THE multibillion-rand St Francis Bay marina along the Southern Cape coast, considered one of South Africa’s most prized pieces of real estate, is in danger of being engulfed by the ocean, but a feud between its wealthy residents is jeopardising plans to save it.

Convicted murderer Donovan Moodley claimed in the South Gauteng High Court on Wednesday (25/01/2012) that he was forced to confess to the murder of Leigh Matthews.

The Blue Bulls Rugby Union on Wednesday (24/01/2012) confirmed the SA Rugby Union’s intent to employ Blue Bulls executive Heyneke Meyer as the new Springbok coach.

CHILDREN living within 5km of a nuclear plant have nearly twice as much chance, compared to the average, of contracting leukaemia, a new international study has found.

IN a drastic bid to recoup on an over-expenditure of nearly R660- million, the embattled Eastern Cape Health Department has been ordered to stop the appointment of all new doctors in the province during the current financial year.

LIKENED to condom adverts, laughed off as being old-fashioned and called promiscuous, a DA Student Organisation poster showing a young mixed-race couple in a passionate clinch had tongues wagging across the country yesterday.

A shootout erupted between police and a gunman at the Bryanston Primary School’s parking lot on Tuesday (24/01/2012), Gauteng police said.

Security guards used pepper spray and batons to control crowds outside the Vaal University of Technology, SABC television news reported on Tuesday (24/01/2012).

ZULU King Goodwill Zwelithini is under fire for homophobic remarks he allegedly made during a commemoration speech at the weekend.

POLICE are investigating a case of theft after Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor Nancy Sihlwayi’s cellphone was stolen, allegedly by a colleague, and used to forward damning SMSes about the municipal manager debacle.

A VEIL of silence has been drawn over an appeal by political firebrand Julius Malema which got under way in Johannesburg yesterday.

NELSON Mandela Bay parents’ endless queueing at the Education Department’s district offices has paid off for some pupils who started school this week.

ABOUT a dozen spotted eagle owls have died of poisoning in the past six weeks in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, raptor expert Arnold Slabbert said yesterday (January 19, 2012). The shock news is linked to the continuing problem of secondary rat poisoning in food packing warehouses and in households, and the movement of young owls into new territories as they fledge from their parents’ nests.

A CARING security guard was the hero of the piece last week after his alert led to the rescue of a stricken owl, which he found trussed up with cable ties in a dirty toilet in North End. Mcedisi Tshetshane, 32, got the fright of his life and, he admitted, in line with his cultural beliefs, he spent the rest of the day fearing that bad luck was going to befall him.

Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik has distanced himself from an article in a Sunday newspaper in which he was quoted as saying that he wanted President Jacob Zuma to repay a R2 million loan.

FRESH from delivering a dull and widely criticised speech at the ANC’s centenary celebrations in Mangaung, Free State, earlier this month, President Jacob Zuma emerged guns blazing in East London at the weekend, giving his sternest warning yet that the time for troublemakers in the ANC was over.

THE latest Human Rights Watch World Report has slammed the ANC government for trying to curtail media freedom through the Protection of Information Bill.

THE ANC might be keeping mum on leadership succession, but with less than a year before a new leader is elected, some of its senior members and followers have already started debating leadership on social media.

THREE ANC councillors died instantly and others were seriously injured when the minibus taxi they were travelling in overturned on the R72 road in Alexandria at the weekend.

Married Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula - who last night celebrated his 40th birthday with a lavish party in Pretoria - is embroiled in a nasty spat with a former lover.

ALL eyes will be on Nelson Mandela Bay’s new acting municipal manager, Themba Hani, who, over the next three months, is expected to rid the city’s administration of undue political influence – something his predecessor, Elias Ntoba, failed to do.

HERALD reporter Brian Hayward explains in a nutshell the most controversial issues exposed in the 175-page forensic report.

TWO projects singled out by Local Government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane when he finally made public the Kabuso report yesterday are laid bare in secret letters to political bigwigs and confidential special investigations attached in the report’s annexures.

AFTER a turbulent fortnight in Nelson Mandela Bay politics, mayor Zanoxolo Wayile and his boss, Local Goverment MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane, came out guns blazing yesterday, vowing to clean up the rot which has pushed the city’s administration to the brink of collapse.

