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/ 4 February 2005

New front in Zimbabwe battle

The Congress of South African Trade Unions’s (Cosatu) expulsion from Zimbabwe this week has triggered a wave of protest among South African civil society organisations, church groups and youth organisations riled by the African National Congress’s policy of "quiet diplomacy".

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/ 4 February 2005

‘Plea bargains won’t keep MPs out of jail’

The newly appointed national director of public prosecution, Vusi Pikoli, this week spoke out on a number of controversial issues, from the perceived "preferential" treatment of MPs involved in the Travelgate scam to speculation that the Scorpions unit would be moved from the National Prosecuting Authority to the South African Police Service. On Travelgate, he told the <i>M&G</i> the law would take its course

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/ 4 February 2005

Mother City township projects lose out

The Cape Town council has slashed hundreds of millions of rands from its capital budget — effectively halting scores of its own township-based infrastructure projects — while redirecting about R246-million to the flagship N2 Gateway Project, the government’s pilot initiative to eradicate shacks. About 12 000 families will be relocated as part of the development.

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/ 4 February 2005

Jobs cut as De Beers’s profits rise

De Beers Consolidated Mines will most certainly start its planned job cuts in Koffiefontein. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> reported three weeks ago that the diamond miner planned to cut 1&nbsp;400 jobs in its South African operations. The Koffiefontein mine is located in the southern Free State and employs 795 people.

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/ 4 February 2005

Desperate Harmony pulls out the stops

The wry Jo’burg adage "save face, not money" is again coming true as Harmony Gold extricates itself from its fast-failing bid for Gold Fields. The conundrum that Harmony now faces is how to put a positive spin on the expensive and embarrassing consequences of what promises to become an abortive bid.

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/ 4 February 2005

Zuma: Damaging new evidence emerges

In the week that the African National Congress Youth League again endorsed Deputy President Jacob Zuma to succeed President Thabo Mbeki, a raft of new evidence concerning the allegedly corrupt relationship between Zuma and Durban businessman Schabir Shaik emerged at the Shaik trial.

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/ 4 February 2005

Land clashes sweep Kenya

Hundreds of thousands of hectares belonging to the elite lie fallow and unused, while impoverished Kenyans kill one another for access to tiny parcels of overworked land and muddy trickles that were once rivers. The flames of rebellion have been fanned by a drought, failed harvests and increasing competition between crop and cattle farmers.

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/ 3 February 2005

King of Nepal orders news blackout

Days after seizing power, King Gyandendra moved on Thursday to tighten his grip over Nepal by clamping down on the media — issuing a ban on independent news broadcasts and threatening to punish newspapers for reports that run counter to the official monarchist line. Meanwhile, a Maoist call for a nationwide strike went unheeded.