September 12, 2005

By David Tremayne

Spa-Francorchamps - Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher don't have much in common but after title challengers Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso finished first and second in the Belgian GP each lambasted the driver who had ruined their race.

Montoya had greater cause to feel aggrieved. The Colombian had done everything he could to assist Raikkonen's title campaign, subtly surrendering the lead to the Finn after 32 laps without anyone being able to level accusations of team orders at McLaren-Mercedes.

Second place would have put McLaren ahead of Renault in the Constructors' championship and helped Raikkonen to take four points off Alonso but, on the 41st lap, Montoya and Williams-BMW driver Antonio Pizzonia - who had just changed to dry-weather tyres – collided
Second place would have put McLaren ahead of Renault in the Constructors' championship
.

Ironically, almost everyone else who had gone that route at various stages of a tricky race had found themselves going backwards - sometimes literally. Now, when at last dry tyres were the thing to have, Pizzonia mistakenly thought Montoya had waved him through.

"It's always tough to retire from a race but it's even harder when it's caused by matters out of your team's control," Montoya said. "My disappointment is even greater because, as a team, we were doing a great job."

Michael Schumacher was taken out in the hairpin on lap 14 when the hapless Takuma Sato went into the back of his Ferrari.

"We have often experienced hara-kiri reactions from him in the past and this was another," Schumacher growled
'We have often experienced hari-kari reactions from him in the past and this was another' - Schumacher
. "We have talked to him about it in the past. I don't know what sort of therapy might help him."

Schumacher remonstrated with the Japanese driver after climbing from his broken Ferrari and said later, when asked how long it might take for his ire to abate: "No idea."

Raikkonen, however, was as happy as he ever gets. "I claimed the lead after the second stop as I could stay out longer than Juan Pablo and that was it. However, there are mixed emotions as we should have had a one-two today."

At Renault there were mixed emotions, too. Alonso was happy with another strong finish:

"It was a hard race for everybody, with really difficult conditions, but we knew we had a competitive car and that we didn't need to take any big risks," he said.

"Sometimes these races can bring some big surprises, so I am pleased to have come away with a normal result, exactly what I needed. I didn't make any mistakes - then I saw Montoya's accident and it was nice to have some more help from McLaren."

However, his team mate Giancarlo Fisichella influenced the race significantly by crashing on lap 11, which brought out the safety car after. That triggered a mass pit stop. McLaren cleverly radioed Raikkonen to slow right down to delay everybody and give them time to service Montoya so both could stop on the same lap.

By the time Raikkonen arrived in the pits, followed by everyone else, Montoya had long gone.

Third place was a surprise for Jenson Button, who had lost time after trying dry-weather tyres on lap 11 and then having to re-pit to revert to intermediates.

"The first stint wasn't easy and I had such bad oversteer I barely had to turn into the corners" he admitted, but his move passing Jacques Villeneuve round the outside at the Pouhon corner on lap 25 lap was one of the day's highlights. - The Independent, London

COLOGNE - South Africa's Retief Goosen claimed his second victory in a week at the three-million-euro German Masters on Sunday. The 36-year-old, who won the China Masters in Beijing last week, finished on 20 under par after a final round five-under 67. One shot behind were English duo Nick Dougherty and David Lynn, Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal and Swede Henrik Stenson.

The South African survived a late scare when he held a two-shot lead playing the 18th but drove into the water to the left of the fairway and missed from four feet to save his par after a superb recovery. Overnight joint-leaders Dougherty and Stenson needed to birdie the last to force a play-off but were unable to take advantage of Goosen's slip-up. David Howell was a shot further back in sixth after a 66, one ahead of Ryder Cup team-mate Paul Casey who also carded a 66. Goosen began the day sharing the lead on 15 under par but soon met trouble on the par four second. After driving into trees and taking a penalty drop, three putts gave him a double bogey six.

He birdied the 10th to draw level with Wall and another birdie on the 12th took him into the lead for the first time.

The leading pair traded birdies on the 13th and 15th before Wall bogeyed the 16th, the first of three dropped shots in a row, giving Goosen a two-shot cushion, which he would need.

"As soon as I hit it the drive on 18 I knew it was in the drink," said Goosen. "I've struggled all week trying to hit that fairway, and struggled with my driving, but I managed to drop it in a good place and hit a solid nine iron in.

"I just hit the putt too hard. It was a little bit of an unfortunate finish and lucky we got away with it."

The victory, his 12th European Tour title, and the 500,000 euros first prize takes two-time US Open champion Goosen to the top of the 2005 Order of Merit, and into pole position for a third money list title.

