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/ 11 September 2007

Provincial review: devolve and rule

There has been much speculation that South Africa’s nine provinces could be downscaled to administrative hubs because of their apparent inefficiency and ineffectiveness. I believe this is a knee-jerk reaction, not a solution, to the present malaise. My party and I have always believed that South Africa is simply too large and diverse to be administered as a unitary state, writes president of the Inkatha Freedom Party Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

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/ 11 September 2007

Zille appears in Mitchells Plain court

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille appeared briefly in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s court on Tuesday on a charge under the Regulation of Gatherings Act. Zille, who is also mayor of Cape Town, was arrested on Sunday following an anti-drug march with members of the Mitchell’s Plain community.

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/ 10 September 2007

Sudan bombs north Darfur town

Sudanese government aircraft bombed a rebel-held town in Darfur on Monday, insurgent groups said, hours after the government said it was investigating a rebel raid on one of its bases last month. Reports of the attack came seven weeks before rebel groups and the Khartoum government are set to meet for peace talks.

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/ 10 September 2007

Pretoria student fails in SRC bid

The present vice-chairperson of the University of Pretoria’s student representative council (SRC), Cobus van der Linde, will not be a candidate in Tuesday’s elections for next year’s SRC. Pretoria High Court judge Lettie Malopa on Monday dismissed Van der Linde’s urgent application to remain on the candidates list.

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/ 10 September 2007

Tshwane mulls firing refuse companies

The City of Tshwane was considering on Monday evening whether or not to fire companies it had hired to remove refuse. ”We are mulling over it and considering all factors,” said spokesperson Console Tleane. Letters had been handed to Milnex and Capacity over the weekend telling them to get their workers back on the job or have their contracts with the city cancelled.

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/ 10 September 2007

Crisis-hit Zim faces illegal market for Aids drugs

Aids drugs — some of them contaminated, diluted or faked — are being sold at flea markets and hairdressing salons in the face of growing shortages in clinics struggling under Zimbabwe’s economic crisis, the Health Ministry said. State media quoted Minister of Health David Parirenyatwa on Monday as appealing to people living with HIV/Aids to buy their medicines from registered pharmacies.

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/ 10 September 2007

Africa gets biotech boost against killer diseases

South African President Thabo Mbeki opened an international biotechnology centre on Monday that aims to develop vaccines for HIV/Aids and other diseases that kill thousands of Africans daily. The Cape Town-based branch of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology will focus on infectious diseases including malaria and tuberculosis.

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/ 10 September 2007

Twin suicide raids kill 26 in Afghan south

At least 26 people, many of them civilians, were killed on Monday in two simultaneous suicide attacks in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand, a provincial police official said. About 45 people were also wounded in the twin blasts that targeted a group of police in a shopping area of the Girishk district of the province.