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/ 31 March 2008

SA to boost food output to fight inflation

South Africa plans to boost livestock and crop production by up to 15% in the next two to five years and help tame soaring food inflation, an agriculture official said on Monday. Priscilla Sehoole, chief communication officer at the Department of Agriculture said the government was ”confident” it would achieve its expansion targets.

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/ 8 February 2008

African horse sickness reported in E Cape

Parts of the Eastern Cape are experiencing an outbreak of African horse sickness, which led to the death of 11 horses in the past six weeks, said the province’s department of agriculture on Friday. ”Fifteen cases have been reported to state veterinarians over the past six weeks alone, mainly in the Ndlambe (Port Alfred) and Makana (Grahamstown) areas.

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/ 22 January 2008

SA HIV vaccines on brink of human testing

Researchers from the University of Cape Town have developed two test HIV vaccines — the first wholly South African-developed products to enter the human clinical-trials phase, the Herald Online reported on Tuesday. The vaccines are just months away from being assessed in human clinical trials, the report said.

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/ 23 December 2007

Sri Lankans thank the gods for cinnamon

Dancing to traditional drums behind an elephant draped in purple, Sri Lankan cinnamon growers are offering part of their crop to pagan gods in thanks at a steady recovery from the 2004 tsunami. ”The tsunami took everything away. My wife, my daughter … goats, cows and my cinnamon,” said wizened Anthony Silva.

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/ 19 November 2007

Govt: We have no knowledge of EU meat-ban threat

European Union agriculture experts have recommended a ban on South African ostrich meat, but the Department of Agriculture says it has no official knowledge of this threat to the R1,2-billion export industry. ”As I speak now, I don’t have any official correspondence [from the EU],” the department’s chief communications director said on Monday.

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/ 11 November 2007

Officials ‘siphoned off’ farmers’ billions

Top Land Bank officials have siphoned off more than R2-billion — meant for farmers — to fund their close friends’ and associates’ ventures, the <i>Sunday Times</i> reported. The money was reportedly used for luxury golf estates, a sugar mill, equestrian estates and residential developments. The fraud was revealed in a forensic audit by Deloitte, which was handed to the Cabinet this week.

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/ 7 November 2007

Land Bank audit report goes to prosecutors

A forensic audit report into the financial management of the Land Bank is to be referred to the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions for ”further investigation”, the Land Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday. This was among recommendations made by the Cabinet after consideration of the report, it said in a statement.

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/ 31 October 2007

SA meat exports to EU under threat

The European Union is threatening to ban the import of South African animal products because the government has failed to meet certain requirements agreed on five years ago, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. The ban would cover South African beef, mutton, pork, chicken, ostrich and game products, among others.

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/ 23 October 2007

Green Scorpions crack down on ArcelorMittal

The Green Scorpions have shut down ArcelorMittal operations at its Vaal waste site over its dumping of hazardous waste and air and water pollution, it was announced on Tuesday. The move followed numerous ”futile attempts” at getting the steel company to clean up its act, Gauteng’s department of agriculture, conservation and environment said in a statement.

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/ 4 October 2007

Shock pollution findings at Highveld Steel

A swoop by environmental inspectors on the giant Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation’s Vanchem plant outside Witbank in Mpumalanga has uncovered shocking levels of air, ground and water pollution. Environmental management inspectors, better known as the Green Scorpions, carried out a compliance inspection at the plant at the end of August this year.

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/ 10 September 2007

Pretoria student fails in SRC bid

The present vice-chairperson of the University of Pretoria’s student representative council (SRC), Cobus van der Linde, will not be a candidate in Tuesday’s elections for next year’s SRC. Pretoria High Court judge Lettie Malopa on Monday dismissed Van der Linde’s urgent application to remain on the candidates list.