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/ 8 October 2004

Traverso drawn into Cape judges uproar

Deep divisions between judges at the Cape High Court have been exposed since Judge President John Hlophe angrily criticised his colleagues on the Bench for resisting transformation, and the apparent involvement of Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso in the affair now raises questions about the progress of the case that sparked the row.

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/ 8 October 2004

Hamba kahle, photography’s best friend

Andrew Meintjes died on October 5 at the age of 50 — murdered during an armed robbery at his Braamfontein, Johannesburg, studio. Meintjes was an inventor, photographer, artist and printing legend. He was a photographer’s best friend and famous among us — a Photoshop jockey who could whip any badly exposed negative into shape. Pushing the limits, he dragged out the shadow detail and found the highlights.

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/ 8 October 2004

‘We’ve got the balls of elephants’

Schabir Shaik will tell the Durban High Court next week that there was nothing improper in his relationship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma, but that they were bound together by deeply personal ties of family and political struggle. Central to the fraud and corruption charges Shaik faces is the allegation that he had a corrupt relationship with Zuma, who facilitated contracts for Shaik’s company in return for bribes. Both Zuma and Shaik have disputed this.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=Insight-National&ao=123337">Politics of patronage</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=Insight-National&ao=123340">Zuma’s popularity undented</a>

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/ 8 October 2004

Blair’s mission on Africa

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday proposed a 15 000-strong European Union battle force, including British troops, dedicated to intervening in African conflicts and deployable within 10 days of a political instruction. He said the force should be ready next year.

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/ 8 October 2004

Stoute kabouter takes on the Black Knight

They call me Liewe Heksie, but Lavinia is my name. I’m the cleverest witch that I know, and I’ve even been to the moon. That’s how I used to say hello to the children. It used to rhyme, too, when the nice uncles at the SAUK let me do my show in Afrikaans. That’s all gone now. I’m not complaining, though, you understand: my new place is small and the roof leaks, but I have my health.

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/ 8 October 2004

Dive on the wild side

When Portuguese sailors first rounded the Cape in 1488 they called it Cabo Tormentosa for the storms that buffeted their medieval vessels. Now the trials and tribulations of those early mariners — people who could in fact be called the first new South Africans — are providing a major drawcard for modern-day adventurers on the Wild Coast.

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/ 8 October 2004

Zimbabwe MPs in travel scam

Members of Parliament who represent constituencies outside Harare are raking in millions of Zimbabwean dollars every month from transport and accommodation allowances, despite staying in the capital most of the time they are attending parliamentary sessions, investigations by the <i>Zimbabwe Independent</i> have revealed.

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/ 8 October 2004

Death on the sidewalk

A packet of chips and an empty two-litre bottle of Sprite in a plastic bag are still there. This is the site where Johannesburg’s most famous unknown man was found two weeks ago, the morning after paramedics refused to put him in their ambulance because he was too dirty, stinking and flea-ridden. Anonymity has replaced humanity on the streets of Johannesburg.