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/ 10 November 2006

Cadillac’s comeback

Right-hand-driven Cadillacs will officially be available for sale in South Africa from February 2007, motor vehicle giant company General Motors South Africa (GMSA) has announced. GMSA plans are to release three new marques, the BLS mid-size sedan, SRX Crossover SUV and the STS full-size sedan.

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/ 6 November 2006

Row over North West housing tenders

A controversial North West company with provincial government housing contracts worth almost R250-million has been implicated in tender irregularities described as "unheard of" by the provincial legislature. One of these contracts, worth R80-million, is for the building of 2 000 houses in Taung following floods in March this year.

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/ 29 September 2006

We (almost) hire an AK-47

Two weeks ago I connected with gun dealers on the streets of Sharpeville in the Vaal Triangle. They agreed to lease me an AK-47 for a day for R2 000. After two months of telephonic negotiation with the dealers — former Umkhonto we Sizwe and African People’s Liberation Army cadres — the deal was struck, writes the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Monako Dibetle.

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/ 4 August 2006

1 x Parreira = 2 x Maria Ramos

One Bobby Godsell, one and a half Phuthuma Nhlekos, 12 Thabo Mbekis, two Maria Ramoses, 20 Phillippe Troussiers, 20 Pitso Mosimanes, 12 Jake Whites or even 45 Zwelinzima Vavis. If you have R12-million to spend buying top talent, that’s what your money will get you. Or one Carlos Alberto Parreira.

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/ 24 March 2006

Khutsong, Moutse join forces

The residents of Merafong and Moutse districts have combined forces in a joint court challenge against the re-demarcation of their areas. But the government recently dismissed any possibility of reconsidering Parliament’s decision on the eradication of cross-border municipalities, or of reversing the constitutional amendment required for this.

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/ 3 March 2006

‘Voting is like suicide’

In Khutsong residents enforced an election boycott by burning at least two houses belonging to known African National Congress activists. During the day residents played soccer and generally stayed away from the polls, but at night rampaging youths stoned and burnt the houses of an ANC candidate and an ANC party agent.

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/ 1 February 2006

Mango mammies

The level crossing at the intersection of Main Reef and Roodepoort roads, west of Johannesburg, might seem an unlikely site for a 24-hour fresh-fruit market driven by market mammies from Mpumalanga. But the 20-odd women know their market — they’ve set up shop on the main taxi and bus route to Soweto from central Jo’burg.

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/ 16 January 2006

Sick and tired of waiting

The government’s slogan of "Batho Pele" promises a return to our cultural values of putting people before all else. But anyone who uses public health services knows that people are generally put last — often after nurses’ tea breaks and chats. Children cry uncontrollably, the infirm slump in wheelchairs, and the elderly sprawl on the benches.

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/ 18 November 2005

Hard-core vernacular

<b>CD OF THE WEEK:</b> Zola’s new kwaito offering is full of sharp observation, deeply rooted in his personal experience of growing up poor in the epicentre of South Africa’s political turmoil, writes Monako Dibetle. Also read reviews of The M and M Project, Crosby Stills & Nash and Bill Frisell.

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/ 23 September 2005

Lauded housing scheme collapses

Cope Housing Association, the Section 21 company that pioneered cooperative housing in South Africa, is set to close at the end of the month. Residents of the company’s seven cooperatives in the Johannesburg inner city fear eviction and blame the imminent closure on poor management and the negligent use of donor funds.

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/ 5 September 2005

Bargaining on toys

When human rights advocate Greg Moran opened the African Toyshop earlier this year, his aim was clear: to use the principles of fair trade to help African crafters make a decent living through their skills. Six months on and he is satisfied that the project is bearing the kinds of fruit he had in mind.