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/ 4 May 2008

Do we want a lame-duck govt?

When was the last time you heard from Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff, Northern Cape’s Dipuo Peters or even KwaZulu-Natal’s S’bu Ndebele? I reckon not lately. It may be true that some, such as Marshoff and Peters, have always had a low public profile anyway. But Shilowa and Ndebele?

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/ 16 April 2008

Winter is on the way, says weather service

Wintry weather conditions are expected to appear this weekend, the South African Weather Service said on Wednesday. ”The first outbreak of cold weather this year will occur from Saturday, taking more effect on Sunday,” said forecaster Puseletso Mofokeng. He said rain-free conditions were expected until Friday.

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/ 7 April 2008

SA swimmers sparkle in Games trials

The Telkom South African National Aquatic Championships came to a thrilling climax at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban on Sunday evening with an unprecedented 20 swimmers posting Olympic ”A” qualifying times. It was a fitting ending to a sensational Olympic trial for the country’s swimmers.

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/ 1 April 2008

Extreme power cuts to black out entire cities

In the latest blow to South Africans already reeling from scheduled load-shedding, entire cities will now be plunged into darkness as Eskom institutes even more extreme power cuts. The shock development, which will be known as sector-sharing, will see the country divided into four vertical zones, each spanning many thousands of square kilometres.

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/ 28 March 2008

Health dept launches programme for TB defaulters

A programme to trace people who default on their tuberculosis (TB) treatment was officially launched in the Northern Cape on Friday by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. All provinces have established TB tracer teams of nurses and community health workers who visit homes to find defaulters and return them to their treatment regime.

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/ 27 March 2008

Workers bring diamond mine to a halt

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Thursday said that production at the Golden Falls mine, formerly Cape Diamonds Elandslaagte mine, has been brought to a halt by mineworkers who have downed tools until they are awarded better wages. The NUM said the workers downed tools on Wednesday and were willing to strike indefinitely.

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/ 10 March 2008

Eskom: We need to save more

While large industry has met its 10% power-reduction commitments, the rest of South Africa is lagging behind, saving less than 5% on its electricity consumption. The continued strain on the national grid has meant that there remains the threat of load-shedding for South Africans.

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/ 5 March 2008

Eskom to speed up lamp-exchange drive

Incandescent lamps will be exchanged for energy-saving lamps in all provinces from April onwards, Eskom said on Wednesday. The exchange programme for compact fluorescent lamps is already under way in several of the country’s provinces and has seen more than 12-million lamps distributed in three years.

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/ 25 February 2008

Eskom looks to the rising sun

Stretched-out plains with dust devils and the hot, unrelenting sun are the trademarks of the Northern Cape. Every year the province records some of the highest aggregates of sunny days a year worldwide and rainy days are as rare as hen’s teeth. This is bad news if you’re a farmer, but great news if you plan to build one of the world’s biggest solar plants.