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/ 10 November 2006
Former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi received a R100Â 000 payment from a businessman whose company won multimillion-rand tenders from his government, the Scorpions have alleged. This is just one of a range of cash benefits that allegedly flowed to him after a R750-million pensions administration contract was awarded to Cash Paymaster Services.
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/ 10 November 2006
The "Selebi dossier", made public this week, is a fascinating chronicle of Paul O’Sullivan’s relentless pursuit of his own case against Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi that has taken him to the heart of a Scorpions probe of the country’s top cop.
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/ 10 November 2006
The battle for media freedom took another knock last week when the Cape Town High Court denied journalist Gasant Abarder’s right to appeal against an order to testify in a civil defamation case. Abarder had been subpoenaed to testify in a civil defamation dispute between two private litigants.
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/ 10 November 2006
Was the government swayed by diplomatic expediency and ruling-party funding needs when it granted strategic mineral rights to an African National Congress business front and Russia’s third-richest man? Vicki Robinson and Stefaans Brümmer report.
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/ 10 November 2006
Viktor Vekselberg, the 48-year-old Russian oligarch, is not known for his corporate ethics. Described by <i>Forbes</i> as a "deal junkie", Vekselberg is ranked the third-richest Russian and the 44th richest person in the world by the magazine. His net worth is about $10-billion, accumulated predominantly through metals and oil.
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/ 10 November 2006
Right-hand-driven Cadillacs will officially be available for sale in South Africa from February 2007, motor vehicle giant company General Motors South Africa (GMSA) has announced. GMSA plans are to release three new marques, the BLS mid-size sedan, SRX Crossover SUV and the STS full-size sedan.
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/ 10 November 2006
Strings of diamonds, cascades of champagne and tens of millions of dollars worth of gifts would be con-sidered ostentatious at any wedding. But in Burma, one of the poorest countries in Asia, the luxury on display in a video of the wedding laid on by the head of the junta, General Than Shwe, for his daughter, has left people up in arms.
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/ 10 November 2006
Sitting in the waiting room of my aroma-chiropodist the other day, I picked up a recent copy of what used to be that excellent British magazine <i>The Spectator</i>. It had an interesting front page. In enormous letters it announced THE END OF SOUTH AFRICA — Rian Malan Mourns the Collapse of His Homeland. That’s going to be worth a read, I thought, but I turned first to a favourite part of the “Speccie”, the weekly literary competition under the byline Jaspistos.
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/ 10 November 2006
It is predicted that by the end of the century, a barrel of water will cost more than a barrel of oil. In cities such as Dar es Salaam and Delhi, the taps often run dry and women spend hours every day looking for water to buy from tankers and vendors. In the rural areas this is often not an option, and available water must be harvested from rainfall or rivers without wasting a precious drop.
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/ 10 November 2006
First oil. Now manganese. This week we reveal the second major funding front set up by the ruling ANC. The party is clearly behind Chancellor House, an empowerment holding company that has won a stake in manganese mining rights with a potential value of R1-billion. It is part of a consortium chasing a R26-billion power station tender, and has lesser stakes in many other businesses.