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/ 14 September 2005

Typhoid outbreak claims another life

Another person has died as a result of the typhoid outbreak in Delmas in Mpumalanga, government officials said on Wednesday. Two people have so far died and 51 cases of typhoid have been confirmed. The number of the people presenting symptoms of typhoid had risen to 408 by 1pm on Wednesday.

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/ 13 September 2005

Authorities work to improve Delmas sewage system

Efforts are under way to improve the sewage system in Delmas in a bid to prevent a repeat of the recent typhoid outbreak, Mpumalanga authorities said on Tuesday. The Democratic Alliance said a party councillor warned the Delmas municipality a few years ago that the municipality should be connected to Rand Water to allow for safe water.

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/ 13 September 2005

Pupils in border dispute

Swazi schoolchildren are feeling the brunt of renewed debate over the Swaziland-South African border. South African soldiers are reportedly blocking Swazi students from attending schools on the South African side of the frontier. A South African immigration official, is alleged to have threatened to prosecute South African school authorities who continued to admit Swazi pupils without study permits.

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/ 10 September 2005

Guard arrested after R6m Nelspruit cash heist

A security guard was arrested on Friday for allegedly helping robbers make off with R6-million after a patrol company was robbed in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga police said. Captain Leonard Hlathi said a cash-in-transit vehicle had just delivered the money at D and L Patrol offices on Louis Trichardt Street when the robbers arrived.

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/ 9 September 2005

Typhoid outbreak will clear up, say officials

The number of confirmed typhoid cases in Delmas, Mpumalanga, rose to 100 on Friday, but the situation is gradually being brought under control, health officials said. Up to 700 people are now suffering from diarrhoea, but proper management and precautions should see the outbreak in Delmas brought under control.

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/ 8 September 2005

Defection dosi-do

Change your partner, two by two. We have had a week now, to watch our elected representatives doing their dosi-do across the legislature floor. And our worst expectations have largely been confirmed. The case of Louis Marneweck, sole representative of the Freedom Front Plus in the Mpumalanga legislature, is emblematic.

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/ 7 September 2005

Farmers threaten armed struggle

White farmers on Wednesday threatened an armed struggle similar to that waged by the African National Congress unless their property and cultural concerns are addressed. A handful of farmers presented a memorandum to TAU South Africa president Paul van der Walt on the fringes of an agricultural union conference.

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/ 29 August 2005

Barplats reports smaller loss

Junior platinum-miner Barplats on Monday reported a headline loss per share for the year to June 2005 of 14 cents, from an 18,9 cent loss for the 2004 year. Revenue for the year declined to R40,177-million from R112,893-million in 2004. Gross profit for the year totalled R3,454-million from a loss of R5,675-million.

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/ 26 August 2005

Zuma ‘benefactor’ denies wrongdoing

Jürgen Kögl, the businessman reported on Friday to be one of former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s benefactors, is considering taking the matter to court, his lawyers said. ”Our client denies any wrongdoing whatsoever,” read a statement from Johannesburg law firm Cheadle, Thompson and Haysom.

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/ 26 August 2005

Gale-force winds hits Cape Town

A 50-year-old tree tumbled across a road in Newlands, Cape Town, on Friday as gale-force winds, driving rain and bitter cold hit the city in the early hours of the morning. The Elsieskraal River flowing through Pinelands had apparently burst its banks, but there was no major flooding reported so far, said senior traffic officer Lyndon Herbert.

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/ 25 August 2005

Teenager ‘sick and tired’ of being raped by father

A 15-year-old Ermelo girl was so sick and tired of being raped by her father that she went to the police after her fifth night on the kitchen floor with him, said police. The 45-year-old man told the girl’s mother what he intended doing every time he raped the child, but threatened her with bodily harm if she tried to do anything about it, said police.

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/ 20 August 2005

Bar council condemns Zuma raid

Condemning the Scorpions’ raid on the office of the attorney of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, the General Council of the Bar of South Africa on Friday called on them to return everything they had seized as soon as possible. The raid appeared to violate the principle of attorney-client privilege, the GCB charged.

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/ 18 August 2005

NPA: Nothing sinister about Zuma raids

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>There were no sinister motives behind the Scorpions’ swoop on the Johannesburg home of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, that of his financial adviser Schabir Shaik and other residences and offices on Thursday, said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), also denying the raids were conducted in response to Congress of South African Trade Unions statements on Zuma.

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/ 9 August 2005

Municipal strike ‘turns nasty’

Ten protesters were injured, two seriously, in Germiston and over 40 arrested in Pinetown in clashes between police and protesting municipal workers on Monday. Ekhurhuleni metro police spokesperson Vusi Mabanga said that protesters marching in central Germiston started breaking traffic lights and littering.

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/ 27 July 2005

SA municipal debt jumps to R36bn

South Africa’s municipal debt jumped about R4-billion from R31,8-billion in 2002 to R35,9-billion in 2003, while figures for 2004 are not yet available, said Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi. The figures show that Durban/eThekwini — once a shining light of budgetary prudence — has grown its debt from R2,8-billion to R3,2-billion.

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/ 24 July 2005

SAA CEO ‘abandons’ post

While South African Airways faced what could be the most crippling strike in its history, the Sunday Times has reported that the airline’s chief executive Khaya Ngqula on Friday ”abandoned” his post to attend a ”junket” at a luxurious Mpumalanga hotel.

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/ 18 July 2005

‘We will flush you out!’

The names of Department of Home Affairs officials found to have been corrupt or to have committed serious acts of misconduct were released by the department on Monday. Sixty-six officials were dismissed between April last year and June this year for serious acts of misconduct, Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said.

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/ 1 July 2005

July 22 – 28 2005

Zanu not our ally I thought it was glib of some of my friends to describe the South African government as playing a ”sub-imperial” role in Africa. But with reports of a loan to Zim-babwe worth maybe $1-billion (phew, if it’s even half that!) I begin to wonder. The United States, as world imperial power, […]

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/ 1 July 2005

July 08 – 14 2005

The power Shaiks Now that the high court has pronounced on Schabir Shaik and President Thabo Mbeki has done the country proud in axing Jacob Zuma, one remains puzzled at the role the Shaik brothers appear to play in the contention for influence and power, without visibly being representative of anyone or anything except themselves. […]

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/ 1 July 2005

ANC conference: A view from the sidelines

There was much ululating as President Thabo Mbeki and former deputy president Jacob Zuma entered this week’s gathering of the African National Congress’s policy conference. One was the overall leader of the country as well as the party while the other had fallen from political grace after being ”released” as the country’s deputy president by Mbeki before a joint sitting of Parliament.

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/ 20 June 2005

ANC will have to ‘look after’ Zuma

The African National Congress (ANC) will have to ”look after” Jacob Zuma as long as he remains its deputy president, ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Sunday. Zuma lost his salary of about R800 000 and perks when President Thabo Mbeki sacked him as the country’s deputy president on Tuesday.