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/ 18 October 2007
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The South African government warned on Thursday that demands for an overhaul of the racial make-up of the Springboks would not be silenced, even if they win this weekend’s Rugby World Cup final. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba told Parliament that coach Jake White’s charges were still not representative of the nation, 13 years after apartheid.
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/ 18 October 2007
The National Assembly on Thursday adopted a motion of full confidence in Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, thereby rejecting the original motion by the Democratic Alliance, which called for a special committee to probe her fitness to hold public office.
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/ 18 October 2007
Murder accused Fred van der Vyver was questioned closely on Thursday on how he came to know that his student girlfriend Inge Lotz had been stabbed. Van der Vyver (25) was under cross-examination in the Cape High Court after his defence team was given permission to reopen its case to present his testimony.
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/ 18 October 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will not be able to pursue its threat of legal action to force Frene Ginwala’s recusal from heading the inquiry into suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli, it emerged on Thursday. The DA has previously stated it would be prepared to fight her appointment by President Thabo Mbeki.
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/ 18 October 2007
Earlier this year, Cape Town was debating a by-law that would make solar water heating compulsory for relatively costly new buildings, and certain renovations. But what of solar water heating for less expensive structures — especially homes being built under the country’s extensive low-cost housing programme?
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/ 18 October 2007
Environmental NGO Earthlife Africa has threatened a legal challenge to what it says is South Africa’s ”hasty and ill-informed” draft nuclear policy. The threat was made in a submission on Earthlife’s behalf by the Legal Resources Centre on the policy document, released by the Department of Minerals and Energy in August.
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/ 18 October 2007
Nolwazi Mbananga, from the Medical Research Council of South Africa, said that the country’s mines should become "knowledge-based organisations". "We often hear of miners who are trapped underground, but have we asked those miners what the signs are before mines collapse?" she said.
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/ 18 October 2007
Information on the Vusi Pikoli saga seemed to indicate interference with constitutional safeguards, the Johannesburg Bar Council said on Thursday. The controversy about the suspension of the National Director of Public Prosecutions required a strong and unambiguous response from the government, said the council.
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/ 17 October 2007
The multimillion-rand cost of fighting the Richtersveld land claim was money well spent, the Department of Public Enterprises said on Wednesday. It was responding to a query on the final legal bill for the case, which was settled last week.
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/ 17 October 2007
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula on Wednesday in the National Assembly rebuffed questions on why he would not suspend controversial police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, saying there is a process in place to deal with the matter.
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/ 17 October 2007
Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri told the National Assembly on Wednesday that the state-owned telecommunications giant Telkom has lost R350-million over three years through fraud. She said that Telkom has also experienced significant theft of cables, solar panels and wireless communications equipment.
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/ 17 October 2007
The cost of broadband internet access is set to drop significantly with the adoption in the National Assembly on Wednesday of the Broadband Infraco Bill. The Bill provides mainly for transferring Broadband Infraco to the state from Eskom Holdings. Broadband costs in South Africa are considerably higher than the country’s international counterparts.
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/ 17 October 2007
At the end of an emotional day of testimony, murder accused Fred van der Vyver on Wednesday formally denied that he killed his student girlfriend Inge Lotz. Van der Vyver was in the witness box for the second day, following a successful application by his defence team to reopen its case to hear his testimony.
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/ 17 October 2007
Najwa Petersen, widow of slain entertainer Taliep, has a ”unique” voice that family friend Waleed Ajoubaar instantly recognised when he heard it on tape, the Wynberg Regional Court heard on Wednesday. Ajoubaar was questioned by prosecutor Shireen Riley, defence counsel Herbert Raubenheimer and Magistrate Robert Henny about the taped voice and his reaction to it.
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/ 17 October 2007
The Home Affairs Department’s refugee office in Cape Town was a ”chaotic” place at which refugees were treated like animals, a parliamentary committee said on Wednesday. The MPs, on an unannounced visit, also discovered that refugees were being illegally detained by officials.
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/ 17 October 2007
There has been an ”alarming” increase over the past year in the deadly dust disease silicosis among workers on South Africa’s gold and platinum mines, MPs heard on Wednesday. Mine doctors submitted 1 031 cases of silicosis to the Medical Bureau of Occupational Diseases in 2005.
