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/ 2 February 2008
Factions within the African National Congress (ANC) are bringing the entire country into disrepute and causing uncertainty among investors, said United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa on Saturday. He was addressing the UDM provincial council in Standerton, Mpumalanga.
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/ 31 January 2008
The labour minister has welcomed the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority to prosecute two Sasol employees in connection with an explosion in 2004 in which ten people were killed. ”We are happy that our recommendations for prosecution have resulted in someone having to account for the flouting of … laws,” said Membathisi Mdladlana on Thursday.
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/ 30 January 2008
South Africans can save electricity by going to sleep earlier and boiling less water, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica on Wednesday told a special sitting of Parliament to discuss the power crisis. Nationwide power cuts began again at 3pm on Wednesday, said electricity provider Eskom.
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/ 29 January 2008
Every year the festival season becomes longer and more exotic. That summer spell when young people gather in fields to listen to music and fall over, the result of either inebriation or inappropriate footwear, used to involve simply packing a tent and heading for a farmer’s field. Today you can build your summer around a trip to Benicassim in Spain, Burning Man in Nevada or Exit in Serbia.
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/ 27 January 2008
Is it our business as journalists to pronounce on who is best placed to lead the ANC? If you look at some of the personalities in the party’s new leadership, such as unrepentant convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni, or former Mpumalanga health minister Sibongile Manana, who tried to frustrate provision of treatment to people with HIV, the temptation exists to damn them all.
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/ 25 January 2008
The Nigerian method of low-budget movie-making is set to take off in South Africa if an upcoming producer has his way, writes Percy Zvomuya.
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/ 20 January 2008
About 2Â 000 nurses have been deployed to under-served areas across the country since the start of the year, the Department of Health said on Saturday. In a statement, the department said it will also open additional nursing colleges to increase the supply of nursing staff.
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/ 18 January 2008
Cases of murder, armed robbery and theft against seven men and a woman were on Friday postponed in the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court, Mpumalanga police said. The eight are accused of killing businessman Sihlangoma Solomon Hlongwane, whose tongue was tied with a string and pulled out until he died.
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/ 18 January 2008
Three Pretoria High Court judges have described the ”insensitivity” of Hoërskool Ermelo and its governing body to students who did not want to be taught in Afrikaans as ”shocking”. The judges last year dismissed the school’s application to set aside a decision to revoke the powers of its governing body to determine language policy.
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/ 17 January 2008
If the South African Reserve Bank needs further evidence of the dampening effect of higher rates on real economic activity, recent building data has been just that, according to independent economic analysts. A major challenge facing the government is also the extreme escalation in building costs.
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/ 14 January 2008
Three Department of Home Affairs officials arrested on 39 counts of fraud appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday, the department said. Two senior male immigration officials were arrested on Friday in Mahamaba in Mpumalanga and one female official was arrested in Pretoria.
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/ 11 January 2008
Mpumalanga is considering name changes to major towns, including provincial capital Nelspruit, the city said on Friday. City spokesperson Gordon Nkgathi said: ”The proposed geographical name changes, including the renaming of Nelspruit to Mbombela, have been considered and recommended by the Mpumalanga provincial geographical names committee.”
The number of fatalities on South African roads over the festive season decreased by 13,26%, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday. He was releasing the Arrive Alive campaign’s figures for the holiday season from December 1 to January 6. The number of people killed on the roads had declined to 1Â 419.
The ANC’s national executive committee elected its 28-member national working committee (NWC) on Monday. Get the complete list of NWC members here, as well as the names of the eight ANC members who will form part of the ad hoc committee to draw up a report on the arms deal.
Grade 12 pupils from at least four schools in Mpumalanga are caught up in confusion as to whether or not they have passed their matric exams, the Sowetan reported on Wednesday. Instead of joining the throng of those who passed, Thokozani Hlatshwayo and several of his classmates were left ”confused and traumatised”.
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/ 26 December 2007
Wrapped Christmas presents lay strewn across a KwaZulu-Natal highway following a horrific accident that claimed the lives of five people on Tuesday. Bayview police Commissioner Superintendent Rajen Ramchunder said a car travelling into Chatsworth hit a traffic island and went into oncoming traffic.
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/ 24 December 2007
A national plan is in place to give thousands of matriculants who are not expected to pass this year a second chance, a newspaper reported on Monday. ”Education departments confirmed on Sunday that the plan was being finalised at provincial level,” the report in Beeld said.
