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/ 11 October 2007
Polokwane will be a busy town come December with an expected 4Â 500 delegates, both voting and non-voting, attending the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference. Smuts Ngonyama, head of the presidency of the ANC, on Thursday updated the media in Johannesburg on preparations for the conference.
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/ 10 October 2007
Charges against a man accused of participating in the murder of ten KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) women were withdrawn in the Umzinto Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. The state has withdrawn its charges against Zandisile Bhadla Somanikiniki (28), who resides in the Majola, Port St Johns, area but no reasons were given for the withdrawal.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has apparently thrown her weight behind leading businessman Tokyo Sexwale for the African National Congress presidency. Meanwhile, audited ANC membership figures have confirmed the Eastern Cape as the party’s strongest province, media reports said on Tuesday.
A 31-year-old Eastern Cape man should be jailed for life for raping an elderly woman and trying to kill her husband, the Grahamstown High Court heard on Tuesday. Beneza Allah, of Phumlani, Jansenville, who was 29 at the time of the crimes, appeared before Judge Zamani Nhlangulela.
An HIV/Aids treatment programme is on track in Lusikisiki, contrary to media reports that it was bungled, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. The department took over the programme initiated by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the NGO Médecins sans Frontiêres in October last year.
Ships have been put on alert after an iceberg was spotted floating off St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape, the Cape Argus reported on Tuesday. The large white mass, said to be about 35 nautical miles offshore, is estimated to be 25m long and 20m high. It was reported by a single vessel, the Ntini, which was sailing in the area on Monday night.
African countries should make use of intellectual provisions to protect their innovations when it comes to African traditional medicines, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Monday. ”Africa should make use of intellectual-property provisions to protect its innovation with regard to indigenous knowledge and African traditional medicine,” she said Johannesburg.
The allure of the cosmopolitan display of rugby on the global stage in France has provided overwhelming competition for this year’s domestic showpiece, the 2007 Currie Cup. Despite the welcome panache and entertainment that have been provided by the two dominant sides, the Cheetahs and the Sharks, the Currie Cup has crept to its final stages almost unnoticed.
Whether it costs the Makana municipality two cents or R100-million to change the name of Grahamstown and the names of other places and landmarks, the names will change, said Grahamstown mayor Phumelelo Kate on Thursday. ”You cannot equate the transformation of our country to costs. Change must happen and nothing is going to stop it,” Kate was reported as saying.
So-called surprise visits by businessman Tokyo Sexwale to branches of the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) have raised the ire of the student body. ”We demand a public apology from Mr Sexwale for bringing the name of our organisation into disrepute,” said Sasco president David Maimela on Wednesday.
South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) members are expected to converge on the Labour Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday to hear a final ruling on a secondary strike. Union spokesperson Dumisani Langa said if the court ruled in their favour, they would rope in other Gauteng municipalities to join the strike.
The second day of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) strike in Johannesburg has had little impact on service delivery, city officials said on Tuesday. City spokesperson Gabu Tugwana said the first day saw about 1 500 marchers — 50% of which were from the Johannesburg metro police department.
The South African Secret Service’s deputy director general, Silumko Sokupa, would take over as the new coordinator for intelligence next month, the Intelligence Services said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Lorna Daniels said President Thabo Mbeki had appointed Sokupa following the early retirement of Barry Gilder.
Street posters promoting politician-turned-business-tycoon Tokyo Sexwale for president have appeared in Buffalo City (East London) in the Eastern Cape. The Dispatch Online reported on Monday that big colour posters reading ”Tokyo for president” were seen on poles in and around the city.
The unveiling of a multimillion-rand extension to the international terminal building of the OR Tambo International Airport was a milestone in preparing for the 2010 World Cup, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said in Johannesburg on Sunday.
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/ 29 September 2007
Published by non-aligned parallel structures within the aligned structure of the Party. No names, please. We don’t want to have to deny anything after Polokwane. We salute those who salute the everyday salutes of those who strive on a daily basis to salute, with democratic salutations, the salutes of their comrade saluters. Saluta continua!
