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/ 19 October 2007
With just a day left to the Rugby World Cup final, a man has been fined in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court for trading in counterfeit Springbok jerseys, Gauteng police said on Friday. The owner of a shop at Value Mall in Boksburg was arrested on Thursday for being in possession of and trading in counterfeit Springbok jerseys.
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/ 18 October 2007
To ignore the vexed question of how to deal with Cape Judge President John Hlophe is to stick your head in the sand.
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/ 18 October 2007
A civic movement on Thursday demanded that a ”degrading and discriminating” Rugby World Cup advert featuring Khoisan people be pulled from the airwaves. ”It degrades our Khoisan indigenous people as illiterate,” said national secretary general of the African Renaissance Civic Movement Richard Huber.
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/ 18 October 2007
Earlier this year, Cape Town was debating a by-law that would make solar water heating compulsory for relatively costly new buildings, and certain renovations. But what of solar water heating for less expensive structures — especially homes being built under the country’s extensive low-cost housing programme?
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/ 18 October 2007
Freedom of expression is a right South Africans should not have to ask for, businessman Tokyo Sexwale told a gathering at the Star’s 120th anniversary celebrations in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”You have the right, you don’t have to ask for that right … you have won that right by being citizens of this country,” said Sexwale.
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/ 17 October 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng on Wednesday criticised Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for threatening to take action against nurses who placed babies in a cardboard box at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, the party said. DA spokesperson Jack Bloom accused Tshabalala-Msimang of a display of ”arrogance and an evasion of blame”.
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/ 17 October 2007
Academics in the sciences must realise that they are also entrepreneurs, according to a range of speakers at the annual Bio2Biz SA conference in Cape Town last month. But researchers must be prepared to fall and pick themselves up again in a real-life experiment, said Dr Joe Molete, conference organiser and CE of the BioPAD innovation funder in Gauteng.
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/ 16 October 2007
The upcoming summer season will have unusual weather conditions, and farmers need to have contingency plans, the Agriculture and Land Affairs Department said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Steve Galane said wet and warm conditions are expected over South Africa’s summer rainfall areas.
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/ 16 October 2007
Gauteng provincial safety and security minister Firoz Cachalia should probe the harassment of two Johannesburg photographers, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. This comes after two photographers from the Star had their equipment confiscated by police in Johannesburg’s Diagonal street.
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/ 16 October 2007
The opening of the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to public transport and cars carrying more than three passengers was hailed as a success by Gauteng provincial minister for public transport, roads and works Ignatius Jacobs on Tuesday.
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/ 12 October 2007
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi has pledged his full cooperation with a panel of experts named on Friday to review a criminal probe against him. ”As an individual, I will fully cooperate with the members of the panel as announced … by the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority],” Selebi said in a statement.
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/ 12 October 2007
The names of the panel expected to review the case against police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi were released on Friday. The Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Moktedi Mpshe, said the panel would be made up of Frank Dutton, advocate Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Peter Goss and advocate Shamila Batohi.
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/ 11 October 2007
More than 200-million litres of raw sewage have spilled into three rivers in Gauteng, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Thursday. The Apies, Hennops and Pienaars rivers were all affected. The broadcaster reported that the spillage had been caused by power failures at sewerage works.
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/ 11 October 2007
Polokwane will be a busy town come December with an expected 4Â 500 delegates, both voting and non-voting, attending the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference. Smuts Ngonyama, head of the presidency of the ANC, on Thursday updated the media in Johannesburg on preparations for the conference.
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/ 10 October 2007
Sasol and a conservation group clashed on Wednesday, with the petrochemical giant denying building in an environmentally sensitive area without permission. Environment and Conservation Association chairperson Nicole Barlow accused Sasol of erecting luxury offices, without authorisation, along the Natalspruit River in Germiston on Gauteng’s East Rand.
