The government’s failure to extend the child-support grant to all vulnerable children under the age of 18 will leave about two million children without social support for the foreseeable future. Last month’s budget, which capped the age for children on the grant at 15 from January next year, was severely criticised by civil society.
Four accidents on Monday claimed the lives of 31 people in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), prompting the province’s premier to declare this coming Thursday a day of mourning. KwaZulu-Natal health spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said a collision between a coal truck and a minibus taxi near Dundee claimed the lives of 15 people, while another 12 were killed on the outskirts of Durban.
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/ 29 February 2008
Media24 on Friday announced the closure of the Gauteng and Free State editions of its Afrikaans tabloid, Son, citing weak growth prospects. The Western Cape and Eastern Cape additions would continue to publish, a statement from Fergus Sampson, CEO of the emerging markets division, said.
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/ 29 February 2008
A passenger rail service between East London and Mthatha will be inaugurated this weekend, Eastern Cape provincial transport minister Thobile Mhlahlo said on Friday. The Kei Rail Service would start operating on Saturday, transporting 216 passengers between the two towns, he said.
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/ 29 February 2008
The possible loss of 6 900 jobs at Gold Fields mining company will affect more than 50 000 additional South Africans, deepening the economic impact beyond the numerical cuts alone. According to research by the mineworkers’ union, NUM, each miner supports an average of between six to 10 dependants.
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/ 24 February 2008
Western Province (WP) laboured to a 51-7 Vodacom Cup victory over the Griffons at Bellville South on Saturday afternoon, after leading 32-0 at the break. In Wellington, the Boland Kavaliers scored an unconvincing 31-22 win over the Valke, and the Leopards ran out a comfortable 32-14 win over Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth.
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/ 22 February 2008
Provinces will receive R238-billion this year, a whopping 16% higher than last year’s allocation. By 2010/11, provincial budgets will have doubled on their 2004/05 levels. All increases to key portfolios outstrip inflation by significant margins. But will they spend it well?
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/ 21 February 2008
Percy Zvomuya reports on the recipients of the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa grants.
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/ 21 February 2008
Education Minister Naledi Pandor wore the broadest smile among her counterparts on Wednesday as Finance Minister Trevor Manuel was once again in a generous mood towards her department. But some education analysts are sceptical about provinces’ capacity to deliver on disbursing the billions allocated to general education.
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/ 18 February 2008
An Eastern Cape gardener accused of raping an 11-year-old girl was sentenced to 54 months’ imprisonment by a Grahamstown High Court judge on Monday after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of statutory rape. The state initially charged Khulile Ntshabase (24) with raping the girl at a house in Hogsback on August 4 last year.
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/ 15 February 2008
Author Jonny Steinberg’s <i>Three-Letter Plague</i> has attracted serious critical and retail attention in the US, writes Charlotte Bauer.
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/ 14 February 2008
The power situation has eased somewhat over the past few days and there has been no load-shedding since February 4, Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga told reporters on Thursday in Sunninghill, near Johannesburg. Maroga was announcing measures to be taken by Eskom to resolve the country’s electricity crisis.
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/ 12 February 2008
A man trying to outrun police in a stolen tractor was arrested in the Eastern Cape early on Tuesday. East London police spokesperson Superintendent Mtati Tana said police were told the tractor had been stolen from a farm in the Blue Water area outside East London at about 4am.
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/ 12 February 2008
Former mineworkers on Tuesday listened during the resumption of former miner Thembekile Mankayi’s bid to secure R2,6-million from AngloGold Ashanti after he contracted silicosis. One of the group, Willie Fuledi, said he hoped the court would make a ruling for other mineworkers seeking a payout for the disease.
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/ 8 February 2008
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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/ 7 February 2008
While it was designed to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy, a new video-conference facility launched in Parliament on Thursday gave MPs the chance to see what their colleagues in the provinces look like. National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete hoped the project would one day link the government to rural areas.
