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/ 2 September 2005
English Premiership rugby union’s new season gets under way this weekend against a familiar backdrop of a row between the leading clubs and the Rugby Football Union over player availability. The governing body are demanding that all elite England players have an 11-week rest break between the end of the last season and the start of this one.
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/ 2 September 2005
Nineteen people, including two toddlers, died when a minibus taxi plunged down a cliff next to the N1 highway between Makhado and Musina on Friday, Limpopo police said. Spokesperson Captain Mashudu Malelo said the 16-passenger taxi was overloaded, carrying 26 people, all Zimbabwean nationals. The taxi was on its way to Musina.
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/ 2 September 2005
Telkom has pulled the plug on Zimbabwe’s telecoms utility Tel*One for failing to honour a -million debt (about R501-million), media reports said on Friday. The move has apparently thrown Zimbabwe’s telecommunications into chaos. Tel*One incurred the Telkom debt after the South African utility helped to upgrade Zimbabwe’s fixed network between Musina and Harare a few years ago.
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/ 2 September 2005
Mining giant De Beers has issued notice that it is considering retrenchments in the exploration division of its group services operation. A notice to this effect was issued on Thursday to the National Union of Mineworkers and staff in terms of Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, said company spokesperson Nicola Wilson.
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/ 2 September 2005
In a decision that might anger many who want Stuart Baxter out, South African Football Association (Safa) president Molefi Oliphant refused to accept a verbal offer of resignation from the national team coach three weeks ago. By declining to accept Baxter’s resignation Oliphant averted what could have been another protracted and costly lawsuit.
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/ 2 September 2005
The JSE ticked higher in early trade on Friday, again shrugging off a stronger rand. The gains came on light volumes. The JSE said however that a number of the closing index values for Thursday were incorrect. The problem was being addressed.
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/ 2 September 2005
The African National Congress feels the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has jumped the gun by rejecting President Thabo Mbeki’s call for an inquiry into claims that there is a plot against Jacob Zuma. ”We feel it is unfortunate that Cosatu has rejected the proposal before engaging,” said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama.
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/ 2 September 2005
Trade union leaders are increasingly talking of transferring their allegiance to African National Congress general secretary Kgalema Motlanthe as a compromise candidate for the country’s next presidency. A senior Congress of South African Trade Unions leader said this week that there was a growing recognition on the left that Jacob Zuma might not succeed to the presidency, because he was ”tainted”.
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/ 2 September 2005
The Scorpions have raided the homes of top officials of the now defunct Saambou Bank, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Friday. The raids were carried out in search of documents relating to alleged insider trading. The pending insider trading case is said to be the biggest in the country’s history.
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/ 2 September 2005
The mayor of New Orleans issued ”a desperate SOS” on Thursday as the effort to evacuate thousands of people still trapped in the flooded city was hindered by mob violence and gunfire. The appeal came as angry crowds clashed with police, and the city’s police chief warned that storm victims were being raped and beaten on the streets.