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/ 19 January 2007
Just two days into the new academic year, pupils and teachers at the Nomzamo Madikizela Mandela public school in Thornhill woke to find most of their school building gutted by fire, Eastern Cape police said on Friday. Five of the classrooms and an administration block were burnt to ashes on Thursday night, a spokesperson said.
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/ 18 January 2007
The lights went out in several parts of South Africa on Thursday morning as Eskom carried out load-shedding as its capacity was stretched by a surprise surge in consumption. Power plants failed, including Koeberg nuclear power station’s unit one, when the turbine tripped at 2.18am. ”There is a national alert,” said Eskom spokesperson Tony Stott.
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/ 17 January 2007
Holiday season traffic deaths and accidents dropped by less than 5% compared with a year ago, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Wednesday. Radebe issued his report on the December 1 to January 10 holiday season traffic at Atteridgeville in Gauteng. The number of fatal accidents dropped by 59 from 1 428 to 1 369 compared with the same time a year ago.
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/ 17 January 2007
Channel Life has acquired the entire share capital of South Africa’s oldest black life insurer, Safrican, the companies announced on Wednesday. ”Having Channel Life as a shareholder will allow us to fully realise our potential and expand the operation into areas that we previously didn’t have access to,” Safrican chief executive officer Nthabiseng Mmatli said in a statement.
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/ 16 January 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has rejected the Gauteng education department’s plans to close underperforming schools and instead proposed a rescue plan that it said would help improve matric results in those schools. DA education spokesperson George Boinamo told reporters in Cape Town on Tuesday about the proposed six-point plan.
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/ 14 January 2007
A senior official who was suspended for alleged wrongdoing by the Eastern Cape department of social development has not been hired to oversee social-grant operations in that province, said the national Department of Social Development on Saturday. It said reports on Thursday that the man had been hired were incorrect.
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/ 14 January 2007
While the African National Congress (ANC) celebrated its 95th birthday on Saturday, secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe was called in to intervene in a stand-off between the ANC Youth League’s national office and its Eastern Cape branch, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported.
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/ 13 January 2007
Withholding the year-end reports of pupils unable to pay school fees is illegal, the Eastern Cape education department told South African Broadcasting Corporation news on Friday. Parents in the province have reportedly gone to court to force 10 schools to hand over their children’s report cards.
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/ 12 January 2007
A tornado swept through four villages in Sterkspruit near Lady Grey, leaving 70 people homeless, Eastern Cape disaster-management services said on Friday. ”The tornado hit the Macacuma, Sunduza, Silindini and Magadla villages at about 6.45pm on Thursday,” said Ken Pitso of the Ukhahlamba district municipal disaster management.
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/ 12 January 2007
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Joe Seremane told South African Broadcasting Corporation radio on Friday that he will make an announcement within weeks as to whether he will make himself available to stand for the leadership of the official opposition. Seremane is the federal chairperson of the party and, if elected, will be the first black leader of the official opposition.
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/ 12 January 2007
We are headed into a supersonic political year. By the end of 2007, the ruling party will have chosen a new president of the organisation and, more than likely, the person who will become the country’s next president. At a more fundamental level, certain decisions will have been taken that affect the quality and direction of our democracy and the economy.
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/ 11 January 2007
A senior Eastern Cape government official suspended in 2005 for alleged corruption and bribery has been hired to oversee all social-grant payments in the province, media reported on Thursday. The January 1 appointment of Khaliphile Mabhentsela as Eastern Cape acting regional executive manager of the South African Social Security Agency has been widely condemned.
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/ 11 January 2007
Eastern Cape Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Athol Trollip formally announced at a press conference his intention to run for the leadership of the official opposition. He was introduced to the media on Thursday in glowing terms by his Eastern Cape legislature colleague, Veliswa Mvenya: ”His skin is white but he is black.”
Shebeens near schools are a source of school violence and an access to drugs and alcohol for minors, the Young Communist League of South Africa said on Tuesday. The league was announcing at a Johannesburg press conference the launch of its Joe Slovo ”Right to Learn” campaign, which will run from Thursday until the end of January.
The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) shares the Department of Education’s concerns about dysfunctional schools, it said on Monday. ”It would be necessary to first profile these [dysfunctional] schools in order to determine exactly where the problems lie,” Naptosa president Dave Balt said.
In a nail-biting finish that had the spectators at the Wanderers on the edge of their seats, the Highveld Lions prevailed by five runs to beat the Warriors in their Supersport Series match. The men from the Eastern Cape requiring 265 runs at the start of the day to bring off victory.