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/ 5 February 2008
The African National Congress in the Eastern Cape was awaiting details on Tuesday regarding a brawl at a branch meeting which apparently landed some people in hospital. It was reported that a number of ANC members in Alice had sustained injuries after the meeting ended in an exchange of blows on Sunday afternoon.
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/ 5 February 2008
A number of African National Congress (ANC) members at Alice in the Eastern Cape have sustained injuries after a branch meeting ended in an exchange of blows, it was reported on Monday. Reports said a group of party supporters arrived at Khayalethu village during the registration process for an AGM and called for its dissolution.
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/ 4 February 2008
African National Congress (ANC) leaders who supported President Thabo Mbeki in the build-up to the party’s elective conference in Polokwane will not be victimised, the party’s newly elected leadership said on Monday. The ANC said fears that there would be a purge were baseless as the party had no intention to change its traditions.
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/ 4 February 2008
The African National Congress was not aware of any imminent visit to its Johannesburg headquarters by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, a spokesperson said on Monday. Rasool’s spokesperson Shado Twala also said she did know about the reported visit.
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/ 3 February 2008
Fear now stalks the corridors of African National Congress (ANC) power as the party’s new president, Jacob Zuma, asserts his authority in Parliament, the provinces and the party structures, the Sunday Times reported. ANC MPs made their anxiety known in a closed meeting of the ANC’s parliamentary caucus on Thursday.
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/ 2 February 2008
An Eastern Cape police captain charged with the possession of stolen goods was released on bail by the Qumbu Magistrate’s Court on Saturday. The charges relate to the possession of unlicensed firearms, ammunition, stolen vehicles and stock cards, as well as defeating the ends of justice.
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/ 31 January 2008
An Eastern Cape man accused of three counts of rape and two of attempted rape is to be referred to a doctor specialising in erectile dysfunction. Mcebesi Noji (28) of Nkululeko, Barkly East, has pleaded not guilty to the five charges before judge Elna Revelas.
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/ 27 January 2008
A guard in a surgical mask patrols a wire fence designed to keep dozens of patients with a lethal form of tuberculosis at Cape Town’s Brooklyn Chest hospital isolated from the rest of the world. Sufferers of extreme drug resistant tuberculosis, a near untreatable strain, battle boredom, depression and the side-effects of a daily palmful of pills.
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/ 26 January 2008
Residents of the impoverished Skielik community on Saturday buried three loved ones who were gunned down last week, allegedly by 18-year-old Johan Nel. Enoch Tshepo Motshelanoka (10), three-month-old Keditlhotse Elizabeth Moiphitlhi and her 31-year-old mother, Anna, were buried at the Swartruggens cemetery.
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/ 26 January 2008
Racism was still a key issue in South Africa, political party representatives said as they addressed a gathering at Saturday’s funeral of the murdered Skielik victims. Congress of South African Trade Unions secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said alleged killer, Johan Nel (18) had ”no regard for human life”.
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/ 26 January 2008
Mourners streamed to marquees set up on a patch of land next to the highway past the informal settlement of Skielik on Saturday to bury three people killed there by a lone gunman last Monday. There was a heavy police presence at the marquees, where women stirred pots of food in readiness for the funerals.
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/ 25 January 2008
The Nigerian method of low-budget movie-making is set to take off in South Africa if an upcoming producer has his way, writes Percy Zvomuya.
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/ 23 January 2008
John Gomomo, a former president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions has died, the federation said. Gomomo (62) was — at the time of his death — an African National Congress MP and the chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on public service and administration.
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/ 18 January 2008
The Spier Poetry Exchange with a Dutch writers’ network promises a celebratory discovery of new voices, writes Brent Meersman.
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/ 17 January 2008
If the South African Reserve Bank needs further evidence of the dampening effect of higher rates on real economic activity, recent building data has been just that, according to independent economic analysts. A major challenge facing the government is also the extreme escalation in building costs.
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/ 17 January 2008
Health authorities on Wednesday reported the first known cases of virtually untreatable tuberculosis in Botswana. The Health Ministry said there were two cases of so-called extremely drug resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, as well as 100 cases of the slightly more manageable multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB.