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/ 22 February 2008

Alleged SACP benefactor Modise denied bail

Controversial businessman Charles Modise was denied bail in the Kimberly Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Modise is being investigated by the Scorpions and faces various charges, including fraud, forgery and corruption in the Northern Cape. Magistrate Andre Williams postponed the matter to July 9 for further investigations.

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/ 22 February 2008

Can provinces spend windfall?

Provinces will receive R238-billion this year, a whopping 16% higher than last year’s allocation. By 2010/11, provincial budgets will have doubled on their 2004/05 levels. All increases to key portfolios outstrip inflation by significant margins. But will they spend it well?

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/ 30 January 2008

SA mines set to resume production

South African mining companies were set to resume production this week after power failures brought the industry to a halt last Friday. Anglogold Ashanti said it expected all its mines would be in full production by the end of the week. Gold Fields spokesperson Willie Jacobsz said: ”All our mines are busy mobilising as the power flow is being restored.”

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/ 25 January 2008

Lekota: Lohatla deaths were an accident

Investigations into the incident at the South African Army Combat Training Centre in Lohatla in which nine soldiers were killed have revealed that the tragedy was caused by a mechanical failure, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Friday. The nine soldiers died when a 35mm Oerlikon GDF MK-5 gun malfunctioned at the training centre on October 12 last year.

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/ 17 January 2008

Home builders to feel the heat

If the South African Reserve Bank needs further evidence of the dampening effect of higher rates on real economic activity, recent building data has been just that, according to independent economic analysts. A major challenge facing the government is also the extreme escalation in building costs.

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/ 14 January 2008

Threatened flamingos breed on man-made island

Lesser flamingos have started breeding on a specially constructed artificial island at the Kamfers Dam, the Northern Cape department of tourism, environment and conservation said on Monday. The birds at Kamfers Dam are of historic significance because it is only the sixth breeding locality in the world for the near-threatened species.

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/ 8 January 2008

Fewer people die on roads in festive season

The number of fatalities on South African roads over the festive season decreased by 13,26%, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday. He was releasing the Arrive Alive campaign’s figures for the holiday season from December 1 to January 6. The number of people killed on the roads had declined to 1 419.

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/ 24 December 2007

Second chance for failing matrics

A national plan is in place to give thousands of matriculants who are not expected to pass this year a second chance, a newspaper reported on Monday. ”Education departments confirmed on Sunday that the plan was being finalised at provincial level,” the report in Beeld said.

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/ 19 December 2007

A high turnover in ANC cadres

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Did the ANC fatten up for the slaughter in Polokwane? An audit of membership statistics suggests the wholesale recruitment of new members to boost the girth of provincial delegations has played — and will play — a role in the outcomes at Limpopo.

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/ 18 December 2007

More than 560 die on SA’s roads

More than 560 people have died on South African roads since the beginning of December, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday. At least 119 people were killed in accidents in Gauteng, 86 in KwaZulu-Natal, 58 in the Western Cape, 70 in the Eastern Cape, 52 in the Free State, 74 in Mpumalanga, 51 in Limpopo and seven in the Northern Cape.

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/ 18 December 2007

Mbeki team fights back

President Thabo Mbeki’s team fought back after a first day of humiliation at the ANC’s 52nd national conference at Polokwane, holding an unprecedented rally at lunchtime. Jacob Zuma’s people responded with an even bigger rally. The Mbeki rally was part of a package of measures to turn back the voting gains of deputy president Jacob Zuma, who is set to take the top job.

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/ 17 December 2007

Zuma, Mbeki camps rally in Polokwane

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>President Thabo Mbeki’s team fought back after a first day of humiliation at the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference at Polokwane, holding an unprecedented rally at lunchtime on Monday. Jacob Zuma’s people responded with an even bigger rally.

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/ 15 December 2007

Delegates arrive in Polokwane

Delegates to the African National Congress’s Polokwane conference, some of them weary after driving through the night from other parts of the country, began registering shortly after 10am on Saturday. Registration is taking place in a cavernous and hot aircraft hangar at the Gateway Airport north of Polokwane.

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/ 12 December 2007

DJ Sbu caught doing 257km/h

The motorist who was caught doing 257km/h in his silver Audi TT on Sunday night has been named as Ukhozi FM’s DJ Sbu, Talk Radio 702 reported on Wednesday. DJ Sbu, or Sbusiso Leope, appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. He was released on R1 000 bail, Johannesburg metro police said on Wednesday.

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/ 10 December 2007

De Beers’s R1bn sale of mine moves forward

De Beers Consolidated Mines’s R1-billion sale of its Cullinan diamond mine in Pretoria to the Petra Diamonds Cullinan Consortium has taken an important step forward with Monday’s announcement that the Department of Minerals and Energy has agreed to convert the old-order mining right held by De Beers into a new-order mining right.

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/ 6 December 2007

Crime stats: The good, bad and ugly

House robbery, business robbery and truck hijacking increased between April and September this year, the police announced in Pretoria on Thursday. House robbery rose by 7%, business robbery by 29,3%, and truck hijacking by 53,3%. There were 6 711 house robberies in the six months from April to September, up from 6 271 over the same period last year.

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/ 4 December 2007

Radio Orania gets green light from Icasa

The predominantly Afrikaner settlement of Orania in the Northern Cape has been granted a community broadcast licence by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa). The licence is valid from December 1 this year to November 30 2011, after which the community can apply for an extension.

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/ 1 December 2007

Richtersveld celebrates land restitution

The Richtersveld community in the Northern Cape celebrated on Saturday after regaining land taken from them in the 1920s. Spokesperson for the Department of Public Enterprises Lulu Bam said ten years of court battles saw state-owned diamond mining assets, held by the Alexkor mining company, being granted to the community.

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/ 29 November 2007

State allocates extra R87m for the poor

An extra R87-million has been allocated to help people living in extreme poverty, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said on Thursday. The money was in addition to funds already given to provinces for relief, he told reporters after meeting provincial ministers of social development in Durban.

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/ 28 November 2007

Union wants Lekota charged over Lohatla

The South African National Defence Force Union on Wednesday threatened to lay a criminal charge against Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota for contravening the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The union also wants the Labour Department to take action against the South African National Defence Force for non-compliance with health and safety legislation.

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/ 27 November 2007

DA highlights problem of stock theft

More than 28 000 animals were stolen from farms around the country over the past 18 months, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. Less than 40% of the stock — including game, cattle, sheep and goats — was recovered, DA rural safety spokesperson Ryno King said in a statement.

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/ 26 November 2007

Absa injects money to cut housing backlog

Absa and the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding to speed up the provision of housing in several provinces. Absa has committed R2,6-billion for the building of 100 000 units by 2010. The bank has also committed an additional R150-million for project preparations.

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/ 26 November 2007

Women’s League to ‘speak for itself’

The African National Congress Women’s League is to finalise its nominations for the party’s leadership on Monday. Earlier, it was reported that the women’s league favoured Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. The league, however, refuted this saying it would ”speak for itself” once it had consolidated the provincial nominations.