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/ 21 October 2003

‘Technikon’ thrown into the rubbish bin

The name Unisa is to remain, a university is to be named after former president Nelson Mandela, and the term technikon is to disappear, Minister of Education Kader Asmal said on Tuesday. He was announcing the new names of higher education institutions that are to merge in terms of a plan approved by the Cabinet last year.

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/ 8 October 2003

SA museums receive cash boost

The South African Department of Public Works is to spend millions of rands this year to upgrade various museums around the country, including the renovation of the Kruger House museum in central Pretoria. More than R20-million is also to be spent on the harbour at the Robben Island museum complex.

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/ 6 October 2003

Increase in number of child prisoners

The number of juveniles in SA prisons has increased from 4 093 in 2002 to 4 449 this year, according to the Department of Correctional Service’s annual report. This figure includes 221 14-year olds. The report, presented in Parliament on Monday said there are currently 4 449 sentenced and unsentenced children in prisons.

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/ 3 October 2003

Africa’s leader or its laggard?

Has Mbeki changed his mind; is his government’s embrace of conventional Aids science wholehearted; and does he support the methods of prevention, treatment and care of Aids that the rest of the world now recognises as optimal? Mbeki will trip up again and again on the Aids issue because the answer to each of the above is no, no and no again — though it shouldn’t be.

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/ 30 September 2003

Jury out on crime stats website

The country’s only independent website providing crime statistics nationally celebrates its one-month birthday on Wednesday — but critics wonder about its validity and accessibility to those most affected by crime. About 80% of the website’s respondents are from the Gauteng region.

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/ 26 September 2003

Heat and dust

Artist Aidan Walsh has documented his travels to SA’s deserted spots in a series of paintings. Rajendra Chetty talks to the artist about the originating ideas for his Karoo journey and the social commentary behind his depiction of stark landscapes.

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/ 25 September 2003

Measles alert issued in Gauteng

The Gauteng health department has issued an emergency measles alert to the passengers and crew of a flight that landed in Johannesburg after a passenger contracted measles. Twenty-four cases of measles have been confirmed in Gauteng since the start of the year, compared with five cases for the whole of 2002.

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/ 23 September 2003

5,3m South Africans are jobless

About 5,3-million people in South Africa, or 31,2% of those economically active, were officially unemployed in March this year, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. The corresponding figures for September and March last year, which Stats South Africa provided earlier, were 30,5% and 29,4% respectively.

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/ 23 September 2003

ANC women on a mission to save Lawal

An African National Congress Women’s League delegation is departing for Nigeria as part of the organisation’s campaign to save Amina Lawal, the Nigerian citizen facing death by stoning for having a baby outside wedlock. A Southern Africa Development Community women’s delegation would join the league in Nigeria.

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/ 23 September 2003

‘Spin does not hide the truth’

Opposition parties have by and large criticised the latest edition of the police’s crime statistics, saying they were old, drew the wrong conclusions and lacked credibility. Democratic Alliance chief whip and safety spokesperson Douglas Gibson described the figures as old and outdated.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=20872">We’re winning the crime war, say police</a>

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/ 11 September 2003

Up the creek

Every traveller has a special place, somewhere he or she keeps going back to and can never get enough of. For me that place has always been the Kruger National Park. And although I’ve stayed in a number of camps, and loved most of them, I have finally found my ”home” in the Kruger, where I could happily spend eternity.

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/ 9 September 2003

NNP asks for urgent firearm amnesty

The New National Party has renewed its call for an amnesty for people to hand in illegal firearms, saying ”rather sooner than later”. Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula has said it remained the government’s intention to reduce the number of firearms in the country, and to institute efficient regulations regarding gun ownership.

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/ 28 August 2003

The forgotten province

I have a statement to make — Limpopo is lovely. And now, a sad admission — I have only just completed my first proper visit, after 12 years of living in South Africa. Sharon van Wyk appeals to adventurous holidaymakers to try it out for themselves.

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/ 28 August 2003

Tourism month kicks off

The wind whipped at my exposed ears as I tried to focus on the diminutive dynamo that is SA Tourism CEO Cheryl Carolus. All around me fellow hacks and travel fundis shivered miserably in the bitter Jo’burg morning. Welcome to the launch of Tourism Month and the concrete cold of SA Tourism’s head office in Illovo.