Stock-keeping-units (SKU) figures for Pick n Pay (PNP), Game Stores, Woolworths, Clicks and Macro depict that the retailers held on by the skin of their teeth, and were now back on the growth path. Pick n Pay tracked 3…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons FORMER Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has been named as the Good Party’s mayoral candidate for the Drakenstein local municipality. Party leader Patricia de Lille yesterday named the party’s eight mayoral candidates for the upcoming November local government elections. Candidates are for the following municipalities: Beaufort West, Drakenstein, George, Johannesburg, Kimberley, Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB), Saldanha Bay and Tshwane. De Lille said the candidates are serious contenders, with proven track-records, who have “earned the trust of their communities and have no need to tell any lies about their qualifications”. “They include experienced members of professions and the business sector, former senior councillors – even a national icon. They have emerged from competitive selection and vetting processes, and they’re ready to lead with honour, integrity and diligence,” De…

Zintle Mahlati zintle.mahlati@inl.co.za PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has urged those who remain unvaccinated to get the jab, as he announced an easing of Covid restrictions last night. The president said following consultation and scientific advice, the country would move to risk-adjusted level 2 from today. The easing of restrictions means: • Curfew is from 11pm to 4am. • Non-essential establishments like bars and fitness centres need to close by 10pm. • All gatherings will now be limited to 250 people indoors and 500 outdoors. • Where the venue is too small, no more than 50% of the venue may be used. • The sale of alcohol for off-site consumption will be allowed from 10am to 6pm (Monday to Friday). • On-site consumption is permitted at licensed establishments. • Funerals remain restricted…

Club fined for operating after curfew Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za SOME of the illegal events taking place after curfew are breeding grounds for crime – including drug abuse, violence and sexual assaults – as they happen under the cover of darkness, says the City. A local club in Woodstock was issued with an admission of guilt fine for contravening the Disaster Management Act. “Liquor was also confiscated and the circumstances surrounding the event are being investigated by police. It is our observation that the event was a private one attended by patrons who booked online,” said police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut. Ward 115 councillor Ian McMahon said the matter had been reported to the SAPS and the Western Cape Liquor Authority. “I received a complaint from residents a few months ago,…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za POLICE are investigating a double murder and two attempted murders following an alleged extortion-related shooting in Khayelitsha. Gang members are alleged to have collected protection fee money from a local shop and were followed by a rival gang and shot at while travelling in a taxi. Police spokesperson Andre Traut said the suspects fled the scene and are yet to be arrested “The circumstances are being investigated after armed suspects opened fire at a minibus taxi in Mew Way Khayelitsha on Friday afternoon. The injured victims were admitted to hospital,”said Traut. A source said after collecting protection fee money they walked to catch a taxi. “Just when the taxi stopped, the other guys came out of nowhere and started shooting the people in the taxi. “A lady…

Jimmy Paul Tibero | Muizenberg I AM a Theology student and a self-help writer. I would like to share my concern with the general public about corruption. The word corruption is becoming more and more frequent in our society. Sometimes even leaders who are normally supposed to set a good example are also found guilty of corruption, and that should worry us all. Corruption is hell for any society. It slows down economic development, ruins justice and ethical values, and leads to poverty. Corruption affects us all. So we need to stand together as one to stop its spread in this beautiful country before it stops us. One of the ways to fight this vice is to stay away from those who are corrupt and expose their works…

Ilse Haas | Bothasig ONE can only feel very sorry for people like this greedy couple (“Divorcing couple bicker over cost of maintenance”, Cape Times, September 2) because of their mental age. As long as there are people around earning a cool R97 401.76 a month, and allowing R35 000+ feeding their children with luxuries they do not really deserve. Surely they are not children anymore? Shame. They have to share a car with a R2 400 fuel allowance. Get them a bicycle. One can only feel sorry for those young people being involved in that nasty, greedy lifestyle of their own family. The demands of R35 000 a month maintenance plus R50 000 for her legal fees for the woman… really? They are all floating. Let them…