"I'm definitely going to try," added Goosen, who won it in 2001 and 2002 and finished fourth behind Ernie Els last year.

"Next week with the World Match Play - the first prize at Wentworth is one million pounds - is very important and so is the American Express championship in San Francisco.

"If you can do well there you can pretty much win the Order of Merit."

The minister of communications has finally approved the bid by Indian Telecoms group VSNL for an equity stake in the second national operator on Saturday -- meaning nothing now lies in the way of licensing a rival to Telkom.

Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri announced the decision on Saturday, saying a licence for the second national operator (SNO) should be issued "at the earliest opportunity".

"The stakeholders must (now) finalise the shareholder agreements and business plan as a matter of urgency," she said in a statement.

VSNL is part of the TATA Group, which already has business interests in South Africa.

It was allocated the 26% equity stake in the second national operator after a long, drawn-out and strife-ridden bidding process that saw one shareholder, Nexus, threaten a judicial review.

Matsepe-Casaburri said on Saturday she was satisfied that VSNL had complied with all criteria required of the equity partner in the SNO by law.

She said it was "an extremely important venture in the managed liberalisation process of the Telecommunication sector," and she wished VSNL well.

The TATA-group is one of India's business giants, with international interests in sectors ranging from communications to motor vehicles.

Analysts believe its long experience in telecommunications will benefit the future SNO.

The licensing of a second national operator has been awaited impatiently by the private sector, which is hoping that competition will result in cheaper rates.

Business Day reported research showing that the top 350 spenders in the country spent an average of R1,7-million a month on voice and data services over the fixed-line and cellular networks available.

Other shareholders in the SNO include Nexus (19%) and Eskom's Esitel and Transnet's Transtel (15% each).

In President Thabo MbekiÂ’s State of the Nation Address he issued a stern warning that the cost of calls in South Africa were unacceptably high.

"Bold steps have been taken further to liberalise the telecommunications industry. We believe that the unacceptable situation in which some of our fixed-line rates are 10 times those of developed countries will soon become a thing of the past," said Mbeki.

"We also hope that the delays in setting up the second national operator (SNO), arising from legal processes which are beyond the government's control, will be resolved in due course, and as soon as possible." - Sapa

As the wage gap between chief executives and their tea ladies widens, a series of costly strikes across South Africa has raised the debate about lucrative packages for executives.

Workers from municipalities, retail giants and airlines rebelled en masse in 2005, holding strikes that cost the economy hundreds of millions of rands.

But the strikes were often more about lucrative executive pay packages than poor wage increases, with unions demanding their cut of the profits they say they have worked hard to make.

Solidarity general secretary Flip Buys says his union believes top management and shareholders are entitled to a fair share on a return on their investments.

"But we also believe our members should be given their share of the growing prosperity that results from their labours."

Buys says Solidarity does not favour strikes and less than one percent of pay negotiations result in industrial action. But companies are sometimes unreasonable and offer only three percent increases while posting large profits -- with management claiming 20% more for itself.

He says many companies waste time and money with poor negotiating tactics.

"Some companies are astounded when we arrive at the negotiation table with incisive analyses of their financial statements," he says.

"Instead of tabling a fair offer during negotiations they try to get away with murder, tabling a fair offer only once a strike has been declared."

The turmoil in the ranks of the workers has prompted the question: will a share in the company reduce strife and improve productivity? Views vary.

A recent study of 1 500 US companies from 1992 to 2002 by the Rutgers University School of Management and Labour Relations, found companies that provided options to all employees outperformed those that gave options to executives only.

Could the same be true of South Africa?

It has been estimated that if all Pick 'n Pay union related funds were combined, their holding in the company would be about 28 percent.

Andre Venter, a manager at the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) union says that shareholding in a company might initially be met with enthusiasm and commitment but somewhere along the line unpopular management decisions would have to be made.

"Tough management decisions are likely to impact negatively on the workers and that would be the beginning of the end," he says.

"There is a concern that workers would feel betrayed by their former colleagues who would now be part of management. Executive directors in a company will always be the more powerful in decision making -- even in the presence of worker directors."

There is also a belief that in a country such as South Africa where many workers do not earn much, the incentive to sell their shares for cash would be great.

Venter believers that for strikes to be avoided in future, unions and management have to increase their level of debate.

"Negotiations nowadays are characterised by a quick and dirty firing of opening shots and reaching deadlock when negotiation positions are still poles apart instead of trying to explore ways of means of finding solutions and areas of settlement," he says.

