Sarah McGregor
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/ 28 September 2006

Business sounds alarm over crime

Stubbornly high crime statistics show South Africa has a long way to go to fight one of the prime deterrents to much-needed investment, business leaders said on Thursday. The latest crime data, released by the police on Wednesday, showed a slight decline in murders and other crimes but an alarming rise in others, such as armoured-car heists.

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/ 27 September 2006

New SA TB cases raise fears of wider outbreak

New cases of tuberculosis found in South Africa have raised fears there could be multiple versions of a highly drug resistant strain that has killed 62 people and threatens to spread across a region ravaged by HIV/Aids. An easily-transferred airborne respiratory disease, tuberculosis is the main direct cause of death for people with HIV/Aids in South Africa.

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/ 24 September 2006

Lesbian pride on display in Soweto

Scores of lesbians staged a colourful march through the streets of South Africa’s sprawling Soweto township on Saturday to declare their rights in a country where they are often victims of sexual violence. South Africa’s Constitution is the first in the world to recognise gay rights and it is poised to become the first African country to recognise homosexual marriage.

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/ 17 September 2006

Aids groups slam govt over TB outbreak

South Africa’s government long ignored warnings about drug-resistant tuberculosis, putting millions of HIV-positive people at risk now that a dangerous new strain of TB has emerged, Aids activists say. South African officials have scrambled to react to news this month that extremely drug resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, has killed at least 60 people in KwaZulu-Natal and is likely spreading.

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/ 13 September 2006

Deadly TB strain confirmed in Jo’burg

South African health authorities went on high alert on Wednesday after officials confirmed a case of a new, deadly strain of tuberculosis (TB) in Johannesburg, the country’s economic hub. Officials said the case, a woman, had refused to stay in hospital — stoking fears the TB strain could spread rapidly through communities already weakened by HIV/Aids.

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/ 12 September 2006

SA prepares to combat super TB

South Africa’s Department of Health has promised to start distribution as early as next week of a drug to help fight an extremely virulent strain of tuberculosis (TB) that has killed 52 people in the country. However, the government warned on Tuesday there was no guarantee the drug will save lives as it may prove ineffective against the new superbug.

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/ 31 August 2006

Exotic monkeys find new home in Gauteng

In a twist to the oft-told tale of humans encroaching on the wild habitats of Africa, dozens of exotic animals have made a middle-class Gauteng suburb their permanent address. ”Don’t mind the mess,” says Debbie Mills as she unlocks the front gates to reveal a cage-lined driveway where monkeys play with snacks of sugary cereal and fruit cocktail.

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/ 8 August 2006

Battle not yet won for SA’s women marchers

Fifty years ago, Sophia Williams-De Bruyn helped lead 20 000 women in a march on white-ruled South Africa’s capital in one of the first major demonstrations against the tightening of apartheid laws. Having lived more than a decade under South Africa’s multiracial democracy, Williams-De Bruyn’s outrage has barely dimmed.