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/ 2 February 2007

Police deny plans to reduce white officers

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has denied that it intends reducing the number of white police officers. It was responding to reports of police plans to change the white-to-black ratio from one-to-five to one-to-10 in the next three years. ”Police top management outright rejects [the] rumours,” said Director Sally de Beer.

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/ 2 February 2007

Cachalia denies pledging to quit

Gauteng provincial minister for community safety Firoz Cachalia has denied pledging to quit if crime levels did not decline in a provincial police operation, dubbed Iron Fist. Cachalia said on Friday he was asked by a journalist at a press conference at the launch of the operation if he would consider resigning should crime not decrease.

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/ 2 February 2007

Els in the hunt in Dubai

Britain’s Ross Fisher maintained his unlikely surge in the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday, a second successive seven-under-par 65 securing a two-stroke lead at the end of a day interrupted by bad weather. Three-time champion Ernie Els was second on 12-under with four holes left when darkness fell. Earlier, play was halted for over two hours due to a thunderstorm at the Emirates Golf Club.

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/ 2 February 2007

DA calls for Hlophe probe to be reopened

Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s acceptance of payments from the Oasis asset management group raise serious questions about his suitability for leadership in the judiciary, Democratic Alliance (DA) justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer said on Friday. She also called for the Judicial Service Commission to reopen its investigation into Hlophe.

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/ 2 February 2007

Jury out on al-Qaeda presence in SA

The Dockrat cousins were leading a seemingly normal life in South Africa — one a cleric at a mosque, the other a dentist with a practice in Johannesburg. Then they popped up as suspects on Washington’s al-Qaeda radar screens and set off alarm bells from the United States to Pretoria about a country seldom associated with Osama bin Laden or radical Islam.

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/ 2 February 2007

DRC crackdown leaves scores dead

A bloody crackdown by security forces on members of a religious sect in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed at least 90 lives, medical and diplomatic sources said on Friday. A member of Monuc, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said the ”repression had been ”bloody”.

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/ 2 February 2007

Anxious times for white Zimbabwe farmers

Zimbabwe’s remaining white farmers were anxious on Friday ahead of a February 3 deadline for many to leave their farms, a farming official said. Many of the more than 400 whites still farming out of an original 4 500-strong community have been given until Saturday to vacate their farms to make way for new black farmers.

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/ 2 February 2007

Highlanders withstand Force for narrow win

The plucky Otago Highlanders clung to a one-point lead for the entire second half to upset the Western Force 8-7 in the Super 14 match at Subiaco Oval in Perth Friday. The Western Force were expected to be one of the big improvers in their second season in the competition, but they had no answer to the tough defence of the determined Highlanders.