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/ 19 February 2008
Tourists spent an estimated R2,5-billion in KwaZulu-Natal during the festive season, while more than 1,4-million foreign tourists visited the province during 2007, the province’s arts, culture and tourism minister said on Tuesday. During the year, hotels in the province reported an average occupancy rate of 71,3%.
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/ 19 February 2008
A man and a woman travelling in a white BMW were critically injured outside Hillary Primary School in Durban on Tuesday morning after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, which had stopped near the school. Donovan Pillay (26) was seated in the car with Leanne Armugam — the wife of his cousin, local taxi boss Duncan Armugam.
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/ 19 February 2008
Light is all its going to take to connect South Africans and the rest of Africa to Europe and Asia via the Middle East by 2010. International contractor Seacom is building and will own and operate a high-capacity undersea cable that will stretch over approximately 17 000km, providing cheap bandwidth at high volumes.
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/ 18 February 2008
A statue of King Shaka Zulu ka Senzangakhona to be built north of Durban will be ”very high” but not 106m tall, the KwaZulu-Natal premier’s office said on Monday. Logan Maistry, spokesperson for Premier S’bu Ndebele, said the exact height and cost of the statue cannot be determined until architects complete the design.
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/ 18 February 2008
Johannesburg twins Dora Uys and Ethel Nembula will be among the world’s oldest twins when they turn 100 on Wednesday. Dora’s daughter Joyce Uys said about 150 family members will be gathering in Riverlea next weekend to celebrate the twins’ birthday, and a church service will be held in their honour on Wednesday.
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/ 18 February 2008
The KwaZulu-Natal health department has identified a quiet rural doctor as a troublemaker, charging him with misconduct for "wilfully and unlawfully without prior permission of [his] superiors rolling out prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission dual therapy to pregnant mothers and newborns".
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/ 17 February 2008
Jacob Zuma, president of the African National Congress (ANC), husband to two wives, is planning to take a third, a media report said on Sunday. Zuma (65) married 33-year-old Nompumelelo Ntuli, the mother of two of his children, in early January.
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/ 17 February 2008
It was described as the show that couldn’t close, but on Sunday the curtain will finally come down on the <i>Lion King</i>, by far and away South Africa’s most popular stage production. This internationally acclaimed musical entered the South African theatre scene in June last year, and its stay has been extended three times.
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/ 16 February 2008
A 106m statue of King Shaka Zulu ka Senzangakhona will be built on the banks of the Thukela River north of Durban, media reports said on Saturday. The statue would cost about R200-million to build and was expected to be 13m higher than the Statue of Liberty in New York. A feasibility study estimated that the statue would attract 4 000 visitors a day.
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/ 15 February 2008
Pointing out that Thursday February 21 is International Mother Language Day, the president of the African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, has called for the new schools’ pledge drawn up by the Department of Education to be recited in the different languages of the country — depending on the region.
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/ 14 February 2008
The release of figures showing that 830 KwaZulu-Natal law enforcement officers were under investigation would be probed, the Independent Complaints Directorate boss announced on Thursday. Patrick Mongwe said that statistics could not be released with out having been ”audited and verified”.
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/ 14 February 2008
The Department of Health on Thursday released a revised policy and guidelines clearing the way for dual therapy in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. At the same time, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang dismissed claims that her department was reluctant to implement the new regime.
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/ 14 February 2008
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Thursday dismissed claims that her department was reluctant to implement dual therapy for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. ”I was the first person to express concern about mono therapy … but we had to make sure that we had enough time to examine the implications of dual therapy,” she said.
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/ 13 February 2008
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Judge President Vuka Tshabalala said on Wednesday that he had returned all the shares in Absa Bank worth millions of rands, which were given to him by a consortium headed by businessman Tokyo Sexwale. ”I have returned the shares. That’s the end of the matter,” said Tshabalala.
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/ 13 February 2008
At least 830 of KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) law-enforcement officers are under investigation for a host of crimes ranging from assault through to rape and murder, figures released by the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) revealed on Wednesday.
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/ 13 February 2008
Five independent brokers have been identified as allegedly using personal client information to submit unauthorised policy applications to Liberty Life, the financial-services group said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Mandy Denton said Liberty Life had sent one forensic investigator to KwaZulu-Natal to assist police with investigations.
