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/ 23 December 2007
Smokers in France are enjoying their last leisurely puffs on a cigarette over coffee or a glass of rouge before café, restaurants and nightclubs join a nationwide ban on smoking on January 1. Eleven months after smoking was outlawed in workplaces, schools, hospitals and shops, the ban is extending to bars and bistros.
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/ 23 December 2007
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Former president Nelson Mandela has praised Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress (ANC), as a man who could unify the divided party. In a message of congratulations, Mandela said: ”Our experience of Comrade Zuma is of a person and leader who is inclusive in his approach, a unifier and one who values reconciliation and collective leadership.”
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/ 21 December 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) plans to examine further a proposal to set up a media tribunal, the party said on Friday. The notion was discussed and adopted at the ANC national conference this week, said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama. A task team will now be set up to investigate ”the necessity or otherwise” of a media tribunal.
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/ 21 December 2007
Microfinance services for the world’s very poor will likely continue to grow despite any global downturn, Citigroup says, but said the sector must diversify beyond small loans to saving and insurance schemes. Citigroup is seen as one of the leaders in the microfinance sector amongst major global banks.
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/ 21 December 2007
Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile spoke to Lucky Sindane about the new Sports Amendment Act, which allows government to intervene in all sporting matters. He said that once the playing grounds have been levelled, our children will start from the same starter blocks with an equal preparation and opportunity to win.
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/ 21 December 2007
The ANC, its outgoing treasurer said in Polokwane this week, repaid the R11-million Oilgate “donation” immediately it appeared there was a dispute about it. So why is state oil company PetroSA — read the taxpayer — still owed millions? Mendi Msimang’s acknowledgment was the first clear confirmation by an ANC official, two and a half years after the Mail & Guardian broke the story, that the party had received the money.
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/ 21 December 2007
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) was the undisputed kingmaker. ”People did not believe us when we told them we were going to rewrite history at this conference,” ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula was quoted as saying by the Times newspaper this week.
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/ 21 December 2007
The transnational family, nourished by email, chatrooms, long-distance calls and SMSs has increasingly become a feature of migrant communities. In this virtual family the husband might be living and working in South Africa, his wife slaving away as a nurse in England and their children at school in Zimbabwe, their country of origin.
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/ 20 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>The African National Congress’s (ANC) new, 80-member national executive committee was announced at the end of the party’s 52nd national conference in Polokwane at midnight on Thursday evening. Topping the list with 2 845 votes (out of 3 605 votes cast) was Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
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/ 20 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>"We cannot have a Zuma camp or a Mbeki camp; there is only one ANC. None among us is above the organisation or bigger than the ANC," said new African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma on Thursday as the party’s 52nd national conference in Polokwane came to an end.