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/ 12 December 2005
Okkert Brits, the South African pole-vault champion and record holder, recorded his best height of 2005 at a special pole-vault contest in Bellville over the weekend when he cleared an excellent 5,65m. It was his first competition since winning the national title in Durban in April with a modest 5,2m.
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/ 12 December 2005
In only his second tournament following a five-month injury break, Ernie Els returned to the winner’s enclosure at the Dunhill Championship on Sunday. Els may have coughed and spluttered through the early rounds at the par-72 Leopard Creek golf course this week, but class and experience told in the final round.
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/ 12 December 2005
Residents of Khutsong on the West Rand of Gauteng will hold a protest and stayaway on Monday against a decision to incorporate the community into the North West province. The community believes it will receive better services from the wealthier Gauteng province. The government has denied this.
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/ 12 December 2005
The decision by the Cabinet to go ahead with the R20-billion Gautrain project will be a decision that in all likelihood it will live to regret, the Democratic Alliance spokesperson on transport, Stuart Farrow, said on Sunday. The parliamentary portfolio committee on transport’s concerns seem to have been ignored, he said.
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/ 12 December 2005
Flight schedules at Cape Town International airport might be running on time again from Monday morning, South African Airways said on Sunday evening after many flights were delayed at the weekend due to a lack of jet fuel. Meanwhile, Cape Town and Johannesburg motorists have been warned to fill up with petrol while they can.
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/ 11 December 2005
Fuel tanks were still dry at Cape Town International airport on Sunday, South African Airways said. Tanks ran dry on Saturday, causing airlines and passengers major inconvenience — Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan apparently suffered a delay of six hours on a flight to Johannesburg.
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/ 11 December 2005
The Durban home of the 31-year-old woman who has accused former deputy president Jacob Zuma of raping her was broken into and trashed days after he was formally charged, City Press reported on Sunday. Kwa-Mashu police confirmed they are investigating the incident.
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/ 11 December 2005
Ulrich van den Berg has acknowledged that invaluable encouragement from veteran golfer Fulton Allem has given him the conviction to win a tournament like the Dunhill Championship. He will have the perfect opportunity to achieve that aim on Sunday when he takes a two-shot lead into the final round.
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/ 11 December 2005
Dynamos earned three valuable points when they beat high-riding Ajax Cape Town one-nil at a windy Athlone Stadium on Saturday night. The only goal was scored in the 35th minute. Ajax were all over the visitors but poor passing and shooting saw them finish goalless.
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/ 11 December 2005
Bush Bucks and Moroka Swallows shared the points with a one-all draw in their Premier Soccer League match in East London on Saturday. It was a game of two halves, with the first half belonging to the Birds, who raided the Bucks’ goal mouth but failed to finish, with Mamecheick Niang and Dennis Lotter the main culprits.
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/ 11 December 2005
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board member Noluthando Gosa has resigned amid allegations of corporate mismanagement and corruption within the board, the Sunday Times reports. Gosa was herself under investigation for possible violations of corporate governance, the report reads.
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/ 11 December 2005
The Shell Petroleum Company said industry members held a crisis meeting on Saturday afternoon to address jet-fuel and petrol shortages. Colin McClelland, director of the South African Petroleum Industry Association, said the fuel shortages had disrupted flights at Cape Town International airport on Friday night and Saturday.
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/ 10 December 2005
Kaizer Chiefs proved a little too strong for their bitter rivals Orlando Pirates in the Castle Premiership encounter played at a packed FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Chiefs’ 1-0 victory was their second triumph over their Soweto counterparts this season after having run away with the first game 2-0.
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/ 10 December 2005
He may have felt a little under the weather before the start of the tournament, but by the time Michiel Bothma completed his second round at the Dunhill Championship, any sense of affliction had dissipated. As second-round play got under way late on Friday, there were still 24 golfers out on the course when play was suspended.
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/ 10 December 2005
In what turned out to be a nail-biting finish, the Lions persevered on Friday to win their Standard Bank Cup match against the Warriors, which was played at the Wanderers, by two wickets. Meanwhile, the Eagles managed a win at the death against the Cobras at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein.
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/ 10 December 2005
A record late rush, precipitated perhaps by defending champions Kaizer Chiefs raising their waning stocks with a 5-2 midweek win over Free State Stars, on Friday sent ticket sales sky-high and ensured an 80 000-strong sell-out crowd for the big Premier Soccer League (PSL) derby against Orlando Pirates.