"Strikes can be avoided if skilled negotiators are properly prepared and mandated to engage with a view to reaching agreement on realistic grounds."

SAB Miller employee relations manager Kobus Burger says his company has had a stable relationship with its 4 500 local employees who have not gone on strike since 1997.

"We don't have share options or schemes or fancy stuff like that," he says.

"There are very clear procedures both sides follow and both sides respect these. Both sides avoid petty and personal stuff. We talk a lot. Both parties agree where the general settlement lies."

PE Corporate Services, a company which does an annual survey on salaries at round 900 companies, has found that the wage gap between top corporate executives and lower level employees in South Africa is at its widest in more than a decade.

Managing director Martin Westcott says 10 to 12 years ago a chief executive at an intermediate sized company was earning 38 times more than the lowest paid worker. Today that chief executive is earning more than 50 times more.

"This seems to confirm that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer," he says.

In South Africa top executive salaries are now made public, a factor which has inflamed worker demands.

While workers are often criticised for being unproductive, it is difficult to measure the productivity of executives other than to look at results and share prices.

"If you assess the performance of companies by looking at their results over the past few years, then yes, you could say our executives are productive," he says.

"South African managers are well trained and have a good work ethic and, yes, they are well paid."

A factor that has impacted on the ever-widening wage gap is the public disclosure of remuneration. This means, he says, that boards involved in setting pay levels for top teams are having to look carefully at their competitor companies. They don't want their executives to earn less than in other companies.

Globalisation, too, has had a substantial impact. South African executives are more mobile these days and their skills are in demand worldwide.

"There is a great deal of movement and pay is equalising round the world," he says.

Westcott believes that if South Africa wants to stick to its strategy of growing the economy to six percent, it has to attract top talent.

"We are striving for a six percent growth rate," he says. "We really need that top talent in the country and we are going to have to pay the price." - Sapa

Zimbabwe would have paid off most of its debts by the time the International Monetary Fund revisits the country in six months, Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, Herbert Murerwa said on Saturday.

Murerwa said that the global lender on Friday allowed Zimbabwe a six-month reprieve before deciding whether would or not it would cancel its membership over unpaid debt.

The decision was taken at a meeting in Washington, by the IMF's executive board.

The board said the six month period would also give Zimbabwe a chance to implement sound economic policies and cut down on its arrears.

Zimbabwe had been threatened with expulsion from the IMF over hefty arrears of around $175-million.

In a suprise move last week, the country paid $120-million to the IMF in an attempt to stave off expulsion. However, it still owes $175-million.

"I am happy Zimbabwe has been given another lifeline. We will look at ways in the next few months to cut down on more of our debts and patch up our relationship with the IMF," Murerwa said.

"The IMF has applied its mind. We have improved economically and will continue to do so."

Murerwa said Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono had convinced the Fund that expelling Zimbabwe would not be in the "best interest of its people".

He also said they were looking forward to the proposed loan South Africa has, in principal, agreed to give Zimbabwe.

"South Africa is a very good friend to Zimbabwe. I am sure it will give Zimbabwe some money.

"I'm (also) confident an agreement will be signed soon," the Minister said.

He said while his country still had "many hurdles to overcome", it would emerge triumphantly "as it always had". - Sapa

If the 2004 Tri-Nations will be remembered for Jake WhiteÂ’s miraculous revivification of the Springboks, what of its 2005 counterpart? From a parochial perspective, South Africa can hold their heads high despite a second-place finish, but from an international perspective the 2005 tournament will be remembered for the implosion of Australia.

The Wallabies lost all their games and most of their admirers along the way. It was not entirely their own fault, for coach Eddie Jones had to endure an injury list that grew weekly with the inevitability of lemmings approaching a cliff-top rendezvous.

It exposed the soft underbelly of Australian rugby and must be of great concern to the members of the Sanzar management committee who so easily confirmed the two extra sides needed for the Super 14 next year.

It also proves that what goes around comes around. There were plenty of cynical Australian commentators who questioned the validity of the Tri-Nations during the long dark teatime of the Springbok soul prior to WhiteÂ’s Lazarus act. Now those same commentators will be looking forward to next season, when the competition expands from six games to nine, with the same relish that turkeys look forward to Christmas.

This time last year White was able to put his feet up for two months and bathe in the plaudits heaped upon him. Given that his team won three games to last yearÂ’s two, he might be expected to do likewise this time around, but that is not the way of South African rugby. For the first time in seven years, the national side has a settled, impressive look to it, yet one level down the game is in turmoil.

