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/ 27 February 2007
The government’s insistence on securing credible evidence for the listing of terrorists before acting against its citizens was lent support by a group of the country’s Muslim leaders on Tuesday. Last month, the United States listed a Johannesburg dentist and his cousin as suspected terrorists with links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
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/ 27 February 2007
The 2010 Soccer World Cup marks the beginning of a revolution in South Africa’s transport system, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday. ”The 2010 World Cup is a major milestone in our history and marks the beginning of a major revolution in South Africa’s transport system,” Radebe told the African Business Tourism Conference in Sandton.
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/ 27 February 2007
The axing of Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp this week came as no surprise. In fact, what was most surprising of all is that he held on to his job for so long at a club that expects instant success. The German was unpopular with the fans almost from day one after employing what was perceived as negative tactics.
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/ 27 February 2007
Every evening national power alert messages flash on to television screens across the country. If the alert is green, South Africans are in luck, and there is no imminent threat of being plunged into darkness. If it’s red or orange, we are expected to turn off non-essential appliances, including stoves, kettles and lights, in a bid to prevent power failures.
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/ 27 February 2007
Widely reported as ”the first farm expropriation”, the Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights recently announced that it had expropriated a 25 200ha farm near Barkley West in the Northern Cape to settle a restitution claim by 471 families. The expropriation notice came into effect on January 26 and the land is now vested with the state until it can be transferred to the claimants.
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/ 26 February 2007
One of the men jailed for the January murder of KwaZulu-Natal historian David Rattray was back in the Dundee Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of armed robbery. This time Sibusiso Fethe Nkwanyana (23) faces charges in connection with a robbery at the Rorke’s Drift Museum on December 3 2006.
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/ 26 February 2007
A KwaZulu-Natal schoolteacher was injured on Monday when about 200 pupils went on the rampage in protest against a school outing being cancelled. Pandemonium broke out during assembly at Nqantayi Secondary School, near Richard’s Bay. Later, the children hurled stones and planks at police after barricading themselves on the school grounds.
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/ 23 February 2007
The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday dismissed an application that would have stopped negotiations over the building of the new King Shaka International Airport north of Durban. In their papers, the applicants said that they had been unfairly disqualified as a bidder for the work.
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/ 23 February 2007
Twenty domestic employers in KwaZulu-Natal were ordered to produce workers’ records at labour offices by next week ”or face the law”, the Labour Department said on Friday. Spokesperson Zolisa Sigabi said the employers had failed to register their workers with the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
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/ 23 February 2007
The issue of lesbian and gay Africans’ human rights again came to the fore recently as Anglican Church leaders met in Tanzania amid the continuing row over the consecration of a gay United States bishop in 2003. An ultimatum was sent from the conference in Dar es Salaam to US bishops to make a commitment that same-sex unions would not be blessed.
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/ 22 February 2007
Jailing the man who shot famous historian David Rattray for an effective 25 years on Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala said such a crime would have resulted in the death penalty not many years ago. The judge, however, found substantial and compelling circumstances that allowed him to deviate from the prescribed sentence of life.
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/ 22 February 2007
Creating two separate time zones in the country could lead to a massive annual saving of about 500MW of electricity generation, says an internal Eskom study. Eskom’s figures show that it currently costs R10-million per megawatt to build new power capacity, suggesting that energy savings from more efficient use of time zones could obviate the need for R5-billion in new capacity.
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/ 22 February 2007
The manne were denouncing hypocrites left and right this week when they heard that plans are afoot to build a R90-million wall around the president’s Pretoria residence, but Lemmer supports Mr Mbeki entirely. After all, the man has refused to indulge in empty theaÂtrical gestures in the fight against crime, and a plain, utilitarian wall is as un-theatrical as it gets.
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/ 20 February 2007
A Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) statement on Monday, apparently threatening violence if the case against former deputy president Jacob Zuma is pursued, was strongly criticised by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday.
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/ 20 February 2007
A couple looking after a 20-month-old girl were arrested at Shelley Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast after leaving her in a locked car. Superintendent Zandra Hechter said bystanders in the parking lot on Monday heard a baby crying inside an Opel Corsa.
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/ 20 February 2007
Although sin taxes — alcohol and cigarettes — have seen an upward tax increase in the past few years, tax specialists predict that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel will announce a further increase on these items in this year’s eagerly awaited budget. Durban-based BDO Spencer Steward KwaZulu-Natal tax director Graham Earle has predicted a substantial increase on excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes.
