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/ 5 February 2008

ANC branch meeting ends in blows

A number of African National Congress (ANC) members at Alice in the Eastern Cape have sustained injuries after a branch meeting ended in an exchange of blows, it was reported on Monday. Reports said a group of party supporters arrived at Khayalethu village during the registration process for an AGM and called for its dissolution.

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/ 4 February 2008

ANCYL proposes liquor ban on Sundays

A ban on Sunday liquor sales was proposed as a part of the fight against drug and substance abuse among youths, outgoing African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Fikile Mbalula said on Monday. ”The ANCYL will propose that all clubs and taverns be banned from selling liquor on Sundays and their trading hours should be limited.”

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/ 4 February 2008

ANC: Mbeki backers won’t be purged

African National Congress (ANC) leaders who supported President Thabo Mbeki in the build-up to the party’s elective conference in Polokwane will not be victimised, the party’s newly elected leadership said on Monday. The ANC said fears that there would be a purge were baseless as the party had no intention to change its traditions.

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/ 4 February 2008

Students paid for vice-chancellor’s misrule

The chickens have come home to roost for Aubrey Mokadi, the fallen vice-chancellor of Vaal University of Technology (VUT), almost two years after a government inquiry described his management style as dictatorial and ”delusional”. A Council on Higher Education quality audit found that graduation rates at VUT have, in the past decade, fluctuated between 10% and 14%.

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/ 3 February 2008

ANC MPs seen as loyal to Mbeki fear the axe

Fear now stalks the corridors of African National Congress (ANC) power as the party’s new president, Jacob Zuma, asserts his authority in Parliament, the provinces and the party structures, the Sunday Times reported. ANC MPs made their anxiety known in a closed meeting of the ANC’s parliamentary caucus on Thursday.

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/ 2 February 2008

Rebels advance on Chadian capital

Fighting broke out between Chadian rebels and government forces just north of the capital on Saturday, both sides said, as France prepared to evacuate its nationals in the face of the rebel advance. ”Fighting between government forces and rebels has started at about 20km north of Ndjamena,” a military source said.

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/ 2 February 2008

ANC MP backs down on prostitution comments

An African National Congress (ANC) MP on Friday apologised to women for his comments that prostitution be legalised ahead of the Soccer World Cup. ”I wish to submit my profound and unreserved apology to all women of South Africa for the manner in which these comments in the portfolio committee were attributed,” said George Lekgetho.

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/ 2 February 2008

France’s fragile fraudster

Jerome Kerviel, an introverted young city trader, lived on a tree-lined street in Neuilly-­­sur-Seine, a wealthy Paris suburb. Its yuppies live by Nicolas Sarkozy’s mantra "work more to earn more". So when a handsome, well-dressed but solitary young banker rose at dawn every day for work and returned late at night to his one-bedroom flat, neighbours thought his dedication was to be encouraged.

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/ 1 February 2008

ANC eyes improved attendance at Parliament

Dealing with poor attendance by African National Congress (ANC) members at parliamentary and caucus meetings would be one of the year’s priorities, the party’s chief whip said on Friday. Nathi Mthethwa said: ”Inculcating a culture of discipline among some of the organisation’s public representatives in this institution will form part of the priorities.”