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/ 28 September 2007
The medical superintendent of Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, who spoke out about the recent spate of baby deaths there, has been fired, the Eastern Cape health department said on Friday. The department found Dr Nokuzola Ntshona guilty on three charges of speaking out against its handling of the Frere Hospital maternity saga.
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/ 27 September 2007
African National Congress funder Sandi Majali — known for his role in the Oilgate scandal — is to sue the Sunday Times for defamation following its story implicating him in the disappearance of money meant for an Eastern Cape school feeding scheme.
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/ 25 September 2007
The government is committed to meeting its target of eradicating the bucket-toilet system in all formal settlements established before 1994, it said on Tuesday. To ensure this deadline was met an amount of R1,6-billion had been made available ”to provide better and more acceptable sanitation for all”.
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/ 24 September 2007
Respecting the diversity of all cultures and living in the spirit of ubuntu were highlighted at Gauteng’s Heritage Day celebrations.
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/ 24 September 2007
Five people have been arrested in connection with the murder of five women whose decomposing bodies were found in a sugar-cane field on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, police said on Monday. In Stanger, one person was arrested on Sunday evening. A further four people were arrested at a house in Chatsworth on Monday.
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/ 23 September 2007
The controversial Sandi Majali — known for his central role in the Oilgate and Iraq oil-for-food scandals — has been named in a forensic audit into the disappearance of more than R100-million meant for starving children in the Eastern Cape, the Sunday Times reported.
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/ 23 September 2007
A school pupil was stabbed and killed after an argument with another pupil during an end-of-term outing in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape police said on Saturday. Pupils from the Thembelihle High School had gathered at Kings Beach to celebrate the end of the school term on Friday when an argument broke out.
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/ 22 September 2007
Two children were burnt beyond recognition when the hut they were sleeping in caught fire in the early hours of Saturday morning, said Eastern Cape police. Superintendent Msukisi Fatyela said the boys were aged six and eight. One was found dead in a bedroom and the other in the lounge.
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/ 22 September 2007
After being flown from Cape Town on a police jet, a prisoner escaped from the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court on Friday, Eastern Cape police said. Mthatha police said Odwa Sithole (23) was appearing in court for crimes including armed robbery, escaping from custody and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
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/ 20 September 2007
The controversial Constitution 13th Amendment Bill was passed in the National Assembly on Thursday, despite opposition from the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party, among others. The Bill seeks to realign certain provincial borders to avoid municipal boundaries straddling them.
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/ 17 September 2007
The name Grahamstown is a step closer to being renamed after a Makana council meeting resolved that ”Grahamstown must go”. Makana mayor Phumelelo Kate told Grocott’s Mail on Monday that the name change proposal was based on historical reasons.
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/ 17 September 2007
South Africa’s decision to invest in a nuclear power future has raised concerns about what will happen to the nuke waste generated. Last week it emerged that nuclear power would account for about half of Eskom’s planned new generating capacity. At present South Africa’s nuclear waste policy is vague and does not list a clear end-plan of what will happen to high-level nuclear waste.
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/ 16 September 2007
Businessman Tokyo Sexwale has reiterated that infighting within the African National Congress (ANC) would destroy the party, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Sunday. Sexwale was addressing the Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans’ Association in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
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/ 15 September 2007
As the floor-crossing window drew to a close on Saturday, sole Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) representative in the national legislature, Motsoko Pheko, denounced the floor-crossing practice as ”political prostitution”. ”Floor-crossing cheats voters — it robs them of the mandate they have given to a political party of their choice,” he said.
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/ 14 September 2007
Jocelyn Creed started playing rugby in 2002 with Villagers Rugby Club. She played Western Province rugby for three seasons. Then she was appointed to manage Villagers ladies’ team and the Western Province ladies’ team during their season. Creed and her friends noticed the lack of attention paid to women’s rugby and opened Ntombi Rugby Academy in May last year.
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/ 11 September 2007
The Social Assistance Act unfairly discriminates against a group of men who are among the poorest of the poor in South Africa, the Pretoria High Court heard on Tuesday. The Act entitled men to apply for state old-age pensions, based on a needs test, when they reached the age of 65, but entitled women to start receiving the pension at the of 60.