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/ 12 January 2005

Mandela attends son’s memorial service

Nelson Mandela, supported by his wife, Graca, attended his son Makgatho’s Mandela’s memorial service at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg on Tuesday. Makgatho (54), Mandela’s only surviving son, died of HIV/Aids on Thursday last week. In his sermon, Reverend Mvume Dandala, said ”that the first step to victory against Aids is not only to know one’s adversaries but to name one’s adversary”.

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/ 4 January 2005

Test your knowledge: 101 questions

Which four Southern Africa countries held elections this year? Who won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize? Who provides the donkey’s voice in the film <i>Shrek</i>? Name the Jewish architect of Polish extraction who won the bid to design a memorial for New York’s Twin Towers. How many of the year’s events can you recall? Put yourself to the test …

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/ 30 December 2004

Tsunami survivors slam SA officials

Tsunami survivors slammed government officials and singled out the South African ambassador in Thailand on radio and the press for their handling of the tsunami crisis. A Pretoria newspaper quoted survivors accusing South African officials in Thailand of incompetence.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177242">SA rallies to aid of Tsunami victims</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177241">Tsunami toll nears 120 000</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177234">SA relief workers to fly out</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-Africa&ao=177235">30 000 Somalis in need of Aid</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177229">SA tsunami survivors return</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177200">South Africans still missing</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177227">Aid arrives in tsunami disaster zones</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177203">Calls for UN to lead relief effort</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177202">The true horror emerges</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/content/l3_fl2.asp?cg=tsunami%20disaster&o=194303">Tsunami disaster special report</a>

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/ 29 December 2004

Matric pass rate exceeds 70% again

The 2004 matric class has achieved a pass rate of more than 70% for the third year in a row, says Education Minister Naledi Pandor. The official results in eight provinces were released during a media briefing at Parliament, but the results in Mpumalanga have been withheld because some are under investigation.

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/ 28 December 2004

Quake causes unusual tides on SA E Coast

The KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape coasts have experienced unusual tidal activity and sea currents in the wake of the earthquake that struck south-east Asia at the weekend which sent giant waves across large areas of the Indian Ocean. In the PE area one person is missing, believed drowned, as a result of higher than usual swells

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/ 20 December 2004

Crush at Mandela’s children’s party

Former president Nelson Mandela’s annual Christmas party for children was called off on Sunday amid a crush of pushing and shoving children and parents jostling for position in the queue for presents. The organisers had bargained on between 15 000 and 20 000 guests, but made provision for an extra 10 000, said Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund spokesperson, Archie Tsoku.

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/ 19 December 2004

Zuma woos traditional leaders

Deputy President Jacob Zuma handed over a traditional court, king’s chamber, community hall and other facilities to the people of Klipfontein, Mpumalanga, on Saturday. The project is part of the government’s commitment to ”improve the status and position of traditional leaders in our country”, he said.

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/ 17 December 2004

Greedy officials grab grants

The Department of Social Development launched a major anti-corruption campaign recently, asking for public support in its fight against fraud, but a large proportion of the fraud is committed by civil servants. The corruption takes many forms, including syndicates operated by corrupt government officials, doctors, lawyers and priests. We investigate how government officials collude with members of the public to defraud the state of millions of rands.

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/ 14 December 2004

Runaway truck smashes shops, buses and cars

Eastern Cape emergency workers struggled to clear a scene of carnage on Tuesday after a runaway truck ploughed through a taxi rank in the town of Flagstaff, instantly killing four and injuring 10 others, two critically. It appears the articulated truck was speeding through the town centre when it lost control.

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/ 13 December 2004

Stern warning for social-grant fraudsters

Citizens who received social grants to which they are not entitled have until the end of March to apply for indemnity. Those who fail to do so will face ”drastic measures”, Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya said in Pretoria on Monday. He said about 37 000 people are apparently illegally enjoying benefits.

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/ 10 December 2004

Cape Town’s Houdini hippo captured

City of Cape Town nature conservation officials have at last captured the elusive young male hippo that escaped from the Rondevlei Nature Reserve in February this year. It took six darts and a three-and-a-half hour chase in the dark through reed beds and deep water in the small hours of Thursday morning to get the 800kg animal under control.

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/ 30 November 2004

Putting the government’s HIV/Aids plan to the test

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/142915/aids_icon.gif" align=left>A year ago the government approved a national plan for the management, care and treatment of HIV/Aids. Its aim was to provide free anti-retroviral drugs in the public health sector. The HIV prevalence rates range from an estimated 13,1% in the Western Cape to a very high 37,5% of adults in KwaZulu-Natal. A <i>M&G</i> assessment as World Aids Day approaches reveals the leaders and laggards.

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/ 26 November 2004

No room on the fleeing chopper

”President Mbeki explains to European leaders why Nepad is succeeding beyond all expectations.” ”The government reveals how the arms deal has brought billion of rands in foreign investment and created thousands of jobs.” Then comes the ”ag shame” touch, delivered with a helping of devastating SABC wordplay to get the nation hosing itself. Does that menu smell familiar? Of course it does.

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/ 25 November 2004

Johnnic earnings surge 727 percent

Media and entertainment group Johnnic Communications on Wednesday reported an increase of 727% in headline earnings to R124-million for the six-month period to 30 September 2004. Revenue for the period rose by 52% to R1953-million from R1284-million in 2003, while profit from continuing operations before exceptional items leapt by 800% from R17-million in 2003 to R153-million.

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/ 18 November 2004

Eastern Cape dismissal drama plays on

A meeting to determine the fate of seven Eastern Cape Development Corporation directors — who were irregularly dismissed by the provincial minister for economic affairs, environment and tourism, Andre de Wet, in September — turned pear-shaped on Wednesday after De Wet effectively ruled against a High Court judgement instructing him to act "without capriciousness".

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/ 12 November 2004

Black in a white world

”It has often surprised me how difficult it is to speak across colour barriers, to people who do not understand your reality. Communication barriers arise when one does not recognise the other’s experience as authentic, real and true. I have started to feel quite oppressed by the presence of ”whiteness” in my world, or perhaps my presence in the white world.” A black professional in Cape Town feels like a foreigner in her own land.

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/ 9 November 2004

Circumcision season starts in E Cape

A traditional surgeon who allegedly performed an illegal circumcision on a 48-year-old man is to be prosecuted, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. Kupelo said the circumcision season has just started, with more than 30 boys in the Port Elizabeth area queuing for pre-circumcision medical tests on Tuesday.

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/ 8 November 2004

Count Agusta link probed in Palazzolo hearing

An Italian prosecutor on Monday sought to probe the link between alleged Mafioso Vito Palazzolo and Count Riccardo Agusta, who achieved notoriety in the Roodefontein saga. The Cape Town Magistrate’s Court is hearing evidence for Palazzolo’s trial in absentia in Italy.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=125163">Failed bid to charge Palazzolo</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=125147">Stressed policeman unfit to testify</a>

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/ 5 November 2004

Don’t panic about drought — for now

There is no need to panic about drought — unless the rain stays away for another two months, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said in Pretoria on Friday. The department is reviewing the state of the Vaal River system to see if water restrictions in Gauteng — now South Africa’s driest province — will be necessary.

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/ 29 October 2004

DaimlerChrysler to double production

Local business and labour have welcomed the almost doubling of production for the East London-built new C-Class Mercedes Benz. DaimlerChrysler chairperson Christoph Kopke said this week that the East London plant would be producing around 80 000 of the new C-Class from 2007 — up from the 45 000 a year for the current W203 model.