Mariette Le Roux
Guest Author
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/ 5 May 2005

Harmony starts to ‘sell the kitchen silver’

The Gold Fields mining company painted a grim picture on Thursday of the financial state of rival Harmony, whose hostile takeover bid it is seeking to halt. Figures presented at the Competition Tribunal in Pretoria showed that Harmony’s cash burn for the year June 2004 to March 2005 amounted to R1,75-billion compared to Gold Fields’ R748-million.

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/ 3 April 2005

Feverish Pavarotti in rainy Pretoria send-off

A sea of umbrellas met Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti as the skies over Pretoria opened on Saturday night for his farewell concert from Africa. Persistent rain did little to dampen the spirits of the thousands of faithful, but an undisclosed malady compelled the Maestro, as he is popularly known, to finish his performance early.

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/ 25 March 2005

Why some motorists will soon pay more for fuel

Diesel and 95-octane petrol users will feel the pinch when new fuel specifications come into operation next year, eliminating leaded petrol from the market. Diesel users will fork out more for a new, low sulphur version of the fuel, while motorists insisting on using 95-octane petrol rather than 93- or 91-octane will pay a special levy, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Thursday.

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/ 15 March 2005

Mbeki praises role of universities in SA

Universities have a key role to play in raising the quality of life of all South African citizens, President Thabo Mbeki said on Tuesday. ”Education is the key to unlocking each person’s potential and improving the quality of life in general,” he said on opening the University of Pretoria’s new law-faculty building.

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/ 10 March 2005

How much crime is costing SA’s farmers

Crime cost South Africa’s 46 000-odd commercial farmers about R1,2-billion in the financial year ending February 2002 — more than a quarter of their total losses, Statistics South Africa revealed on Thursday. Stock theft accounted for about R484-million of farmers’ total R4,4-billion losses for the year.