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/ 19 February 2007
Freedom of expression is central to the Constitutional Court appeal against a Durban schoolgirl’s right to wear a nose stud to school, the Freedom of Expression Institute said on Monday. The appeal is against a KwaZulu-Natal high court decision in favour of Sunali Pillay’s wearing of a nose stud to school.
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/ 19 February 2007
The burglary of the Durban home of KwaZulu-Natal provincial minister of safety and security Bheki Cele is ”proof that crime is out of control”, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said on Monday. Reacting to the news of the burglary, KwaZulu-Natal IFP leader Lionel Mtshali said: ”If the African National Congress’s [ANC] government needed proof that crime is out of control in South Africa, they got it.”
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/ 18 February 2007
The KwaZulu-Natal department of housing unveiled a R37-million housing project at KwaHlabisa in the north of the province on Saturday. The project was scheduled to see more than 1 000 low-cost houses being built before the end of the year, said spokesperson Bheko Madlala.
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/ 16 February 2007
The KwaZulu-Natal education department is searching for two mobile libraries stolen from its offices in Durban on Friday. ”The mobile buses are a solution to schools that do not have libraries. By stealing these buses, thousands of children have been robbed,” said a departmental spokesperson.
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/ 16 February 2007
Four finance youth ministers will be in Parliament as guests of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel when he delivers his budget speech on Wednesday. They will attend a pre-budget function and will meet Manuel and Minster in the Presidency Essop Pahad, Johan Reiners of the South African Youth Ministers’ Programme said on Friday.
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/ 16 February 2007
KwaZulu-Natal police have arrested a third person for the murder of historian David Rattray. The man was arrested on Thursday night, said Senior Superintendent Phindile Radebe. On February 5, Fethe Nkwanyana (23) was sentenced to 25 years in jail by Judge Jan Hugo in the Pietermaritzburg High Court after pleading guilty to the crime.
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/ 15 February 2007
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota took issue this week with South Africans who complained about crime.
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/ 14 February 2007
The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday rejected moves by predominantly Afrikaans parents of Newcastle High School to retain the Christian form of religious worship. The chairperson of the school governing body, Dr Prithipaul Ramkissoon, said in court papers that the school’s religious policy is intolerant of religions other than Christianity.
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/ 14 February 2007
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is a province ”on the move” despite a high crime rate and high incidence of HIV/Aids, Premier S’bu Ndebele said in his State of the Province address in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday. Speaking at the Royal Show Grounds, Ndebele labelled 2007 as the year that KwaZulu-Natal is ”building the economy through partnerships”.
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/ 12 February 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) has yet to decide when its national executive committee (NEC) will meet to discuss a report into last year’s hoax e-mail saga. The NEC was discussing the matter on Monday, said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama. It has not yet been decided whether it will take place this weekend — as has been reported. The date will be announced, he said.
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/ 11 February 2007
Lamontville Golden Arrows beat Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 in a fast, entertaining Premier Soccer League game played at the Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney on Saturday afternoon. There was no score at half-time. It was sweet revenge for Arrows, who lost 2-1 in their own backyard earlier in the season.
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/ 11 February 2007
A second-line drug treating extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is having toxic side-effects on patients in KwaZulu-Natal, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday. XDR-TB is a deadly strain of the infectious disease that emerged in the Tugela Ferry region of KwaZulu-Natal in 2005.
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/ 10 February 2007
Jon Kent, drafted back into the Dolphins side in place of the injured Lance Klusener, made the most of his chances in their Supersport Series cricket match at the Oval in Pietermaritzburg on Friday. The match between the Warriors and the Lions was evenly poised, and Goolam Bodi helped the Titans declare with their score on 508/7.
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/ 10 February 2007
One person died and two were missing after a helicopter crash outside Durban on Friday night, KwaZulu-Natal police said. ”I saw it circle and then go down into the trees … There was a loud bang,” said witness Erinn Demsey. She had run out to her veranda when she heard the loud hum of the helicopter’s propellers.
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/ 9 February 2007
The second accused in the murder of KwaZulu-Natal historian David Rattray appeared briefly in the Dundee Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Simphiwe Ndlovu (25) was remanded in custody until February 20 for a pending bail application. The small courtroom was packed with curious locals and media representatives waiting to see the face of the accused for the first time.
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/ 9 February 2007
The court case involving former spy boss Billy Masetlha and two co-accused was postponed in the Pretoria commercial crimes court on Friday. Masetlha’s co-accused, Muziwendoda Kunene, a software salesperson, and Funokwakhe Madladla, the former National Intelligence Agency manager for electronic surveillance, have already been charged with fraud.