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/ 12 December 2005
As motorists struggled to find petrol on Monday, the government denied any fuel shortages inland. The situation inland constituted ”an inconvenience rather than a crisis”, and motorists should not wait for their tanks to empty before filling up, Minerals and Energy Minister Lindiwe Hendricks told reporters in Pretoria.
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/ 12 December 2005
”Three points are three points,” philosophised Jomo Cosmos owner and coach Jomo Sono after his team’s 1-0 Premier Soccer League win over Classic on Sunday afternoon. In other matches, Supersport United and Bloemfontein Celtic drew 1-1, Sundowns and Pirates as well as Arrows and Leopards drew 0-0, and Santos beat Stars 1-0.
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/ 10 December 2005
A record late rush, precipitated perhaps by defending champions Kaizer Chiefs raising their waning stocks with a 5-2 midweek win over Free State Stars, on Friday sent ticket sales sky-high and ensured an 80 000-strong sell-out crowd for the big Premier Soccer League (PSL) derby against Orlando Pirates.
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/ 9 December 2005
There are sporting contests so special that the faithful plan months, even years, ahead for the next instalment of their favourite event. The World Cup is one such occasion, cricket’s Ashes series is another. In South Africa, the Soweto Derby features high among these events. At least it does most of the time.
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/ 9 December 2005
Amakhosi have upset The Buccaneers’ applecart once this season and proved to themselves they have the ability to do it again. The form team, however, remains Pirates. A victory for Pirates will place them firmly in front on the title trail and all but eliminate defending champions Chiefs’ hopes.
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/ 9 December 2005
What a difference three quarters of a year can make. In April this year, the South African gold industry was characterised by the cacophonous strains of a sector strangled by a strong rand and rising input costs and about to breathe its last. It had just announced that production output from last year had fallen to 308 tonnes — its worst level since 1930.
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/ 7 December 2005
A R250-million casino and entertainment development was officially opened in Bloemfontein on Tuesday night. ”The complex represents the largest-ever private sector investment in the Free State’s leisure industry,” Free State premier Beatrice Marshoff said at the opening of the Windmill Casino and Entertainment Centre.
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/ 29 November 2005
Jomo Sono might have been expected to hit the ceiling when the Premier Soccer League on Monday announced the rain-postponed league game between his Jomo Cosmos team and Golden Arrows had been rescheduled for Tuesday — a mere 96 hours before the Coca-Cola Cup final against Supersport United in Polokwane on Saturday.
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/ 27 November 2005
Playing like a bunch of languid, over-fed fat cats, the expensively assembled Sundowns team were given a runaround by Orlando Pirates in the top-of-the-log Premier Soccer League game at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon. Pirates squandered more than six gilt-edged scoring opportunities.
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/ 25 November 2005
Back to the kitchen! The actions of a few rowdy women in the Jacob Zuma saga have done great harm to the dignity of South African women and deserve harsh condemnation. On Women’s Day last year at the Union Buildings, female Zuma supporters booed Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and bared their breasts in protest against […]
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/ 18 November 2005
The toughest season in Springbok history has two games left and it is some measure of the renaissance achieved under coach Jake White that both games could be lost and no one would be calling for his head. White’s team lost just once in the Tri-Nations and came within five minutes of winning that game against New Zealand.
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/ 18 November 2005
While death is inevitable, the pain can be relieved with easily accessible medication — but not for those who are dying beyond the reach of doctors or professional nurses. The Department of Health is relying on roughly 1 200 home/community-based care projects, established across South Africa since 2001 to deliver support services to communities, families and individuals affected by Aids.
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/ 17 November 2005
Flyhalf Meyer Bosman will make his South Africa rugby debut in a new halves pairing with Free State teammate Michael Claassens against Wales on Saturday at the Millennium Stadium. The 20-year-old Bosman replaces Andre Pretorius, who injured his ankle during the 34-23 win in Argentina on November 5.
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/ 13 November 2005
Matthew Harris and Eugene Moleon helped the Lions to reach a lead of 236 on the third day of their Supersport Series match against the Cape Cobras on Saturday. Also, the Free State Eagles took an overall lead against the Warriors and the Titans set about building a huge second-innings score against the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins.
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/ 13 November 2005
Free State Stars surprised themselves with their first win of the season when they beat Black Leopards 3-2 at Thohoyandou Stadium in the only Premier Soccer League match played on Saturday. Striker Sifiso Vilakazi gave Stars the lead via his head early on in the first half.
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/ 12 November 2005
The Warriors enjoyed an excellent second day of their Supersport Series cricket match against the Free State Eagles at St George’s Park on Friday, ending play on 153 for one in reply to their opponents’ first-innings 391. The Warriors will be feeling much happier after they had watched the Eagles soar to 329 for five on Thursday.
