T H A B O

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[Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs]

🇵🇹 Someone Finally Had the Balls

In my column last week, after watching him play against Wales, I once again asked why nobody in Portuguese football had the balls to tell Cristiano Ronaldo what was blindingly obvious to everyone else.

Apparently, Jorge Jesus did.

And Ronaldo's reaction has been predictably pathetic, narcissistic to his very core.

At 41 years old, one of the greatest footballers ever produced was left on the bench for a single international match. The manager decided the game didn't require him. Ronaldo was reportedly irritated, subsequently missed team training and has now left the Portugal camp after talks with the federation, promising that one day he will reveal "the truth".

The truth may be considerably less dramatic than Ronaldo imagines.

He's 41. His powers have hugely diminished. Portugal possess a magnificent generation of footballers. The manager has every right to decide that Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't need to play.

Portugal's mistake was allowing this nonsense to continue for so long.

They indulged him, accommodated him and massaged an already monumental ego, presumably hoping that age might eventually introduce some realism. Perhaps Ronaldo would recognise the moment himself, bow out gracefully and allow Portuguese football to move forward without forcing anybody to push its greatest player through the exit door.

They badly misjudged him.

The same ferocious self belief that helped create the footballer has seemingly left the man incapable of accepting what every athlete eventually must.

Father Time doesn't negotiate. He doesn't care about your medals, your records, your Instagram followers or your private jet.

Someone finally had the balls to treat Cristiano Ronaldo like another member of the squad.

So Ronaldo took his ball and went home like an unhappy child at the play park.

Pathetic.

[ÈLLIØT @ELLIOTTTTFC]

🚨EXCL: Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus finally responds to Ronaldo’s statement… and he did NOT hold back. 😳🇵🇹

🗣️Jorge Jesus: “I read Cristiano’s statement yesterday and my first reaction was simple: he should never have said those things publicly.

“When a player starts believing his name gives him the right to question every decision, you have a problem.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is a legend of Portugal, but legends are remembered for what they have done

“they are not guaranteed minutes because of their past.

“I cannot select a player because of his reputation while ignoring what he gives us on the pitch today.

“People keep asking why he has been dropped and benched.

“The answer is football. At this moment, I have players who can offer more intensity, more movement and more balance to this team.

“If Ronaldo cannot accept that, then that is his problem, not mine.

“Portugal does not belong to Cristiano Ronaldo.

“It belongs to the Portuguese people. No player is bigger than the national team, and I will never sacrifice the team just to keep one superstar happy.

“If Cristiano thinks Portugal cannot function without him, then he needs to understand something: we are building a team, not a monument to one player.”

[Sir Rantsho @Rantsho_black]

@thamieverywhere Modern adaptation of a pre-existing thing. It was just fire before candles, candles are for convenience.

Same with alcohol, it was traditional beer then people started using bottles, modern adaptation but the core thing remains

[Pule Letshwiti-Jones @pule_jones]

NOW:

[SAPS EXPLAINS GESTURES SEEN ON VIDEO]

The man wearing the blue suit is a member of the South African Police Service and forms part of the Combat Team of the Commission’s Recommendations Task Team (CRTT).

The gestures seen in the video were operational in nature. They were intended to communicate to the investigating officer that the protectors assigned to the prosecutors and investigators should take up their positions and remain on standby to facilitate the immediate departure from court after the announcement of the postponement of the bail proceedings.

The interaction therefore related to the coordination and positioning of SAPS personnel following the court proceedings. It was not intended to convey a threat, or an instruction to interfere with court proceedings.

SAPS acknowledges that, when viewed in isolation, the gestures may understandably have caused concern or been open to misinterpretation. It is for this reason that SAPS considers it important to provide the necessary context and clarify the operational circumstances surrounding the interaction.

The officer has been reminded of the importance of exercising caution when using non-verbal communication, particularly in sensitive public and court environments where gestures may easily be misunderstood or interpreted out of context.

@eNCA

[Nathan @_Innocuous_taps]

😂😂😂🤷🏾‍♂️

[EyaseLangeni 🌸 @_KaMgabhi]

See? You are projecting again. I’ve been a breadwinner at home since my first year of articles. I was earning less than R5k. Then tell me-ke Emmanuel where was the surplus to buy the financial calculator & standards? Bhadlani guys

[Motlatso @MotlatsoRa25622]

@mandanda45666 We had a waste treatment plant project that never saw the light of day because the powers that be wanted a 60% stake through a consortium. A project that would have had 5000 employees. Fed 5000 families. Till today, I hate the ANC cadres. Mxm

[Gudlumdzimba Dlamini @mandanda45666]

This is nothing maan. I had a gun placed on my head when I finished renovating the SASSA offices in Soshaguve. I was told to futsek from Pretoria. My Company (Tibiyo Investment Properties) went under immediately after that incident.

Bantfu labamnyama banenhlitiyo lembi.

