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/ 12 December 2003
Lemmer is amused by South African government mouthpieces who regularly lambast Australia and other countries for their ”megaphone diplomacy” towards Mad Bad Bob up north, while touting our own approach. Considering how spectacularly unsuccessful the softly, softly method has been, perhaps we should rename it ”pin-drop diplomacy”.
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/ 11 December 2003
The dry spell or drought that the South African maize belt has experienced for two weeks is set to extend to four weeks with very little rain forecast in the two weeks from now until Christmas. "The chances of rainfall in the next two weeks are very, very slim," a South African Weather Service forecaster said on Thursday.
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/ 9 December 2003
More than eight percent of 10 699 pupils in grade 8 to 11 who participated in a nationwide survey reported having forced someone to have sex with them. There was no significant difference in the prevalence among boys and girls, according to the first Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, which was released in Pretoria on Tuesday.
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/ 5 December 2003
Faced with extinction, a small KwaZulu-Natal town has transformed itself into a wildlife reserve. The tourist industry is growing and the local population has embraced the promise of a long-term economic future. More visitors and investors already live and walk among the wildebeest and other game.
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/ 28 November 2003
Last week saw the birthday of another childhood ”celebrity” in Mickey Mouse, created 75 years ago by Walt Disney. Mickey must be engraved on the subconscious of a world. But the Mickey Mouse name was also to gain a sort of acerbic other-life.
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/ 26 November 2003
The Department of Labour has visited more than 250 business sites in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, Northern Cape and Western Cape as part of the nationwide blitz inspections to check on employers’ adherence to the Employment Equity Act.
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/ 25 November 2003
Controversial legislation requiring school governing bodies to apply to provincial education departments for permission to give teachers extra pay or benefits was approved on Tuesday. ”We have too many cases … of ‘perks for pals’, determined only by the principal,” said Education Minister Kader Asmal.
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/ 21 November 2003
South Africa’s mining empowerment legislation and the popularity of platinum has spawned a flurry of empowerment deals, the most recent of which introduced a new player in the platinum industry.
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/ 19 November 2003
Former Stimela lead vocalist Ray Phiri was involved in a car accident that led to the death of a woman passenger — identified as his wife — on Tuesday night, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday.
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/ 17 November 2003
A rare new ”super” strain of tuberculosis that is costly and time-consuming to treat has been identified in South Africa’s Western Cape province, a leading scientist said on Monday. A team of scientist has found that the strain, DRF150, is resistant to almost all antibiotics used to treat tuberculosis.
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/ 17 November 2003
The SA government’s proposed Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill 2004 would have far-reaching and negative impacts not only on the tobacco industry and millions of smokers, but also on social and economic conditions in the country, say British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA).
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/ 13 November 2003
The two pilots who died after ejecting from their Impala jet on Wednesday have been named as Paul Andrew Martin (28), and Gert Willem Diederick Duvenhage (22). Both held the rank of lieutenant, the SA National Defence Forcesaid in a statement in Pretoria.
Fighter jet crashes into highway
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/ 13 November 2003
At a ceremony on November 15, members of the Giba community in White River, Mpumalanga, will become owners of Burgers Hall farm — land they were displaced from half a century ago. Handing over Burgers Hall is the first step in the resolution of a land claim that will end up returning 1645 ha of land (which cost R29 232 738) to about 500 households.
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/ 12 November 2003
Two Impala MK1 fighter pilots died almost instantly on Wednesday morning when their jet crashed 10m from the N4 highway in Mpumalanga’s notorious Crocodile Gorge. One of the pilots was flung through the roof of a passing truck after an apparent attempt to eject from his burning plane.
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/ 12 November 2003
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has won two municipal by-elections – in the Western Cape at Breede River/Robertson municipality and at Dealesville in the Free State unopposed — while the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has won a seat at Phillipstown in the Northern Cape unopposed.
