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/ 29 October 2007
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has asked the police to let her listen to tapes related to the city’s ”spy” affair. Her request, in a letter to provincial Commissioner Mzwandile Petros on Monday, comes after police played some of the tapes to journalists. She said in a statement that Petros had also ”presented” the tapes to Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool.
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/ 29 October 2007
Senior African National Congress (ANC) member Kader Asmal on Monday called on hundreds of the ruling party’s influential branches to back business tycoon Cyril Ramaphosa as the next president of the ruling party and the country. Ramaphosa has said he has no interest in becoming South Africa’s next president.
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/ 29 October 2007
Groutville, the party branch founded by former African National Congress (ANC) president Albert Luthuli, has nominated Thabo Mbeki for ANC president, the Daily News reported on Monday. Arch-rival Jacob Zuma did not even make the branch’s list of its top six preferred candidates.
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/ 29 October 2007
Cyril Ramaphosa has been formally nominated to lead the African National Congress, media reports said on Monday — though the businessman has maintained he is not interested in the position. The ANC’s Rondebosch branch in Cape Town has nominated Ramaphosa as its candidate in the party’s succession race.
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/ 28 October 2007
The tripartite alliance will not survive if Thabo Mbeki is re-elected president of the African National Congress in December, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Sunday. ”A status quo will see the destruction of the alliance itself,” he told what was in essence a Jacob Zuma election rally in Kimberley.
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/ 28 October 2007
As South Africa’s economic growth slows and inflation heats up, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel will present a medium-term budget on Tuesday with decidedly less to smile about than six months ago. While analysts expect Manuel to be more cautious in his revenue predictions, they believe past prudence has left him with enough room for manoeuvre.
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/ 27 October 2007
New evidence in the Cape Town spy saga details secret meetings involving city-funded spies and wire-tapping, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Friday. This was before the city council entered into a binding contract with private investigators George Fivaz and Associates.
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/ 26 October 2007
The sitting of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZ) government in Vryheid earlier this week, which was aimed at ”taking parliament to the people”, was a scandal, said Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Friday. ”It is scandalous for parliamentarians to hold a glitzy imbizo [meeting] to tell the electorate what a fabulous job they are doing,” he said.
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/ 26 October 2007
President Thabo Mbeki on Friday said the African National Congress (ANC) government was making steady progress in meeting the basic needs of poor people, despite attempts to discredit it by the ”left alternative”. Writing in the ANC’s weekly newsletter, he said the Community Survey 2007 showed there had been an improvement in meeting basic needs since 2001.
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/ 26 October 2007
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has not compiled a ”wish list” of candidates for the national executive committee of the African National Congress (ANC). This follows the Mail and Guardian publishing a list on Friday that it said named the 57 people Cosatu wanted as ANC leaders.
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/ 26 October 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) called on Thursday for the head of opposition leader Helen Zille over claims that taxpayers were made to foot the bill for an investigation into a political opponent. In its latest attempt to unseat Zille as Cape Town mayor, the ANC tabled a statement in Parliament urging her to resign.
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/ 25 October 2007
South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale said on Thursday he had not ruled out joining the race to head the African National Congress (ANC), a position that traditionally leads to the country’s presidency. ”I haven’t made a final decision. I am waiting for the nominations process,” he told the Cape Town Press Club.
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/ 25 October 2007
The Springboks were accused on Thursday of blowing the chance of spreading rugby among South Africa’s black population by scrapping plans to include the biggest township on a World Cup victory parade. SA Rugby, already under fire over the lack of black players in the Springbok team, said it had had to strike Soweto off its list of venues because of time constraints.
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/ 25 October 2007
South African public finances are sound and the financial system is healthy, while strong economic growth will continue, albeit as a slower pace, Moody’s Investor Service said on Thursday. But political and socio-economic risks may dampen investor sentiment and cloud prospects for a ratings upgrade.
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/ 24 October 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) wants to consider setting up a media tribunal to discuss how participation of the public is juxtaposed with current self-regulation in the media. ”It’s not a policy position, we just want to set up a task team to investigate this,” ANC information head Smuts Ngonyama said on Wednesday.
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/ 24 October 2007
A city-commissioned probe into the activities of controversial councillor Badhi Chaaban was completely legitimate, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. However, she promised she would ask an outsider with ”impeccable credentials”, such as a retired judge or senior advocate, to establish whether council funds were misused.
