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/ 3 September 2005
There was smooth voter registration countrywide except for isolated technical problems and two service-delivery protest marches, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said. The IEC hoped to register 800 000 eligible voters at about 19 000 points countrywide on Saturday.
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/ 3 September 2005
The Blue Bulls scored nine tries and swamped the Leopards to take full points from their Currie Cup encounter at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night, easily winning the match 69-24. For the Bulls it was a morale-boosting win, and provided a big score line that they will need later on in the competition to try to make the semifinals.
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/ 2 September 2005
At least four municipal managers received remuneration packages exceeding R1-million last year — closely matching or exceeding that of President Thabo Mbeki, according to Treasury statistics released on Friday. The municipal manager of eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal received a package of R1,091-million in the 2004/05 financial year.
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/ 2 September 2005
Five South Africans are believed to be trapped in the hurricane-stricken city of New Orleans, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. Thousands of people are reported to have died, and about one million displaced, when the category-four Hurricane Katrina hit the United States Gulf Coast this week.
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/ 1 September 2005
Mittal Steel is to ask the Labour Court in Johannesburg on Friday for an order interdicting members of labour union Solidarity from going on a pay strike. Documents to this effect were filed with the court on Wednesday, said the company’s spokesperson Tami Didiza. Arguments are to be heard on Friday.
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/ 1 September 2005
The South African government has not been informed of the apparent rejection of its mediation role by Côte d’Ivoire rebels, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. ”We have heard nothing, except through the media,” spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.
A bouncer charged in connection with the death of a man following a nightclub brawl was found not guilty in the Pretoria Regional Court on Wednesday. The trial, which started on Tuesday, ended in an acquittal for Bernard Potgieter shortly before the lunch break on Wednesday, said control prosecutor William Manzini.
The role of South Africa as a mediator in the lead-up to the planned October 30 elections in the Côte d’Ivoire has been successful so far, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. Pahad said Defence Minister Mosioua Lekota would report to the United Nations on Wednesday on the current state of mediation.
The Dutch Reformed Church is unlikely to find a mutually agreeable solution to the ideological divide over membership for practising gays, experts said this week. But while some expect the church to split on the issue, others predict a mere glossing-over to the detriment of gay congregants.
Capetonian Hein Wagner has been given the use of a Maserati GranSport Coupe for his attempt next month to become the world’s fastest blind driver. Viglietti Motors in Cape Town agreed to provide the R1,5-million vehicle for Wagner’s land-speed-record attempt, the National Council for the Blind said on Monday.
Some soldiers retrenched without retraining used their combat skills in crimes such as cash heists, a military trade union official said on Friday. She was speaking to journalists in Pretoria about Sasfu’s concerns about the low representation of black soldiers in the South African National Defence Force’s middle management.
Vusi Pikoli, National Director of Public Prosecutions and head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), said on Wednesday the purpose of last week’s raid on properties of former deputy president Jacob Zuma and his lawyers was not to embarrass or humiliate Zuma. He defended the heavily armed ”Hollywood-style” entrance to Zuma’s premises.
The South African Reserve Bank painted a rosy picture on Wednesday of the economy, but warned of threats to inflation. ”The performance of the South Africa economy in recent times seems to be more solid and consistent than before,” the central bank says in its annual economic report, released in Pretoria.
Denel will have to make tough calls if it is to survive, its new chief executive, Shaun Liebenberg, said on Tuesday. Addressing the media in Pretoria on the company’s future plans, he said nothing is sacred and even pet projects such as the Rooivalk attack helicopter will need to perform or be canned.
Construction will start in October on the main feature of Pretoria’s Freedom Park, project manager Hendrik Prinsloo said on Wednesday. The structure will include indoor exhibition and discussion areas, a memorial for ”the unknown soldier” and interactive touch screens providing information.
Mamelodi Sundowns dropped their first league points of the season when they were held to a 1-1 draw by inspired Golden Arrows at Loftus Stadium on Tuesday. Both teams created chances throughout the game, but poor finishing let them down in the early stages.