Basil Nagel CONGRATULATIONS councillor Roberto Quintas on your appointment as City of Cape Town mayco member for transport. In a recent interview, you asked us to keep you and the City of Cape Town accountable. We already do so, but we don’t get answers from the City. We are counting on you to be more accessible during your term. We have a particular interest in knowing how you will be dealing with the MyCiTi N2 Express route, as well as what your role will be in curbing further violence on over-traded taxi routes. Our concern, as local taxi operators and drivers, is that there will be more lofty promises that go nowhere. What can we expect from your office during your term, specifically regarding the minibus taxi industry? Can…

Tunis: Tunisian President Kais Saied has announced plans to form a new government and said the constitution should be amended, weeks after he sacked his premier and suspended parliament in moves his critics called a coup. Speaking to two television channels in Tunis, Saied said he would form a new government “as soon as possible” after selecting “the people with the most integrity”. But he declined to give a specific timeline. Saied also told the TV stations that “the Tunisian people rejected the constitution”. He added that such charters are “not eternal” and stated that “we can introduce amendments to the text”. His comments, which confirmed earlier media speculation on his plans, were dismissed by the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the largest bloc in parliament. The party in a statement expressed…

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has declassified the first document related to the investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and suspected Saudi government support for the hijackers. “This material is being released in response to the executive order, signed on September 3, 2021 (by US President Joe Biden) on the declassification review of certain documents concerning the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” the FBI said on Saturday. The FBI electronic communication document, dated April 4, 2016, consists of more than a dozen pages of heavily redacted witness testimony collected mainly during a November 2015 interview, regarding “significant logistic support” provided to two 9/11 hijackers, identified as Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Midhar. The man who was interviewed had frequent contacts with Saudi nationals in the US and had…

LONDON: Boris Johnson is ready to ditch plans to make vaccination certificates compulsory at venues such as nightclubs, cinemas and sports grounds, reported The Times. At a press conference, set for tomorrow, the UK prime minister will purportedly announce the government’s plans for tackling the coronavirus pandemic in winter, and explain why mandatory certification is being abandoned. He is said to have been advised by scientists that vaccinations would be effective as a first line of defence against a possible surge in Covid-19 cases. The plans that would ostensibly have created “second-class citizens” had encountered strong opposition.…

Wynona Louw wynona.louw@inl.co.za Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber says their ill-discipline cost them in their 28-26 Rugby Championship loss to Australia in Gold Coast yesterday. The Boks’ winless run Down Under – where they haven’t won since 2013 – continued as Quade Cooper completed a stunning performance with a penalty after the hooter to give the struggling Wallabies the win. While the Boks scored three tries to the hosts’ one, they conceded 11 penalties, while they also missed 21 tackles – an uncharacteristic stat for the South Africans. In stark contrast to Cooper, Handre Pollard produced a poor performance as he struggled with his decision-making, handling and, most importantly, his goal-kicking as he hooked two penalties and a conversion. Speaking after the game, Nienaber said that the Boks’ high penalty…

THE Blue Bulls have conquered South Africa for the second consecutive season, but coach Jake White knows that his well-resourced squad’s real test will come in the United Rugby Championship later this month. The Pretoria side swept the Sharks aside 44-10 in the Currie Cup final at Loftus on Saturday, with six sizzling tries and a barn-storming performance from the forwards setting up what became an easy victory on the day. White spoke afterwards about being “very proud” of the fact that his team could pull off back-to-back championships for the first time since they did it in 2004 (which was three in a row from 2002), and that it was a record 34-point victory margin in a final, surpassing the 1980 title decider when Northern Transvaal beat Western…

