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/ 17 January 2006
Sewage swept into the Vaal River by recent rains have all but destroyed the river’s ecosystem, media reports said on Tuesday. The Eco-Care Trust, an environmental organisation committed to the conservation of fish and rivers, said tonnes of dead fish have been floating downriver since the weekend.
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/ 17 January 2006
The state has attached the property of a fugitive German businessman suspected of sexually assaulting young girls in the Helderberg district, media reports said on Tuesday. Werner Braun’s luxury home in Somerset West and a BMW X5 were seized in terms of legislation on the prevention of organised crime.
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/ 16 January 2006
There was no clarity on Monday on whether a protest campaign by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GLA) against a ban on gay blood donors actually took place. The GLA claimed it had recruited more than 100 gay men to donate blood to the South African National Blood Service without disclosing their sexual activities.
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/ 16 January 2006
A woman in a wheelchair died at the Johannesburg International airport on Sunday, possibly from falling down an escalator. According to a witness who did not want to be named, Ponto’s husband was pushing her in a wheelchair in the domestic departure terminal. ”She tipped over, she fell down and then she died,” said the witness.
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/ 16 January 2006
Loan sharks are posing a threat to South Africa’s micro-finance industry by charging people interest rates of 100% and more, the Consumer Profile Bureau said on Monday. ”They leave the perception in the market place that all micro-lenders, including legitimate ones, operate the same,” the bureau said.
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/ 16 January 2006
Three people were injured when police threw stun grenades and fired rubber bullets at protesting Power Town informal settlement residents in the southern Cape on Monday. Mossel Bay municipality spokesperson Harry Hill said the residents were protesting poor service delivery in the area.
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/ 16 January 2006
Seventy percent of young people feel there is no good reason to vote in the upcoming municipal elections, a survey revealed on Monday. Cynicism and ambivalence among potential voters suggests voter turnout could be as low as 41%, compared with an average of 48% in the last two local elections, the survey found.
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/ 16 January 2006
The Free State Eagles entrenched their status as one of the country’s premier cricket teams when they defeated the Titans in a low-scoring thriller in the Standard Bank Cup final last week. ”We’ve been a bit lucky so far; we don’t want to be seen as a conceited bunch,” said Eagles coach Corrie van Zyl on Monday.
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/ 16 January 2006
The Johannesburg metro police on Monday condemned the alleged involvement of one of their officers in the hijacking of a car in Berea at the weekend. Spokesperson Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said the 25-year-old officer allegedly hired out his service pistol for R150 to three hijackers.
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/ 16 January 2006
Foreign and local experts meet later on Monday to help find the best course of action for repairs to Koeberg nuclear power station, which has been responsible for numerous recent power outages in the Western Cape. Discussions about repairs to one of two faulty generators would be on the agenda, said Carin de Villiers, spokesperson for the nuclear plant.
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/ 16 January 2006
Fifteen armed men robbed the Monte Visto Casino in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, of an undisclosed amount of cash on Sunday, said police. The gang overpowered a security guard and forced its way into the casino, said Superintendent Buhle Ngidi. ”They jumped over the cash desk and demanded cash. An undisclosed sum of money was taken,” said Ngidi.
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/ 16 January 2006
The trial of nine men accused of involvement in a planned coup d’etat in Equatorial Guinea was postponed until July in the Pretoria Regional Court on Monday. Under an arrangement with the defence, the men — all out on warning — did not appear in court, said prosecutor Torie Pretorius.
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/ 16 January 2006
Global resources group Anglo American has assembled a team of advisers to sell or unbundle paper and packaging group Mondi as well as to sell its 51% stake in gold miner AngloGold Ashanti, London’s Sunday Times reported at the weekend. Anglo has appointed investment bank UBS to either sell or unbundle Mondi into a separate company.
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/ 16 January 2006
There’s a new name in the grape industry that does not conjure images of luscious vineyards, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Sunday. It is called Riemvasmaak — best known as South Africa’s first successful land claim — and now maybe as the Northern Cape’s grape capital.
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/ 16 January 2006
London- and South Africa-listed financial-services group Old Mutual has received acceptances for 68,6% of Skandia shares under its R38-billion offer for the Swedish insurer, up from the 64,28% it had received under the first offer period, which closed on December 16, the company announced on Monday.
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/ 16 January 2006
Former England manager Terry Venables is among 50 applicants to coach 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa, reports in Johannesburg said. Lotthar Matthaus and former Republic of Ireland boss Brian Kerr are other ex-national team managers from Europe seeking to succeed Englishman Stuart Baxter, who quit two months ago after a nine-match winless run.
