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/ 6 February 2004
Some prisoners should be granted a presidential amnesty as part of the celebration of 10 years of democracy in South Africa, says the SA Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights. The organisation wants all prisoners with less than three months of their sentences still to serve to be released.
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/ 6 February 2004
”In her address to the World Social Forum in India earlier this year, Arundhati Roy picked a few bones with the world’s only superpower. She is in good company. But in her polemic Roy links the US to every evil under the sun and ends her tour de force of the human condition in the current world order on a chilling note.” Jo Lorentzen and Imraan Valodia respond.
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/ 5 February 2004
Although South Africa has scaled up social spending over the past decade, considerable additional funding is needed to improve delivery to the country’s rural poor, a new study has found. One of the key challenges is beefing up service delivery in rural communities such as providing water and electricity.
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/ 5 February 2004
Could there be truth to the rumour that arts and culture chief Ben Ngubane (also an Inkatha Freedom Party senior) is about to commit political hara-kiri and leave the cantankerous chief from Ulundi? Is that why he is being parcelled off to Japan faster than you can say kimono?
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/ 3 February 2004
Tension between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress had not been the cause of the IFP’s losing one of its three Cabinet posts, the presidency said on Tuesday. Former arts, culture, science and technology minister Ben Ngubane took up, from Monday, an ambassadorship to Japan.
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/ 2 February 2004
The South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights has called on prisoners, former prisoners and their families to boycott the forthcoming elections to show solidarity with prisoners who will not be allowed to vote. Only prisoners awaiting trial and prisoners given the option of paying a fine will be allowed to vote.
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/ 2 February 2004
The Hlobane waterfall near Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal is flowing again after more than 50 years. The waterfall stopped flowing decades ago due to mining activity at the underground Hlobane colliery. Now a mining subsidiary has developed a new technique — a world first — to fix the mining damage.
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/ 1 February 2004
President Thabo Mbeki ended a whirlwind tour of KwaZulu-Natal by calling for peaceful elections. Mbeki had criss-crossed the province over the past three days, travelling into deep rural areas like Tugela Ferry in the midlands and Mahlabathini in northern KwaZulu-Natal — Inkatha Freedom Party stronghold.
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/ 30 January 2004
The Inkatha Freedom Party, which shares the provincial government in KwaZulu-Natal with the ruling African National Congress, said on Friday it was sorry about an incident in which South African President Thabo Mbeki’s motorcade was hindered by a number of its supporters.
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/ 30 January 2004
Dr Isidore Mkhize has been appointed director of the Kruger National Park, SA National Parks announced on Friday. Mkhize’s experience as former chief executive officer of Trade and Investment in KwaZulu-Natal was expected to stand him in good stead with the business modelling and strategy development programmes for the park.
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/ 29 January 2004
President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday that the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress will meet on Monday to discuss the political tension between the two parties. Earlier on Thursday, Mbeki’s convoy was brought to a halt by about 150 IFP supporters carrying traditional weapons.
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/ 29 January 2004
More women than men registered to vote during the voter registration drive of January 24 and 25, and 18- to 25-year-olds proved those accusing them of apathy at least partly wrong. The Independent Electoral Commission on Thursday announced the results of the country’s second voter registration weekend.
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/ 29 January 2004
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has moved to swiftly condemn the actions of what it said were opposition Inkatha Freedom Party supporters who tried to block South African President Thabo Mbeki’s entrance to an imbizo event in the troubled Tugela Ferry in KwaZulu-Natal earlier on Thursday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30353">IFP, ANC to discuss tension</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30339">IFP supporters block Mbeki</a>
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/ 28 January 2004
Inkatha Freedom Party leader and Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi has played down a meeting held with the ruling African National Congress this week, describing it as having "no bearing" on the coming elections.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30281">ANC, IFP meet, details kept secret</a>
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/ 28 January 2004
Representatives of the Inkatha Freedom Party and African National Congress met for talks in Durban on Tuesday, but the talks were inconclusive, ANC national spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said. He added that the meeting at Kings House in Durban was regarded ”as a meeting in progress, as always”.
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/ 26 January 2004
The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday criticised the early closure of voter registration stations in the Durban area despite an assurance by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to the contrary. The ANC said it was ”outraged” at the way IEC staff members conducted themselves at the voting stations.
