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/ 3 March 2006

‘Voting is like suicide’

In Khutsong residents enforced an election boycott by burning at least two houses belonging to known African National Congress activists. During the day residents played soccer and generally stayed away from the polls, but at night rampaging youths stoned and burnt the houses of an ANC candidate and an ANC party agent.

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/ 24 February 2006

The ANC monolith starts to crack

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/262374/vote-box_blue.gif" align=left>The African National Congress is fighting its toughest election yet. The ruling party’s monolithic hold on power is showing distinct cracks, as strongholds have splintered from Khutsong in Gauteng, where residents have staged running battles with authorities, to Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, where a feisty group of independents has challenged for power and Matatiele in KwaZulu-Natal where the former ANC mayor has formed a breakaway party.

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/ 1 February 2006

Mango mammies

The level crossing at the intersection of Main Reef and Roodepoort roads, west of Johannesburg, might seem an unlikely site for a 24-hour fresh-fruit market driven by market mammies from Mpumalanga. But the 20-odd women know their market — they’ve set up shop on the main taxi and bus route to Soweto from central Jo’burg.

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/ 16 January 2006

Sick and tired of waiting

The government’s slogan of "Batho Pele" promises a return to our cultural values of putting people before all else. But anyone who uses public health services knows that people are generally put last — often after nurses’ tea breaks and chats. Children cry uncontrollably, the infirm slump in wheelchairs, and the elderly sprawl on the benches.

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/ 18 November 2005

Commuters fight for space on remaining trains

”The loudspeaker at Johannesburg’s Park Station announces the arrival of train 9426 for Soweto, and commuters trample each another to catch what might be the last train for a long time. I am forced through a narrow door with at least 15 other people. We’re all tired, sweaty and squashed as the train moves off,” writes the Mail&Guardian‘s Monako Dibetle.