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/ 10 October 2007
No individual’s opinion on who should be elected to the African National Congress’ national leadership took precedence in Gauteng, the party’s new provincial chairperson Paul Mashatile said on Tuesday. Mashatile, reportedly a backer of ANC presidential hopeful Tokyo Sexwale, beat Angie Motshekga in the race to become chairperson at the conference on Sunday.
A high-occupancy vehicle lane between Southgate Mall and the Crown Interchange will be piloted on the M1 North from October 15 to 19, the Gauteng department of public transport, roads and works said on Tuesday. This is part of the ”Transport Month Campaign” in Gauteng.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has apparently thrown her weight behind leading businessman Tokyo Sexwale for the African National Congress presidency. Meanwhile, audited ANC membership figures have confirmed the Eastern Cape as the party’s strongest province, media reports said on Tuesday.
Police have rejected as a hoax an email detailing how women are raped in mall toilets, Superintendent Eugene Opperman said on Tuesday. He said the email claims that women are being raped and robbed of their valuables and clothing while in mall restrooms in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Heavy rains are set to continue over Gauteng for the next two days, clearing up on Friday and continuing at the weekend, the South African Weather Service said on Tuesday. ”There will be showers over the weekend, and I can’t rule out the possibility of heavy rains,” said forecaster Evert Scholtz.
The number of deaths in police custody or as a result of police action increased by 11% compared with the same period last year, a report by the Independent Complaints Directorate revealed on Monday. A total of 698 deaths occurred between April 2006 and March 2007, compared with 621 casualties in 2005/06.
Motorists will end up footing the R55-billion bill for the upgrading of Gauteng’s highways, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe announced on Monday. ”This project will be financed through the ‘user-pay’ principle, and it will allow our roads to be funded, without resorting to the national fiscus for such projects,” said Radebe.
Emails suggesting that a severe storm with a tornado was to hit Johannesburg and surrounds on Monday afternoon were "greatly exaggerated", the South African Weather Service said. One email on Monday read: "Please be careful as a tornado dropped in Randfontein on Saturday and is expected today."
Hundreds of University of Johannesburg students were protesting on their campuses on Monday morning, Gauteng police confirmed. Police spokesperson Constable Sefako Xaba said police had been called to the campus on Bunting Road where about 200 students had gathered.
South African President Thabo Mbeki came under mounting pressure over the weekend to explain his suspension of the country’s top prosecutor, a controversial move weeks before a crunch vote on his leadership of the African National Congress (ANC).
Forsaking high office in order to build the organisation should be the highest honour for members of the African National Congress (ANC), said the ruling party’s national treasurer Mendi Msimang on Saturday. ”Election to high office in the ANC should not be regarded as a stepping stone to government position or the accumulation of wealth,” he said.
COUNTERPOINT: One can only conclude that the decision on Zuma was politically palatable to the president, whereas the decision on Selebi was not. The suspension of National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli represents a profound crisis of governance, writes Sam Sole.
The government has ten days to submit its reports to an official inquiry on why National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli is not fit to hold office, former speaker of the National Assembly Frene Ginwala said on Thursday. These reports would be examined at an official hearing into Pikoli’s fitness to hold office.
Telephone bills and furniture were prioritised over hospital equipment at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, the national and provincial health departments said on Thursday. In a joint statement, the departments cited ”deficiencies on the management side” as the reason the hospital did not have required equipment.
The South African Human Rights Commission has spoken out against children’s rights violations at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, where newborn babies were put in a cardboard box. ”The commission reiterates that section 10 of the Bill of Rights provides that everyone has inherent dignity,” spokesperson Vincent Moaga said in a statement on Thursday.
One year into the construction of railways of South Africa’s first partly underground express train, the focus is on the completion of routes that are crucial for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Transport Minister Jeff Radebe visited the sites of the Johannesburg and Rosebank rail tracks and stations on Wednesday.
President Thabo Mbeki must not be re-elected for a third term as party leader, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in Gauteng said on Wednesday. "We reject the notion of two centres of power … whoever is elected as the ANC president must be the president of the country," said secretary general Lebogang Maile.