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/ 13 February 2008
Investigations into more than 500 000 social-welfare grants in KwaZulu-Natal have saved the taxpayer close to R520-million that would have been lost to corruption, KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele said on Wednesday, delivering his State of the Province address in Pietermaritzburg.
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/ 13 February 2008
Attempts to reach an out-of-court settlement between a KwaZulu-Natal ferromanganese factory and its workers over compensation for manganese poisoning foundered on Wednesday. The workers’ trade union and attorney accused the company, Assmang, of negotiating in bad faith.
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/ 13 February 2008
The KwaZulu-Natal doctor who faces a disciplinary hearing for giving dual-therapy drugs to babies at risk of HIV infection should be hailed as a hero, a doctors’ organisation said on Wednesday. ”To discipline him for doing his ethical duty is disgraceful,” the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society said in a statement.
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/ 12 February 2008
Universities will receive R3,6-billion in government money for increasing graduates and improving infrastructure following a finding in 2004 that subsidy levels have been declining, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said in Cape Town on Tuesday.
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/ 11 February 2008
A 14-year-old boy appeared in the Kwamsane Magistrate’s Court on Monday for the rape of an 11-year-old girl at Mchakwini reserve near Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal police said. The girl was sent by her mother to a shop on January 26. On her way back home she was accosted by a boy who threatened to kill her with a knife.
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/ 8 February 2008
Woza Moya’s beaded dolls and their creators are on exhibition, writes Niren Tolsi.
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/ 7 February 2008
Despite an undertaking by President Thabo Mbeki, the South African government continues to undermine traditional leaders, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Thursday. Buthelezi accused the government of paying ”lip-service” to the African renaissance programme.
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/ 7 February 2008
While it was designed to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy, a new video-conference facility launched in Parliament on Thursday gave MPs the chance to see what their colleagues in the provinces look like. National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete hoped the project would one day link the government to rural areas.
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/ 7 February 2008
The Soul Brothers’ lead singer was arrested at his home in Mofolo Park, Soweto, for assaulting his wife, police said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Inspector Kay Makhubele said police had been looking for David Masondo (58) since February 2. ”A case was opened and a protection order was sought against him by his wife, Nomsa,” he said.
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/ 6 February 2008
The right to reply space encourages readers to feel a co-ownership of the newspaper so that it is a public debating space run by a wider forum, rather than just the reporters and editors who run it. So it pains me to intrude upon readers’ space, but the article last week by a group of leaders at the University of KwaZulu-Natal deserves a second look, writes Ferial Haffajee.
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/ 6 February 2008
Over half of South Africa’s public dams, including the biggest — the 5,3-billion cubic metre Gariep Dam — do not fully comply with modern-day safety standards, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Wednesday. ”As at October [last year], 160 of the 294 dams do not comply with current dam safety standards,” the department said.
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/ 6 February 2008
South Africa’s preparation for the World Cross-Country Championships enters a crucial stage when some of the country’s leading athletes compete at the 34th Janmeda International Cross-Country Championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday. ”This race is a brilliant test run,” said Boy Soke, who hails from the Free State.
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/ 6 February 2008
Swimming South Africa announced on Wednesday a full-strength line up for the Fina World Short-Course Championships in Manchester, United Kingdom, from April 9 to 13. President Jace Naidoo and national coach Dirk Lange said it is the strongest South African short-course squad selected to date.
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/ 3 February 2008
Fear now stalks the corridors of African National Congress (ANC) power as the party’s new president, Jacob Zuma, asserts his authority in Parliament, the provinces and the party structures, the Sunday Times reported. ANC MPs made their anxiety known in a closed meeting of the ANC’s parliamentary caucus on Thursday.
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/ 3 February 2008
Hundreds of spectators and competitors attending the third of four events in the Billabong ”Girls Get Out There” Summer Surf Series event at Tableview in Cape Town on Saturday enjoyed an ideal beach day with blazing sunshine, light winds and gradually dropping 1m waves.
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/ 2 February 2008
Millions of rands of international donor funds intended to be used by the Red Cross Society in KwaZulu-Natal have disappeared.