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/ 17 February 2004
Rape and indecent assault charges against three University of Pretoria (Tuks) students and a former student were withdrawn in the Pretoria Regional Court on Tuesday due to insufficient evidence. Two of the accused are the grandsons of former foreign affairs minister Pik Botha.
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/ 17 February 2004
President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday vowed to keep up the battle of preventing ”powerful countries and civilisations” from doing what they want to smaller countries. Mbeki was replying to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s credential hand-over speech by incoming Ambassador Mohammad Ali Ghanezadeh Ez Abadi.
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/ 16 February 2004
Two Boeremag treason trial accused claimed in the Pretoria High Court on Monday that police spy Johan (JC) Smit was behind a plot to have them killed. Counsel for Adriaan van Wyk said a statement made by Smit in an unrelated murder investigation proved that Smit wanted Van Wyk dead.
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/ 13 February 2004
A new book criticising government land reform threatens to strain relations between the government, farmers and agricultural unions, the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs said on Thursday. ”In fact if this book gets out into the general populous I can see racial outbreaks developing between blacks and whites,” said chief land claims commissioner Tozi Gwanya.
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/ 13 February 2004
Eight years after being jailed for life for an array of apartheid-era crimes, former policeman Eugene de Kock comes across as a man committed to the South African ideal he formerly fought to suppress. Appearing before a commission probing prison malpractices, he told of his efforts from jail to help improve the country and its people.
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/ 12 February 2004
There was laughter in the public gallery on Thursday as a prisoner questioned the man who accused him of fabricating evidence for submission to the Jali commission probing prison maladministration. The commission chairperson had to stop a heated exchange between the two convicted murderers to ask the audience to behave.
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/ 11 February 2004
Convicted apartheid killer Eugene de Kock was accused by a fellow inmate on Wednesday of fabricating evidence for submission to the Jali Commission of Inquiry into prison maladministration. Hendrik Slippers said De Kock and another prisoner held meetings with warders to discuss discrediting witness Louis Karp.
Prisoners falling through ‘gap’
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/ 11 February 2004
”White Wolf” Barend Strydom is to testify for the defence in the Boeremag treason trial, the Pretoria High Court was told on Wednesday. Daan Mostert, appearing for one of the accused, Adriaan van Wyk, told the court he intended calling the far-rightwinger as a witness for the defence.
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/ 11 February 2004
A senior Correctional Services health official acknowledged on Wednesday there was a wide gap between policy developed for the treatment of rape victims in jail and its actual implementation. Health care services director Maria Mabena conceded that Correctional Services health care officials were sometimes not informed of such policies.
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/ 10 February 2004
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Now that the election date has been announced the Independent Electoral Commission plans to gather the party national liaison committee this week to discuss voting details. The committee will decide when to announce voters rolls, voting stations, and deadlines for oversees registration.
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/ 9 February 2004
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Smaller conservative parties will be fighting for the same piece of the pie in the upcoming election, but will have different tactics. The Freedom Front Plus and the Herstigte Nasionale Party will be fighting each other for the minds of the conservative electorate whom they both claim are out in the political wilderness.
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/ 7 February 2004
Sudan’s peace process will collapse if Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army refuse to involve others in the talks that are under way in Kenya, political commentators have warned. A number of south Sudanese who are living in South Africa expressed impatience with the Darfur regional conflict.
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/ 5 February 2004
Penis size came under scrutiny on Thursday when the Jali Commission of Inquiry into prison maladministration probed claims by a former inmate that he was forced to perform oral sex on a warder through a window. The commission heard it would have been impossible for the warder to get his penis through that particular window.
De Kock named in prison corruption
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/ 5 February 2004
Former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock and Pretoria local prison head Nick Baloyi were accused on Thursday of fabricating evidence to discredit a witness before the Jali commission of inquiry into prison mismanagement. Baloyi was accused of asking a prisoner to give false testimony and De Kock was also implicated.
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/ 4 February 2004
Warders at Pretoria’s local prison seemed to have a ”bizarre fascination” with gay sex, a former prisoner told the Jali commission, which is investigation prison corruption, on Wednesday. Former inmate Louis Karp named the warders he claimed had made his stay in jail a misery one by one.
