Staff Reporter
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/ 22 February 2008

Zuma to chew the fat with black journalists

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma is to deliver an off-the-record address at the inaugural imbizo of a forum exclusively for black journalists in Sandton on Friday. Chairperson Abbey Makoe said the Forum of Black Journalists was an association ”who would politically in the South African context be defined as of African descent, coloureds and Indians”.

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/ 22 February 2008

SA pacemen rip through Bangladesh top order

South Africa pacemen Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel took two wickets apiece to help the tourists rip through the Bangladesh top order, leaving the hosts on 85 for five at lunch on the opening day of the first Test on Friday. After winning the toss and opting to bat, Bangladesh’s hopes of making a good start were dashed almost immediately when Steyn caught and bowled promising opener Tamim Iqbal.

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/ 22 February 2008

Debate shows closeness of Democrats’ positions

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton talked each other to a stalemate on Thursday night in what the Clinton campaign had hoped would offer a decisive breakthrough for her ailing campaign. On issues ranging from the economy to the war to immigration the two demonstrated the closeness of their positions rather than any grand differences of policy.

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/ 22 February 2008

Another 2010 stadium strike looms

The controversial consulting company embroiled in an alleged 2010 stadium tender irregularity in Nespruit now faces a strike by its sub-contractors. The sub-contractors working on the construction of the 2010 Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit have threatened to strike next week because they haven’t been paid R9-million due to them.

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/ 22 February 2008

Mugabe says challenger Makoni is a ‘prostitute’

President Robert Mugabe on Thursday compared ex-finance minister Simba Makoni to a ”prostitute” and said he was surprised by Makoni’s decision to challenge him in March presidential elections. In his first reaction to Makoni’s announcement to stand for the presidency in polls on March 29, Mugabe said his decision was ”absolutely disgraceful”.

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/ 22 February 2008

Better support for foot soldiers

The accountants at the Treasury finally seem to have heard the desperate pleas from the Department of Defence. While the defence budget is set to increase by 6,1% in the next three years, the gradual winding down of major equipment acquisitions means slightly more is going to be left over to keep the military functional.

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/ 22 February 2008

‘We’re in this together’

"We are in this together," Trevor Manuel told Parliament repeatedly on Wednesday, but to many, the song that came to mind might have been <i>My Way</i>, as the Finance Minister rallied investors, bureaucrats, politicians and citizens to the standard of macroeconomic stability and investment for growth.

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/ 22 February 2008

Trevor Obama or Barack Manuel?

A friend in the United States who watches Barack Obama tells me that he, unusually for a politician, has Mandela-like qualities in that he acts as a unifying force, finding common ground on which to build consensus on the way forward. We could well do with someone with Mandela-like qualities now.