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/ 4 February 2004

Desai on leave pending trial outcome

Embattled High Court Judge Siraj Desai was given special leave by Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Penuell Maduna on Tuesday. Desai was arrested on January 19 after Aids activist Salome Isaacs accused him of raping her in a Mumbai hotel room, but Isaacs later withdrew the charges.

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/ 4 February 2004

Bus safety rules ‘not specific enough’

New regulations to compel the replacement of non-functioning emergency exits on South African buses and taxis will still take an indeterminate time to come into effect, it emerged on Tuesday. In the meantime millions of public transport passengers run the risk of meeting the same fate as the 51 Saulspoort bus disaster victims.

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/ 4 February 2004

JSE mixed at noon, lacks drivers

South African stocks presented a mixed picture in noon trade on Wednesday, with the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) lacking major drivers and clear trends. At 12.05pm, the all-share index was down a marginal 0,1%. Financials and banks were 0,38% and 0,8% weaker respectively.

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/ 4 February 2004

DA suggests tips for Mbeki

South African official opposition leader Tony Leon has suggested that President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation speech should signal a return to the "rainbow nation" philosophy. Mbeki is to open Parliament on Friday with the annual State of the Nation speech.

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/ 4 February 2004

Third term for Mbeki a ‘non-issue’

A third term of office for President Thabo Mbeki has never been posed within the African National Congress, ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe asserted on Wednesday. He was responding to a letter to Mbeki sent by Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon, seeking clarity on the matter.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30621">DA suggests tips for Mbeki</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30459">Mbeki won’t accept instructions</a>

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/ 4 February 2004

It’s a matter of control

Dogs bark, caravans pass on. Opposition parties yap at the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s live television coverage of the African National Congress’s annual conference; newspapers take the corporation to task. But the national broadcaster moves on, leaving the fuss behind as if it were already history.

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/ 4 February 2004

Minister sheds light on govt Aids plan

Not everybody who is HIV-positive will get anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) from the state, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Tuesday. Speaking at the East London city hall, Tshabalala-Msimang said patients with a CD4 cell count below 200 will be the focus of the initial stages of the planned roll-out of ARVs.

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/ 4 February 2004

Victorious Kerry slams Bush on Iraq

Fresh from five more wins in the Democratic presidential race, United States Senator John Kerry fired off a fierce attack on President George Bush on Tuesday, accusing him of misleading Americans over the Iraq war. Kerry is the frontrunner in the race to take on Bush for the White House in November.

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/ 4 February 2004

BEE mustn’t destroy value

The key aspect of black economic empowerment (BEE) is that it should never destroy value for the parties involved, says the recently appointed chairperson of BHP Billiton, Dr Vincent Maphai. BHP Billiton is the world’s largest diversified resources group and employs 35 000 people.

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/ 4 February 2004

Tongaat Hulett to report loss

South African commodities group Tongaat Hulett (advised on Wednesday that the impact of valuation adjustments will result in a headline loss for the year. The application of the exchange rate at December 31 2003 will result in a translation loss of R80-million for the year relating to offshore cash holdings.