If WhiteÂ’s coaching tenure has proven one thing, it is that the health or otherwise of the national side has absolutely nothing to do with what lies beneath it. The management of the South African Rugby Union (Saru) lurches from one crisis to another and provincial rugby limps along in front of dwindling crowds, yet the Springboks prosper because the coach knows what, and more importantly who, he wants.

The presidents of the provincial unions may not know who they want, but most have now decided that they know who they donÂ’t want: Brian van Rooyen. By the time you read this, Van Rooyen may already have been kicked out of office, but if his troubled reign has been consistent for anything, it is his uncanny ability to face down his detractors.

The last crisis meeting Van Rooyen attended ended with a vote of confidence in the president and itÂ’s not impossible that this one will pan out in similar fashion. There are two principle problems. One is that the presidency of Saru is allowed to carry far too much power. The other is that there is no structure in place for succession planning.

The first problem is difficult to do anything about, for it is the legacy of the reign of Danie Craven. Under Craven, the provincial presidents got used to not having to make important decisions. When Craven died and Ebrahim Patel took over the presidency, the provincial presidents were suddenly forced to think for themselves and they didnÂ’t like it.

That allowed another dictatorial figure to make his move and under the presidency of Louis Luyt South African rugby became strong again. LuytÂ’s successor was Silas Nkanunu, like Patel a political appointment. Nkanunu was weak and so power shifted one step to the left in the form of CEO Rian Oberholzer.

In many ways, that reflected a global shift in the management of the game, where most unions had a president as a figurehead, but devolved responsibility for the running of the game to a management team headed by a CEO. OberholzerÂ’s hands-on style won him many friends in other countries, but gradually alienated him from his South African constituency.

The stick used to beat Oberholzer was the appalling state of the national side, humiliated on and off the field under coach Rudolf Straeuli. Here the absence of an internal succession plan allowed a virtual unknown to campaign for and win the presidency. Van Rooyen was elected essentially because he made himself available and now that the provincial presidents have fallen out of love with him they have the same problem as before: WhoÂ’s next?

Because Saru has no succession plan in place, it is open to exactly the same manipulation of its constituents as last time. Fear of government intervention means that Van RooyenÂ’s successor (whenever he manifests himself) cannot but be a political appointment and it is therefore almost imperative that he is not white.
It so happens that there are plenty of non-white provincial presidents among the 14 unions: the question is whether any of them is prepared to do what Van Rooyen did and travel the country canvassing for votes. If the answer to that question is no, then Saru will inevitably get the new president it deserves.

The unpalatable truth may be that the management of Saru will always be run along the lines of an Alfred Jarry farce just as long as the strength of the game in this country is judged purely by the performance of the national team.

Through no fault of Saru this country produces great new players every year. One of those players died this week at the age of 26. Spare a thought for “Twinkle Toes” Ettienne Botha, who died on Wednesday morning exactly as he lived his rugby life, in the fast lane.

The president of the South African Rugby Union (Saru), Brian van Rooyen, survived an eight-hour president's council meeting on Friday, and remains at the helm of rugby in South Africa.

Van Rooyen said after the meeting, which was attended by Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile and his deputy, Gert Oosthuizen, that his position was been discussed and there was no vote of no confidence.

"We came here to discuss matters of rugby," said Van Rooyen. "I'm a bit concerned that every time there's a president's council meeting, my position as president of South African rugby is called into question."

Van Rooyen confirmed the announcement by Oosthuizen that the council agreed unanimously to accept the recommendations of the Brandt-Heunis report on the affairs of rugby, and to implement those recommendations immediately.

Any person with complaints or comments to make regarding the administration of rugby should do so in writing to Adri Brandt, of the law firm De Klerk and Van Gent, within the next 14 days.

Oosthuizen said that once these have been received, an independent investigation into the affairs of rugby will be implemented, Van Rooyen said he hopes these measures will put an end to the constant bickering within rugby.

He also announced that the management committee is to be enlarged, with Tobie Titus and Jannie Ferreira representing the larger unions, and Monwabisi Yaku and James Stofberg representing the smaller unions.

Earlier on Friday, the sports minister said he had told Saru to get its house in order, or the government would step in.

He said he had told Saru that it must restore the integrity of rugby, and put an end to the emotional upheaval in the sport in South Africa.

"This is the ninth time that the government has had to intervene in the affairs of rugby," he said. "I hope this is the last time. As far as there are allegations of misdemeanours, they must take responsible and appropriate decisions. If they can't do that, then the government must take over. Sport is a national asset, and must be protected as such.

