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/ 28 February 2007
The largest household-based survey undertaken to date by Statistics South Africa officially wrapped up on Wednesday. Survey workers had interviewed more than 232 673 families across the country — 85% of the total number of households sampled, said spokesperson Solly Kganyago.
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/ 27 February 2007
The Constitution promised a non-racial, non-sexist judiciary that would promote freedom, dignity and accountability. Just over a decade later, we celebrate a body of law developed by the Constitutional Court. Ranging from a rich set of judgements promoting equality to the protection of a deepened sense of democracy based on public participation, the court has propelled the country along the road leading to the promised constitutional democracy.
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/ 26 February 2007
Isolated drought conditions and the heatwave of the last 10 days in many parts of South Africa have affected the maize crop severely, said the general manager of Grain SA, John Purchase, on Monday. ”[With] the heat at 35 to 36 degrees Celsius daily, [or] even higher, there was no chance that maize crops could pollinate and produce,” said Purchase.
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/ 23 February 2007
The government’s ”narrow focus” on land was counter-productive, says a report delivered to President Thabo Mbeki. This was often the cause of failure and lack of sustainability in land reform, argues the document. The report, handed over by a group of farmers on Tuesday, resulted from an initiative by a group of prominent Afrikaner businessmen and academics.
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/ 22 February 2007
The government’s ”narrow focus” on land is counter-productive, prominent Afrikaner businessmen and academics told President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday. It is often the cause of failure and lack of sustainability in land reform, they argued during talks in Cape Town with Mbeki and Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana.
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/ 21 February 2007
As if defending Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns have not posed sufficient problems for their opponents of late, up pops the player the Brazilians call ”El Buddah” to further torment Bloemfontein Celtic at Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
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/ 20 February 2007
A high-powered Fifa delegation is in South Africa for a five-day venue-inspection tour ahead of the 2010 World Cup, the media reported on Tuesday. A tight lid was kept on the proposed arrangements for the tour, although the delegation was scheduled to inspect Ellis Park and Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday, it was reported.
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/ 14 February 2007
The Bloemfontein flying squad has been ”beefed-up” with a new leadership team following allegations of members watching pornography on TV instead of answering duty phones. Superintendent Sam Makhele on Wednesday said Free State police Commissioner Amon Mashigo made the changes during the recent restructuring process within the police.
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/ 11 February 2007
The Free State High Court has granted an interim interdict suspending the resolutions, decisions and elections at the regional general council of the African National Congress (ANC) in the northern Free State, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday.
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/ 9 February 2007
Would-be robbers blew up an automated teller machine (ATM) in Welkom on Friday morning, but left empty-handed, Free State police said. Residents of Thabong told police of a white Toyota Cressida that had been driving up and down Nkoane Road, where a Standard Bank ATM was located, at about 1.40am.
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/ 9 February 2007
The man found guilty of killing and raping the mother-in-law of celebrity Soli Philander was sentenced to two life terms by the Free State High Court on Friday. The judge told Simon Matshwane that were he to call him (Matshwane) a pig, he would be insulting pigs. ”Even pigs don’t do such things,” he said.
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/ 8 February 2007
The man accused of killing the mother-in-law of celebrity Soli Philander will be sentenced on Friday. Simon Matshwane (20) will hear his fate in the Parys Magistrate’s Court on Friday, said Philander’s wife, Toni, who will attend the sentencing with her family.
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/ 7 February 2007
A firm of commercial lawyers on Wednesday did what First National Bank (FNB) did not do and published an advertisement in Beeld newspaper voicing its grievances about crime. ”We might not have an advertising budget like that of FNB, but we have De la Rey courage,” read the advert, placed by Pretoria-based Van Huyssteens attorneys.
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/ 6 February 2007
A tip-off to police led to a constable being arrested and about R500Â 000 worth of dagga being seized from a police vehicle on Tuesday, eastern Free State police said. Superintendent Motarafi Ntepe said the Bloemfontein dog unit was tipped off that a police vehicle was about to load and transport dagga in the Ficksburg area.
