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/ 16 August 2005

Struggling farmers strike it rich

Five brothers who were struggling to keep their dry, dusty sheep farm going became millionaires overnight after uranium was discovered on their land and they were paid R20-million for the mining rights. Just a few months ago the five Ngondo brothers were hard put to meet the mortgage payments after drought claimed 100 of their sheep.

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/ 16 August 2005

Gaza settlers refuse to go quietly

At the heavy steel gates to Neve Dekalim, a few voices among the crowd of angry young religious Jews were shouting ”Nazis” and ”Gestapo” at the ranks of Israeli police massing on Monday on the road beyond. The chants disquieted others who favoured singing psalms and heartfelt appeals to Jews not to expel Jews.

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/ 16 August 2005

Ethiopian ease

African athletes have added glamour and excitement to the 10th edition of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) world championships in Helsinki, Finland. Crowds of more than 30 000 have been treated to spectacular performances by the 2 000 athletes drawn from more than 200 countries.

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/ 16 August 2005

Ode to my Yeoville

"You know what Hillbrow and Yeoville are like," says a resident of Katlehong, glibly summarising the moral character of places he must have visited about twice in the past decade: "Full of criminals." But naturally: mainstream Jozi circles — the Melville café, the Soweto shebeen — have turned both names into abuses, conjoining them to a list of African cities similarly revered.

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/ 16 August 2005

Learning from the unemployment queue

The government’s Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) paid out more than R2,1-billion last year to 500 000 unemployed people, but has little grasp of the skills challenges the country faces. The now self-funding UIF uses a database to match the skills of unemployed people with those of vacancies but does little or no follow-up.

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/ 16 August 2005

The saint(s) of St Francis

Volunteers in St Francis Bay, a fishing town about 100km south of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, are making a big difference to their natural environment by turning their concerns into action. A heritage centre was recently set up by residents to educate people, especially children, about protecting marine life.