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/ 1 February 2008

Sars simplifies VAT registration

Value-Added Tax (VAT) registration would be easier from this month, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Friday. Sars said the new VAT-registration process reduced the paperwork required for registration and provided for the instant issuing of VAT registration numbers over the counter at Sars branches.

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/ 31 January 2008

Selebi ‘taking it on the chin’

It will likely be a short first appearance for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in the Randburg Regional Court on Friday, a member of his legal team said. Selebi would be present at the court but it was likely that his case was going to be postponed, advocate Fanus Coetzee said on Thursday.

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/ 31 January 2008

SA hints at delay over Iran nuclear resolution

A one-month delay to consider a new United Nations Security Council draft resolution that would punish Iran for moving ahead with its nuclear programme would not be a disaster, a South African official said on Thursday. The Security Council’s five permanent members, along with Germany, have circulated a draft that would toughen existing sanctions on Iran.

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/ 31 January 2008

Mugabe blows hole in quiet diplomacy

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe may have dealt a fatal blow to Pretoria’s "quiet diplomacy" by calling an election in the middle of mediation efforts by his South African counterpart, say analysts. President Mbeki was handed the poisoned chalice of mediating between Mugabe and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change last April.

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/ 30 January 2008

Disbanding of Scorpions ‘sends wrong signals’

The African National Congress’s (ANC) drive to close the Scorpions is ”myopic and dangerous”, political analyst Professor Adam Habib said on Wednesday. Speaking at the University of Pretoria’s African Dialogue Lecture series, both Habib and fellow academic and analyst Professor Stephen Friedman said the move sent out the wrong signals.

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/ 30 January 2008

No bail for Boeremag suspect who found religion

The Pretoria High Court refused bail on Wednesday to one of the accused in the Boeremag treason trial, Kobus Pretorius. Pretorius (34), whose father and brother are on trial with him along with 17 other accused on 42 charges including high treason, terrorism and murder, said he had experienced a religious conversion while in jail.

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/ 29 January 2008

SA fears ‘very serious crisis’ in Kenya

South Africa believes that no political ambition could justify the current cycle of violence in Kenya, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Union Buildings, Pahad called on Kenyan political parties to rise above ”narrow political interests” and settle the conflict through dialogue.

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/ 28 January 2008

Call for recognition of independent state of Biafra

A protest held by the Biafra National Congress outside the Nigerian high commission in Pretoria on Monday called for the for ”immediate and unconditional” release of Ralph Uwazuruike, leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra. This was in addition to a call for recognition of the independent state of Biafra.

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/ 28 January 2008

Zille, Mbeki meet in Pretoria

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille arrived for a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings just before 2pm on Monday. The electricity supply crisis, the indictment of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and the prosecution of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi were some of the agenda points for the talks.

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/ 25 January 2008

Boeremag accused a changed man, court hears

Boeremag accused Kobus Pretorius was a changed man after ”meeting Christ” while being held in jail, the Pretoria High Court heard on Friday. Counsel for Pretorius, Annelie Van der Walt, argued before Judge Khami Makhafola that Pretorius should be released on bail so that he could become involved in church and school activities.

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/ 25 January 2008

Govt outlines plans for power crisis

Switch off your lights is what the government is urging South Africans to do to immediately address what it calls a ”national electricity emergency”. On Friday, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin and Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica outlined several plans to alleviate the country’s electricity shortage.

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/ 25 January 2008

Traffic lights to go solar

Long queues of vehicles at traffic lights knocked out by power cuts may soon be a thing of the past. ”All traffic lights and public lights will be converted to solar power, with battery back-up,” Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said in Pretoria on Friday.

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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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/ 24 January 2008

Top matrics get a presidential handshake

President Thabo Mbeki congratulated the country’s top matric students of 2007 — 18 pupils from the nine provinces — at the presidential guest house in Pretoria on Thursday. The pupils had received scholarships through the Thabo Mbeki Matric Merit Awards programme, which is administered by the Thabo Mbeki Education Trust.

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/ 24 January 2008

SA to head UN Security Council again

South Africa will have a second opportunity this year to head the United Nations Security Council, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. South Africa, a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council, will take over the presidency of the UN-decision making body in April again.

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/ 23 January 2008

Disaster centre activated as floods hit Pretoria

The Tshwane metropolitan council has activated its disaster operations centre as several parts of Pretoria experienced flooding due to heavy rains in the city. ”The centre operates 24 hours a day and includes emergency services and other personnel who will monitor the situation,” council spokesperson Console Tleane said on Wednesday.

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/ 22 January 2008

Mother testifies in Boeremag bail hearing

The mother of three of the Boeremag treason-trial accused, whose husband is also on trial, on Tuesday told the Pretoria High Court she knew nothing about evidence that one of her sons had built a bomb to kill former president Nelson Mandela. Minnie Pretorius testified in the bail application of her son, Kobus.

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/ 22 January 2008

Cabinet to study ANC’s Scorpions decision

The government will look at ways in which members of the Scorpions performing police functions can be absorbed into the police, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The African National Congress has decided that such members of the Directorate of Special Operations should be absorbed into the South African Police Service.

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/ 22 January 2008

Govt: Mbeki still in control after losing ANC role

South Africa’s government said on Tuesday it remained firmly under the control of President Thabo Mbeki, dismissing concerns that his defeat in the battle to lead the party had made him a lame duck. Mbeki lost control of the African National Congress last month when delegates chose Jacob Zuma as the party’s new leader.

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/ 22 January 2008

Cabinet cracks down on poor audit reports

The Cabinet has cracked down on departments that persistently receive poor audit reports and given them six weeks to sort out their problems. Briefing the media on Tuesday, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said the Cabinet had noted the Auditor General’s report on the audit outcomes of national and provincial government departments.

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/ 21 January 2008

State to take possession of expropriated farm

The state will on Thursday take possession of a Limpopo farm that was expropriated after it was liquidated. The liquidators refused to bring down the price at which they were willing to sell the farm to the government. The property is the second to be expropriated by the government as part of efforts to speed up the land-reform process.