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/ 27 January 2008
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Sunday that the death of Don Pasquallie (41), the union’s deputy general-secretary, was a ”profound loss” to the organisation. Pasquallie died in a car accident in Napier, near Bredasdorp in the Western Cape, at about 6am on Sunday morning.
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/ 27 January 2008
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Sunday that the death of Don Pasquallie (41), the union’s deputy general-secretary, was a ”profound loss” to the organisation. Pasquallie died in a car accident in Napier, near Bredasdorp in the Western Cape, at about 6am on Sunday morning.
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/ 23 January 2008
John Gomomo, a former president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions has died, the federation said. Gomomo (62) was — at the time of his death — an African National Congress MP and the chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on public service and administration.
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/ 23 January 2008
The Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (Cosatu) has been deeply saddened by the death of its former president, John Gomomo, it said on Wednesday. ”Gomomo died on Tuesday after a long and brave struggle against illness. We send our condolences to his family and share their grief at this sad time of loss,” said spokesperson Patrick Craven.
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/ 21 January 2008
South Africa was set on Monday to ration electricity in a bid to stem a spiralling crisis that has dealt a severe blow to its status as the continent’s economic powerhouse. After mounting anger over daily power cuts that have cost business hundreds of millions of rands, the government said it was drawing up plans that could see consumers fined if they exceed set quotas.
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/ 20 January 2008
President Thabo Mbeki is to meet the management of electricity utility Eskom to ascertain the depth of the current power-supply crisis and the company’s remedial plans, the Presidency said on Saturday. Mbeki will table the matter before the forthcoming Cabinet lekgotla (meeting) that begins in Pretoria on Tuesday.
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/ 18 January 2008
Eskom must provide answers about the ongoing electricity crisis, the South African Human Rights Commission said on Friday. In a statement, the SAHRC said it and the Public Protector could soon work together in an investigation to establish why Eskom had instituted power cuts to the extent that it has.
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/ 14 January 2008
Tiger Brands began charging 40 cents more for a loaf of Albany bread on Monday, with Pioneer Foods and Premier Foods in the process of considering their increases. In response, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) suggested the increases were linked to last year’s bread price-fixing scandal.
Top leaders of the African National Congress said on Tuesday they had ”grave misgivings” about the timing and handling of corruption charges against newly elected leader Jacob Zuma. Zuma has been charged with fraud, corruption, money laundering, racketeering and tax evasion.
The recent concerns of former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson and liberation struggle lawyer George Bizos about statements made by supporters of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma should be dismissed, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Monday.
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s innocence or guilt should be decided by the courts and not through rhetorical statements from his detractors or supporters, retired chief justice Arthur Chaskalson and one of South Africa’s top lawyers, George Bizos, said on Saturday.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Tuesday denied that the decision to prosecute African National Congress president Jacob Zuma had been forced upon it by Zuma’s opponents. ”The decision has been made by the NPA and the NPA alone,” said NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali in a statement.
Levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality remained the biggest problems in 2007, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said in its New Year message on Monday. ”The number, and quality, of new jobs being created are nowhere near enough to meet the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa,” said Cosatu.
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/ 30 December 2007
South Africa’s prosecuting chief on Sunday denied claims that President Thabo Mbeki was behind the filing of a string of charges against Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress. Mokeketedi Mpshe, acting National Prosecuting Authority head, told a newspaper that the decision to formally charge Zuma was made independently.
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/ 29 December 2007
Supporters of Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress, protested on Saturday that new corruption charges against him were part of a politically inspired vendetta. Zuma’s supporters have cried foul over the timing of the charges, a little over a week since he was elected leader of the ANC.
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/ 23 December 2007
The new chairperson of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, Khanyisiwe Mkhonza, paid tribute to the outgoing board in a statement to the media on Sunday. Mkhonza, who is the current chairperson of the public broadcasting services board sub-committee, also acknowledged challenges facing the new board.
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/ 22 December 2007
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Friday condemned the National Electricity Regulator for giving permission to Eskom to increase electricity prices by 14,2%. ”Poor households continue to face massive challenges in access to energy for basic household activities,” said spokesperson Patrick Craven.
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/ 13 December 2007
The African National Congress Women’s League’s decision to postpone its planned Thursday meeting with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has deprived the latter of an opportunity to explain its general secretary’s controversial gender remarks made at the weekend, Cosatu said on Thursday.
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/ 6 December 2007
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi will not accept a nomination to the national executive committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC), Cosatu said on Thursday. Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the congress was seriously concerned about leaders who embraced ”patronage”.
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/ 5 December 2007
According to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the broadcast by President Thabo Mbeki on 15 South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) radio stations on Wednesday evening confirms for South African listeners at large the conviction that the public broadcaster is a party organ.
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/ 4 December 2007
A march by gender activists in protest at the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League nominations of mostly men for the party’s top six positions would take place this week. Chief executive of the Gender and Media Southern Africa network Kubi Rama on Tuesday said the women would participate in the march on Wednesday.
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/ 28 November 2007
The R98,7-million penalty imposed on Tiger Brands was too lenient, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Wednesday at a Competition Tribunal hearing in Pretoria. ”Bread in particular is a diet of the poorest and it is appalling that people should enrich themselves by robbing the poor,” it said.
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/ 27 November 2007
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) must not be used to bring down Jacob Zuma ahead of the African National Congress conference to elect its next president, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday. Zuma, the current ANC deputy president, is the frontrunner to become the party’s next president.
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/ 14 November 2007
Tiger Consumer Brands, which owns Albany Bread, did not profit from the fixing of the price of bread, the company said on Tuesday. "The company did not benefit from the price-fixing. I don’t know who did, but we did not," said spokesperson Jimmy Manyi.
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/ 8 November 2007
A merger of the Federation of Unions of South Africa with the National Council of Trade Unions is a significant achievement that will unite workers in the country, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Thursday ahead of the launch on Friday of the new South African Confederation of Trade Unions.
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/ 8 November 2007
With just more than a month to the African National Congress presidential election, Jacob Zuma will be waiting to see whether the National Prosecuting Authority will recharge him for corruption. Court rulings on Thursday clarified the status of searches and documents related to the investigation against him concerning alleged corruption in the arms deal.
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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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/ 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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/ 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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/ 18 October 2007
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) fears party politics was behind the suspension of National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli, it said on Thursday. The way in which he was suspended raised ”serious suspicion” that the government may have intervened for ”narrow political reasons”, said spokesperson Patrick Craven.
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/ 17 October 2007
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota’s ”hostility” towards the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was reflected in his ”ignorance” of its policies, presented as an alternative to those of the government, Cosatu said on Wednesday. Lekota had challenged Cosatu in a radio broadcast to ”present alternative policy positions to those of the ruling party”.
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/ 16 October 2007
The ”crisis” caused by proposed fee hikes at two Johannesburg universities this month should be handled by the Ministry of Education, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday. ”We urge the Ministry of Education to intervene in the current negotiations at the University of Johannesburg and Wits,” Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said.