Daniel Ricciardo won the Formula One Italian Grand Prix yesterday as the Australian took advantage of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s dramatic crash which eliminated both championship rivals. Ricciardo was followed by his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the British team’s first win since the 2012 Brazilian GP, while Valtteri Bottas inherited third, despite starting in last place, due to a five-second time penalty for Sergio Perez. Red Bull’s Verstappen still leads seven-time world champion Hamilton by five points at the top of the drivers’ standings as they both finished in the gravel following their crash halfway through the race. Ricciardo, whose father is from Italy, was delighted with not only his first win since Monaco in 2018 but also McLaren’s first one-two finish in 11 years, greeting the fans…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za FORMER ANC councillor Andile Lungisa said yesterday he was ready to get his hands dirty again by campaigning for his party after the national disciplinary committee (NDC) overturned the suspension of his membership. Last week, the national disciplinary committee upheld Lungisa’s appeal after he argued that the party’s Eastern Cape disciplinary committee had contravened the ANC’s constitution when they served him with charges outside the prescribed six-month period set down by the party. NDC chairperson Nocawe Mafu agreed with Lungisa’s submission. Mafu also said that the provincial disciplinary committee (PDC) was also not properly constituted prior to referring disciplinary charges against Lungisa and three others – Phendule Mbewu, Nolusapho Nikani and Tobeka Dumisa. In his reaction to the ruling, Lungisa yesterday said he was very…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za IN almost all instances, the earliest introductions of Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) into individual African countries were from outside the continent . This is according to a genomic surveillance analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the first year of the pandemic. The study was undertaken by top scientists from 112 African and 25 international organisations in close collaboration with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and published in Science.org recently. “Our phylogeographic reconstruction of past viral dissemination patterns suggests a strong epidemiological linkage between Europe and Africa, with 64% of detectable viral imports into Africa originating in Europe and 41% of detectable viral exports from Africa landing in Europe. “This phylogeographic analysis also suggests a changing pattern of viral diffusion…

Staff writer MORE than two years after it happened, an animal abuser has been convicted and given a hefty fine for kicking a Yorkshire terrier to death. The Cape of Good Hope SPCA (CoGH SPCA) said in a statement that justice had finally been served for the little dog, named Stamford. The dog was killed in 2019. “Ozayr Schüller was found guilty on two charges of animal cruelty, each carrying a sentence of a R6 000 fine or six months’ imprisonment, suspended for five years – and he now has a criminal record for animal abuse. “Tamlyn Sylvester, a witness in the case, had seen her neighbour kick and stomp Stamford in his small backyard. She immediately called the CoGH SPCA – but it was sadly too late for…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za POLICE have not yet made any arrests in connection with the deaths of at least eight people killed in mob justice attacks in informal settlements last week. Mob justice incidents were reported early last week in Mfuleni and Samora Machel. On Friday, a teenager alleged to have robbed an elderly woman, was attacked in Marikana and made a narrow escape. Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa confirmed that the body of 15-year-old Osanela Wanga, involved in the Mfuleni attack, was discovered on Friday. She said no one has been taken in for questioning in relation to the recent mob justice incidents. Covid-19 informal settlement community activist Patrick Silwana called for police visibility in the area. “The river has become a dumping site for dead bodies. Almost every weekend people…

MICHAEL BAGRAIM | Highlands Estate YOUR Friday edition; Zuma parole: minister Lamola’s hands ‘tied’ refers: It is very convenient for a minister to try to distance himself by saying he wasn’t involved. We know full well that with a high-profile prisoner such as former president Zuma, the minister knew exactly what was going on. There is no way that Correctional Services in this instance would have acted without at least the blessing of the minister of justice and correctional services. We regularly read in the Cape Times how the minister intervenes in various parole applications. Only just recently was the minister very strongly involved in parole applications made by individuals who committed atrocities under apartheid. The minister had in those instances quite rightly carefully perused those applications. It…

Johan Majiedt | Bellville AS MUCH as we like to slip in an adage wherever we think it might make an impression, we always have to make sure we have the wording and form of the adage correct. I have often heard people say, “rather the devil you know, than the devil you don’t know” when the correct wording is, “rather the devil you know than the angel you don’t”. The punch of the adage lies in the irony. If there is no irony, there is no punch. Then the adage says absolutely nothing. There is no irony in the wrong version, because a devil is bad, whether you know him or not. In the Cape Times of September 10, Herman Gibbs, sportswriter, committed the same error, albeit…

