Louis Oelofse
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/ 13 January 2008

Mbeki appoints acting police commissioner

Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi has been granted an extended leave of absence, President Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday. Speaking at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, Mbeki said Selebi had requested the leave himself. This follows Friday’s revelations by the National Prosecuting Authority that it was ready to charge Selebi with corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

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/ 12 December 2007

SA troops cheered by parcels from home

Like children who cannot wait to open presents on Christmas Day, South African soldiers cheered loudly when a large cargo plane carrying goodwill parcels from home arrived in Burundi on Tuesday. When the cargo plane flew over the Modderfontein base in Africa’s Great Lakes region, they spontaneously started singing.

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/ 11 December 2007

Early Christmas for SA troops in DRC

Christmas came early on Monday for a group of South African soldiers deployed as part of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Father Christmas came in the guise of Lieutenant General Rinus van Rensburg, chief of defence corporate staff, and a host of other high ranking South African National Defence Force officers.

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/ 19 November 2007

Wouter Basson denies unprofessional conduct

While he might have been part of the apartheid government’s secret chemical and biological warfare programme, he did not act unprofessionally, Wouter Basson said on Monday. Basson pleaded not guilty to six charges brought against him at the Health Professions Council of South Africa. The charges relate to his time as head of the apartheid government’s chemical and biological warfare project.

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/ 8 November 2007

Stare into the eyes of Mrs Ples

Like the Mona Lisa, she has a strange allure; the almost sad eyes looking at you across 2,15-million years. A lifelike bust shows what one of South Africa’s most famous fossils, Mrs Ples, probably looked like. The bust, reconstructed by French artist Elisabeth Daynes, goes on display for the first time in Pretoria from Friday.

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/ 5 October 2007

Last miner emerges to smiles, cheers

The last miner among about 3 200 trapped two kilometres underground for over 30 hours at Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine near Carletonville was rescued on Thursday night. He was welcomed by Harmony chairperson Patrice Motsepe and by Minerals and Energy Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica.

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/ 22 September 2007

Lottery ticket in your pocket within two weeks

South Africans will be able to start buying lottery tickets in the next two weeks, newly appointed National Lottery operator Gidani said on Friday. To make the transition easier for lottery players, the games will initially remain the same, namely the Lotto, Lotto Plus, Wina Manja scratch-card games and the Sportstake games.

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/ 4 September 2007

SA submarine outwits Nato force

A lone South African submarine left some Nato commanders with red faces on Tuesday as it ”sank” all the ships of the Nato Maritime Group engaged in exercises with the South African Navy off the Cape coast. The SAS Manthatisi not only evaded detection by a joint Nato and South African Navy search party, it also ”sank” all the ships taking part in the fleet.