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/ 25 January 2004
Speaking at the commemoration of the battle of Isandlwana, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, demanded compensation from Britain and other countries that invaded the Zulu nation in the past, saying this would help alleviate poverty in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s majority Zulu province.
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/ 25 January 2004
Leaders of all major political parties were out and about, encouraging unregistered citizens to take advantage of the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC’s) last voter registration weekend before the election. The voting stations are open from 8am to 5pm on Sunday.
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/ 23 January 2004
Opposition parties should refrain from trying to score cheap political points, the Office of the Presidency said on Friday. Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo denied that President Thabo Mbeki’s upcoming trip to KwaZulu-Natal is part of the African National Congress’s election campaign.
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/ 23 January 2004
Swaziland is currently in the midst of its sacred Incwala ceremony, which many believe is crucial for the welfare of the country. However, the celebrations have not been without controversy. Variants of Incwala, a harvest festival, are celebrated by a number of ethnic groups in Southern Africa.
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/ 22 January 2004
The Inkatha Freedom Party on Thursday asked whether South African Broadcasting Corporation spokesperson Paul Setsetse had received intensive training from Zimbabwe’s Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo. The SABC refused, on Wednesday, to meet with the Democratic Alliance about its election coverage policy.
SABC gives DA cold shoulder
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/ 20 January 2004
Remember ”Heineken — the beer that refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”? It was a great marketing slogan. But now, if you search the Heineken website, it is conspicuous by its absence. Advertising and marketing strategists like to move on; staleness is to be avoided at all costs, which is why it is a bit surprising considering the ANC’s old slogan …
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/ 20 January 2004
The legitimacy of previous polls in South Africa’s democratic process has been placed in the spotlight by Inkatha Freedom Party leader and Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who has spoken of boxes of IFP votes being ”emptied all over the valleys and forests of [KwaZulu-Natal]” during the 1994 elections.
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/ 20 January 2004
After poor summer rainfall, a favourable rain-producing weather system is developing, the South African Weather Service said on Tuesday. The key areas that could receive decent rain in the next week are the North West, Gauteng and Free State provinces, with heavy falls possible in places.
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/ 20 January 2004
South Africa is not yet facing critical water shortages — but will be "in trouble" if inadequate rain falls over the next three months. The country was hit by severe dry spells in 1992/93 and 1983/84. The Weather Bureau has already declared this season’s drought the worst in 88 years.
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/ 18 January 2004
A statement issued by the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday claimed that the ANC had been informed by "reliable sources at Ulundi" that there will be a "stage-managed so-called defection of (bogus) ANC members to the IFP [Inkatha Freedom Party] tomorrow (Sunday) at its (IFP) manifesto launch at Lindelani in Durban".
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/ 17 January 2004
President Thabo Mbeki has declared parts of six drought-stricken provinces in the country disaster areas, the Department of Provincial and Local Government said on Friday. The disaster areas are in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, the North West, the Free State and the Northern Cape.
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/ 16 January 2004
The bulk of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress’ supporters are unemployed while 94% of them are black, according to the results of a Markinor poll. Similarly, nearly 80% of Inkatha Freedom Party supporters are jobless. The poll was conducted among 3 500 respondents nationwide late last year and was commissioned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
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/ 12 January 2004
The Democratic Alliance should be in control of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape following this year’s elections, its leader said on Monday. DA leader Tony Leon said: "We are extremely competitive there and we are going to go for a win with our coalition partners."
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29541">IFP: ‘We will bring hope'</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29493">ANC kicks off election battle</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29547">SA economy ‘not well-managed'</a>
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/ 12 January 2004
South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Inkatha Freedom Party, will launch its national election campaign in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday January 18. The pro-free-enterprise party is expected to underscore the importance of fast-tracking privatisation of state-owned enterprises.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29555">DA eyes KZN, Western Cape</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29493">ANC kicks off election battle</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29547">SA economy ‘not well-managed'</a>
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/ 12 January 2004
The African National Congress (ANC) launched what promises to be a bitter election campaign on Sunday by promising to tackle the poverty and unemployment that plague South Africa 10 years after apartheid. Unveiling a sweeping election manifesto, President Thabo Mbeki declared his party’s intention to loosen its conservative economic policies by ramping up public spending.
Mbeki ill