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/ 16 January 2006
Opposition parties spent Sunday launching their local government election manifestos as the African National Congress looked inwards. The Democratic Alliance launched its local government election campaign in Durban on Sunday with promises that it would enhance service delivery and bring an end to corruption.
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/ 16 January 2006
The state believes about R34-million was involved in Jacob Zuma’s ”generally corrupt relationship” with Schabir Shaik and it wants every cent back, media reports said on Monday. The National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit will file an application to this effect in the Durban High Court on Wednesday.
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/ 15 January 2006
If the two warm-up games between the Cats and Bulls at Ellis Park on Saturday was used as a yardstick for the coaches to measure how much work still needs to be done before the Super 14 competition next month, they received a rude awakening. However, both teams were understandably rusty after their festive season breaks.
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/ 15 January 2006
”The Inkatha Freedom Party is blowing the whistle to stop corruption, the party is prepared to govern and we seek victory in the upcoming local government elections,” IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi said in Durban on Sunday. Speaking at the launch of the party’s local government election campaign, Buthelezi said: ”Democracy empowers us with a right to change who governs.”
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/ 14 January 2006
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has condemned a nursing student orgy that reportedly took place in the children’s ward of a KwaZulu-Natal hospital. ”Under no circumstances can we allow such horrible incidents to occur in our facilities,” the minister said in a statement on Friday. Media reports said that two female and three male trainee nurses were expelled after the incident.
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/ 13 January 2006
Department of Health and blood-bank data does not reflect the HIV/Aids status of South Africa’s gay community, a Western Cape lobby group said on Friday in reaction to the South African National Blood Transfusion Service’s recent decision to exclude all sexually active homosexual men from donating blood.
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/ 13 January 2006
The nursing student sex orgy that reportedly took place in a KwaZulu-Natal children’s ward was condemned by the South African Nursing Council on Friday. The Sowetan reported that two female and three male trainee nurses were expelled after a mother comforting her sick child raised the alarm.
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/ 13 January 2006
A British national is assisting the South African police with an investigation into the alleged rape of a teenager in Johannesburg, the British high commission in Pretoria confirmed. A Friday-afternoon edition of a Johannesburg daily newspaper identified the man as a son of a British diplomat in South Africa.
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/ 13 January 2006
South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on holiday, her office said on Friday. ”She did not travel to the UAE on a fact-finding mission, nor did she go there on half business, half holiday, and she did not go there to study crane-building businesses,” an adviser said.
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/ 13 January 2006
Looking back at the Mail & Guardian Online‘s news stories of 2005, it was a year filled with high-profile events such as Oilgate and the Jacob Zuma scandal. But there was also a lot of lightweight news that was noticed by our national and international readers.
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/ 13 January 2006
South Africa needs to build on its highly positive brand image, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday in his first ANC Today online letter of the year. He said an international Gallup poll at the end of last year found that 60% of South Africans were optimistic about their future, believing this year would be better than the last one.
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/ 13 January 2006
Doctors for Life (DFL) on Friday applauded the minister of education’s public condemnation of condom distribution at schools. Describing the practice as a ”reckless experiment” with human life, DFL called on the minister to stop the distribution of condoms at schools, and to promote abstinence as the alternative to safe sex.
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/ 13 January 2006
A general dealer voluntarily evacuated his shop and a Standerton street was closed to traffic, as was a dirt road in a nearby township on Thursday, as water was released from the Grootdraai Dam after this week’s heavy rains. It was not nearly as bad as previous floods in the Mpumalanga town, residents said on Thursday.
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/ 13 January 2006
A baby died when ”something like a tornado” destroyed homes and injured scores of people at Sithebe, near Qunu in the Eastern Cape, on Thursday afternoon, and a 45-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl were killed instantly when they were struck by lightning in Butterworth on Thursday, Eastern Cape police said.
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/ 13 January 2006
Xhosa King Xolilizwe Sigcau was a dignified and straightforward person, always fighting for the development of his people, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said in a tribute released on Friday. Sigcau, who died on December 31, is to be buried at his Nqadu Great Palace in Willowvale on Saturday.
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/ 13 January 2006
Yet another power failure hit Johannesburg’s western suburbs on Friday. According to the city’s call centre, the power failure covered Auckland Park, Westdene, Newlands, Albertville, Melville, Triomf and Northcliff. The area, a busy mixture of residences, businesses and medical facilities, is regularly left without power.