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/ 14 February 2008
The Cape Cobras cruised to a third successive victory in the MTN Domestic Championship at Newlands on Wednesday, beating the Lions by six wickets with four overs to spare. The Lions won the toss and elected to bat first. Stephen Cook and stand-in captain Alviro Petersen got them off to a flying start with a partnership of 61 off 79 balls.
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/ 14 February 2008
Ajax Cape Town maintained their position at the top of the Premier Soccer League standings with a well-deserved 3-1 win over Bloemfontein Celtic at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night. The opening minutes of the game were scrappy as neither team were able to stamp their authority on the match.
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/ 13 February 2008
Security guard Richard Engelbrecht, who on Wednesday pleaded guilty in the Cape High Court to the rape and murder of Cape Flats schoolgirl Annestacia Wiese, alleges that police threatened him with harm if he did not confess to a magistrate. Although he has pleaded guilty, the judge has not yet pronounced him guilty.
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/ 13 February 2008
The management of Port Elizabeth’s Jose Pearson Tuberculosis (TB) Hospital has taken steps to crack down on dagga smoking by patients with drug-resistant strains of TB. Some patients with extensively or multidrug-resistant TB being held in isolation have been using their cellphones to order the drug.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday urged President Thabo Mbeki to disband the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry into suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli in view of ”disturbing new evidence”.
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/ 13 February 2008
South Africa’s consumers will continue to fuel economic growth as their incomes increase, a government minister said on Wednesday. Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa told Parliament on Wednesday the economy had gone through structural changes and consumer spending will be resilient.
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/ 13 February 2008
The African National Congress (ANC) has rejected the call made on Tuesday by the Democratic Alliance for Parliament to be dissolved and new elections held, as well as the call made by the Independent Democrats for the government to resign. A statement issued by the ANC on Wednesday said: ”We believe that such calls have no merit.”
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/ 13 February 2008
The KwaZulu-Natal doctor who faces a disciplinary hearing for giving dual-therapy drugs to babies at risk of HIV infection should be hailed as a hero, a doctors’ organisation said on Wednesday. ”To discipline him for doing his ethical duty is disgraceful,” the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society said in a statement.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Department of Home Affairs expects to introduce the proposed new smart-card identity document (ID) to the general public within two years, it said on Wednesday. The card will replace the old ID, which is prone to fraud. The new ID will be much more difficult to forge.
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/ 13 February 2008
Steve Goodwin, the man who has been described as the real founder of Fidentia, has been named repeatedly in a draft indictment against J Arthur Brown. The 38-page document was handed over by prosecutors this week when Brown and the suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, Piet Bothma, appeared briefly in court.
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/ 13 February 2008
A resolution to open up the arms deal to further discussion was shot down by the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday. Democratic Alliance MP Eddie Trent, who brought the proposal, finally withdrew it and agreed to the suggestion that the committee merely look into what progress has been made in implementing Scopa’s recommendations.
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/ 13 February 2008
The government has not yet decided whether it will be compulsory for school children to recite a pledge each morning. Lunga Ngqengelele, Education Minister Naledi Pandor’s spokesperson, said: ”From the department’s point of view, we would want each and every school to recite it.”
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/ 13 February 2008
Former leader of the Democratic Alliance Tony Leon, who now speaks for the party on foreign affairs, has launched a scathing attack on South Africa’s plan to host a second World Conference against Racism in Durban next year. "Quite what good will come of this exercise remains open to serious question," he said.
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/ 12 February 2008
Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille on Tuesday moved a motion calling on President Thabo Mbeki and his Cabinet to resign over the energy crisis. Speaking in the National Assembly during debate on Mbeki’s State of the Nation address, she said the ID has lost confidence in the government and its leaders.
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/ 12 February 2008
Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Sandra Botha tabled a notice of motion in the National Assembly on Tuesday calling for Parliament to be dissolved. Speaking during debate on President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address, she said in order to tackle the challenges currently facing South Africa, it is necessary to start from a clean slate.
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/ 12 February 2008
South Africa’s elite, FBI-style Scorpions anti-crime unit will be dissolved, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Tuesday. ”The Scorpions … will be dissolved and the organised crime unit of the police will be phased out and a new, amalgamated unit will be created,” Nqakula told Parliament in Cape Town.