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/ 10 December 2005
The Department of Health has finished revising its proposed tougher anti-smoking legislation — and has not backed down on the massive fines lawbreakers will face. Departmental spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the Bill has been cleared by the department’s legal unit and will be submitted to Cabinet for approval early next year.
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/ 10 December 2005
For 16 days a year, South Africans are asked to become activists against the abuse of women and children. For Shann Sauls, all it took to escape the cycle of violence was for someone to believe her story. Sauls broke her silence in June this year after nearly a decade of being sexually assaulted by her stepfather.
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/ 10 December 2005
With a guilty verdict in only 7% of rape cases, South Africa’s justice system is facing a crisis, former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka said on Friday. According to a 2002 study, only 5 000 out of 31 000 reported rape cases made it to trial, he told inmates at Leeuwkop prison.
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/ 10 December 2005
A 49-year-old man arrested in connection with murders and rapes on farms around Philippi in the Western Cape was released on Friday. No evidence could link the man to the incidents, said police spokesperson Captain Elliot Sinyangana. ”He could, however, be re-arrested if new evidence emerges,” he said.
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/ 10 December 2005
A suspected arsonist was arrested on Friday afternoon not far from the blaze that had been raging across the Oudekraal area on the Cape Peninsula since early on Friday morning, Working on Fire spokesperson Val Charlton said. She said a member of the public spotted the man trying to start a bush fire.
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/ 9 December 2005
A South African observer team is to leave this week for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to monitor the country’s first multiparty elections in over four decades, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. The 128-strong contingent, which will leave on Wednesday, will be led by Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula.
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/ 9 December 2005
Trevor Ncube, the owner of the Mail & Guardian said he will be bringing an urgent court application on Monday against the relevant Zimbabwe authorities to explain why his passport was confiscated. ”This is intended to break my spirit. It is intended to intimidate me. It is intended to silence me,” Ncube told the Mail & Guardian Online on Friday.
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/ 9 December 2005
The South African Reserve Bank on Friday painted a picture of a buoyant South African economy, with citizens better off financially and spending briskly. By the third quarter of the year, the economy had expanded uninterruptedly for 24 successive quarters, says the bank’s quarterly bulletin released in Pretoria.
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/ 9 December 2005
There are sporting contests so special that the faithful plan months, even years, ahead for the next instalment of their favourite event. The World Cup is one such occasion, cricket’s Ashes series is another. In South Africa, the Soweto Derby features high among these events. At least it does most of the time.
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/ 9 December 2005
The fire which broke out on Friday on the back slopes of Table Mountain is still raging out of control and has damaged buildings in a youth camp. Cape Town fire control officer Mark Bosch said the fire was now burning on two fronts. There had been reports that the south easter, which is driving the flames, was reaching 45kph, he said.
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/ 9 December 2005
The political disabling of Jacob Zuma has again thrown open the presidential succession race — and a powerful group of African National Congress members close to President Thabo Mbeki are said to be throwing their support behind Mbhazima Shilowa, Premier of Gauteng, as their favoured candidate.
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/ 8 December 2005
Old Mutual will not raise its offer price for Swedish insurer Skandia, the company said on Thursday. Miranda Bellord, head of media relations at Old Mutual in London, was responding to earlier media reports that the company was considering lifting its R38-billion offer for Skandia in order to persuade some reluctant Skandia shareholders to accept its bid.
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/ 8 December 2005
The South African Cabinet this week considered a detailed presentation of the Gautrain Rapid Rail link project and gave a green light to it going ahead, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe reported on Thursday. The project, which is expected to cost at least R20-billion rand, got the thumbs down recently from the National Assembly transport portfolio committee.
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/ 8 December 2005
Bush Bucks suffered yet another Premier Soccer League defeat when they lost 2-1 to a 10-man Thembisa Classic in a closely contested match at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday night. The home team came back strongly in the second stanza and went ahead in the 47th minute when Collen Zimba finished neatly for a deserved lead.
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/ 8 December 2005
South Africa’s director-general of Foreign Affairs has convened a meeting with Equatorial Guinea ambassador Juan Ncuchuma to try to secure the return of two nationals being held in that country. Aircraft crew members Sechan Pillay and Ruwayda Kalbine have been held in Equatorial Guinea for five weeks due to problems between two companies involved in a string of aviation sub-contracts.
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/ 8 December 2005
Six motor manufacturers and importers are to pay over R31-million in administrative penalties for anti-competitive practices, the Competition Commission said on Wednesday. The six companies are General Motors, Nissan, Volkswagen and its Gauteng dealers, Subaru dealers, Citroeuml;n and DaimlerChrysler.