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/ 16 October 2007
Western Cape police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Tuesday scoffed at claims that police are about to arrest Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and deputy managing editor Jocelyn Maker. ”We wish to state that there is no truth in reports that [they] will be arrested and/or be brought before court this week,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
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/ 16 October 2007
Political parties on Tuesday paid tribute to outgoing Democratic Party MP Douglas Gibson, who is leaving Parliament to take up a post as South Africa’s ambassador to Thailand. The African National Congress said despite the fact that Gibson had previously said things that offended its MPs, it would always respect his courage.
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/ 16 October 2007
African National Congress chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota in the National Assembly on Tuesday defended the decision to suspend National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli, as well as the police probe into the alleged theft of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s health records.
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/ 16 October 2007
Murder victim Inge Lotz broke down in tears on the morning of her murder, her former boyfriend, Fred van der Vyver, who is accused of killing her, told the Cape Town High Court on Tuesday. Van der Vyver took the stand after an apparently precedent-setting ruling by Judge Deon van Zyl, which allowed the defence to reopen its case when final arguments were already under way.
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/ 16 October 2007
The accident at the South African National Defence Force’s Lohatlha training grounds last week happened immediately after technicians had finished repairing the weapon, a Mark V twin-barrelled 35mm gun, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
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/ 16 October 2007
The Department of Education is looking to regulate the responsibilities of senior teaching staff during strikes, says Education Minister Naledi Pandor. ”Currently, I have no plans to declare teaching an essential service,” she said in written reply to a question in the National Council of Provinces by Motlatjo Thetjeng of the Democratic Alliance.
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/ 16 October 2007
Chief executive of Pick ‘n Pay Nick Badminton told analysts in Cape Town on Tuesday that although food was often the last to be affected by inflation, "we feel that it will be a little tight in the next six months". He said that internal inflation within the group was showing a 7% increase for the full year, but warned that August showed inflation at 9,5%.
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/ 16 October 2007
Legislation paving the way for much cheaper broadband internet access is likely to be approved in the National Assembly on Wednesday. According to a memorandum attached to the Broadband Infraco Bill, the high broadband costs in South Africa compared to international counterparts have been investigated.
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/ 15 October 2007
The man who sold Najwa Petersen’s family an allegedly encrypted police interview tape is a repeat fraud offender, it emerged on Monday in the Wynberg Regional Court. The tape, which the family believed would help prove her innocence, turned out to be blank, the court heard.
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/ 15 October 2007
Police dispersed a group of Zimbabwean asylum seekers outside the Department of Home Affairs refugee offices in Cape Town on Monday. The group of about 100 Zimbabweans were protesting against the department’s reluctance to issue them with refugee-status documents.
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/ 15 October 2007
The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has expressed outrage at alleged political and police action regarding Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and deputy managing editor Jocelyn Maker, likening it to apartheid-era conduct.
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/ 14 October 2007
Opposition parties and the South African National Editors’ Forum have expressed concern at reports of police plans to arrest Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and journalist Jocelyn Maker over the theft of Health Minister Manto-Tshabalala-Msimang’s medical records.
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/ 12 October 2007
Pikoli inquiry chairperson Frene Ginwala has dismissed a demand by Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille to recuse herself. Replying to a letter by Zille in this regard, Ginwala said letter had been drawn to her attention on Thursday night, ”though I had learnt of its contents via the media”.
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/ 12 October 2007
Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s refusal to resign is a typical example of persons holding high office refusing to face the consequences of their actions, says Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille. ”By refusing to step down, contrary to the dictates of good governance, such senior office-bearers undermine our young democracy,” she said on Friday.
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/ 12 October 2007
President Thabo Mbeki on Friday paid tribute to Argentina-born revolutionary Che Guevara, who died at the age of 39 in Bolivia forty years ago. More than anything else, Guevara’s was a life dedicated to the genuine independence of all countries, Mbeki said in his weekly online newsletter, ANC Today.
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/ 12 October 2007
Media reports of parents incurring R300 fines for smacking their children are inaccurate, a senior African National Congress (ANC) member of Parliament’s social development portfolio committee said on Friday. Statements to that effect were ”quoted out of context”, MP Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu said in a statement.