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/ 12 November 2005
The founder of the African National Congress’s Economic Research Unit, Selebano Zacharia Matlhape, was a lifelong fighter for democracy, the ANC said in paying him tribute on Friday following his death last week. ”South Africa bids a sad farewell to one its most remarkable sons,” said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama.
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/ 8 November 2005
Bloemfontein’s name might change to Thabure, the name of a Basotho chief’s white horse, if Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan approves the name change eventually. ”It’s just a suggestion at this stage, it is not even before the committee to consider it,” Mario Sefo, of the Free State department of arts and culture and secretary to the committee, said on Tuesday.
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/ 8 November 2005
South Africans should use water sparingly due to the drought in many parts of the country, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Buyelwa Sonjica said on Tuesday. Indications from the South African Weather Service are that prospects for above-normal rainfall this season are not good.
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/ 6 November 2005
Mining magnate Brett Kebble, who was shot dead in Johannesburg in September, was probably hit by rare, ”low velocity” bullets used by bodyguards and anti-terrorist operatives, the Sunday Times reported. The newspaper said an autopsy found that the muzzle of a gun was rammed into Kebble’s jaw with such force that it had produced a deep black bruise.
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/ 4 November 2005
The tug-of-war over the fifth Super 14 rugby franchise will be among the issues tabled at a pending judicial inquiry into allegations of corporate mismanagement within the South African Rugby Union (Saru), the Dispatch reported on Friday. The franchise went to the South-Eastern Cape.
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/ 31 October 2005
South Africa’s third-largest gold miner, Harmony Gold, on Monday posted its ninth consecutive headline loss but forecast a recovery in the coming months and quarters. Harmony reported a headline loss of 86 cents per share for the September quarter, from a restated 94-cent loss in the June quarter.
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/ 31 October 2005
Mamelodi Sundowns failed to reach a dominant position in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) title race when they missed an 85th-minute penalty and were held to a goalless draw by Free State Stars in Qwa Qwa on Sunday. In other matches, Dynamos beat Ajax, Black Leopards beat Golden Arrows and Celtic and Supersport played to a draw.
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/ 31 October 2005
Two opposition parties called on Sunday for a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations by the United Nations that South African companies were involved in Iraq’s oil-for-food corruption scandal. The leader of the Democratic Alliance, Tony Leon, said in a statement that South Africans had to learn the truth about the scandal.
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/ 28 October 2005
Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez has been ruled out of the end-of-year tour after an medical scan on Friday afternoon revealed damage to his groin muscle. Du Preez felt discomfort on Thursday evening after suffering a groin strain at Thursday afternoon’s training session at St Stithians College in Johannesburg.
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/ 27 October 2005
Kaizer Chiefs completed the harrowing experience of drawing six successive Premier Soccer League (PSL) games during the goalless draw against Classic on Wednesday. In other matches, Supersport beat Leopards, Stars and Ajax played to a draw, Celtic lost at home to Swallows, and Cosmos and Santos ended 1-1.
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/ 25 October 2005
In a week of Premier Soccer League fixtures that is due to end in a crescendo with the pinnacle South African soccer derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates on Saturday, Mamelodi Sundowns are intent on stealing much of the thunder. Sundowns are currently placed seven points behind log leaders Pirates.
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/ 24 October 2005
Thousands of workers belonging to the country’s largest union federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), have embarked on strike action in the Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal provinces to protest against issues such as job losses, casualisation and racism in the workplace.
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/ 22 October 2005
The Cheetahs won only their second-ever Currie Cup title when they shocked the defending champions Blue Bulls 29-25 in a pulsating final played in front of a packed Loftus Versfeld on Saturday evening. The Bulls led 12-9 at half-time and 25-15 with nine minutes remaining.
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/ 22 October 2005
In just one week, police reported 15 murders in South Africa, with the most gruesome case being that of a North West father who wiped out his entire family. Inspector Thabo Makhafola said the man, from Madikwe’s Lethlakeng village in North West, had been a security guard at a mine in the area.
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/ 21 October 2005
Retailers Pick ‘n Pay and Woolworths have come out against the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) planned pickets, part of Cosatu’s campaign against casualising, retrenchments and foreign goods. ”It seems that Cosatu does not have the facts about Pick ‘n Pay correct,” Pick ‘n Pay personnel director Frans van der Walt said.
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/ 21 October 2005
While the game’s administrators appear to want the Currie Cup to go away, the paying public has other ideas — or certain sections of the paying public, anyway. Early on Monday morning the crowds were already snaking out into the street outside Loftus Versfeld and tickets for Saturday’s Currie Cup final between the Blue Bulls and the Cheetahs were sold out in six hours.