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/ 19 September 2003
A story doing the rounds seeks to explain the inexplicable: how could Mbeki appoint Manto as acting prez while he and Zuma were out of the country? Apparently it was feared that if any more capable person was appointed, the people wouldn’t want Mbeki and Zuma back, Oom Krisjan muses.
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/ 19 September 2003
Whatever criticism is levelled against Zuma as mediator in the Burundi strife pales by comparison with what he faces back home. His propensity for heavy-handedness notwithstanding, Zuma is generally credited with doing a solid job in bringing Burundi’s combatants together. Last week, however, Burundi also came apart for Zuma.
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/ 18 September 2003
Disgraced ANC MP Bhekuyise Ntuli has resigned, the Speaker of Parliament, Frene Ginwala indicated on Thursday. Ginwala described Ntuli’s behaviour as ”reprehensible” and ”totally unacceptable” and said he was not ”worthy of holding public office”.
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/ 18 September 2003
President Thabo Mbeki says he has discussed the case of Amina Lawal with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Lawal has been sentenced, under Nigeria’s Sharia law, to death by stoning for having a baby two years after getting divorced. She will be buried up to her neck and then stoned until she dies.
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/ 18 September 2003
President Thabo Mbeki has emphasised in Parliament that he will not suspend Deputy President Jacob Zuma as he is not a court and a person is innocent until proven guilty. ”We will not take any disciplinary action simply on the basis of allegations,” he said.
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/ 18 September 2003
The High Court in Zimbabwe on Thursday ordered the reopening of the country’s only independent daily newspaper, the <i>Daily News</i>, closed by the government last week for operating illegally.
<li><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=20658" class="standardtextsmall">Protesting activists, journalists arrested</a>
<li><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=20640" class="standardtextsmall">Computers removed from paper’s offices</a>
<li><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=20623" class="standardtextsmall">SA urged to push Zim to reopen paper</a>
<li><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=20517" class="standardtextsmall">Editor-in-chief quits</a>
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/ 18 September 2003
A judicial commission of inquiry is to probe claims that National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid-era spy, the government revealed on Thursday. In terms of a Cabinet decision on Wednesday, a retired judge would head the investigation.
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/ 18 September 2003
Extensive publicity on an alleged gang rape at the University of Pretoria has led to sharp exchanges in the city’s regional court. Prosecutor Brandon Lawrence accused defence counsel Deon Cloete of breaching the sub judice rule by ”leaking” information about the merits of the case to the media.
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/ 18 September 2003
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called on the government to review the constitutional mandate of the South African Reserve Bank to make employment an explicit objective of its monetary policy. It said the strong rand has caused thousands of workers to lose their jobs.