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/ 5 February 2007
Shipped halfway across the world to Asia as a seafood delicacy, abalone has become a prized commodity for South African entrepreneurs as well as criminals who have poached the mollusc almost to extinction. Known colloquially in South Africa as ”perlemoen”, abalone is so endangered the government has drastically reduced the total allowable catch.
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/ 31 January 2007
A R50-million biomass fuel-pellet project has been launched at the Coega Industrial Development Zone near Port Elizabeth, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Wednesday. The plant is expected to create thousands of jobs when it starts production in July.
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/ 31 January 2007
In a major crackdown on alcohol abuse, liquor-outlet owners in the Eastern Cape who sell booze to drunk patrons could be held liable if drunken customers cause harm to others. Bingeing boozers also face being monitored when they are out on the town — and may be banned from the province’s pubs and taverns.
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/ 30 January 2007
Provincial health departments in the nine provinces of the country are in a state of paralysis due to corruption and neglect, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. ”A DA analysis of the nine provincial health departments reveals a pattern of neglect, mismanagement and blatant corruption,” DA health spokesperson Gareth Morgan said on Tuesday.
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/ 30 January 2007
After initially declining, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) on Tuesday accepted an invitation by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana to attend a ritual ceremony where a bull will be slaughtered. ”As a leader of our country the minister is sure to uphold the law,” said SPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith.
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/ 30 January 2007
A 45-year-old Butterworth woman was arrested after she shot dead her son, mistaking him for an attacker, Eastern Cape police said on Tuesday. Captain Jackson Manatha said the woman was having a fist fight with a neighbour when her 15-year-old son tried to intervene at around 8pm on Monday.
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/ 30 January 2007
Two Eastern Cape universities have, incredibly, slashed their debt over the past year, the Daily Dispatch reported on its website on Monday. Fort Hare’s debt is down from R78-million to R15-million, and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s debt is down from R101,9-million at the end of 2005 to R15-million.
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/ 29 January 2007
Sending young men to the army could help end violent crime, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said over the weekend. ”The worrying trend whereby our youths are involved in the current spate of armed robberies and other related violent crimes that are ravaging our country could be reversed once they join the army,” he said.
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/ 26 January 2007
The Eastern Cape had temperatures so high on Friday that they were almost hazardous to health, the South African Weather Service said. ”Both Port Elizabeth and East London are at around a discomfort index of 107,” said spokesperson Garth Sampson, adding that an index of 110 is hazardous to health.
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/ 26 January 2007
A niece and a nephew of mine started school this year. The inevitable conversations about uniforms and school bags, alongside blanket coverage of schools’ opening day, drove home several unpleasant realities about our education system. I am glad that Warona and Sinesipo wake up to schools that are better resourced than the one I first enrolled in at the beginning of 1978, writes Pumla Dineo Gqola.
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/ 25 January 2007
No dates have yet been set for the scrapping of taxis in Gauteng, Transport Department spokesperson Sam Monareng said on Thursday. Dates have also yet to be set for the destruction of old vehicles in the North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, he said. All Monareng could indicate was that dates would be announced ”soon”.
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/ 24 January 2007
World acclaimed female boxer Laila Ali is looking for male sparring partners to help her prepare for her world super middleweight title defence against Gwendolyn O’Neill at Emperor’s Palace, east of Johannesburg, on February 3. This was disclosed by the promoters of the fight, Golden Gloves Promotion, after Ali arrived in the country on Tuesday.
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/ 23 January 2007
South African cities due to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup complained on Tuesday of funding shortfalls of millions of rand to build stadiums for the continent’s biggest sporting event. Estimates have swelled due to inflation and exchange-rate fluctuations, officials told a parliamentary sport committee.
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/ 21 January 2007
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq hit 92 not out to dampen the celebrations of Makhaya Ntini, who took his 300th wicket for South Africa in the second Test on Saturday. South Africa were 115 for three in their second innings at the close of the second day, a deficit of 26 runs.
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/ 20 January 2007
First National Bank (FNB) is to spend R50-million on standby generators and uninterrupted power supply units at its branches nationwide in response to power failures, it said on Friday. FNB said about R15,5-million [of the total amount] had already gone towards generators at 63 branches.
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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.