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/ 27 October 2006
EThekwini municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe is sitting on a damning Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) report detailing "lax control" of hundreds of firearms and ammunition issued by the state to the Durban Metro Police Service. The report lists 66 state-issued firearms as missing and being investigated by the police.
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/ 27 October 2006
Nigel Adams and his Blue Scorpions team of four have been ruffling feathers since they started work in June this year. Not that Adams apologises. He has no mercy for water abusers — unless they repent and face up to their sins. The Scorpions’ wrath is coming down on 67 unsuspecting members of the Impala Water User Association in Pongola, KwaZulu-Natal.
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/ 27 October 2006
The Jali commission of inquiry has slammed the inordinate power it says is exercised by the Cosatu prisons affiliate Popcru in the administration of prisons. The full executive summary of the findings of former judge Thabani Jali was released by the correctional services department this week after a storm of protest over the sanitised version handed to Parliament recently.
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/ 27 October 2006
The Scorpions task-team probing the contraband networks around slain businessman Brett Kebble has arrested Clinton Nassif, the shadowy businessman who provided security and investigation services for Kebble. Nassif allegedly ordering the premature removal from police custody of the car the mining magnate was driving when he was shot.
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/ 27 October 2006
Shell was at the centre of buyout moves and speculation on Monday after it unveiled plans to spend C$7,7-billion (£3,7-billion) simplifying its North American business. This was seen by some as a step towards a £230-billion mega-merger with BP. The Anglo-Dutch oil group has also had its name linked with Premier Oil.
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/ 27 October 2006
Last week saw the 20th anniversary of the air accident in which Mozambican president Samora Machel lost his life along with some 25 other passengers on a Soviet-built and crewed Tupolev TU-134 aircraft. Few will deny that Machel’s death was a grave loss to his country and, in a wider sense, to African politics. What cannot be denied are the extraordinary and often quite bizarre circumstances surrounding investigations into the crash.
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/ 27 October 2006
One of the most pressing issues facing Namibian officials at present is the country’s high unemployment rate. According to the latest <i>Namibian Labour Force Survey</i>, which was presented to Parliament earlier this year, 36,7% of the country’s population is currently unemployed, up more than 3% since the previous survey in 2000.
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/ 27 October 2006
As a considerable number of countries are now entering the second phase of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) process; questions around ownership, financing, civil society organisations’ participation and policy targeting continue to hinder the successful implementation of poverty reduction strategies in Southern Africa.
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/ 27 October 2006
Property owners in the close vicinity of the proposed Gautrain railway stations are sitting on hot assets, with prices rising by up to 25% in the past year. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> surveyed a number of real estate agents who operate in the Rosebank, Sandton, Midrand and Rhodesfield areas this week, the majority of whom were overwhelmingly positive that property prices were set to boom.
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/ 27 October 2006
ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, desperate to maintain a clean image in the ANC’s bitter leadership race, has unleashed his ideological bulldogs on Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. Zuma tends to sit on his hands when mud is flung at him because he wants to be seen as a unifying figure.