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Provisional results show a 46,72% poll with just more than 14-million votes cast from a pool of 21Â 054Â 957 registered voters. The African National Congress had swept the board in the Northern Cape by 9.45am on Thursday, and the DA’s worst fear seemed to have come true in the Western Cape.
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A holiday atmosphere took hold of strife-torn Khutsong early on Wednesday afternoon as residents opted for soccer instead of voting. However, Khutsong voters make up only a fraction of 1% of the country’s 21-million voters and should not be concentrated on to the detriment of the others, President Thabo Mbeki said.
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Voting got off to a good start despite a few problems, including flooding, at some voting stations, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Wednesday. By 9am, 99% of voting stations were open. Police used rubber bullets to disperse youths in Khutsong and extinguished burning tyres with a water cannon.
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South Africa’s third post-1994 local government election got under way without obvious hitches at 7am on Wednesday. President Thabo Mbeki was the first voter to cast his ballot at the Colbyn voting station in Pretoria. He was welcomed by Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Brigalia Bam and chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula.
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/ 28 February 2006
Free State rugby boss Harold Verster remains mum on reports that ousted South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen had allegedly tried to bribe him, media reports said on Tuesday. Van Rooyen reportedly offered Verster R3-million and a Test match if his union switched allegiance to Van Rooyen before the presidential election.
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/ 27 February 2006
Bloemfontein Celtic pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent years when they defeated log leaders Sundowns 2-1 in Bloemfontein on Sunday. In other Premier Soccer League matches, Pirates beat Supersport United 3-1, Santos posted a 3-1 victory over Dynamos and Silver Stars drew 1-1 with Free State Stars.
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/ 25 February 2006
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The African National Congress is serious with its undertaking to root out corruption, Mathews Phosa, businessman and ANC national executive member, said on Friday night. Phosa was speaking to minority groups in Bloemfontein at a function organised by the ANC in the Free State.
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/ 24 February 2006
Anglo American, the mining empire built by the Oppenheimers on the goldfields of the Free State and Witwatersrand, is saying goodbye to gold. It announced recently that it would sell down its interest in AngloGold Ashanti, though it still intended to retain a significant shareholding in the medium term.
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/ 23 February 2006
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Better houses, toilets, helping grandparents with school fees and voting for the African National Congress were the topics Thaba Nchu residents discussed with President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday. The president was visiting the town as part of the ANC’s door-to-door campaign for the local government elections.
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/ 22 February 2006
Tell Neil Tovey that Wednesday night’s needle Premier League title race showdown against Kaizer Chiefs at Loftus is effectively worth six points and the Mamelodi Sundowns coach proclaims in a matter-of-fact manner: ”It’s worth more than that.” ”It’s a game we simply have to win,” says the Sundowns coach.
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/ 21 February 2006
The two expats of the Cheetahs, All Black centre Keith Lowen and Samoan hooker Trevor Leota, look set to play for the Free State Cheetahs in their Vodacom Cup match on Friday in Brakpan against log leaders the Falcons. Lowen and Leota practised with the Cheetahs on Monday afternoon.
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/ 19 February 2006
Never write off a Cheetah — especially a wounded one. That was the lesson the Sharks learnt at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday when they lost their home Super 14 rugby encounter against the Free Staters by a single point in a 26-27 defeat, in which the Cheetahs also picked up a valuable bonus point.
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/ 19 February 2006
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Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon welcomed former New National Party (NNP) leader in the Free State Inus Aucamp into the party during a local government election rally in Bloemfontein on Saturday. Leon told about 800 supporters at the Oranje Girls High School his party is grateful and glad to have Aucamp in its ranks.
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/ 18 February 2006
The Free State will spend almost half of its R11,6-billion budget for the 2006/07 financial year on education, provincial finance minister Tate Makgoe said on Friday. ”Education produces future leaders. [It is] an investment into the future of the province,” Makgoe said after delivering the provincial budget in Bloemfontein.
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/ 15 February 2006
Cape Town station was quiet in the morning rush-hour on Wednesday as a strike by three transport unions brought the Metrorail train service to a virtual standstill. Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said only 20 trains were running in the entire system, cutting the usual commuter service to a minimum.
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/ 14 February 2006
The bridge on the R26 over the Caledon River near Wepener was under water on Monday due to heavy rainfall in the eastern Free State and Lesotho, police said. Meanwhile, police on Monday called in sniffer dogs in the search for the body of a 55-year-old woman who drowned on a farm near Bethulie at the weekend.
