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/ 3 June 2008

Gatland: Fitness could give Boks an edge

Wales coach Warren Gatland said that the physical conditioning of South African players could give the world champion Springboks an edge in the first Test in Bloemfontein on Saturday. ”That’s one of the biggest fears we’ve got — how physical and fit these South African players are from the Super 14,” said Gatland.

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/ 3 June 2008

‘Can’t have JSC fiddling’ on Hlophe

The General Council of the Bar, representing most of the country’s advocates, on Tuesday added its voice to calls for Cape Judge President John Hlophe to step down. Chairperson Jannie Eksteen said if Hlophe did not voluntarily go on leave, the minister of justice or the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) ”must see how that can be facilitated as a matter of urgency”.

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/ 3 June 2008

SABC board appointment process to be reviewed

The procedures of appointing the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) board are to be reviewed, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said on Tuesday. Speaking in the National Assembly she said there had been a national debate about the SABC as a result of views that emerged out of the assembly’s communications committee hearings.

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/ 3 June 2008

Call for Hlophe to step down

Cape Judge President John Hlophe should step down from his post until the latest complaint against him has been resolved, according to the Cape Bar Council. ”It would be untenable for Judge Hlophe to continue in office pending the determination of the complaint by the Judicial Services Commission,” the council said on Tuesday.

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/ 3 June 2008

‘They are terrorised, they are traumatised’

Immigrant leaders in South Africa said on Monday that thousands of refugees frustrated at miserable living conditions were on the point of retaliating against a wave of xenophobic attacks. Tens of thousands of immigrants have been forced to take refuge at temporary shelters around the country after mobs began attacking foreigners.

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/ 2 June 2008

Court dismisses arms-deal application

A Cape High Court judge on Monday dismissed an application to force Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to hand over arms-deal documents, activist Terry Crawford-Browne said. He said Judge Daniel Dlodlo ruled in essence ”that I had waited too long in asserting my rights to discovery of the documents”.

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/ 2 June 2008

Leon slams Hlophe, Mbeki and Zuma

The Democratic Alliance’s Tony Leon on Monday accused President Thabo Mbeki, African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and Cape Judge President John Hlophe of ”constitutional vandalism”. Addressing the Mizrachi Organisation in Cape Town, the former DA leader called for a government inclusive of ”all talent” available.

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/ 2 June 2008

Zille: DA will fight Expropriation Bill

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has not given up on the parliamentary process dealing with the Expropriation Bill, party leader Helen Zille said on Monday. She said the fact that DA MP Sydney Opperman last week staged a walkout during public hearings on the measure does not mean that the party will no longer participate in further parliamentary processes.

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/ 2 June 2008

Tense moments as refugees march on Parliament

There were a few tense moments on Monday when a crowd of several hundred refugees marched to Parliament to air their grievances over the recent xenophobic violence. After being addressed by, among others, Zackie Achmat of the Treatment Action Campaign, sections of the crowd surged towards a small line of police officers outside the main gates of Parliament.

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/ 31 May 2008

Wales expecting no miracles

Six Nations champions Wales will be looking to match everything the Springboks throw at them in the next fortnight when the teams meet in a two-Test series. But coach Warren Gatland said he was expecting no miracles from his injury-depleted squad that arrived in South Africa on Friday morning.

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/ 31 May 2008

How Du Noon erupted

"I don’t have a big problem with kwerekweres. I broke [into] their homes and stole their stuff because they have so much more than me. But they’re okay, some of them are friendly. They can come back — we wouldn’t do it again and the police took back the fridge and TV I took".

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/ 30 May 2008

Madisha: SACP favoured cash to foil creditors

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has on several occasions taken large donations in cash in order to foil its creditors, according to former Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha. He made the claim in an article in the Cape Times on Friday, in which he sought to ”set the record straight” on events surrounding his axing.

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/ 30 May 2008

SA to launch ‘beautiful’ battery car

A South African-designed, battery-operated passenger car is to be unveiled early next year, Deputy Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom announced on Friday. The development of the vehicle could not have come at a better time, he told MPs during debate in Parliament on the science and technology budget vote.

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/ 29 May 2008

Karoo drought ‘becoming critical’

Drought in the central Karoo has reached critical proportions, Agri Wes-Cape said on Thursday. ”Large numbers of game and livestock are dying each day from the drought, and lambs perish at birth because the ewes simply do not produce milk,” the farmers’ organisation said in a statement.