THE announcement by the Correctional Services Department to grant medical parole to former president Jacob Zuma has undoubtedly divided the nation once more. The medical parole was welcome news to Zuma’s foundation and a legion of supporters who have called for his unconditional release from prison. But, for those who are opposed to the medical parole, it shows special treatment and makes a mockery of the parole regulations. It was therefore not surprising that the official opposition took it upon itself to have Zuma’s medical parole set aside and reviewed by the courts. Although it was not unexpected, the department announced on Sunday last week that national commissioner Arthur Fraser had granted Zuma medical parole after the department received a medical report. Fraser has openly admitted that he overruled the…

Israeli fighter jets early yesterday attacked military posts and facilities that belong to the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip, but no injuries were reported, according to security sources. The sources said that the Israeli fighter jets struck air-to-ground missiles military posts and facilities in the central and southern Gaza Strip for the second day in a row in response to rocket attacks. On Friday and Saturday, unknown militants fired two rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, according to Israeli media. There were no reports of injuries or damage after the rockets landed on empty areas. The Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV station said that witnesses heard the buzz of Israeli army drones and fighter jets, and then several explosions were heard in the southern…

ISLAMABAD: Twelve people died and two others were left injured due to heavy downpour in Mansehra district of Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province yesterday, local media reported. Four to five houses were razed to the ground due to land sliding caused by heavy downpour, the reports said. There were 16 people in the houses and the search for the remaining two has been underway, according to media. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital. Climate impacts including cloud bursts, which lead to heavy downpour, are becoming more frequent in the country in recent years, causing the casaulties.…

MUMBAI: Pilot error and a failure to follow safety guidelines probably caused the Air India Express crash that killed 21 people last year, the country’s worst aviation accident in a decade, investigators said in a report on Saturday. The Boeing 737, repatriating Indians stranded in Dubai due to the coronavirus pandemic, overshot the table-top runway and crashed while landing at Calicut International Airport in the southern state of Kerala in heavy rain on August 8 last year. The aircraft had already made one failed attempt to land before it overran the 2 700-metre runway. The airport is known as a table-top because its runways have steep drops at one or both ends.…

Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed even his own expectations as he delivered on the hype of his return to Old Trafford as a Manchester United player by scoring twice in a 4-1 win over Newcastle United on Saturday. A full house reverberated to a chorus of Ronaldo chants and songs from long before kick-off as he took his tally for the club to 120 goals, 12 years on from swapping Manchester for Madrid. The final game of the Portuguese’s first spell with the Red Devils was a Champions League final defeat to Barcelona in 2009 that signalled a changing of the guard in European football in which Ronaldo played a large part. Barca were crowned champions of Europe again in 2011 and 2015, while a Ronaldo-inspired Real Madrid won the competition four…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE GOVERNMENT’S insistence of the centralising of procurement for the Covid-19 pandemic’s vaccines and PPEs threw a spanner in the works of the Competition Commission’s efforts to regulate as the bureaucracy added multi-pronged dimensions of un- qualified suppliers, doubtful quality supplies and corruption, the commission said on Friday. At a Competitition Commission webinar outlining its work over the past 18 months of the pandemic, commissioners said a progress survey conducted after the first wave revealed how the centralising was not of benefit to the concerted efforts. “Procurement of vaccines could have been done by individual companies or hospitals, but government decided to centralise the processes to keep tabs on how much vaccine stock there was. “There were instances where there were complaints about the quality of PPEs…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za THE ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has asked police to pull out all stops to track down “the criminals” who killed three of its members and wounded four others at a party meeting in Durban on Saturday. Three women were brutally killed and five others suffered bullet wounds when unknown men opened fire during an ANC community meeting to select a candidate councillor at Ward 54 in Inanda. Yesterday, KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi condemned the killing. “The killing of innocent citizens cannot be accepted. We will do everything in our control to bring the perpetrators to book. “We are also appealing to the community to expose the culprits of this heinous crime. “There can be no justification for such a vicious and cowardly act,” Mkhwanazi said. KwaZulu-Natal…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za THE funeral company found to have been transporting more than 100 bodies to the Eastern Cape in a truck for cremations says its resources were stretched as a result of the high demand in the province. While representatives of the company named Funerals are expected to meet health department officials today, police have registered an enquiry to look into the circumstances leading up to the incident. The truck transporting at least 106 bodies en route to Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape was stopped at a Somerset West weighbridge on Saturday. It was flagged down on the N2 by traffic officials as part of routine control measures and was found to be overloaded, said Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell. Officials immediately closed the weighbridge and handed the site over…