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/ 12 February 2008
South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Mandisi Mpahlwa, said on Tuesday the country’s support for a planned aluminium smelter at Coega remained unshaken despite a power shortage. Eskom said in January that electricity intensive investment projects could be reviewed due to the country’s power shortage.
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/ 12 February 2008
Universities will receive R3,6-billion in government money for increasing graduates and improving infrastructure following a finding in 2004 that subsidy levels have been declining, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said in Cape Town on Tuesday.
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/ 12 February 2008
The Blue Bulls have refused to allow South Africa lock Bakkies Botha to join French second division Toulon. Ian Schwartz, media spokesperson for the Blue Bulls, said on Monday that Botha would not be released from his contract. ”We had no option but to decline his request,” Schwartz was quoted as saying.
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/ 12 February 2008
South Africa number eight Pierre Spies is expected to return to full training at the end of February after spending seven months on the sidelines. A statement issued by the Blue Bulls on Monday said the province’s doctor was satisfied with Spies’s recovery and as long as everything went to plan he would start to take part in contact sessions at the end of the month.
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/ 11 February 2008
The Erasmus commission, appointed to look into the Cape Town city council ”spy” saga, has suspended its hearings following a request on Monday by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, who says he is seeking legal advice on the inquiry. Rasool’s request was prompted by objections from Cape Town mayor Helen Zille.
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/ 11 February 2008
The Independent Democrats (ID) on Monday dismissed as false claims by Cape Town mayor Helen Zille that the Democratic Alliance (DA) did not sanction the bribery of ID councillor Sheval Arendse. Simon Grindrod, ID caucus leader for the city, said it was clear that the bribery was done with the full blessing of the DA leadership.
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/ 11 February 2008
South Africans can expect tight energy supply for another four years, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said in Cape Town on Monday. The country’s energy supply problems are no different from those of other developing countries, he told a media briefing in Parliament.
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/ 10 February 2008
The print media was, as usual, overreacting to the African National Congress’s (ANC) intentions to investigate the establishment of a media tribunal in South Africa, ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe said on Sunday. Motlanthe was speaking at the South African National Editors’ Forum question-and-answer session in Cape Town.
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/ 9 February 2008
The festive tone that once marked South African President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation speeches was absent when he outlined his priorities for 2008 on Friday, two months after losing control of his ruling party. There was less cheering, singing and dancing as Mbeki’s motorcade pulled up to the Parliament buildings.
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/ 8 February 2008
The African National Congress parliamentary caucus was full of praise on Friday for President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address, while opposition parties expressed optimism about the future of the Scorpions detective unit following the president’s address.
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/ 8 February 2008
South Africa remains on course to become a winning nation, said President Thabo Mbeki on Friday during his State of the Nation address in Parliament — but, "I am aware of the fact that many in our society are troubled by a deep sense of unease about where our country will be tomorrow". He spoke at length on the electricity crisis and the war on poverty, among other thorny matters.
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/ 7 February 2008
The Erasmus commission appointed to look into the Cape Town city council ”spy” saga is ”unlawful and unconstitutional”, city mayor Helen Zille said on Thursday. Zille said she had written a letter to Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool asking him to reconsider the commission on the grounds that it was a ”gross abuse of power”.
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/ 7 February 2008
There is a greater public sense of anticipation about what President Thabo Mbeki will say in his State of the Nation address on Friday than before any previous such speech he has delivered since assuming office in 1999. This is in part due to the recent dramatic twist in Mbeki’s political fortunes.
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/ 7 February 2008
Despite an undertaking by President Thabo Mbeki, the South African government continues to undermine traditional leaders, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Thursday. Buthelezi accused the government of paying ”lip-service” to the African renaissance programme.
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/ 7 February 2008
South Africa’s Parliament on Thursday approved legal changes to make abortions easier to obtain, despite criticism from opponents who said the law was already too lax. The changes will provide for 24-hour abortion facilities, do away with pre-approval procedures and permit all nurses — instead of just midwives — to terminate pregnancies.
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/ 7 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s draft mining Bill will not force firms to give a stake to the government for free as previously feared, and will be debated by Parliament after elections next month, a senior official said on Thursday. The government of President Robert Mugabe, who is running for another five-year term, published the Bill last November.