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/ 6 February 2007
Great Soweto rivals Moroka Swallows and Orlando Pirates have been paired together for the first round of South Africa’s Absa Cup soccer competition. One official called it ”the million to one shot”. The draw on Monday evening uncannily paired a good number of teams from the Premier League against each other.
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/ 5 February 2007
Almost 35% of the total South African personal income of R1,232-billion accrued to Gauteng in 2006, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 16,3% and the Western Cape with 14,7%, a new report showed on Monday. Gauteng led the pack despite the 2005 boundary changes that favoured the Northern Cape.
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/ 2 February 2007
Free State farmers have accused Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana of hate speech over her allegations of worker abuse and widespread, inhumane evictions in the industry. ”She is accusing us of murder, rape and evictions,” Free State Agriculture president Louw Steytler said on Friday.
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/ 1 February 2007
Leave to appeal a fraud conviction and a four-year prison sentence by Sandile Tsopo, husband of Free State education provincial minister Ouma Tsopo, was denied on Thursday by the Bloemfontein Regional Court. Regional magistrate MI Menong, however, extended Tsopo’s bail pending the outcome of a petition to be filed at the high court.
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/ 29 January 2007
A former Free State Miss South Africa finalist, Taryn Thompson, and her husband appeared in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court on Monday on drug-related charges. Thompson was released on bail of R1 000 while her husband was remanded and will formally apply for bail on February 5, said police spokesperson Captain Magda Muller.
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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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/ 25 January 2007
President Thabo Mbeki awarded 18 of South Africa’s top matric students the Thabo Mbeki Matric Merit Award in Pretoria on Thursday. ”It is us who feel honoured to be in your company,” Mbeki told the matriculants, a sentiment shared by Education Minister Naledi Pandor.
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/ 18 January 2007
Power cuts rippled across South Africa on Thursday, blacking out parts of major cities and spurring warnings from state utility Eskom that unexpected shortages could extend into next week. The cuts, which Eskom attributed to power-station maintenance and the shutdown of one unit at Koeberg, caused power failures stretching from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
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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
Several employers in the Free State might be hauled to court or fined for breaking labour laws, the provincial department of labour said on Wednesday. This follows an inspection to check if they are adhering to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and other labour acts, spokesperson Zolisa Sigabi said.
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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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/ 16 January 2007
The Free State department of transport on Tuesday announced changes to the province’s vehicle number-plate regulations. ”The [provincial minister] for public works, roads and transport, Seiso Mohai, has approved amendments to the provincial notices regarding number plates after the department was flooded with requests from the public,” Gunnett Kaaf, a departmental spokesperson, said.
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/ 16 January 2007
The restructuring of the country’s police management system has left some officers in the dark on where to report for duty next week, media reports said on Tuesday. Although some officers in the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal had to start working at their new offices by Monday, not all of them had been informed yet.
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/ 12 January 2007
South Africa’s Department of Labour has warned employers in the northern Free State to ”brace themselves” for intensive workplace inspections to check compliance with the country’s labour laws. Sectors which would be targeted for inspections would include private security, contract cleaning, wholesale and retail, manufacturing and construction.
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/ 10 January 2007
Provincial education departments experienced a smooth start to the first day of school on Wednesday with no major problems being reported. Schools reopened in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West and Free State. ”All our schools opened today [Wednesday],” said Gauteng education spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi.
Underperforming schools in Gauteng and the Free State will remain open, the provincial education departments said on Tuesday. ”The [provincial minister] is not closing any schools for non-performance,” said the Gauteng education department spokesperson Mbela Phetlhe.
Provincial education departments on Tuesday reported readiness for the arrival of millions of pupils at the start of the 2007 school year on Wednesday. Schools will reopen in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West and Free State. ”The Gauteng department of education is ready to roll out the 2007 academic calendar,” education provincial minister Angie Motshekga said.
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.