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/ 3 February 2004
Pretoria treason trial Judge Eben Jordaan’s patience has been tried with yet more complaints from the 22 Boeremag trialists accused of plotting to overthrow the African National Congress government. ”I’m sick and tired. This trial must go on and finish. It cannot be railroaded by these small upsets,” he said on Tuesday.
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/ 3 February 2004
The Boeremag’s alleged plan to take over the country would have been financed by sheep, sunflowers, someone’s retirement package and the sale of bullets. This is according to police spy Johan Smit, who claimed to have infiltrated the Boeremag’s inner circle while secretly reporting to the police.
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/ 3 February 2004
The last two South Africans reported missing following a stampede in Saudi Arabia have been found alive, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. Spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the two had been found alive and well. All five South Africans originally reported missing have now been located alive.
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/ 2 February 2004
With a nervous eye on land invasions in Zimbabwe to the north, South African farmers have taken fright at legal changes to boost their government’s land expropriation powers. But legal experts say the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill pose little reason for real concern.
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/ 2 February 2004
Two of the four South Africans, who were earlier on Sunday reported missing following a stampede in Mecca, were found in a safe condition at a local police station, the South African mission in Saudi Arabia said.
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/ 1 February 2004
Government was on Sunday dismissive of Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s support for cases brought before United States courts by apartheid victims. Presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo referred queries to government chief spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe, who told the Sunday Independent Tutu should first have discussed his concerns with the state.
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/ 31 January 2004
President Thabo Mbeki’s office has rejected Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon’s request for him to make a statement about not changing the constitution to allow him a third term as president. Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said that Mbeki had never accepted instructions from the likes of Leon.
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/ 30 January 2004
The Boeremag’s plans to take over the country included destroying the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) building in Johannesburg by blowing it up, the Pretoria High Court heard on Friday. Police spy Johan Smit testified that targets identified as part of a coup plan included the SABC, Radio Jacaranda and Radio Pretoria.
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/ 29 January 2004
Demand for access to ”secret” documents by the South African History Archive Trust could result in a mammoth legal battle in the Pretoria High Court. The Justice Department is strongly defending the non-disclosure of the 34 boxes containing sensitive Truth and Reconciliation Commission documentation.
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/ 28 January 2004
The General Motors (GM) bid to take over local car manufacturer Delta is a sign of confidence in South Africa’s political and economic stability, GM group vice-president Maureen Kempston Darkes said on Wednesday. GM is seeking to buy the remaining 51% of the Delta Motor Corporation, after purchasing the other 49% in 1997.
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/ 28 January 2004
The Boeremag High Court treason trial was once again delayed on Thursday to enable defence counsel to study possible further evidence. Police spy Johan Smit revealed, during cross-examination, that police had secretly taped some of the Boeremag meetings at which a coup plot was allegedly discussed.
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/ 28 January 2004
The decline in inflation seems to be at an end, and further interest rate cuts are unlikely, economists said on Tuesday. December’s 4% CPIX inflation rate probably signalled the bottom of the declining interest rate cycle, said African Harvest Fund Managers chief economist Adenaan Hardien.
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/ 26 January 2004
Police spy Johan Smit revealed for the first time on Monday that police had made secret tape recordings of several Boeremag meetings at which an alleged coup plot were discussed. Prosecutor Paul Fick, however, said the state could not use the tapes as evidence as they were not audible.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30163">Boeremag back in court</a>
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/ 26 January 2004
The man at the steering wheel of the National Electricity Regulator, Dr Xolani Mkhwanazi, has asked not to have his contract renewed. The nuclear physicist, who has also spent time at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, has not explained his decision to leave the company he has headed since 1999.
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/ 23 January 2004
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday wrapped up his visit to South Africa with a tour of a health centre named after a black activist and lunch at a German-run factory. President Thabo Mbeki applauded Schroeder’s ”concern to support our continent to meet its political and social goals”.
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/ 23 January 2004
Efforts to criminalise human trafficking in terms of South African law received a kick-start on Friday with the release of an issue paper on the topic by the South African Law Reform Commission. South Africa is viewed as a country of destination for trafficking victims, but existing legislation does not deal with the problem.