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/ 24 December 2007
Santa Claus will have to slide down slippery chimneys on Christmas Day as thunderstorms are expected in most parts of South Africa on Tuesday. Rain and thunderstorms across several parts of the country have been predicted by the South African Weather Service.
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/ 22 December 2007
An elderly Vryheid woman who was savaged by a hyena on Thursday has undergone plastic surgery at Johannesburg’s Milpark Hospital. Alie Nel (83) was in a ”very stable condition” in the hospital’s trauma intensive-care unit on Saturday, said its marketing manager, Amelda Swartz.
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/ 22 December 2007
A 40-year-old man killed his wife and then handed himself over to police in Acornhoek, Mpumalanga police said on Friday. ”He took out a knife and stabbed her four times all over her body, and then he took a hammer and hit her on the back of her head,” said Superintendent Abie Khoabane.
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/ 21 December 2007
Sabie is the undisputed outdoor adventure capital of the Lowveld. There’s an amazing choice of things to do. You can experience the adrenaline rush of the world’s highest cable gorge swing with a 68m freefall. Yihaa! You can go rock climbing, abseiling, spelunking, river-rafting, bungee jumping, quad biking, canoeing, tubing or horse-riding. You can go fly-fishing, sailing, power boating or 4x4ing.
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/ 19 December 2007
The African National Congress’s 52nd national conference got down on Wednesday to the nitty-gritty work of the commission that discusses the party’s policies in an atmosphere that one delegate described as the ”cessation of hostilities” over its new president Jacob Zuma.
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/ 18 December 2007
More than 560 people have died on South African roads since the beginning of December, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday. At least 119 people were killed in accidents in Gauteng, 86 in KwaZulu-Natal, 58 in the Western Cape, 70 in the Eastern Cape, 52 in the Free State, 74 in Mpumalanga, 51 in Limpopo and seven in the Northern Cape.
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/ 18 December 2007
Secretary-general of the ANC Kgalema Motlanthe spared no punches when he presented his organisational report to the national conference this week. Mandy Rossouw looks at which provinces came out tops and which need to take a long hard look at themselves.
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/ 17 December 2007
On Sunday a picture emerged of strong support for Jacob Zuma, overshowing the rest and spectacularly managing to humiliate national ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota. As strong an indicator as it was, some delegates supporting President Thabo Mbeki insisted that an Mbeki win remained a possibility.
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/ 17 December 2007
It was open rebellion as the African National Congress began its 52nd national conference. Traditions of the movement, almost 100 years old, were thrown out as the majority of the more than 4 000 delegates made clear their support for the candidacy of deputy president Jacob Zuma to the top job.
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/ 17 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Sabelo "Shanée" Moroka is a woman trapped in a man’s body, trapped in Polokwane at the African National Congress’s 52nd national conference. She joined the ANC earlier this year because she wants a gold Hummer, to go with her front teeth.
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/ 13 December 2007
The pompom weed — a plant in the daisy family — is rapidly becoming one of the most serious threats to the conservation of South African grasslands, the Working for Water programme said on Thursday. The weed’s beautiful flowers are leading members of the public to collect and inadvertently spread it to more places.
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/ 12 December 2007
The motorist who was caught doing 257km/h in his silver Audi TT on Sunday night has been named as Ukhozi FM’s DJ Sbu, Talk Radio 702 reported on Wednesday. DJ Sbu, or Sbusiso Leope, appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. He was released on R1 000 bail, Johannesburg metro police said on Wednesday.
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/ 10 December 2007
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has dismissed media reports that she summoned African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League delegates from Mpumalanga to her Pretoria office to chide them for nominating Jacob Zuma as party president.
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/ 10 December 2007
More than 250 people have been killed on South African roads since the beginning of the festive season, the Department of Transport said on Monday. Spokesperson Ntau Letebele said 275 people were killed in 230 crashes — 65 drivers, 84 passengers and 126 pedestrians.
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/ 10 December 2007
South Africa’s Department of Minerals and Energy has converted Harmony Gold Mining’s old-order mining rights into new-order mining rights, Harmony said on Monday. Harmony has been granted 13 new-order mining rights covering all its South African gold-mining operations including its Evander, Doornkop and Randfontein operations.