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/ 24 February 2005
Bio-warrior Wouter Basson’s tangled web of explanations about almost 100 front companies set up while he was head of Project Coast began to unravel in the Constitutional Court this week. For the first time, details of Basson’s testimony at an October 1997 bail hearing have entered the public domain. They contrast sharply with his evidence in a 30-month trial in the Pretoria High Court.
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/ 24 February 2005
The topic of campaign finance is rarely far from the minds of politicians or pundits in the run-up to elections — and Zimbabwe is no exception to this rule. With the country in the midst of a political and economic crisis, it may even be a hotter topic of discussion here than elsewhere. Parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe in six weeks’ time.
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/ 24 February 2005
A witches’ brew of grievances — including fees, transport costs, language demands and state plans to slash student numbers — underlines this week’s turmoil on newly merged campuses. Students and university managements clashed as police cracked down at the universities of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Tshwane.
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/ 24 February 2005
South African captain Graeme Smith will definitely play in the first Standard Bank limited-overs cricket match against Zimbabwe at the Wanderers on Friday. He said the coming series might be tougher than expected. ”You’re not sure about the bowler you’re going to be playing against … you don’t know what you’re going to face.”
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/ 24 February 2005
The right of the public to information on covert crimes in the apartheid years might justify a proper adjudication of quashed charges against Wouter Basson, a Constitutional Court judge said on Thursday. The South African and Namibian public, especially relatives of people who disappeared, have the right to obtain clarity, Judge Albie Sachs stated.
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/ 24 February 2005
United States President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought common ground on Thursday on keeping conventional and nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, a positive note in talks likely to raise sensitive questions about Russia’s support of Iran and democratic rollbacks.
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/ 24 February 2005
A military court on Thursday fined and demoted two Zimbabwean army officers after one of their subordinates accidentally shot 14 spectators during a mock battle at a fair last September. They breached the Defence Act by failing to carry out ”necessary safety precautions”, including ensuring that their troops would not use live ammunition during the show.
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/ 24 February 2005
Year-on-year producer price inflation for all commodities for South African consumption (PPI) came in lower at 1,4% in January, compared with 1,9% in December, Statistics SA said on Thursday. Thus production price in January 2005 had increased by 1,4% from January 2004, but this increase was lower than the 1,9% increase from December 2003 to December 2004.
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/ 24 February 2005
The Pretoria High Court has made an order compelling the government to provide information on all genetically modified organisms (GMOs) brought into or manufactured in South Africa. The court made the order on Thursday, on the application of the environmental lobby group Biowatch.