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/ 29 September 2005

Investigative unit saves govt billions

Work to uncover and eradicate corruption in the 2004/05 financial year has saved the government projected future losses of nearly R3,5-billion, the Special Investigating Unit said on Thursday. This was calculated on the premise that malpractices exposed during the year were likely to have continued on average for ten more years.

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/ 28 September 2005

‘Great concern’ over school feeding cut

Schoolchildren in the Eastern Cape should not have to bear the brunt of the province’s poor budget planning, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. The DA’s Helen Zille appealed to the minister of education to intervene to stop the province from implementing proposed severe budget cuts to the school feeding scheme.

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/ 27 September 2005

Provinces count costs of wildfires

Fires that have killed two people and ravaged large areas of land have largely been contained, but now the provinces are starting to count the costs. Crews from the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo have been fighting fires since September 23.

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/ 27 September 2005

Feeding scheme cut for one million children

More than one million children, mostly from poor homes, are to be affected by cuts in the Eastern Cape’s school-feeding scheme, the Herald Online reported on Tuesday. The programme will be scaled down from five to three days a week because the education department does not have money to run the scheme every day.

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/ 26 September 2005

Wildfires start claiming lives

Wildfires began claiming lives — both human and animal — on Monday as they ran unabated across the hot, dry countryside, fanned by heavy winds. A six-year-old girl, Bonakele Ngema, burnt to death in a house where she was trapped while seeking refuge from a roaring blaze that bore down on her in Mntanenkosi reserve, KwaZulu-Natal.

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/ 26 September 2005

More fire fears as four provinces burn

Firefighters were put on standby in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape on Monday after fears that blazes in four other provinces could spread, a public-private firefighting organisation said. Working on Fire spokesperson Val Charlton said fires are raging in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and Mpumalanga.

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/ 26 September 2005

State printer runs out of money

The Government Printing Works (GPW) which prints identity documents and passports could collapse if state departments failed to pay about R150-million that it is owed, media reports said on Monday. GPW chief executive Tom Moyane warned of the possibility of closure, saying ageing printing machinery needed millions of rand to replace.

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/ 18 September 2005

ANC Youth League suspends deputy president

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) on Saturday suspended its deputy president, Reuben Mohlaloga, over remarks he made disowning the organisation’s decision over the ”two centres of power” debate. The ANCYL national executive committee referred the matter to the national disciplinary committee.

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/ 17 September 2005

Tight victory for South African XI

The first Jacques Kallis benefit match ended in an exciting finish at Newlands on Friday night. Despite a century from Salman Butt and some big hitting from Lance Klusener, cool heads in the fielding team prevailed and Andrew Hall was particularly composed in a final spell of four overs.

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/ 16 September 2005

Delmas typhoid outbreak claims third life

A third person has died of typhoid in Mpumalanga following an outbreak of the disease, the province’s department of health and social services said on Friday. The provincial health minister said the government is doing its utmost to stabilise the impact and prevent further outbreaks of typhoid and diarrhoea in Delmas.

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/ 15 September 2005

‘Heavy hand’ behind hotel deal

The fraud trial of three former senior executives at the Eastern Cape Development Corporation has renewed widely held perceptions in the province that Premier Nosimo Balindlela’s government is attempting to purge individuals loyal to former premier Makhenkesi Stofile and provincial African National Congress deputy chairperson Enoch Godongwana.

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/ 14 September 2005

United hammer Bush Bucks

Supersport United hammered the Eastern Cape outfit Bush Bucks 3-1 in a closely contested Castle Premier Soccer League match in East London on Tuesday. Bush Bucks opened the score in the 27th minute when former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder-cum-striker Simphiwe Mambo finished a loose ball in a scramble.

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/ 14 September 2005

Court overturns UDM expulsions

The Cape High Court on Wednesday overturned a decision of the United Democratic Movement to expel seven of its members, including deputy leader Malizole Diko. The ruling means that two MPs and five MPLs can cross the floor before the floor-crossing period ends at midnight on Thursday evening.

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/ 13 September 2005

SA declared free from bird flu

South Africa has been declared free of notifiable avian influenza, says Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza. The disease was discovered in ostriches in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape in July last year. ””This extremely serious threat to the whole poultry industry has thus been curbed,” said Didiza.

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/ 9 September 2005

‘Mr Softball’ devoted his life to the game

If anyone in South Africa deserved the sobriquet ”Mr Softball”, it was Phillipus ”Phillip” Petrus Kahts, who died recently in Cape Town at the age of 62. The past 46 years of Kahts’s life were devoted to the game. Among other achievements, he successfully bid for the men’s fast-pitch Softball World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2000.

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/ 9 September 2005

Bribed cops suspended at last

Six police officers implicated in taking bribes from illegal immigrants at Booysens police station, in Johannesburg, in a recent television documentary have finally been suspended — five days after Gauteng police management were alerted to the alleged corruption.

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/ 7 September 2005

Women candidates needed for local elections

Political parties were on Wednesday challenged to field more female candidates as councillors for the upcoming municipal elections by chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula. ”We had about 60% of all voter registrations this weekend being women,” Tlakula said at a briefing on the outcome of the registration drive.

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/ 7 September 2005

Farmers threaten armed struggle

White farmers on Wednesday threatened an armed struggle similar to that waged by the African National Congress unless their property and cultural concerns are addressed. A handful of farmers presented a memorandum to TAU South Africa president Paul van der Walt on the fringes of an agricultural union conference.

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/ 5 September 2005

Scandal claims Namibian MP

Namibia’s latest financial investment scandal has claimed a Cabinet scalp. Paulus Kapia, the Deputy Minister of Works, Transport and Communication, who only a few months ago was the most favoured foot soldier of former state President Sam Nujoma, has resigned over his role in an asset management company linked to the embezzlement of a R30-million investment of the Social Security Commission.

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/ 1 September 2005

Floor-crossing battles rage in court

Cape High Court judges worked overtime on Wednesday to deal with a barrage of legal action ahead of the midnight opening of the political floor-crossing window. The United Democratic Movement on Wednesday expelled six MPs and MPLs from the party, and the Independent Democrats gave the boot to its deputy leader and Gauteng MPL Themba Sono.

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/ 31 August 2005

UDM kicks out six senior members

The United Democratic Movement has expelled six of its senior members, including deputy leader Malizole Diko, with immediate effect. On Tuesday, Cape High Court Judge Basheer Waglay reversed the suspensions of the six, saying the party had not followed its own constitution in suspending them.

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/ 30 August 2005

Court hears floor-crossing challenges

Floor-crossing battles kept two Cape High Court judges busy for the better part of the day on Monday. At stake in two cases involving the United Democratic Movement and the Independent Democrats are two seats in the National Assembly, one in the National Council of Provinces and five in various provincial legislatures.

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/ 29 August 2005

Floor-crossing challenges to keep court busy

The Cape High Court was set to be busy on Monday dealing with a wave of legal action ahead of the floor-crossing window that opens on Thursday. The court will hear argument on a bid by United Democratic Movement deputy president Malizole Diko and five other party officials to have their suspension from the party reversed.