Louis Oelofse
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/ 7 February 2007

China to encourage investment in SA

China will use its Africa Fund to encourage Chinese companies to invest in South Africa, President Hu Jintao told President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria on Tuesday. "We discussed this matter and looked at steps that must be taken to further intensify that cooperation in all areas — trade, investment, human resource development, technology transfers," Mbeki said.

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/ 26 January 2007

Farmer unions walk out of meeting with minister

The two unions representing most of the country’s commercial farmers said they hope President Thabo Mbeki will intervene in a dispute between them and Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana. AgriSA and TAU SA walked out of a meeting with Xingwana on Friday where they wanted to discuss tensions between them and her.

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/ 24 January 2007

Deportation of SA citizens has govt concerned

South Africa has expressed concern about the increasing incidents of its citizens being deported on arrival in foreign countries. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad told a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday that the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates are countries where South Africans are regularly deported from.

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/ 17 January 2007

No decision yet on SA troops to Somalia

South Africa has again stressed that its defence force is over-stretched and is still considering troop contributions to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad told journalists in Pretoria on Wednesday that no decision has been made on possible troop contributions.

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/ 12 January 2007

Focus on succession contenders

The African National Congress (ANC) is to celebrate its past 95 years in style in Witbank on Saturday — but thoughts about the future are more likely to dominate the minds of those attending. In nine months’ time, the ruling party has to make a watershed decision about who will be the new president of the ANC.

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/ 19 December 2006

Former spy boss fails to get job back

President Thabo Mbeki is ”satisfied” that the Pretoria High Court turned down an application to reinstate former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha, his office said on Tuesday. As always, the president accepted the outcome of the judiciary, but was satisfied with the outcome of this particular case, said presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga.

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/ 15 December 2006

SA troops adapt to peacekeeping

It is not a well-known fact that just before the second round of elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations moved hundreds of peacekeepers from positions all over the country into the capital, Kinshasa. These soldiers were to become the stick of the UN’s carrot-and-stick plan, and were issued with armoured vehicles and heavy machine guns.