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/ 27 September 2007
It was a day of wrangling over evidence in the drunken-driving trial of Judge Nkola Motata at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The court adjourned on Thursday afternoon after prosecutor Zaais van Zyl attempted to enter five recordings made by Baird on his cellphone, allegedly of Motata using derogatory language.
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/ 26 September 2007
South African petrochemical giant Sasol has opened an office in Shanghai to market its range of chemical solvents in China. Sasol Chemicals Shanghai will initially market products from the global Sasol Solvents business, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
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/ 25 September 2007
The government is committed to meeting its target of eradicating the bucket-toilet system in all formal settlements established before 1994, it said on Tuesday. To ensure this deadline was met an amount of R1,6-billion had been made available ”to provide better and more acceptable sanitation for all”.
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/ 24 September 2007
Five veld fires that were raging in Mpumalanga had been put out by Monday morning, Working on Fire said. ”The five fires have been contained,” said provincial coordinator Jacques Benade. ”It is now overcast in Mpumalanga, there is moisture. We are fortunate that temperatures are lower than yesterday [Sunday],” he said.
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/ 18 September 2007
One of the runaway Kruger National Park lions was killed on Monday night after it was found eating a cow, said the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency. Spokesperson Jimmy Masombuka said the agency received a tip-off on Monday evening about the whereabouts of the lion and surrounded the area.
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/ 17 September 2007
Three lions which escaped from the Kruger National Park on Friday were still on the run, the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency said on Monday. Four lions escaped through a fence in the park on Friday and authorities had been notified by residents from the town of Emdlankomo in the Nelspruit area.
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/ 12 September 2007
Mpumalanga and North West have spent R166-million on strike recovery measures, Education Minister Naledi Pandor told the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday. Replying to oral questions, Pandor said Mpumalanga had spent R96-million on teacher remuneration for Saturday and holiday classes.
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/ 12 September 2007
Samson Mashaba struggles to retain his sense of humour as he waits to see his doctor. ”If you’re unlucky, you’ll die standing here,” says the 69-year-old as he surveys the queue ahead of him at a rural hospital in Mpumalanga. While South Africa may boast some of the finest hospitals on the continent in cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town, rural healthcare is dogged by a lack of cash, personnel and facilities.
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/ 7 September 2007
During the question-and-answer session at the launch of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class in Mpumalanga, a journo asked how he was supposed to fit all the info about the new model into a 750-word story. We all laughed and agreed that that was a challenge: trying to summarise how much the C-Class had changed and what it had to offer.
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/ 2 September 2007
Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said he has no interest in joining the African National Congress presidential succession race — this after the Sunday Times reported that Ramaphosa had joined the race. ”I have no interest in standing for this position,” he said in a statement.
A villager from Songeni near Thulamahashe in Mpumalanga is recovering in hospital after he was kicked and dragged by a cow he was tied to, losing most of his teeth in the process. A media report said on Friday that the man had been accused by his employer of spreading a rumour about him.
As the bell summons delegates to the Polokwane rendezvous, is the ANC inspiring confidence as a leader capable of taking the country into a new age? This question assumes currency not only because we are dealing with South Africa’s strongest political party. Supporter, critic and opponent alike concur that, historically, by ably advancing the synthesis of a common humanity, the ANC has been the glue that has held this country together.
An alleged hit man in the murder of Govan Mbeki municipality deputy mayor Thandi Mtsweni confessed to the killing in the Evander Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga on Thursday, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. The alleged assassin is Sikhosiphe Gwala (42).
South Africa is at the forefront of research into so-called clean-coal technology, aimed at reducing the huge volumes of greenhouse gases emitted by its power stations, MPs heard on Wednesday. The country’s high-quality coal was mined out, leaving more environmentally harmful, lower-grade coal for use in the country’s power plants, MPs were told.
Two Labour Department inspectors were arrested after allegedly receiving a bribe from a construction-site employer on Monday, the Department of Labour said. ”The suspects were extorting R3 000 from a construction employer whom they had found to be unlawfully employing illegal immigrants,” said a spokesperson.
