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/ 1 February 2008
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A host of defamation claims lodged by the African National Congress president Jacob Zuma against several publications were on Friday slashed to ”approximately R12-million”, a spokesperson for Zuma said. Liesl Göttert said: ”Mr Jacob Zuma will instruct his media legal team to drop the defamation component of all media claims that he instituted against some media.”
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/ 1 February 2008
The Polly Parade reaches its climax this weekend when veteran all-rounder Shaun Pollock plays his last matches for South Africa at Kingsmead on Friday and at the Wanderers on Sunday. With an unassailable three-nil lead over the West Indies in the five-match one-day international series, the Proteas will be looking for a series whitewash.
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/ 31 January 2008
The government is looking at the possibility of introducing roadworthiness tests for private vehicles every two years, a senior traffic official said at the launch of a national road safety campaign in Durban on Thursday. Thabo Tsholetsane said government was ”doing a study” to see how often roadworthiness tests could be carried out.
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/ 31 January 2008
Dozens of police officers and members of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union converged at a Durban school on Thursday, 48 hours after a former pupil went into the school and threatened teachers and pupils with a gun. The matter was only reported to police on Wednesday afternoon.
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/ 31 January 2008
Several Durban rivers are polluted with health-threatening levels of E. coli bacteria, sometimes at levels hundreds of times over the recommended safety limits for drinking, washing, swimming or canoeing, the Mercury reported on Thursday. The eThekwini municipality has been singled out as one of the ”most significant” polluters.
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/ 30 January 2008
A task team will be established to investigate a series of recent rapes and killings similar to the work of a serial killer who had operated in and around Pietermaritzburg in the 1990s, police said on Wednesday. The team will comprise six experienced detectives.
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/ 30 January 2008
A kulula.com passenger aircraft was forced to turn back after a bird flew into an engine during a Durban-to-Cape Town flight on Wednesday. Airline spokesperson Glenda Zvenyika confirmed that a ”bird strike” occurred on flight MN702, 15 minutes after taking off from Durban. The captain had to shut down the engine.
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/ 30 January 2008
A 27-year-old Durban woman who allegedly set her boyfriend alight and then locked him in a toilet at the weekend is expected to appear at the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for murder, police said. Captain Bongani Khomo said the woman was arrested in Umlazi on Monday afternoon.
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/ 30 January 2008
Heavily polluted water from a punctured sewage pipe appears to have been flowing into the Durban harbour via the Umhlatuzana River for up to nine months — reportedly the result of a bungled repair job by eThekwini council contract workers, a media report said on Wednesday.
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/ 29 January 2008
Charges have been laid against the owners of an historical church in KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) Ixopo area after it was demolished over the festive season, the province’s heritage body said on Tuesday. mafa/Heritage KwaZulu-Natal CEO Barry Marshall said the church dated back to the closing years of the 19th century.
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/ 25 January 2008
The African National Congress (ANC) has lashed out at a popular soap opera actress for claiming the ANC murders its opponents, and is considering legal action against her. The actress, Winnie Ntshaba, who plays Khethiwe in the soap opera Generations, was speaking at an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) gathering.
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/ 24 January 2008
Two welders were critically injured when the tank in which they were working exploded in Pietermaritzburg, paramedics said. Netcare 911 said two men were taken to the city’s St Anne’s Hospital. Police spokesperson Inspector Joey Jeevan confirmed the explosion but could not immediately provide any details.
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/ 23 January 2008
Hard labour for hardened convicts was one of the proposals presented at the launch of the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) Purpose, Vision and Values Programme in Durban on Wednesday. Addressing the issue of crime in the country, the IFP’s Stan Larkan told the more than 3 000 delegates that ”hard labour needs to be introduced”.
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/ 22 January 2008
A KwaZulu-Natal pilot project — proven to reduce court backlogs and overcrowding in prisons drastically — may be rolled out countrywide, if the government comes to the table with funding, the Justice and Constitutional Development Department said on Tuesday.
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/ 20 January 2008
At least 10 people were killed, 10 critically injured and another 23 seriously injured in a bus accident on the R34 near Ulundi on Saturday, KwaZulu-Natal emergency services reported. The accident, involving a Greyhoud bus, took place on the R34 between Melmoth and Vryheid at the turn-off to Ulundi.
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/ 19 January 2008
It has been many years coming, but finally the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon has delivered a black winner. Seven-time winner Martin Dreyer paddled into Durban’s Blue Lagoon with Michael Mbanjwa, clocking seven hours, 33 minutes and 24 seconds for the three-day haul from Pietermaritzburg.