[mr. betway boomer @mrbetwayboomer]

Over 0.5 team goals total. 138+ odds🤑🔥

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[Ochuko @DavidAmhewroro]

it is an unwritten rule of life that after every prolonged period of hardship and uncertainty, there is going to be a period when you are going to achieve quantum leaps across multiple areas of your life. the only requirement is that you do not give up on yourself.

[Evans Mohale. @Mohale_Evans]

Straight Wins International ✅🔥
Booking Code 👉 BW75085A71

[Boogie Harry__ / King Of Love And Foreplay @BoogieHarrySA]

When you realize how fast people get replaced, you will learn to value yourself before anyone and anything. 📌

[Null @Vhoyde]

Sometimes I wonder what happened to that KPMG rapture girl

[Boogie Harry__ / King Of Love And Foreplay @BoogieHarrySA]

The fight was against men not crime

[BET-WAY BOOMS @TheChildProTips]

296 odds

Team over 1.5

Betway code - BW75053885

Good luck

[BET-WAY BOOMS @TheChildProTips]

305 odds

Super straight wins

Betway code - BW75050A31

Good luck

[Chymamusique @Chymamusique]

Don’t be afraid of spending money for fun. Be afraid of getting old & realising that the only place you went to was work.

[sobho @SoupLorrd]

Bro to bro: learn to be comfortable with disappointment women as soon as possible.

Then double down on your standards, someone out there is willing to love you unconditionally, no matter how unorthodox you may be.

Don’t let social media pressure you into being a validation starved simp.

[Adudu @iamadudu]

Study the men who stopped drinking, stopped smoking, stopped chasing, and stopped explaining themselves. Their real addiction was never alcohol, women, or attention. It was noise the constant need to escape their own thoughts. Once a man learns to sit with himself in silence, his whole life begins to change.

[Khangisa (Prof. ) @Siyakhangisa]

Two taxi bosses. Two separate objections. Both trying to keep their phones out of the Madlanga Commission's evidence.

Joe Ferrari objected first. Sindane followed — but he did something different. He went to the High Court.

Let me walk through what this move actually means.

​​1. The application is strategic, not just legal.​​

Sindane is asking the High Court to stop the commission from using material extracted from his seized cellphone. That is not a routine objection. This is a collateral application — one court being asked to restrain a judicial commission.

If it succeeds, it does more than protect his phone. It protects Joe Ferrari's phone too. Because the same legal principle applies to both.

Sindane is not just defending himself. He is testing a boundary that, if crossed, redraws the rules for every witness whose device was seized in a criminal investigation.

​​2. The WhatsApp messages are the problem.​​

Sibanyoni and Sindane exchanged messages referencing "izinkabi." Sibanyoni told the commission the word can mean contract killers or taxi-rank security — it depends on context. He was asking whether Sindane knew two named individuals. He denied commissioning hits.

The ambiguity is the defense. "I was not hiring killers. I was asking about rank security."

But the commission has the full message chain. Context is not determined by the speaker's explanation. It is determined by what the messages say, when they were sent, and what happened after.

​​3. The privacy argument has teeth.​​

Sibanyoni called the use of seized phone data an "absolute abuse and open-ended violation" of his privacy and constitutional rights. He reserved the right to bring an urgent court application. Sindane has now done exactly that.

Here is why the argument works: the phones were seized as part of a criminal investigation — the Kwaggafontein extortion case. They were not seized by the commission. The commission is using data collected for a different purpose.

That raises a real question about process. Can evidence gathered for a criminal trial be used in a commission of inquiry without separate authorization? Or does that violate the accused's right against self-incrimination?

​​4. But the commission has its own logic.​​

The Madlanga Commission is examining criminal infiltration of the justice system. Taxi-industry violence. Links between operators and police officers. The phone data is directly relevant to that inquiry.

If the commission cannot use material that was lawfully seized in a criminal investigation, it loses a significant portion of its evidence. Every accused person becomes immune to commission testimony simply by virtue of being accused.

That is not what commissions are for.

​​5. The timing is revealing.​​

Sindane was due to appear on 23 September. His lawyers sought a postponement, citing overlapping commitments at the Khampepe Commission. The application was set to be heard at 09:30 — with Sindane required to attend regardless.

Delay is a tactic. Every day without testimony is a day the evidence stays untested. The commission is due to wrap public evidence in early October — roughly two weeks away. If Sindane's appearance gets pushed beyond that window, his testimony may never happen in public at all.

​​6. The bigger picture.​​

Two co-accused in the same extortion case. Facing the same commission. Both objecting to the same evidence. One reserving the right to court. The other actually filing.

This is not coincidence. This is coordinated legal strategy.

If the High Court rules in Sindane's favor, the commission loses access to the phone data — not just for Sindane, but potentially for Sibanyoni too. The "izinkabi" messages may never be aired publicly.

If the court rules against him, the commission proceeds — and the messages enter the record.

Sibanyoni said the word can mean two things.

The court will decide which meaning the evidence supports.