Staff Reporter
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/ 18 February 2008

Health professionals increase fees

The Health Professions Council of South Africa said on Sunday it was putting up its annual fees because of increased administrative costs. ”The figures we reached are not grotesque and council will continue looking at better models of financing its business so as to alleviate the burden on practitioners,” said Council Registrar Boyce Mkhize.

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/ 18 February 2008

ANC says DA is making a ‘mockery of Parliament’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) was making a mockery of Parliament, the African National Congress charged on Sunday. This, after public protector Lawrence Mushwana recommended Parliamentary action against DA MP Mike Waters. Waters complained last year that President Thabo Mbeki had abused his office by demanding that Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang get priority on a organ-transplant list.

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/ 18 February 2008

Chinese firm wins big Libyan railway contract

A Chinese contractor has won bids to build two railways in Libya worth a combined $2,6-billion as China enhances its economic presence in energy-rich African nations. Under one contract, China Railway Construction, the firm that built part of the railway to Tibet, would construct a 352km west-to-east coastal railway.

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/ 18 February 2008

Polls open for Pakistani vote

Fears of violence overshadowed Pakistan’s general election on Monday with 80 000 troops backing up police to watch over a vote that could return a Parliament set on driving President Pervez Musharraf from office. Musharraf has lost much popularity over the past year because of his manoeuvres to hold on to power which included a clash with the judiciary.

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/ 18 February 2008

‘It’s life, I borrowed it’

In Ekurhuleni, Sibongile* supports three young children while clutching at a safety net of informally occupied land. After losing her employment as a domestic worker and the accommodation that came with it, she needed to keep a foothold in the city. Like most people in the Somalia informal settlement she is acutely aware of how tenuous her claim to the land is, but says: "It’s life, I borrowed it."

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/ 18 February 2008

Misleading issues

This column is in response to the Collect-a-Can article published in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> on February 8. As managing director of Collect-a-Can, I would like to provide clarification, facts and a balanced view. Collect-a-Can is the longest existing and most successful one-way packaging recycling company, writes Funani Mojono

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/ 17 February 2008

A serious slap in the face

Pity the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). Fifteen years ago this court — then led by the chief justice — was the highest court of appeal in South Africa. The prestige and standing of the judges serving on this court were unchallenged among the majority of influential South African lawyers and judges, and academics pored over their decisions and wrote learned articles about their decisions.