Ingredients Potatoes, 1.5 – 2 kg large potatoes, sliced into 2mm rounds olive oil for drizzling Mustard Cream 1 C (250 ml) fresh cream 2 Tbsp (30ml) dijon mustard 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped small handful of flat leaf parsley, big handful of grated mature cheddar a small handful of chives, chopped sea salt and freshly ground pepper Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Method Wash potatoes but leave skin on. Slice potatoes (skin on) into 2mm rounds. Drizzle slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stack slices vertically into a roasting tray that is deep to hold the cream and set aside. Mustard Cream Pour cream into a small saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add mustard, thyme and parsley and whisk well to combine. Bring to…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za HALF-marathon challenger Henry Cock has reached the halfway mark in his goal to break a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive half-marathons in a row in 133 days. Through his efforts, Cock hopes to raise more than R4 million for the SA Depression and Anxiety Group’s (Sadag) national suicide helpline, which has seen an increase in calls received from 600 to over 1 800 a day. A half-marathon is a distance of 21.0975km, half a full marathon. Cock plans to run 2 800km in total, from Kosi Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal, to Vioolsdrift in Namibia. He hit the halfway mark in St Francis in the Eastern Cape at the weekend. “I’m not an ex-athlete or a professional sportsman of any kind. All I am trying…

Professor Salim Abdool Karim has warned of more strife related to the pandemic despite the increase in the number of people being vaccinated. “If I was a betting man, I would bet there are more variants. This virus is not done with us. We might be done with the virus, but it’s not done with us,” said Karim, a KwaZulu-Natal epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist. The former chairperson of the ministerial advisory committee on Covid-19, who stepped down in March this year, said finding solutions to address the virus was crucial since “there’s more coming”. Almost 14 million of the vaccine doses have been administered with 6.75 million of the population, amounting to almost 12%, fully vaccinated. The virus has claimed the lives of almost 5 million people…

Kenneth Wynne | Milnerton I HAVE been inspired by the latest campaign pledge by Geordin Hill-Lewis. He has pledged to do the basics better and take service delivery into the digital age. One of the main priorities of local government is delivering good basic services. When residents have access to good basic services their quality of life improves as a direct result. Understanding this, he has pledged to significantly increase investment in basic services, and embrace and fully exploit digital technology to ensure that every resident has access to the services they need to live a life of dignity. I believe this compelling and distinct vision for the City of Cape Town will improve levels of service delivery and overcome the structural challenges of a failing national…

Mahfooz un Nabi Khan | President, Society for Human Salvation THE Society For Human Salvation (SFHS) is an organisation of Civil Society. It represents an enlightened segment of society and follows universal human values, democracy and human rights. The SFHS welcomes the US government’s decision to opt for a diplomatic channel instead of a military mission in Afghanistan. Indeed, with the passage of time, a civil society emerged in Afghanistan and the world can kindle high hopes of better social relations in Afghan society. We are joyfully confident that the US will now clear the remains of two decades long prisons in Afghanistan with the spirit of tolerance and forgiveness. The international community and peace-loving masses of the world expect a general amnesty for the detainees and convicts…

