Staff Reporter
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/ 8 January 1999

A siege on Islamic sensibilities?

Andrew Worsdale The Siege was the number-one box office hit in South Africa this week and has grossed R1 979 136. But many Muslim organisations would like the movie banned. Director Edward Zwick’s thriller has been causing controversy around the world. The film revolves around an FBI agent attempting to root out an Arab-American “terrorist” […]

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/ 8 January 1999

End the siege of the Cape

Few acts could have been better calculated to ensure that public confidence in the South African Police Service and the morale of police officers plummet than the armed robbery this week at one of Cape Town’s largest police stations. Coming on the heels of the New Year’s Day car bomb at the waterfront, it appears […]

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/ 8 January 1999

NIGERIA’S SECRET DEAD?

A NIGERIAN newspaper says the bodies of 25 soldiers serving with the West African intervention force Ecomog that were killed in Sierra Leone were returned to Nigeria in secret and buried. The newspaper said the bodies were flown into the country on Monday night and buried at the army cemetery inside Ojo military barracks in […]

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/ 8 January 1999

Matric maths, where 2% = R100-

million Ferial Haffajee The high matric failure rate has cost the state more than R100-million, raising questions about the efficacy of the examination system. With all the results now in, the average matric pass rate is 55,1%. The financial losses incurred stand in sharp contrast to the desperate needs of poor schools. Almost seven in […]

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/ 8 January 1999

Interns replace doctors

Belinda Beresford and David Shapshak The Department of Health has reassigned the posts of more experienced hospital medical officers to make way for inexperienced interns for its community service programme. Senior doctors charge that funding cutbacks have meant that rather than creating new posts in areas deprived of medical care, the community service plan for […]

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/ 8 January 1999

Taking the baton from Walt

Is Antz producer Jeffrey Katzenberg taking revenge on former employer Disney?He spoke to David Eimer When Antz, the first animated feature from DreamWorks SKG, overtook the $67- million box-office take of Beavis and Butthead Do America in November 1998, it became the most successful non- Disney animated movie ever. Still riding high, Antz is the […]

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/ 8 January 1999

Playing off the pudding

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer The festive-season feasting on turkey, ham and plum pudding surely led to much moaning and groaning on the training grounds of Castle Premiership clubs this week as semi-fit players prepared for a resumption of hostilities. Mid-table Cape Town Spurs and tail- enders Dynamos kicked off the second half of the 1998/99 league […]

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/ 8 January 1999

MOODY’S AFFIRMS SA RATING

INTERNATIONAL credit rating agency, Moody’s Investor Services, has reconfirmed South Africa’s investment grade status and upgraded the outlook for the rating from negative to stable, the finance department announced on Thursday. The department said that Moody’s had indicated it is concerned about the rate of economic growth and the low level of employment creation but […]

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/ 8 January 1999

SABC SUBPOENAED OVER STAGGIE

THE South African Broadcasting Corporation was served a second subpoena on Thursday in an attempt to force it to hand over to investigators video footage of the lynching in August 1996 of Hard Living gang co-leader Rashaad Staggie. Staggie was shot and burned to death by a vigilante mob in Cape Town in the first […]

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/ 8 January 1999

Why we don’t need matric exams

Linda Chisholm:A SECOND LOOK If the matric exam did not exist, South Africans would have to invent it. As one of our major social institutions, the matric exam results each year signal whether we are succeeding or failing as a nation. This year’s results were no different. Whether they are a major or a minor […]