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/ 11 November 2003
A wide range of organisations have gathered in Cape Town to ask Parliament not to pass the Communal Land Rights Bill, which they claim gives too much power to traditional leaders to the detriment of the rural poor. However, the groups differed on how to lobby government to accede to their demands.
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/ 6 November 2003
South African Department of Labour on Wednesday said over one thousand contravention notices and almost 170 prohibition orders were issued by inspectors during last week’s blitz inspections of the construction industry, which ran from October 27 to 31.
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/ 31 October 2003
Cool conditions with a chance of some soft showers is the forecast for Saturday when the Sharks and Blue Bulls’ Currie Cup clash takes place at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria, a SA Weather Service spokesperson said on Friday.
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/ 27 October 2003
Former Mpumalanga premier-turned-businessman Mathews Phosa has been elected to the provincial African National Congress’s list of provincial and national candidates for next year’s elections, SABC Radio News reported on Monday. The ANC also announced on Monday that President Thabo Mbeki heads the North West’s national candidates nominations list.
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/ 21 October 2003
The name Unisa is to remain, a university is to be named after former president Nelson Mandela, and the term technikon is to disappear, Minister of Education Kader Asmal said on Tuesday. He was announcing the new names of higher education institutions that are to merge in terms of a plan approved by the Cabinet last year.
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/ 20 October 2003
The icy cold weather gripping the country’s northern provinces is expected to last at least until Tuesday. At the same time, conditions which could lead to the development and spread of runaway veld fires were expected over the Cape Peninsula, the SAWS said.
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/ 16 October 2003
The absence of detailed statistics relating to crime on tourism hampers efforts to get a true picture of the situation, says Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism Rejoice Mabudafhasi. The police’s administration system ”does not provide for a distinction between crime against tourists and crime against the general public”, she said.
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/ 14 October 2003
South Africa may be heading for a prolonged drought, which researchers warn could be among the most severe in decades. The country ”is currently experiencing drought conditions over most of the summer rainfall regions”, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research said.
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/ 10 October 2003
Mpumalanga Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu said on Friday he would not give reports related to alleged irregularities in the provincial health department to Democratic Alliance MPL Clive Hatch.
What the heck kind of a name is ”Henry Nick” anyway? The young white prince found wandering in the forests of Mpumalanga, who turned out to be neither young, white nor, in fact, a prince, claims that he has finally discovered the true story of his heritage.
Four municipal by-elections are to take place in three provinces on October 15, with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) contesting them all — but likely to win two of them. The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) looks set to win the other two.
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/ 30 September 2003
A report into corruption in Mpumalanga’s Nkomazi municipality, covering a region near the Mozambique border, has recommended disciplinary action against five senior officials. The report was commissioned after allegations of wrongdoing were made in July this year.
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/ 26 September 2003
Media 24, publisher of the Sunday newspaper City Press, has hired an independent legal investigator to look into claims made in The Star on Friday that City Press editor Vusi Mona was linked to a company being paid millions to manage Mpumalanga’s scandal-clad image.
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/ 26 September 2003
The editor of City Press, Vusi Mona, was linked to a company being paid millions to manage Mpumalanga’s image, a Johannesburg daily newspaper reported on Friday.
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/ 25 September 2003
Ten of the 12 officials implicated in the draft forensic audit reports on alleged irregularities in the Mpumalanga health department are expected to appear before a tribunal on Thursday. Some of those implicated included former head of the health department Riena Charles and the chief financial officer, Richard Mnisi.
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/ 23 September 2003
About 5,3-million people in South Africa, or 31,2% of those economically active, were officially unemployed in March this year, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. The corresponding figures for September and March last year, which Stats South Africa provided earlier, were 30,5% and 29,4% respectively.
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/ 18 September 2003
A forensic audit of the Mpumalanga health department has recommended criminal proceedings be instituted against two Mpumalanga health department officials implicated in financial mismanagement. The SABC has reported it is in possession of the audit report, which Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu has refused to make public.