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/ 17 September 2004
Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff is facing a legal challenge to her authority by the heads of two key provincial government departments — who are believed to have the support of the African National Congress in the province. In July she announced a reshuffle of the provincial Cabinet, shifting four provincial directors general to different departments — in what was seen as a bid to consolidate her grip.
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/ 17 September 2004
While she was social development minister of Gauteng, Angie Motshekga helped a trust — in which her husband played a key role — to land a stake in the lucrative provincial contract to pay pensions. Motshekga, now Gauteng’s education minister, this week denied that her then-department had recommended in 2002 that the trust be given a 6% empowerment shareholding in Allpay Gauteng. Allpay, a division of Absa, is answerable to the social development department in its R170-million a year pensions contract.
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/ 17 September 2004
The national public service strike did not succeed in shutting down South Africa on Thursday. But the government was wrong-footed by the strike turnout and the extent of public sympathy for the action, according to a strategically placed observer. While the strike call appears to have drawn a patchy response, the government was caught on the hop by the extent of public sympathy for teachers, nurses and other civil servants.
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/ 17 September 2004
Many liberal white South Africans are suffering identity crises. After 10 years of democracy they are asking themselves whether they’ve come through the rigours of transformation with their principles intact. Answer these 14 questions honestly and see where you stand.
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/ 17 September 2004
"Like many people in black business, I cannot help but suspect that the attempt by Transnet CEO Maria Ramos to present evidence of her predecessors’ incompetence is little more than an attempt to create a compelling rationale for the public to support sweeping changes at the transport and logistics company." The Transnet CEO manufactured a problem so she could get rid of the former board, argues Duma Gqubule.
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/ 17 September 2004
The United Nations Security Council has approved the extension of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea for another six months, but expressed concern over the lack of progress in efforts to resolve the dispute on the demarcation of the border between the two countries. The council also approved Secretary General Kofi Annan’s recommendation that the mission be scaled down.
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/ 17 September 2004
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, facing a general election on October 9, has been one of United States President George W Bush’s most reliable allies in the "war on terror". But the bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, last Thursday by a radical Islamic group potentially makes Howard’s loyalty to the US a political liability, as his political opponents accuse him of neglecting Australia’s security.
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/ 17 September 2004
Try to remember the kind of September when grass was green and corn was yellow. Or, if yours was an upbringing blessedly free of musicals, try to remember being little enough to have had an eternally stubbed toe and only scabby brake-pads for knees. Try to remember having jam on your forehead and burrs in your hair.
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/ 17 September 2004
Not surprisingly for a competition forced by its pool structure to go through the motions for a week, relevant cricket has been thin on the ground at the International Cricket Council Champions Trophy. The predicted poor turnouts and disconsolate weather have materialised, but where there’s a deadline there’s a headline, and frostbitten captains have been herded into press conferences to shrug and grumble about this and that.
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/ 17 September 2004
Unbelievable as it may seem, the last time that Moroka Swallows met Kaizer Chiefs in a major cup competition was 17 years ago, when Chiefs won 3-1 on aggregate in the two-legged final of the Ohlssons Cup. The first leg (won 2-1 by Chiefs) was at Kings Park in Durban. Those who were there in 1987 say that game was the most memorable match played between the two sides, and the two legs are said to have recorded the biggest aggregate crowd in South African football history — 130 000 people.