Metrics of shame define what’s rotten with ANC’s stewardship of the socio-economy DATA is an asset. Its value lies in transparent methodology, access to information and independence in compilation. Like all asset classes, it can be a double-edged sword depending on the vagaries of volatility, interpretation and their use and abuse, particularly through casuistry. The current push-back against the Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, is led by, among others, data-driven epidemiologists constantly deciphering the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in specified populations. For countries and corporates, quality data is important because it can direct spending allocations and determine investment pathways and investor decisions. National statistics departments largely reflect the quality of open government and the character of democratic accountability through figures that define the daily lives of citizens.…

Haiti’s Directorate for Civil Protection has demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry after he was summoned for questioning in the probe of President Jovenel Moise’s murder. The country’s chief public prosecutor, Bedford Claude, invited Henry to the Public Prosecutor’s Office tomorrow to testify after reports showed he had several phone calls, including two on July 7, the day of Moise’s assassination, with one of the main suspects, Joseph Felix Badio. Mobile operator Digicel confirmed that a call between Henry and Badio took place hours after the murder. “In the name of the right to the truth in the assassination of the president … Ariel Henry must immediately resign and turn over to the disposal of justice,” the directorate said on Twitter. It called on the international com- munity…

Quito: Six ocelots rescued from illegal wildlife traffickers have been returned to the wild in northern Ecuador, the environment ministry said at the weekend. “They released six female ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) in the Cotacachi Cayapas Reserve,” near the border with Colombia, it said. “All the specimens returned to their natural habitat after a rehabilitation period of approximately one year.” The nocturnal wildcats were released “in an area where humans have no contact with them and where they develop freely,” according to Placido Palacios, director of the private James Brown Rescue Center.…

TEHRAN: Iran is to allow the UN nuclear watchdog to service monitoring cameras at Iranian nuclear sites after talks with IAEA head Rafael Grossi, according to the head of Iran’s atomic energy body and a joint statement. The talks with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Grossi were aimed at easing a standoff between Tehran and the West just as it threatens to escalate and scupper negotiations on reviving the Iran nuclear deal. “We agreed over the replacement of the memory cards of the agency’s cameras,” Mohammad Eslami, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said.…

Zaahier Adams zaahier.adams@inl.co.za Mamelodi Sundowns (1) 2 Kekana 8, Shalulile 63 Kaizer Chiefs 0 CHAMPIONS Mamelodi Sundowns showed they will remain the team to beat in this season’s Premiership with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Kaizer Chiefs at Loftus yesterday. Sundowns may have endured a week where the harmony in their camp, and particularly the relationship of their three coaches was placed under scrutiny, but they remain a potent outfit when the serious business on the field gets underway. Chiefs may have opened up their cheque book and splurged on a whole new group of players, including former Sundowns talisman Keagan Dolly in a bid to unseat the four-time reigning champions, but it will take more than just money to get the better of the Brazilians. The much-anticipated…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za Sri Lanka 103 South Africa 105/1 SA win by nine wickets Another spin bowling masterclass from South Africa’s slow bowlers, saw the Proteas claim a series win against Sri Lanka yesterday that will provide some much-needed confidence ahead of the T20 World Cup. The spin bowling strategy is not one most rival cricket nations, nor many who follow the Proteas, would associate with them. But in addition to the fast bowling resources, in recent years a stock of spinners has been created and with the T20 World Cup expected to be played on worn, spin-friendly tracks in the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring states, Cricket SA and their high performance managers deserve some praise in creating that kind of depth. That has meant there is…

Pole sitter Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia of Ducati held off a spirited challenge from Honda’s Marc Marquez in an epic battle to win his first MotoGP race at the Aragon Grand Prix yesterday and move up to second in the championship standings. Marquez, who was seeking a sixth premier class victory at the track, started fourth on the grid but quickly moved up to second after turn one when he overtook Jack Miller to split the Ducatis. The former champion piled on the pressure in the chase and overtook Bagnaia seven times with three laps to go, but the Italian took the position right back by lunging on the inside each and every time before taking the chequered flag. “It’s a dream come true to get my first victory,” Bagnaia, the…