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/ 14 February 2006
<b>Vicki Robinson</b> reports on a company that has been branded as the country’s flagship of broad-based black economic empowerment.
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/ 11 February 2006
The concept is medieval but the execution is very much 21st-century South Africa: a fortified town run as a miniature state. Rising from the winelands outside Cape Town, Heritage Park is enclosed by a computer-monitored fence that zaps intruders with 35 000 volts and alerts a corps of security guards.
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/ 9 February 2006
The mooted biodiesel plant that is to be the subject of a pre-feasibility study by South African petrochemicals group Sasol and the Central Energy Fund (CEF), could almost triple soyabean demand in South Africa. Sasol and the CEF said the plant would require more than 500 000 tonnes of soya beans to produce 100 000 tonnes of biodiesel per annum.
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/ 9 February 2006
The South African Weather Service has warned of more rain for the flood-hit provinces of Gauteng and Free State. This came as traffic chaos and reports of cars and people being swept away in Gauteng dominated news reports on Thursday. In the Free State, reports indicated that homes had been flooded, and bridges were under water.
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/ 8 February 2006
Bloemfontein Celtic will be hoping to add to their silverware garnered this season when they line-up for the Chailanse Cup in Katlehong this weekend, hot on the heels of their Free State International Cup victory. Celtic overcame the challenge of AG Faarhus of Denmark 3-1 in the first game in Bloemfontein and then defeated Pirates 2-1 in the final.
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/ 3 February 2006
The United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) said on Thursday that next week’s planned strike by Transnet workers over the parastatal’s restructuring plans will continue. Utatu spokesperson Chris de Vos said the union was disappointed that a meeting with Transnet management on Thursday yielded no results.
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/ 2 February 2006
South African Airways obtained an interim Labour Court order on Thursday against a sympathy strike by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union. Spokesperson Jacqui O’ Sullivan said the order would remain in place until final judgement next Tuesday.
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/ 2 February 2006
An 18-year-old youth appeared in the Frankfort Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with the rape of two French exchange students in December last year. The teenager from Namahali township in Frankfort faces two rape charges and remains in custody. Two other suspects are still at large.
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/ 2 February 2006
South African Rugby Union (Saru) vice-president Mike Stofile has vowed to resign if beleaguered president Brian van Rooyen is re-elected on February 24 at the organisation’s annual general meeting. ”If he [Van Rooyen] is re-elected, I will resign immediately. I can no longer work with that man,” said Stofile on Wednesday.
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/ 2 February 2006
As the strike by Transnet employees in KwaZulu-Natal ended on Wednesday, four trade unions handed over a memorandum to Transnet management. In the memorandum, directed to Transnet CEO Maria Ramos, the unions urged management to respect processes and structures established for the purposes of negotiating.
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/ 1 February 2006
A march by thousands of Transnet workers in Durban ended on Wednesday, bringing to a close the first in a threatened series of strikes at the parastatal, a trade-union spokesperson said. A Durban metro police spokesperson said marchers were well behaved.
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/ 1 February 2006
Trade unions on Wednesday said they were ”very satisfied” with their first in a series of strikes against Transnet’s restructuring programme. ”We are very satisfied. On the short notice that we organised it, we never thought it would be this successful,” the United Transport and Allied Trade Union’s Chris de Vos said.
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/ 31 January 2006
Fresh interest by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in a report on the affairs of the Moqhaka municipality was ”unfortunate”, Free State premier Beatrice Marshoff said on Tuesday. DA leader Tony Leon has called on the premier to release the Majavu commission of inquiry’s findings on alleged corruption and maladministration in Moqhaka.
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/ 31 January 2006
Transnet workers in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State ended their second day of strikes on Tuesday with unions claiming success. ”No matter which way you try and spin it, there’s no doubt the strike has been effective,” the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union’s (Satawu) Randall Howard said.
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/ 31 January 2006
Operations at the majority of state-held Transnet divisions were proceeding normally, company spokesperson John Dludlu said in a statement as the strike in KwaZulu-Natal entered its second day on Tuesday. Barring the Durban Container Terminal, Richards Bay port and Metrorail in "a few areas", operations were running at 100%, he said.
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/ 31 January 2006
A strike by several thousand Transnet workers continued on Tuesday to protest restructuring plans at the parastatal, a union spokesperson said. ”We are definitely continuing in KwaZulu-Natal. In the Free State, the strike was scheduled only for one day, but some will continue today,” the United Transport and Allied Trade Union said.