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/ 21 May 2008

Leon examines fears of a Zuma presidency

<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>Addressing an audience in London on Wednesday, Tony Leon — the former leader of the Democratic Alliance — expressed fears that under Jacob Zuma as president, South Africa could revert to a stereotype of "Big Man", African-style kleptocracy replete with redistributive and populist economics with lashings of demagoguery.

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/ 21 May 2008

Metrorail on high alert for attacks

Metrorail has beefed up security in response to possible xenophobic attacks on train commuters, it said on Wednesday. ”Our own protection services, the South African railway police and contracted security staff have been beefed up in response to the perceived threat and in support of our security plan,” the company said in a statement.

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/ 21 May 2008

‘What kind of nation are we building?’

The South African government is under growing pressure to send troops into Johannesburg’s townships for the first time since the apartheid era as African immigrants continued to flee a wave of killings and violence against foreigners. Several people were killed overnight including two men, believed to be Mozambican miners, who were beaten to death as mobs moved through townships.

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/ 20 May 2008

McBride’s back amid xenophobic clashes

Ekurhuleni police chief Robert McBride returned to work on Tuesday amid an eruption of bloody xenophobic clashes throughout the province. ”All leave has been cancelled [under the circumstances],” McBride said. ”I’m working.” He would not answer any more questions, explaining: ”I’m really busy at the moment.”

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/ 20 May 2008

SA moves to quell xenophobic attacks

South Africa’s police and the African National Congress (ANC) intensified efforts on Tuesday to quell anti-foreigner violence that has killed at least 24 people and sent thousands of African immigrants into refugee shelters. Police have struggled for over a week to end the violent attacks on foreigners.

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/ 20 May 2008

Mbeki: Cops will root out Jo’burg ‘anarchy’

President Thabo Mbeki on Monday reiterated his call for an immediate end to attacks on foreign nationals in Gauteng, which have left 22 people dead and up to 10 000 seeking refuge in shelters. ”Citizens from other countries on the African continent and beyond are as human as we are and deserve to be treated with respect,” the president.

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/ 19 May 2008

Gauteng violence takes govt ‘by surprise’

Two weeks after the start of the xenophobic attacks in Gauteng, the government and police are still at a loss on how to handle the escalating violence. "The attacks keep on taking us by surprise. When we think the situation is under control something erupts somewhere else," an official from the Department of Home Affairs told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> on Monday.

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/ 19 May 2008

Fire and blood in SA townships

His legs soaked in blood and with scorch marks running down his back, the young man is lifted on to a makeshift stretcher after another bout of deadly violence in South Africa’s so-called City of Gold. His eyes blink, filled with tears, as he shudders slightly and tries to move before police calm him down and say he is now out of danger.

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/ 19 May 2008

Netcare rises to the challenge

Notwithstanding the strong demand for private healthcare, Netcare’s operations in South Africa are operating in an extremely challenging environment, the hospital group said on Monday. This environment was due to ”increased regulatory and cost pressures”, it said.

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/ 19 May 2008

Alec Erwin to quit

Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin would retire after the elections next year, a media report said on Monday. ”The minister would like to confirm that he would not be serving another term. His decision was taken long before the change in African National Congress leadership,” said his spokesperson Vimla Maistry.

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/ 19 May 2008

Mob violence sweeps Gauteng

Another foreigner has been killed in South Africa as a wave of xenophobic violence spreads across Johannesburg, bringing the weekend death toll to 13, police said on Monday. The violence against foreigners, who are accused by many South Africans of depriving locals of jobs and committing crime, has spread across townships since the beginning of last week.

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/ 17 May 2008

Cosatu calls for food nationalisation

About a hundred members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and other organisations picketed the gates of Parliament in Cape Town on Saturday morning to protest against rising food prices and call for freedom in Zimbabwe. The event was to have been a march through the city.

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/ 17 May 2008

Eskom tariff blow may be softened

Any increase in electricity prices should occur gradually over five years, Eskom was told on Friday at a summit in Sandton on the electricity crisis, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported. The government, labour, the African National Congress and community forums were represented at the summit.

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/ 16 May 2008

Ruling on Erasmus commission reserved

A full bench of judges on Friday reserved a ruling on the bid by the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance (DA) to quash the Erasmus commission. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool to probe the DA-led city’s investigation of renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.

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/ 16 May 2008

Xenophobia ‘like racism of apartheid’

The spate of xenophobic violence in Alexandra has to be contained or it will cause problems in the future, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said on Friday after visiting the troubled township. Meanwhile, the Gauteng African National Congress has compared the xenophobia that fuelled this week’s attacks to the racism of apartheid.

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/ 16 May 2008

ANC pushes for power compromise

The African National Congress and its labour allies called on Friday for electricity prices to rise only gradually, rejecting the state power firm’s appeal for a sharp hike to solve a dire power crisis. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said it would be wrong for Eskom to use price rises to recover from past losses.

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/ 16 May 2008

Zuma: Tackle material differences between people

<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>Addressing the students and teachers at a University of Zululand graduation ceremony in Empangeni on Friday, African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma said that nation-building is not only about people’s attitudes. "We must understand that nation-building requires that we tackle the material differences between our people," he said.

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/ 16 May 2008

ANC: SA can’t afford sharp power price hike

South Africa’s economy cannot afford a sharp electricity price increase, a leader of the African National Congress (ANC) said on Friday, adding that Eskom should not be allowed to use pricing to make up past losses. As part of efforts to tackle power shortages and fund infrastructure expansion, Eskom has requested a 53% increase in electricity tariffs.

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/ 15 May 2008

Erasmus commission battle goes to court

Having a judge head the politically loaded Erasmus commission undermined the principle of separation of powers, lawyers for the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance argued on Thursday. The city and the party have asked the court to quash the commission to probe the legality of the city’s spying on renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.

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/ 15 May 2008

Zuma to fight charges

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma will not stand trial on August 4, instead he will be seeking to have the decision to charge him declared unlawful. The legal teams of Zuma and his co-accused met the National Prosecuting Authority and the KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala on Thursday to finalise a court date.

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/ 15 May 2008

Task team to probe xenophobic attacks

A special task team will investigate the cause of the recent xenophobic attacks in Alexandra and elsewhere in the country, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The team will make recommendations about steps required to prevent a recurrence of this ”negative tendency”, he told a media briefing.

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/ 15 May 2008

Political parties unite behind Scorpions

The African Christian Democratic Party, Democratic Alliance, Independent Democrats and United Democratic Movement have filed a joint submission in the Pretoria High Court as a friend of the court in support of Hugh Glenister’s bid to stop the disbanding of the Scorpions, the parties said on Thursday.

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/ 15 May 2008

Zuma lawyers, NPA discuss trial date

Lawyers for African National Congress president Jacob Zuma will meet prosecutors on Thursday to decide whether his corruption case should begin on August 4, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said. ”It is only after the meeting today that we’ll know if the date we have proposed is confirmed,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.