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/ 3 February 2005
Jomo Cosmos eased their relegation woes when they beat a struggling Santos 2-0 in a Castle Premier Soccer League match played at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night. Santos, on the other hand, now face a real danger of being relegated. Both goals were scored in the first half.
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/ 3 February 2005
Officials at the police watchdog body, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), are circulating sexually explicit jokes about President Thabo Mbeki on the organisation’s internal e-mail system. A senior official at the ICD said the jokes were ”grossly disrespectful” and has laid a formal complaint with the police.
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/ 2 February 2005
Listed media group Moneyweb Holdings has agreed to sell 80% of its 19,62% stake in radio station Classic FM to empowerment group Huntrex for a cash consideration of R4-million, Moneyweb said on Wednesday. Moneyweb said the disposal will take effect from the earlier of February 15 or the payment of the first tranche of R2-million.
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/ 2 February 2005
South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs has signed a contract to play for the English club Lashings later this year from June to August. The club’s owner, David Folb, has brought a ”Harlem Globetrotter” element to the team in the past few years when it contracted some of the world’s greatest cricketers, past and present.
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/ 2 February 2005
Local producers of blue agave spirit, used in the production of a tequila-like drink, leave next week for Canada and the United States to conclude trade agreements. International interest in the South African product had been overwhelming, particularly in view of the worldwide tequila shortage.
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/ 2 February 2005
The official opposition has welcomed the South African Reserve Bank’s announcement that it will be changing the national payments system to create room for increased competition in South African banking. The Democratic Alliance said the move will encourage lower service charges.
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/ 2 February 2005
Health managers in the Eastern Cape face censure and possible dismissal if they do not deal with complaints about negligence at hospitals under their care, health minister Bevan Goqwana said on Wednesday. In a statement, Goqwana warned quality assurance managers to ”pull up their socks or ship out”.
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/ 2 February 2005
The Inkatha Freedom Party has expressed its shock at the suspension of Compensation Fund commissioner Bongiwe Ncube, apparently under investigation for management irregularities. ”The IFP demands that the case be discussed openly,” IFP labour spokesperson Prince Nhlahla Zulu said in a statement on Wednesday.
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/ 2 February 2005
Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett had been appointed Western Province’s (WP) director of rugby, the president of the WP Rugby Football Union, Koos Basson, announced on Tuesday. The newly created position forms part of the strategic vision for WP rugby. Mallett has been appointed on a contract basis for three years.
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/ 1 February 2005
Unity Insurance — a new short-term insurance company owned 50,1% by Telesure Investments, the holding company of Auto & General, and 49,9% by a variety of black shareholders — has been launched in South Africa, the company said on Tuesday. Unity aims to bring black-empowered insurance products to the South African market.
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/ 1 February 2005
The opening of this year’s session of the South African Parliament by President Thabo Mbeki next week, on Friday February 11, is set to cost about R1,2-million, according to the government news agency BuaNews. It is "to be a spectacular affair, with South Africans from all walks of life expected to grace the event".
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/ 1 February 2005
Listed black economic empowerment fishing, medical equipment and information technology group Sekunjalo Investments has acquired 81,56% of the entire issued capital in the computer company Synergy Computing. The acquisition of Synergy boosts Sekunjalo’s strategic growth in its IT portfolio
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/ 31 January 2005
Ajax Cape Town beat Swaziland’s Mhlambanyatsi Rovers in the first leg of the first round of the CAF Champions league by 1-0 at Newlands on Sunday. The goal came in the 35th minute when clever play by Brent Carelse saw the ball go to Nhlanhla Tshabalala, whose powerful shot ricocheted into the goal off a defender.
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/ 29 January 2005
Former anti-apartheid activist Allan Boesak was welcomed back into the fold in Bishopscourt on Friday evening by the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongokulu Ndungane. Earlier in the month Boesak received a presidential pardon from Thabo Mbeki, expunging his criminal record of a fraud conviction.
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/ 28 January 2005
Former provincial rugby player and soap-opera actor Deon Coetzee was fined R10 000 or three years in jail on Friday for drunken driving. He appeared in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court before magistrate Clive Linden, who suspended half the fine for five years, leaving Coetzee (43) to pay a fine of R5 000, which he did.
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/ 28 January 2005
Scorpions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said in a statement on Friday that the 40 MPs implicated in the Travelgate scandal — 27 current and 13 former MPs — will appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on February 18. The names of the MPs — who allegedly used their travel vouchers for illicit purposes — will be disclosed when they appear in court.
