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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.
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/ 7 December 2006
The Department of Education must give teachers detailed salary advice so they know what money is owed to them and what the money is for, the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa said on Thursday. However, the department slammed unions for ”misinformed and inflammatory” remarks.
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/ 7 December 2006
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) was the big winner in the last round of by-elections to take place this year, claiming all but one of the 12 wards contested in results. The municipal by-elections on Wednesday were marked by low voter turnouts, with an 11% turnout at ward three in Mbolela (Nelspruit).
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/ 4 December 2006
Recent union remarks over outstanding payments to teachers are ”misinformed and inflammatory”, the Department of Education said on Monday. A settlement agreement for wage increases has been fulfilled by the department, said spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele.
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/ 4 December 2006
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The most influential provincial leadership of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) has voted in favour of President Thabo Mbeki remaining head of the ruling party next year, a potential blow to his former deputy, Jacob Zuma. Political analysts said the resolution signalled the start of the fiercest contest for the leadership of the ANC in its 94-year history.
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/ 4 December 2006
The African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape on Sunday passed a resolution encouraging Thabo Mbeki to stand for a third term as party leader. The resolution came at the provincial ANC’s three-yearly conference in Alice, a few hours after Mbeki loyalist Stone Sizani was named as the new provincial chairperson.
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/ 3 December 2006
Former Eastern Cape education minister Stone Sizani was on Sunday named as the new chairperson of the African National Congress in the province. He immediately acknowledged he faced a ”huge task” in overcoming the factionalism and divisions that have threatened to cripple the organisation.
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/ 1 December 2006
Problems with delegate registration on Friday caused major hold-ups at the African National Congress’s (ANC) Eastern Cape provincial conference in Alice. Registration, which involves creating a photo identity card for each of the more than 1Â 700 voting delegates, was supposed to have been completed before the opening session on Thursday night.
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/ 1 December 2006
President Thabo Mbeki has warned against people who use the African National Congress (ANC) as a stepladder to reach positions of power, instead of serving the people of South Africa. Speaking at the Eastern Cape ANC’s three-yearly conference in Alice, he said it has become very fashionable to be a member of the party ”and even more fashionable to be a leader of the ANC”.
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/ 29 November 2006
The suspension and ”golden handshake” for former Eastern Cape Treasury superintendent-general Monde Tom cost R4-million, the Public Service Accountability Monitor said on Wednesday. Tom’s 15 month suspension and confidential settlement package were revealed in the Auditor General’s report on the treasury’s 2005/06 annual financial statements.
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/ 24 November 2006
Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Friday condemned the leak of internal reports to the media. The Star reported on Friday that a confidential report had described Cosatu president Willie Madisha as power hungry, dishonest and misled by President Thabo Mbeki.
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/ 24 November 2006
Global aluminium producer Alcan says construction on its R19,5-billion smelter at South Africa’s Coega development zone will start in 2008, and first production is expected before the end of 2010. The company says it will also now begin discussions with potential partners on the project.
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/ 23 November 2006
A total of 303 cases of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have been confirmed across the country, the Department of Health said on Thursday. ”They are in the hospitals, they are on treatment. Some of them have died,” said the department’s head of TB, Dr Lindiwe Mvusi. Mvusi did not have details at hand of how many had died.
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/ 22 November 2006
Provincial premiers have been offered R1-billion between them for skills-development programmes but none seem to be interested in picking up the cheques, said the Department of Labour on Wednesday. Department spokesperson Mokgadi Pela said the R1-billion National Skills Fund Strategic Projects are being launched in Dutywa in the Eastern Cape on December 2.
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/ 22 November 2006
Over five million South African pupils and 13Â 000 schools will be exempt from school fees from January, the Department of Education said on Wednesday. ”The Department of Education wishes to announce that all the nine provincial departments of education have submitted their lists of the number of learners and schools [that] would benefit,” the department said in a statement.
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/ 22 November 2006
An East London businessman has taken First National Bank to court over what he claimed was bad investment advice, media reports said on Wednesday. John Alexander is demanding R272 232 in damages from FNB’s Southernwood branch and one of their financial advisers, Michael Ries.
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/ 19 November 2006
A 24-year-old man was arrested in Butterworth for carrying a human head in his luggage at a bus rank in the Eastern Cape on Saturday, police said. Captain Jackson Manatha said the man was arrested around 11am after a tip-off. The man had already been on a bus when police found him and was taken to the police station where a human finger was found in his pocket.
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/ 17 November 2006
A grade eight pupil is to appear in the Frankfort Magistrate’s Court on Friday for allegedly stabbing a classmate, Free State police said. Following the incident on Tuesday at 8am, police arrested an 18-year-old pupil at the Reseng Thabo High School in Tweeling, said Captain Hennie Labuschagne. The victim was in the classroom together with his classmates.
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/ 16 November 2006
A project team has been set up to rectify the recent audit qualifications the Department of Labour has received from the auditor general, the department said on Thursday. Department of Labour director general Vanguard Mkosana said the project team will help to manage the department’s assets and report on issues timeously.
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/ 16 November 2006
The Eastern Cape health department says it is not correct that extreme-drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) patients at a Port Elizabeth hospital are being kept in the same wards as other TB patients. This follows a protest on Wednesday by about 40 patients at the Jose Pearson TB hospital with the less virulent multi-drug resistant strain of the disease.
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/ 15 November 2006
The final issues are being sorted out between Alcan, the Canadian aluminium company, and South Africa over the building of a smelter at Coega in the Eastern Cape, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said on Tuesday. Briefing the parliamentary media, the minister said his government had been "in touch" with Alcan "quite a lot in the last two weeks".
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/ 14 November 2006
A 17-year-old pupil was in a serious but stable condition in hospital after he was stabbed at his school in Nyanga on Tuesday, Cape Town police said. The boy was in a classroom at Oscar Mpetha High when two youths stormed in at 10.15am and stabbed him in the head and back, Captain Randall Stoffels said. Two teenagers were arrested.
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/ 14 November 2006
Only slightly more than one out of 10 South Africans with bank accounts have used their cellphones for banking, according to research released by World Wide Worx on Tuesday. A surprising finding from the research is that the youth market is the least likely to have tried cellphone banking.
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/ 9 November 2006
Eastern Cape legislature members have three different versions of an annual report for a department that has received nine audit disclaimers in 10 years, the Public Service Accountability Monitor said on Thursday. This was highlighted at a joint sitting of the legislature’s housing and local government committees last Friday.