A vehicle-testing station owner has appeared in the King William’s Town Magistrate’s Court for allegedly trying to bribe an Eastern Cape transport official, the provincial transport department said on Thursday. Johannesburg businessman Haron Bhika appeared in court on Tuesday charged with corruption, said Eastern Cape traffic control deputy director Mqondisi Kulati.
Tunisian ophthalmologists will perform eye operations in the Eastern Cape in January, the Health Department said on Wednesday. Tunisia and South Africa signed an agreement of cooperation in the field of health in 1999 and formulated a programme of cooperation in 2004.
The Dolphins will be aiming to bounce back from a poor performance last month when they face the Titans in a top-of-the-table Supersport Series cricket clash in Pietermaritzburg, starting on Thursday. Also, the Diamond Eagles will be hoping the Christmas break hasn’t robbed them of any momentum.
The festive-season death toll on South Africa’s roads has dropped despite an increase in the number of cars and drivers, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Ntau Letebele said 1Â 366 people had died in 1Â 168 crashes over the December 2006 period — a drop from 1Â 454 deaths in 2005.
Gold Fields executive vice-president Brendan Walker was killed in a car crash in the Eastern Cape over the weekend, the company announced on Tuesday. ”Brendan was not only a colleague but a friend. He was one of our brightest stars and his untimely death will leave a deep void,” said chief executive Ian Cockerill in a statement.
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/ 30 December 2006
A total of 1 277 people have died in 1 104 traffic accidents since December 1, the Department of Transport said on Friday. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said that while this was a slight decrease compared to 1 372 deaths in the same period last year, the department was concerned about the increase of fatal crashes involving pedestrians.
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/ 27 December 2006
An SMS alert is triggered in the Eastern Cape about four times a week, warning of bad storm conditions heading towards the province. ”We send them out regularly,” said South African Weather Service forecaster Peter Lumb. ”On average, three to four a week for individual storms. We zoom in on ones that we think will be the most severe and will cause damage.”
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/ 23 December 2006
Two police officers were among people arrested for drunken driving in the presence of Transport Minister Jeff Radebe in separate roadblocks on the N3 in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday, the provincial traffic department said. By Friday, the death toll on South Africa’s roads stood at 907, down from last year’s 1 024 for the same period.
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/ 21 December 2006
Eastern Cape provincial housing minister Sam Kwelita will visit tornado-ravaged Dutyini village to find out what help is needed. About 20 people were injured and more than 100 people from 65 families were left homeless when 85 households were destroyed or badly damaged by the tornado at Dutyini near Mount Ayliff on Sunday.
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/ 20 December 2006
Filmmaker Sharron Hawkes has gone from Butterworth to Timbuktu. Hawkes returned this week from a two-week trip to Timbuktu in Mali, where she is producing and directing a documentary on the conservation and research of hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts.
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/ 17 December 2006
Eight people were killed and 30 were injured, 18 seriously, when a bus overturned on between Indwe and Dordrecht in the Eastern Cape on Saturday, according to Arrive Alive. The bus was transporting 72 passengers from Cape Town to Qumbu, Tsolo, Mount Frere and other areas.
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/ 16 December 2006
Global spiritual and humanitarian leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar met South Africa’s top judges on Friday as part of his three-day tour of the country. A founder member of the Art of Living Foundation, Shankar visited South Africa as part of the celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi’s passive-resistance campaign.
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/ 14 December 2006
The African National Congress (ANC) has expelled its parliamentary chief whip, Mbulelo Goniwe, for sexual harassment, it announced on Thursday. This means he will no longer be an MP, nor will he serve as chief whip, said Kader Asmal, who chaired the ANC national disciplinary committee probe into the allegation against Goniwe.
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/ 13 December 2006
African National Congress (ANC) president Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday criticised individuals within the party who campaign for leadership positions within the movement. Mbeki told the South African National Civic Organisation conference in Bloemfontein that ”this is a matter that worries me and the leaders of the ANC movement”.
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/ 11 December 2006
More than 13 000 people die every year on South African roads, costing the economy R43-billion, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Sunday. He said economic growth contributes to the increase of accidents as the number of vehicles on the road is increasing.
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/ 8 December 2006
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) formally declared a dispute on Friday with the Department of Education over non-payment of teachers. The dispute was declared over an agreement on incentives — termed ”accelerated progression payments” for good performance — Sadtu said.