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/ 27 February 2005

Unjustified criticism of judiciary

According to an article in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> two weeks ago, Professor Shadrack Gutto of the University of South Africa criticised the Judicial Service Commission and implicitly the judiciary for having failed to take effective action to establish procedures to deal with complaints against judges. Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson responds.

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/ 27 February 2005

An election to quicken Zim’s sunset

"The only explanation I can fathom for the Movement for Democratic Change’s participation in next month’s Zimbabwean Parliamentary election is that they are only doing what my great-aunt advised me to do many years ago. All they need is an election, any election. Why else would they be participating in an election so flawed and so hopeless?" writes Everjoice Win.

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/ 27 February 2005

Mandela, Mbeki say goodbye to Oom Ray

President Thabo Mbeki and former president Nelson Mandela heaped praise on the late Raymond Mhlaba at his funeral in Port Elizabeth on Sunday. ”Raymond Mhlaba was one of the most committed comrades I had the honour to know and work with in my many years in the liberation struggle,” Mandela told mourners.

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/ 27 February 2005

New Togo leader pledges free and fair elections

Togo’s new leader, Abass Bonfoh, made interim head of state during the night by Parliament, on Saturday promised ”free and open elections” within 60 days, to end a political crisis that has seen the country isolated internationally. He was speaking the day after army-installed ruler Faure Gnassingbe stood down, pledging an election.

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/ 27 February 2005

Cyclone Percy devastates tiny island nation

The tiny Pacific island nation of Tokelau called for food and medical supplies on Saturday after suffering heavy damage from tropical Cyclone Percy. As the powerful storm headed towards American Samoa’s Swains Island, residents on the New Zealand-administered Tokelau islands began counting the cost of the battering from gale-force winds and high seas.

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/ 27 February 2005

Welding equipment may have sparked high-rise fire

A fire that engulfed the upper floors of a high-rise building in central Taiwan, killing four people, could have been started by welding equipment being used in a new restaurant, firefighters said on Sunday. The fire on the 22-floor Golden Plaza Tower building in Taichung city blazed for about 80 minutes on Saturday before it was put out.

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/ 27 February 2005

HIV-positive women compete in beauty pageant

A dozen HIV-positive women donned flowing evening gowns and glittering jewellery in Gaborone, Botswana, on Saturday to compete in a beauty pageant aimed at fighting the stigma that still surrounds the deadly virus in this Aids-ravaged Southern African country. Botswana has one of the world’s highest rates of HIV infection.