Pretoria — President Thabo Mbeki has sent South Africa's best wishes to the national soccer team Bafana Bafana, who departed for the MTN African Cup of Nations tournament on Saturday.

The President said he had confidence in Bafana Bafana's ability to bring the cup back home.

The MTN Africa Cup of Nations competition is hosted by Ghana from 20 January to 10 February, with the main sponsor being a South Africa-based cellphone service provider.

Mr Mbeki also called on the nation to support the national soccer team, to raise national pride ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted by South Africa.

Its not only soccer and entertainment that will be linked to the games as Ghana's Black Stars host the continent's top teams.

Through a series of public service announcements, popular players will help drive the message that quality education helps children, especially girls, to stay in school and gain the knowledge and confidence they need to pursue their dreams.

This is part of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) which will raise funds for quality education for Africa's children and help them stay at school.

Fans who subscribe to the MTN mobile phone service will be able to donate the local equivalent of $1 by sending an SMS text to a prescribed number.

All donations will stay in the country to benefit Ghanaian children.

"Playing football helped me to gain self-discipline, confidence, negotiation skills, teamwork and leadership.

"I am glad to learn UNICEF considers sport an important part of education," UNICEF Ghana Goodwill Ambassador and former star footballer Marcel Desailly said.

In addition to the SMS donation initiative, UNICEF and CAF have launched a special fundraising website that will also be publicised throughout the games.

Athletes like Ghanaian Stephen Appiah, Nigerian Nwankwo Kanu, Salomon Kalou of Côte d'Ivoire, South African Aaron Mokoena, Samuel Eto'o from Cameroon and Oumar Tchomogo from Benin are participating in the initiative.

Future more during the games, UNICEFand CAF will promote the achievement of two education-related Millennium Development Goals, namely: achieving universal primary school education and promoting gender equality and empowering women by 2015. - BuaNews-NNN

Busses to help stranded train commuters

REP By Edwin Tshivhidzo, tel: (012) 314-2454

Pretoria - Metrorail and the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality are to use bus services to help stranded train commuters in Mabopane and GaRankuwa, north of the capital.

A joint task team from Metrorail and the municipality is expected to meet on Tuesday to further discuss alternative modes of transport for the affected commuters.

They are also expected to discuss possible routes to be used by the shuttle services when transporting the commuters.

According to South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC) Chief Operations Officer Salani Sithole, the meeting is also expected to discuss how the affected commuters will be subsidised.

On Monday, the task team visited the affected train stations in Mabopane and GaRankuwa, assessing damage caused by vandals on the six trains torched by commuters.

The trains were torched by commuters after complaining of train delays on Friday.

As a result, Metrorail suspended train services in the area.

On Monday, hundreds of commuters were left stranded as there were no trains in the area.

Mr Sithole told BuaNews that Metro and private bus companies would be brought in to help stranded commuters.

According to Mr Sithole, the affected commuters will be transported from Mabopane/GaRankuwa stations to Pretoria North and from there they will be transported to town by trains.

"This is done to prevent traffic congestions on our roads. We will also be taking into account security issues for all our commuters, hence the Metro police and the South African Police Service (SAPS) will be requested to assist," Mr Sithole said.