Murder accused Florence Lukhele will remain behind bars until her case is finalised, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday. The Evander Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga refused Lukhele bail for allegedly masterminding the murder of Govan Mbeki deputy mayor Thandi Mtsweni.
Twenty-two people have been killed in a smash involving a truck and a minibus taxi on the N4 near Komatipoort in Mpumalanga, radio news reported on Sunday. The minibus taxi apparently hit a truck from behind and caught fire. The passengers were trapped inside and burned to death.
Fires that engulfed five Mpumalanga municipalities, killing an old man and injuring a number of others, have been extinguished, the Department of Local Government and Housing said on Friday. Mopping-up operations were under way at the Mbombela, Albert Luthuli, Emakhazeni, Umjindi and Bushbuckridge municipalities.
Three men linked to the murder and rape of a four-year-old girl in Mhluzi near Middelburg appeared in the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday. The case of the three suspects aged 27, 20 and 17 was postponed to August 21 for a bail application.
Three men arrested for allegedly stoning an albino man to death will appear in the Mapulana Magistrate’s Court near Bushbuckridge on Friday, Mpumalanga police said. A police spokesperson said a group of about 50 people attacked the man at his home on Friday night.
The Mpumalanga man who decapitated his Siberian Husky puppy with a chainsaw earlier this year has died in a car accident, according to newspaper reports. Phillip Matthysen (31) was thrown from his black Toyota Land Cruiser when it rolled several times on the R50 to Delmas in the early hours on Sunday.
About 3 500 mine workers will continue their strike over low salaries on Tuesday, trade union Solidarity said. Spokesperson Reint Dykema said Solidarity members started striking at coal mines around the country on Monday over an inadequate pay offer, particularly for artisans.
About 3 500 mine workers downed tools on Monday over low salaries, trade union Solidarity said. Spokesperson Reint Dykema said Solidarity members were striking at coal mines around the country over an inadequate pay offer, particularly for artisans.
The mayor of the Govan Mbeki municipality in Mpumalanga, arrested in connection with the murder of his deputy, will make a bail application next Friday, police said. Sipho Nkosi made a brief appearance in the Evander Magistrate’s Court on Friday and his bail application was postponed to August 17, Superintendent Sibongile Nkosi said.
A total of 28 people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed by a series of forest fires that have swept through parts of South Africa and Swaziland since the end of last month, officials said on Thursday. ”Twenty-six deaths have been reported thus far” in South Africa alone, said a statement issued after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The mayor of Mpumalanga’s Govan Mbeki municipality is expected to appear in court on Friday on charges of killing his deputy, police said. Sipho Nkosi will appear in the Evander Magistrate’s Court charged with Thandi Mtsweni’s murder, said Superintendent Sibongile Nkosi on Wednesday.
All veld fires that raged through Mpumalanga recently have been brought under control, the department of local government and housing said on Tuesday. ”Although the fires have been brought under control, fire fighters and the provincial disaster-management team are still monitoring the situation,” the department said in a statement.
As fuel shortages continued countrywide and panic buying set in, the Department of Minerals and Energy insisted on Friday it would not intervene in the strike by fuel workers. ”It is a huge problem and we are not happy with it, but our hands are tied. It is a very tough one … it is an in-house issue,” said spokesperson Sputnik Rantau.
Rural fires that blazed for weeks in South Africa killed at least 26 people, marking the worst loss of life from such infernos since the 1980s, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday. Ten deaths have been confirmed in Mpumalanga and 16 in KwaZulu-Natal, where veld and forest fires broke out on July 2.
Anet Ahern, Helena Dolny, Tina Eboka, Ingrid Johnson, Faith Khanyile, Elizabeth Maepa, Angela Mhlanga, Nombulelo Moholi and more …
A picture of death and destruction emerged on Monday as officials counted the cost of veld fires that ravaged several provinces. By late afternoon, nine fires were still burning in Mpumalanga and Swaziland. More runaway fires were also reported in KwaZulu-Natal.
The possibility of declaring fire-ravaged parts of Mpumalanga disaster zones could not be precluded, Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi said on Monday. Earlier in the day, Mufamadi and Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks conducted a helicopter surveillance of sites destroyed by fires in the province.