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/ 24 October 2007
The South African Broadcasting Corporation would be within its rights not to run a story on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, but media diversity is important in ensuring that other outlets can run it if they choose to, African National Congress (ANC) politician and businessman Saki Macozoma said on Tuesday.
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/ 24 October 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) succession debate does not pose a significant threat to the creditworthiness of rand-denominated debt, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said on Wednesday. ”We do not expect significant shift in the ANC policy, regardless of the outcome of the conference,” Busa CEO Jerry Vilakazi said.
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/ 24 October 2007
A case of assault has been opened with the police in Vryheid on Tuesday after a daughter of Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi was struck by chairs during a KwaZulu-Natal legislature session. African National Congress and IFP leaders clashed over issues of service delivery moments before the chair throwing occurred.
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/ 23 October 2007
The Johannesburg High Court has not mislaid the file in the matter between PetroSA and Imvume Management, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development said on Tuesday. ”The file is in fact in the possession of the registrar of the filing section of the Johannesburg High Court …,” department spokesperson Zolile Nqayi said in a statement.
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/ 23 October 2007
The Inkatha Freedom Party and the Democratic Alliance on Tuesday boycotted a sitting of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) legislature in Vryheid. The boycott follows an incident on Monday when chairs were thrown during the sitting of the legislature, which is being held as part of the KwaZulu-Natal government’s policy of ”taking the government to the people”.
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/ 23 October 2007
African National Congress (ANC) chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota is being one-sided in calling for a clampdown on T-shirts showing support for ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma while defending T-shirts bearing President Thabo Mbeki’s image, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday.
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/ 23 October 2007
The news that the case file for the PetroSA claim against Imvume Management cannot be found is further evidence of a justice system in a state of advanced decay, according to Hendrik Schmidt, who speaks for the Democratic Alliance (DA) on minerals and energy affairs.
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/ 22 October 2007
An international campaign to stop the beating of children has urged South African MPs not to bow to pressure against a Bill that bans spanking. Hitting children was ”plainly unconstitutional”, the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children said on Monday.
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/ 22 October 2007
The funeral of slain reggae singer Lucky Dube will be a private affair, family spokesperson Arnold Mabunda said on Monday. ”The family requested that the funeral be a private matter due to Lucky’s beliefs and the church’s request. ”They have requested that it not be turned into a circus, so media will not be allowed,” he said.
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/ 22 October 2007
The conduct of certain people attending the funeral of former South African ambassador to Indonesia Norman Mashabane was ”despicable”, said the African National Congress (ANC) on Monday. The funeral took place in Phalaborwa on Saturday. ”We deplore the behaviour of these unruly elements. There is no room for such people in the ANC,” the party said.
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/ 20 October 2007
The British government is welcome to stay away from the Africa Union (AU) and European Union (EU) summit in December, said African National Congress secretary general, Kgalema Motlanthe. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has stated he would not attend the summit if Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is allowed to attend.
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/ 20 October 2007
A crack team of detectives was on Friday hunting for the killers of reggae star Lucky Dube as public outrage against violent crime mounted. Gauteng’s police commissioner Perumal Naidoo has hand-picked a team of investigators to track down Dube’s killers.
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/ 19 October 2007
Children’s rights activists on Friday urged MPs to push through a Bill that will ban corporal punishment of children, saying it was vital that children be protected from violence. The social development portfolio committee on Thursday postponed deliberations on the measure after members of the African National Congress’s parliamentary caucus reportedly objected.
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/ 19 October 2007
The news of the death of South African reggae star Lucky Dube in a botched hijacking attempt in Johannesburg has drawn strong reaction from around the world. As he was leaving for the World Cup in France, President Thabo Mbeki made an appeal to South Africans to confront the ”scourge” of crime together.
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/ 19 October 2007
Instead of trying to impose racial quotas on rugby, the government should be looking at ways of nurturing young black talent for the sport, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday. In her party’s weekly newsletter, SA Today, she said the Springboks’ prowess in the international competition confirmed what should be self-evident.
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/ 18 October 2007
People with skills were not assisting those who were struggling, causing skills-development regulations to be introduced, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Thursday. He said the Department of Labour was currently developing regulations that would make it compulsory for employers to register all vacancies.