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/ 1 May 2008

We are all Brazilian

In the samba spirit that the South African Football Association seems to have been seized by, and to welcome Joel Santana, the Brazilian coach, South Africans now have an opportunity to convert their names to Brazilian ones. After all, one Brazilian turn deserves another.

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/ 21 April 2008

ANCYL head slams ‘despicable behaviour’

Newly elected African National Congress Youth League (ANC) head Julius Malema used his first letter as president to chastise those who showed ”unbecoming conduct” at the league’s conference in Bloemfontein recently. ”Thugs and hooligans who believe they can hold the organisation to ransom … will be dealt with,” said Malema on Monday.

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/ 18 April 2008

ANCYL continues fight against alcohol abuse

”Alcohol abuse among our youth has reached alarming proportions. People who drink are engaged in violence and sexual abuse …We will continue to campaign to deliver a better life to our youth and educate them on the ills of alcohol abuse,” says newly elected African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema.

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/ 15 April 2008

ANC: Zimbabwe is in a state of crisis

Zimbabwe is in a state of crisis, the African National Congress (ANC) national working committee said on Monday. ”The ANC regards [the ruling] Zanu-PF as an ally. However, it is concerned with the state of crisis that Zimbabwe is in and perceives this as negative for the entire Southern African Development Community region,” said spokesperson Jesse Duarte.

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/ 8 April 2008

Hamstrung ANCYL looks to Mantashe for help

The national congress of the African National Congress Youth League was indefinitely postponed on Monday evening after being unable to finish its work or confirm the results of its leadership election. Electoral commission member Malusi Gigaba told journalists in Bloemfontein that the League would ask the ANC to help solve its differences.

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/ 6 April 2008

Two in running for ANCYL presidency

Two candidates were nominated for the vacant post of African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president at the organisation’s national congress in Bloemfontein on Sunday. A spokesperson also confirmed that some delegates had been ”barred” — by provincial structures — from the conference following incidents of disturbances and ill-behaviour.

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/ 3 April 2008

Mbalula tells Pityana to wake up and smell the coffee

Outgoing African National Congress Youth League president Fikile Mbalula on Thursday criticised University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana for making ”a clown of himself” regarding his comments about ANC president Jacob Zuma. Mbalula said the league condemned the continued slander by self-imposed political commentators on the integrity of Zuma.

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/ 3 April 2008

Delegates in Bloemfontein for ANCYL conference

Hundreds of delegates arrived at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein on Thursday for the national conference of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). Although the programme for the day had not started by 11am, delegates already inside and outside the Callie Human Centre were dancing and singing songs, waiting for proceedings to start.

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/ 31 March 2008

Zuma ‘does not encourage confidence’

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma has failed to inspire confidence during his first few months at the party’s helm, says University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana. ”We now enter a new era. It is a time shrouded in anxiety and uncertainty with the looming presidency of Jacob Zuma and a new assertive leadership of the ANC,” he said on Monday.

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/ 20 March 2008

No decision on disciplining Scorpions boss

A decision on what disciplinary measures, if any, will be taken against Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy over the Browse Mole report is expected ”soon”, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development said on Thursday. ”A recommendation has been made to the minister and she will act,” said spokesperson Zolile Nqayi.

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/ 27 February 2008

Racist video slammed as ‘barbaric’

A racist video — featuring University of the Free State employees on their knees eating food that had been urinated upon — was widely condemned by various institutions and political parties on Wednesday. The video, made by members of the Reitz men’s residence on the Bloemfontein campus, came to the attention of the public on Tuesday.

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/ 18 February 2008

In league with sustainable cool

Members of the ANC Youth League can’t claim they didn’t anticipate the reaction they got when they announced their campaign to ban the selling of liquor on Sunday. Religious groups, particularly Christians who regard Sunday as the day of worship, have welcomed the campaign. Liquor traders and others inclined towards civil liberties have stopped short of accusing the Youth League of being drunk.

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/ 17 February 2008

SA battles national identity crisis

A draft loyalty pledge has plunged South Africa into a new identity crisis as it mulls its common values 14 years after discarding apartheid to forge a united society under a single flag. As the motley rainbow nation quibbles over a government proposal to introduce a pledge of allegiance in schools, some ideological battle lines are being redrawn.

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/ 13 February 2008

ANC Youth League meets traders on liquor ban

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) met the South African Liquor Traders’ Association (Salta) in Johannesburg on Wednesday to discuss a proposed liquor ban on Sundays. The league proposed to ban Sunday liquor sales after its annual national executive committee’s lekgotla (meeting) two weeks ago.

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/ 12 February 2008

ANCYL: No decision on Zuma reinstatement

There has been no decision by the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) to call for the reinstatement of party president Jacob Zuma as deputy president of the country, the league’s spokesperson said on Monday. ”If there was a decision, it would have been communicated,” said spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.

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/ 6 February 2008

ANCYL gains support for Sunday liquor ban

Support widened on Wednesday for the African National Congress Youth League’s call for a ban on the sale of alcohol on Sundays as part of the fight against drug and substance abuse among youths. Both the African Christian Democratic Party and the Young Communist League said the idea should be given serious thought.

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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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/ 16 January 2008

Deputy chief justice to answer ANC critics

Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke will answer his critics in the African National Congress (ANC) in a statement to be issued on Thursday. The ANC’s national working committee has accused Moseneke of showing disdain for delegates to its national conference in December last year in remarks made at his recent 60th birthday party.

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/ 15 January 2008

ANC takes issue with deputy chief justice

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) on Tuesday called on Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to apologise for remarks he made about the party at his birthday celebrations. This comes shortly after an ANC statement saying that Moseneke’s comments showed disdain for delegates at the ANC national conference in December.

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/ 11 January 2008

The ANC is not divided, says Zuma

In his first weekly online newsletter to African National Congress (ANC) members, Jacob Zuma, the new party leader, insisted on Friday that there were no fundamental policy differences among any members or leaders of the ANC. ”The vibrant debate that is sometimes misconstrued as division is merely differences of opinion,” he wrote.

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/ 9 January 2008

DA points to ‘dire’ shortage of teachers

Shortages of teachers and textbooks and belated efforts to enrol children were some of the problems plaguing public schools on the first day of term on Wednesday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said. ”It’s clear that the shortage of classrooms and teachers is dire. One teacher told us that there are between 60 and 70 children to one class.”