Daily news update: Alcohol ban rumours anger, Cricket SA in trouble again

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Alcohol ban rumours has industry seeing red

Rumours of a potential restriction or ban on alcohol sales has the Liquor Traders Formation seeing red.

The rumours come on the back of the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) reportedly telling the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) to move the country to a higher lockdown alert level before the Easter holidays.

It is widely expected that the Easter break will facilitate another Covid-19 wave as people travel across the country and congregate in groups for social and religious gatherings.

In a scathing statement on Saturday, the Liquor Traders Formation convener, Lucky Ntimane, said the “talk of yet another ban by government is really a slap in the face of a sector that hasn’t recovered from the previous three bans”.

SA sending more staff to Mozambique Mission following attacks

During Wednesday’s attack, insurgents forced nearly 200 people including foreign gas workers to seek shelter at the Amarula Palma hotel in northern Mozambique. Picture: iStock.

The South African Government is sending additional staff to its Mission in Maputo to help locate, identify and respond to citizens in the country affected by insurgent attacks this week.

In a statement on Saturday, Department of International Relations and Cooperation spokesperson Clayson Monyela, said the Mission is working with the local authorities.

An insurgent attack took place on Wednesday in the Cabo Delgado province, situated near the Tanzanian border.

The Islamist militants have since seized control of the town of Palma, near a huge gas project involving French oil major Total and other international energy companies.

‘Discrimination’ bombshell rocks Cricket South Africa

In what could be the most damaging blow yet to Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) crumbling reputation, former England captain Karen Smithies has served the embattled organisation legal papers, alleging discrimination during last year’s interview process for the position of Proteas women’s team manager.

Smithies, who led England to the World Cup title in 1993, has been a highly-respected administrator and manager of the Titans team for the last 20 years and played a key role in the growth of the women’s game in this country in the early 2000s.

Smithies claims that CSA rejected her application to be Proteas women’s manager due to her being “bisexual or lesbian”.

Lotto and Lotto Plus results, Saturday, 27 March 2021

R34.6 million was up for grabs – are you a winner?

Acting director-general of State Security Agency replaced

Mercedes-AMG E63 S one sledge hammer of a sedan

Mercedes-AMG E63 S ready to pound Gerotek

Mercedes-AMG’s E63 S sledge hammer of a sedan has been given a little midlife nip and tuck in the styling department, while also receiving a few technical updates. These I will tell you about in a moment or two.

What hasn’t changed, and nor should it on a pukka AMG car, is the stonking 4.0-litre V8 running a pair of twin-scroll turbochargers. Power and torque remain unchanged at 450kW/850Nm. And what this translates into on the road I will cover in a bit more detail after the “boring” stuff is out the way.

Verstappen beats Hamilton to pole at season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for Sunday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix with a flawless final lap in a tense qualifying session on Saturday, beating defending champion Lewis Hamilton by three-tenths of a second.

The Dutchman grabbed the fourth pole position of his career for Red Bull with an emphatic demonstration of speed to deliver a front row start alongside seven-time champion Hamilton in his Mercedes.

Verstappen clocked a best lap in one minute and 28.997 seconds to outpace Hamilton by 0.338 seconds with Valtteri Bottas third in the second Mercedes.

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