A woman died and a man survived in a nine-hour hostage drama at George Mukhari hospital in Ga-Rankuwa, north of Pretoria, on Tuesday, police said. The siege began when the two were held by a third man who had arrived at the hospital’s nurses’ residence at 6.30am, said police spokesperson Inspector Anton Breedt.
An ambulance followed by a mortuary van left the scene of a hostage-taking in Ga-Rankuwa on Tuesday with what is believed to be the body of a woman. Earlier, police task-team members were trying to gain access to the nurses’ residence at the George Mukhari hospital in Ga-Rankuwa where a man was holding two people hostage.
A boy accused of fatally stabbing a man at the Menlyn shopping centre in Pretoria earlier this month was released on R500 bail on Monday. Investigating officer Captain Thomas Janse van Rensburg told the court he does not believe the accused was the only person involved in the murder, and more arrests might be imminent.
The leader of Côte d’Ivoire rebels said he had held ”fruitful” discussions in the South African capital, Pretoria, on Saturday with President Thabo Mbeki, who sought to resolve a crisis of confidence over his role as mediator in the divided country’s conflict.
The name Louis Trichardt was shoved down the throats of the majority of people living there and they were entitled to change it to one with historical significance to them, the Pretoria High Court heard on Friday. The Louis Trichardt Chairperson’s Association applied to the High Court to set aside a decision to change the town’s name to Makhado.
Three men arrested and released in connection with a series of abductions and rapes in Northampton, near London were not South African, British police said on Friday. ”I must make it absolutely clear that the three men arrested and released on bail today [Friday] on the suspicion of rape are not South African,” said Northampton police spokesperson Sarah Thompson.
Louis Trichardt residents are attacking the validity of the rural Limpopo town’s name change to Makhado in a case being fought in the Pretoria High Court. There was an outcry by thousands of inhabitants of the town when the decision was gazetted in June 2003.
University of Pretoria students sang the apartheid-era national anthem Die Stem during a protest on Thursday against the alleged sidelining of Afrikaans at the institution. Protesters chanted slogans such as ”Engels se gat [English’s arse]” and ”Waar’s demokrasie nou? [Where is democracy now?]”.
The Department of Social Development’s anti-corruption campaign prevented R400-million from being stolen this year, Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya said on Wednesday. Skweyiya said to date the department and law enforcement have taken legal action against 109 officials, with more expected to face the same.
A Capetonian hopes to become the world’s fastest blind driver by setting a land-speed record next month. Accompanied by a navigator, Hein Wagner is to attempt the feat at a Mafikeng airstrip on September 8 — hoping to make his way into the Guinness World Records book.
Two top United Nations officials based in war-ravaged Côte d’Ivoire Tuesday solidly backed South African President Thabo Mbeki’s mediation after talks in Pretoria, and warned that any group trying to disrupt presidential polls set for October could face sanctions.
The police warned the public on Tuesday not to heed a hoax e-mail about the closing of the child-protection unit. ”This e-mail that has been doing the rounds is full of malicious intent and is completely false,” said police spokesperson Captain Percy Morokane.
The formation of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe is not necessarily the solution to that country’s political problems, a South African government official said on Monday. Neither the ruling Zanu-PF nor the opposition regards a unity government as an imperative, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said.
A 17-year-old boy appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Monday accused of stabbing a 22-year-old man to death at the Menlyn Park shopping centre, east of the city, on Friday night. Police spokesperson Inspector Lucas Sithole said the 17-year-old was charged with the murder of 22-year-old Juan Lee Olivier.
Ignorance was behind South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni’s complaints over Pretoria’s apparent decline, the Tshwane metropolitan municipality said on Thursday. Mboweni earlier this week complained about public parks being used as sports facilities, crime in the city centre and inefficient officials.
South Africa could learn about speedy land reform from its neighbour Zimbabwe, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Wednesday. ”We’ve got lessons to learn from Zimbabwe — how to do it fast,” she told an African distance-education conference in Pretoria.