Staff Reporter
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/ 27 November 2007

SA in the mirror of John Hlophe

The intense controversy surrounding the decision of the Judicial Service Commission to end the inquiry into John Hlophe appears to have reached its end. Some legal wailing and political gnashing of teeth might continue, but Hlophe is here to stay as the judge president of the Cape High Court. But in the here and now, what have we learnt from this saga?

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/ 26 November 2007

Not all rape is the same

In 2005 I spoke to a traumatised filmmaker who had returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo where he interviewed a 19-year-old woman who 18 months before had been raped by 49 soldiers, one after the other. The pregnant teenager was then shot in the belly by the soldiers, killing her baby and rendering her sterile, writes journalist Charlene Smith.

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/ 26 November 2007

The exception cannot rule our responses

Recognising the courage in Sisonke Msimang’s ”My father the ‘sex pest”’ (November 9) demands that we all take what she has to say seriously. I believe Msimang when she says her father was falsely accused of sexually harassing the woman who laid such charges against him. Like her, I value Audre Lorde’s words about the need to speak the truth publicly and deal with the risks, writes Pumla Dineo Gqola.

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/ 26 November 2007

Pathologist: No sign Princess Diana was pregnant

The body of Princess Diana showed no physical signs of pregnancy, Robert Chapman, the pathologist who carried out her post-mortem, told the inquest on Monday into her death. But he acknowledged that while her womb and ovaries did not show any of the normal signs of pregnancy, those would not have been seen if the pregnancy was less than three weeks old.

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/ 26 November 2007

Govt declares Highveld regions air-pollution hot spots

The Highveld regions of eastern Gauteng and western Mpumalanga, including towns such as Witbank, Standerton and Boksburg, have been declared air-pollution hot spots. ”There is little doubt that people living and working in these areas do not enjoy air quality that is not harmful to their health and well-being,” the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said on Monday.

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/ 26 November 2007

James Dalton, wife reach interim settlement

Former Springbok hooker James Dalton and his wife, Andrea, who are involved in a bitter divorce battle, reached an interim settlement on Monday. The couple made headlines when Andrea Dalton (49) launched an urgent court application for a protection order against James (35), who she claimed physically and mentally abused her.

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/ 26 November 2007

Yengeni arrested for drunken driving

The possible breach of the parole conditions of former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni was under investigation after he was arrested for drunken driving, the Correctional Services Ministry said on Monday. Yengeni was arrested in Cape Town on Sunday evening on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, police said.

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/ 26 November 2007

Unita denounces ‘strategy’ to delay Angola elections

Angola opposition on Monday denounced what it called government ”strategy” to delay legislative elections scheduled for next year. In a statement, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) said that acts of ”intimidation” and ”increased attempts to curtail individual and collective freedoms in Angola” were evidence of the alleged strategy.

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/ 26 November 2007

Cops defend Selebi’s assurances

Police have defended National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s undertaking that crime would not mar the past weekend’s World Cup qualifying draw in Durban. ”The commissioner was 100% correct in that he was talking about what the police could be responsible for,” said national police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo on Monday.