"This all affects our integrity. We have applied to host the Rugby World Cup in 2011, and we must be able to reassure the international rugby community that South Africa is capable of doing things right."

It is not clear how long Van Rooyen can survive as president of Saru. The Brandt-Heunis report found him and Saru guilty of poor corporate management, and several unions indicated before Friday's meeting that they would call for his resignation. -- Sapa

Centre Jean de Villiers scored a hat trick of tries as Western Province annihilated the Sharks 47-19 in their Currie Cup clash at Newlands on Saturday.

The Springbok star's elusive running combined with the crash-tackling of De Wet Barry and slick passing of flyhalf Peter Grant were the key elements in setting up the victory.

De Villiers scored his three tries in a devastating first-half spell. After Grant and Sharks fullback Percy Montgomery had twice exchanged penalties, the game came alive in the 20th minute as De Villiers ran in for his first try off the third phase from a rolling maul.

His second came from a brilliant backline move. Barry ran a superb decoy and De Villiers took a brilliant pass from Grant to finish under the posts.

Grant and De Villiers combined in a similar manner in the 36th minute and WP were 27-12 up by half-time, with the Sharks only having managed four Montgomery penalties.

The bonus point was notched two minutes after the break. Fullback Werner Greeff found Barry with a reverse pass and after a strong surge the outstanding inside centre off-loaded to flank Joe van Niekerk, who touched down.

Grant converted for a fourth time and at 34-12 up there was no way WP were going to let it slip.

In fact, they increased their lead shortly afterwards as Grant slotted another penalty. Province continued to pile on the pressure and Grant added another penalty in the 66th minute that increased the lead to 40-12.

The desperate Sharks threw everything into the attack and eventually exploited a mistake by the home side to score a consolation try through pacy wing Henno Mentz.

Dick Muir's side continued to press in the hope of giving the scoreline some respectability, but a counter-attack from WP's 22-metre area ended with the previous week's hat-trick hero, Zhahier Ryland, finishing under the Sharks' posts. Grant's conversion made it 47-19.

Apart from being outplayed in all areas by WP, the Sharks were also their own worst enemies, with scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar, replacement loose forward Warren Britz and centre Adrian Jacobs all sin-binned.

Granted Jacobs's yellow card was late in the day, but it was nevertheless indicative of a lack of discipline by the Sharks.

Province's replacement hooker Hanyani Shimange also got his marching orders in the second half, but there may well be a citing as a WP player was stamped in the face at the ruck where the incident occurred.

The excellent victory follows the previous week's impressive performance against the Lions and WP's Premier Division campaign now appears well on track after poor performances against Boland and the Blue Bulls.

As for the Sharks, they have a lot of work ahead, with this the second disappointing performance in a row.

They named a side with Ruan Pienaar at flyhalf, only to start with Brent Russell. However, Barry was an intimidating presence in the midfield for WP and the Sharks seldom looked as if they were going to get to grips with the physical threat.

De Villiers was predictably named man of the match, but he'll be the first to acknowledge that this was a terrific team effort and he owed a lot to the men on either side of him..

Scorers:

Province: Tries: Centre Jean de Villiers(3), flank Joe van Niekerk, wing Zhahier Ryland. Conversions: Flyhalf Peter Grant (5). Penalties: Grant (4).

Sharks: Try: Left wing Henno Mentz. Conversion: Fullback Percy Montgomery. Penalties: Montgomery (4). – Sapa

Did anybody watch this last night?

Agassi played some really good tennis, but Federer just blew him away, this boy is reaching new heights all the time.

Ek het vir manlief belowe dat ek vanaand vir hom frikadelle sal maak met 'n rooiwyn en stock sous maar nou wonder ek net wat ek daarby moet maak. Ek is al so verveeld met rys en mash. Ek dink ook nie eintlik frikkadelle sal heeltemal saam met pap gaan nie - veral nie my pap nie want ek sukkel maar lekker - dit kom altyd uit so iets tussen krummelpap en slap pap - nie vreeslik aptytwekkend nie.

Groente word natuurlik nie op sy bord toegelaat nie so ek sal maar so skelm skelm vir my brussel sprouts stirfry met 'n stukkie bacon en bietjie chilli!!! Sjoe ek het amper op my rug geval oor hoeveel brussel sprouts hier in Suid AFrika kos - dit is amper 'n luukse!

Laat ek gaan kook!