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/ 28 January 2005
The African National Congress has accused the influential British newspaper The Economist of publishing ”outright falsehoods” in an article on President Thabo Mbeki. It makes the claim in an anonymous article posted on the party’s website on Friday, in reaction to an Economist report on Mbeki last week titled ”The man with two faces”.
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/ 28 January 2005
The Freedom Front Plus, which has waged a parliamentary campaign against retrenchments at Telkom, has congratulated the partly state-owned company and its three trade unions after an agreement was struck to put the redundancy of 4 300 of its workers on the back-burner.
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/ 28 January 2005
South Africa has sacrificed the nation’s sporting potential once before under apartheid, and the country should not make the same mistake again, says official opposition leader Tony Leon. ”If the state applies racial criteria to cricket and rugby, what is next? Will there be quotas for bridge and lawn bowls?” Leon asked in his weekly newsletter.
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/ 28 January 2005
The burgeoning cheese industry in South Africa, which has been around for more than 100 years, is set to benefit when the first plug of formerly disadvantaged cheesemakers goes to France to learn more about the trade. The objective is to offer cheesemakers the opportunity to gain new skills and expertise by doing an intensive, three-week course.
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/ 27 January 2005
The war of words between former Western Cape Independent Democrats leader Lennit Max and the ID’s top brass refused to settle on Thursday, with Max refuting earlier claims by party leader Patricia de Lille that he had ”unconditionally” withdrawn high court litigation.
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/ 27 January 2005
SA Rugby has named a team of 12 to represent the country in the next two rounds of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens Series to be held in New Zealand and the United States in February. The players leave on Sunday January 30 for the Wellington leg and then jet off to the US for the Los Angeles tournament.
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/ 27 January 2005
Suspended Independent Democrats Western Cape legislature member and former Western Cape leader Lennit Max has withdrawn his application against his suspension and upcoming disciplinary hearing by Patricia de Lille’s party. The announcement was made by De Lille on the steps of the High Court in Cape Town to a cry of joy from about 40 supporters.
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/ 27 January 2005
Ajax Cape Town goalkeeper Molep Joseph had to watch his team go down 2-1 in a Premier Soccer League game at Newlands on Wednesday night. The South African Football Association had slapped an indefinite suspension on him because he tested positive for the banned substance salbutanol after failing a drug test on January 11.
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/ 27 January 2005
Mining group Harmony was in a position last year to ”materially influence” key strategy of hostile takeover target Gold Fields, the Competition Appeal Court has found. Judge Dennis Davis on Thursday gave the court’s reasons for its decision in November to interdict Harmony from exercising voting rights attached to shares it had acquired in Gold Fields.
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/ 26 January 2005
Eight current and former MPs have been served with summonses for repayment of more than R1,3-million in travel claims. The eight are Mnyamazeli Booi, Bangilizwe Solo, Jabu Sosibo, Barbara Thompson, Makatse Maine, Patrick Maloyi, Pemmy Majodina and Buti Mkhaliphi. The summonses were served in Cape Town on Tuesday.
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/ 26 January 2005
BMW has announced that Wolfgang Stadler will succeed Ian Robertson as managing director of BMW South Africa on February 1 2005. As reported late last year, Robertson will be leaving South Africa to assume the post of chairperson and CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, in Goodwood in the United Kingdom.
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/ 26 January 2005
The Cape High Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of environmental group Earthlife Africa when it set aside the Director General of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Dr Chippy Olver’s authorisation of construction of a pebble bed modular reactor.
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/ 26 January 2005
South Africa’s official opposition has welcomed the step taken by one of its backbench MPs, Craig Morkel, in taking voluntary suspension. ”[Morkel’s] attorneys were informed yesterday [Tuesday] that he is among the 40 MPs the Scorpions intend to prosecute,” Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said.
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/ 26 January 2005
Coronation Fund Managers (Coronation) has secured third-party funding for its broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) staff transaction with the Imvula Trust, the group announced on Wednesday. Arising from the transaction, the company is proposing a distribution of 25 cents per Coronation share to shareholders.
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/ 26 January 2005
Sixteen of the best horses currently racing in South Africa go to the post just after 5pm on Saturday afternoon to contest the R1,5-million J&B Met at Kenilworth in Cape Town. As always, this is no ordinary race — it is an event that brings the Cape capital to a standstill for many locals and overseas visitors.
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/ 25 January 2005
South Africa’s much-awaited Convergence Bill has been given the nod "in principle" for its submission to Parliament by the South African Cabinet, according to government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe. However, the Bill is unlikely to be tabled in Parliament for a while as it must still go through checks by state law advisers.