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/ 4 November 2004
Matric results in mathematics, so poor they are a ”crisis of performance”, remain as a legacy of apartheid, a forthcoming publication has found. Focusing on maths, because of the range of career choices it provides, Professor Servaas van der Berg looked at an education system that by world and African standards is a poor performer.
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/ 2 November 2004
Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour and MPs experienced the toxic smoke and flammability of mattresses at Pollsmoor prison on Wednesday, where three inmates died in a fire last week. ”Honestly, we must check to change this,” said Dennis Bloem, chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services.
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/ 14 October 2004
A Kempton Park woman who looks after street children has alleged that cases involving police in the Ekurhuleni area do not receive the necessary attention, but the police have denied this. ”The Ekurhuleni Metro Police have held guns against the heads of street children,” alleged Siphumelele ministries founder Elsabe Coetzee.
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/ 16 September 2004
The jury was out on the effectiveness of Thursday’s public-service strike in the Western Cape as unions claimed a massive turnout while the provincial government sought to downplay its impact. In Cape Town, police estimated about 17 000 strikers snaked their way through the city.
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/ 15 September 2004
A hemp growing project which offers hope to small farmers in the poverty stricken Eastern Cape could be derailed because hemp is still an illegal substance. Department of Health rules which lump hemp together with dagga could scupper plans for the effective mass production and marketing of the fibrous plant.
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/ 9 September 2004
Women in labour so intoxicated they do not know they are giving birth, children fed alcohol to keep them quiet, and low grade wine cheaper than bread. These are realities in South Africa, the country with the worst foetal alcohol syndrome in the world.
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/ 8 September 2004
A lawyer for alleged Equatorial Guinea coup plotter Mark Thatcher confirmed on Wednesday that a subpoena had been issued for his client’s appearance in the Wynberg Regional Court. ”We still have to examine the subpoena,” said Alan Bruce-Brand. Bruce-Brand said the subpoena provided for Thatcher to go for questioning at the court on September 22.
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/ 2 September 2004
A special initiative to rid Africa of vast stockpiles of poisonous, obsolete chemical pesticides posing serious health risks has been launched by the African Stockpiles Programme (ASP). ASP plans to get rid of an estimated 50 000 tons of toxic pesticides and waste, as well as tens of thousands of tons of contaminated soil.
Shocking new research exposes some of the South Africa’s drug rehabilitation centres as poorly run institutions where physical and psychological ill treatment of patients is rife. ”The government needs to take responsibility. They need to pay attention to the programmes that are offered at the centres and not just concentrate on clean kitchens and toilets as some of the main criteria,” says a researcher.
A senior health official welcomed the Cape High Court’s decision on Friday to dismiss an application aimed at overturning the medicine-pricing regulations, saying it will benefit the South African consumer. He said the judgement means that savings realised from the manufacturing side will now be passed on to the consumer.