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/ 20 October 2006
On Friday, Car-Free Day, it took officials of the Gauteng department of transport and public works 16 minutes on a minibus taxi to get from Soweto to Park Station in central Johannesburg — a trip that usually takes Sowetan commuters 30 to 45 minutes. However, private schools in Gauteng broke up for mid-term holidays on Thursday.
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/ 18 October 2006
In 2001, the Jali Commission started its inquiry into alleged incidents of corruption, maladministration, violence and intimidation in the Department of Correctional Services. It is now 2006 and the report of commission, named after Thabane Jali, the chairperson of the commission, has been publicised.
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/ 15 October 2006
In contrast to the United States government’s criminalisation of online gambling, the South African government is legalising the industry in an attempt to regulate and control it. Online gambling — said to be worth millions — is currently illegal in South Africa, but the Department of Trade and Industry has given a draft amendment Bill (which will allow for the licensing of online casinos in South Africa) to the Cabinet for approval.
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/ 11 October 2006
A new keyboard has been developed that will allow typing in all 11 official languages in South Africa, said Dwayne Bailey this week, director of <i><a href="http://www.translate.org.za/" target="_blank" class="standardtext">translate.org.za</a></i>, a non-governmental organisation focused on the localisation of open-source software into all 11 official languages. The keyboard will allow a person to type all characters needed by the Venda, Northern Sotho, Tswana and Afrikaans languages.
There is hardly any light in the house at 11am. Pieces of cardboard patch broken windows, there are plates and cups piled high in the sink and a thick layer of dust covers the floral pattern of the main bedroom’s duvet. "We use [our parents’ bedroom] to keep stuff in … no one sleeps there anymore," says Thando*, twin sister of Thabo*, who at 14 is an orphan and the head of her household in the dusty township of Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.
A plague of rats that is haunting the east of Johannesburg is being combated by the Ekurhuleni department of health and environment. Between April 2004 and September 2005 more than 75 000 rats, some weighing up to half a kilogram, have been captured and killed. Director Jerry Chaka on Thursday said this was part of their holistic approach to dealing with the problem.
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/ 20 September 2006
Hundreds of people from the Landless People’s Movement and the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) gathered in central Johannesburg on Wednesday to protest against the slow delivery of services to the poor and the destitute. About 1 600 people were expected to take part in the march to the Department of Home Affairs.
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/ 19 September 2006
The halls of Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Johannesburg, were on Tuesday packed with delegates from different workers’ unions, thrashing out issues on HIV/Aids and unemployment. Delegates at the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) national congress discussed among themselves the HIV/Aids issue that was encouraged by the speech of president of Cosatu, Willie Madisha.
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/ 14 September 2006
While the bitter taste of antiretrovirals may cause some young children to vomit, the lingering taste helps 11-year old Thumi* remember to take her medicine. Thumi will have to take four tablets, twice a day, for the rest of her life. "She was very sick. She had swollen glands, chronic diarrhoea and she was very thin … Now she’s like any child," says Thumi’s mother, Khetiwe Nkosi.
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/ 8 September 2006
An application available for free download to your cellphone called MXit is making communication via cellphones fast, accessible and dirt cheap. Instant messaging service MXit cuts the cost of an SMS, priced at up to 80c to send a one-word message such as “hello”, by 100 000 times to just 0,0008c.