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/ 18 January 2008
A 28-year-old prisoner was allegedly beaten to death by Department of Correctional Services officers at the instruction of a senior prison officer at Pietermaritzburg’s New Prison, the Witness newspaper reported on Friday. An investigation has been launched into the death of the prisoner.
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/ 17 January 2008
South Africa goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez has been ruled out of the African Cup of Nations Group D clash against Angola in Ghana next Wednesday. The national football association said the Germany-based custodian injured several fingers in a warm-up match against Mozambique last Sunday and was a spectator when South Africa beat Botswana 2-1 on Wednesday.
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/ 16 January 2008
A woman who was shot dead in front of her two children before being robbed of R70 in Pinetown on Wednesday morning had reportedly turned state witness in a Department of Transport fraud case. Futhi Ncwane’s estranged husband, Popo, said: ”Futhi was going to be a state witness in a fraud case involving the Department of Transport.”
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/ 16 January 2008
A 12-year-old Durban boy who was getting ready to for his first day back at school watched helplessly on Wednesday morning as his mother was shot five times by a robber. The boy, his seven-year-old sibling, his grandmother and a domestic worker were inside their Pinetown home at the time of the shooting.
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/ 15 January 2008
Two separate fires and the subsequent repairs at Durban’s Engen Refinery have cost the company close to R200-million rand, refinery spokesperson Herb Payne said on Tuesday. However, while the cost of the blaze is known to the company, the eThekwini municipality has yet to release the results of air-quality assessment tests taken at the time of the blaze.
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/ 15 January 2008
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s bid to have search-and-seizure raids declared unconstitutional will not derail the state’s case against him and French arms company Thint, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Tuesday.
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/ 12 January 2008
Despite beating the West Indies by an innings and 100 runs with two days in hand to win the Castle Lager series two-one, South Africa will go down one place on the international rankings, dropping below Sri Lanka to third place, but Proteas captain Graeme Smith is not too concerned.
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/ 11 January 2008
South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock announced his retirement from international cricket following the second day’s play of the third Test against the West Indies in Durban on Friday. Pollock (34) only returned to the South Africa line-up for the current Test after having been overlooked by selectors for Test duty in recent months.
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/ 11 January 2008
South Africa stamped their authority on the third and deciding Test on Friday, declaring on 556-4 to set the injury-plagued West Indies a mammoth target of 418 to make the Proteas bat again. At close of play on the second day, the West Indies were 23 without loss, still trailing by 394 runs.
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/ 11 January 2008
A 21-year-old man charged with murdering a well-known French chef appeared briefly in the Ramsgate Magistrate’s Court on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast on Friday. Theleka Quntu is alleged to have murdered 69-year-old restaurateur Yvonne Cosson earlier this week after he was dismissed by her over a dispute about wages.
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/ 11 January 2008
South Africa midfielder Steven Pienaar stormed out of a press conference on Thursday after refusing to answer questions about his late arrival at a 2008 Africa Cup of Nations camp. ”I’m going,” shouted the Everton star after his attempt to set the agenda was rejected by journalists in Durban, where Bafana Bafana are training.
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/ 11 January 2008
A 49-year-old man, who allegedly had been raking in millions of rands by manufacturing fake documents, was arrested in Durban on Thursday night. He had been operating a home affairs ”office” from his home, said police spokesperson Superintendent Vincent Mdunge on Friday.
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/ 10 January 2008
Shaun Pollock made a successful return to Test cricket and captain Graeme Smith smashed a century as South Africa dominated the first day of the series-deciding third Test against the West Indies at Kingsmead on Thursday. Pollock took 4-35 as the West Indies were bowled out for 139 after being sent in to bat.
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/ 10 January 2008
Thousands of South African motorists may lose their driver’s licences by the end of 2008 if they fail to adhere to the rules of the road, the KwaZulu-Natal transport department said on Thursday. Bheki Cele, provincial minister of transport, community safety and liaison, said the demerit system will be introduced this year.
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/ 10 January 2008
A 20-year-old Newcastle woman has been arrested after she confessed to strangling her three-year old son in a bid to keep her new boyfriend, police said on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Captain Shooz Magudulela said the woman confessed to the murder of her son after being persuaded to do so by a friend.
A 21-year-old man has been arrested in Umtata in connection with the murder of a French chef on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, police said on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Zandra Hechter said a former employee had been arrested in Umtata on Wednesday morning in connection with the murder of restaurateur Yvonne Cosson (69).