ANOTHER knife attack has occurred at Arlington Waste Disposal Site. The attack, which took place on Saturday afternoon, comes amid calls by the DA for an investigation into the chaotic state of the site and questionable swopping of contractors.

IT’S one of the iconic wild animals of the metro’s open spaces, but it’s not often seen – certainly not clambering onto the rocks right under your feet. But that was the experience of fishing buddies Gavin Curtis and Stuart Duckenfield who were trying their luck with light tackle and pilchards at Schoenies yesterday (August 10 2011).

SO HOW to communicate the complexity and magnitude of climate change to youngsters from a little school in Zwide? The kids, in grades six and seven at Mzimhlophe Primary School, were given the answer to this question during their visit to the SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre (Samrec) yesterday (August 03 2011).

THE Eastern Cape government has set aside R1.5-million to kick-start an expanded honeybush tea industry that could be ramped up to produce a turnover of R100-million a year and hundreds of new jobs. The good news follows on the results that have emerged from a study of the honeybush industry, commissioned by the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) on behalf of the provincial economic development and environmental affairs department.

NINETEEN stock-theft guards stationed on the top of the Drakensberg have been plucked to safety as heavy snow presses in on their lonely outposts. The guards are housed alone or in pairs in 10 shipping containers, at key points along the Lesotho border with the north-eastern Eastern Cape, in the Rhodes area.

ALGOA Bay is now “the best monitored bay in Africa” with millions of rands worth of equipment installed below the surface measuring a wide range of environmental conditions. That was the proud revelation yesterday (July 28 2011) from SA Environmental Observation Network (Saeon) co-ordinator Shaun Deyzel, who was speaking at a marine science symposium hosted by SA National Parks, at the Addo Elephant National Parks.

PORT Elizabeth based tourism group Mantis Collection has announced a bold expansion into West Africa with a landmark, multi-million US dollar deal signed in PE yesterday (July 25 2011) to roll out a sumptuous suite of boutique hotels in Nigeria. Mantis founder Adrian Gardiner signed the deal at Shamwari Townhouse in Summerstrand with highly respected Nigerian businessman Nze Chidi Duru, who is the chairman of Abuja-based Grand Towers Plc. The Nigerian company has interests in the pension, banking, retail, communications, IT and hospitality sectors.

BILLABONG Pro J-Bay is setting a benchmark for international surfing contests with a comprehensive programme to protect the local environment and combat global climate change.

A SMALL Karoo farmers’ association is so concerned about fracking, and damning new evidence out of the US, it is funding the R10000 bill demanded for a four-day oil and gas conference in Johannesburg, to allow one of its members to attend.

WITH the small waves prevailing yesterday (Sunday July 17 2011) for the Billabong Pro J-Bay, all surfing mojos are focused on the second week of the contest and the swell that, it is hoped, will still set things on fire. The man with un-paralleled expertise in this department is contest director Eric Stedman, 54, who has been scanning synoptic charts, fiddling with barometers and assessing wind direction since he was a grommit back in East London in the 1960s. It also helps that he began surfing Jeffreys Bay 43 years ago.

ALGOA Bay’s first boat-based boat-based whale-watching operation in a decade has been officially launched – and already some exciting sightings are being reported. Lloyd Edwards of Raggy Charters, the company awarded the boat-based whale watching (BBWW) license for Algoa Bay, said yesterday (July 14 2011) he spotted the cow and calf pair of southern right whales off Algorax earlier this week.

HOW many cities in the world can say they get their water from a World Heritage Site? Very few, I bet. Yet, that’s the case with Port Elizabeth and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and in fact the Gamtoos River Valley vege farmers.

THE latest edition of one of the great global surfing contests, built around an iconic right-hand point break, was launched in Jeffreys Bay last night (Wednesday July 14 2011).

THE biggest baddest pair from Bayworld’s de-commissioned aquarium, two bulky raggedtooth sharks, were released yesterday (July 26 2011) back into the sea. It was a sad day for the oceanarium, where they have lived for nearly two decades, inspiring awe in hundreds of thousands of visitors – but it is good news for the species, as the pair are now part of a research project aimed at securing our waters as one of the few safe havens in the world for raggies.