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/ 31 January 2005
Volkswagen South Africa intends to expand its commercial vehicle interests and invest more than R1,2-billion in South Africa over the next three years, the company said in Johannesburg on Monday. The company intends exporting buses and trucks to right-hand-drive countries in Africa and, later, to Asia.
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/ 31 January 2005
The Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial resumed in the Durban High Court on Monday without the hype that signalled the start of the case last October. Forensic auditor Johan van der Walt told the court that Deputy President Jacob Zuma owed fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik R2,2-million in capital and interest.
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/ 31 January 2005
Ajax Cape Town beat Swaziland’s Mhlambanyatsi Rovers in the first leg of the first round of the CAF Champions league by 1-0 at Newlands on Sunday. The goal came in the 35th minute when clever play by Brent Carelse saw the ball go to Nhlanhla Tshabalala, whose powerful shot ricocheted into the goal off a defender.
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/ 31 January 2005
Jomo Cosmos gained a valuable point when they drew 1-1 against title-chasing Moroka Swallows in a hard-fought Castle Premiership match at Rustenburg on Sunday. Struggling Cosmos were full value for their point and coach Jomo Sono was happy after successive defeats at the same venue against leaders Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs.
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/ 31 January 2005
A comment from the television commentators about Colin Montgomerie helped England’s Simon Wakefield to victory at the Dimension Data Pro-Am golf tournament at the par-72 Gary Player Country Club on Sunday. Wakefield signed for a three-under-par 69 on Sunday, to end the tournament on a nine-under total of 279.
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/ 28 January 2005
South African Airways (SAA) is offering voluntary severance packages to its 602 managers as part of its effort to turn the business around, the company announced in Johannesburg on Friday. Chief executive Khaya Ngqula announced this at a press conference at Johannesburg International airport on Friday.
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/ 28 January 2005
Scorpions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said in a statement on Friday that the 40 MPs implicated in the Travelgate scandal — 27 current and 13 former MPs — will appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on February 18. The names of the MPs — who allegedly used their travel vouchers for illicit purposes — will be disclosed when they appear in court.
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/ 28 January 2005
Four South Africans are still unaccounted for following their disappearance during the Asian tsunami disaster, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in Pretoria on Friday. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sue van der Merwe said the South African government is still working closely with Interpol to trace the missing people.
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/ 28 January 2005
Despite recent rain, Lake St Lucia — South Africa’s first World Heritage Site — is still below its normal levels, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife said on Friday. At present, the level of the lake is about 80cm below mean sea level, and the lake’s surface area is about 30% of normal. The lake has become compartmented into three distinct water bodies.
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/ 28 January 2005
The Freedom Front Plus, which has waged a parliamentary campaign against retrenchments at Telkom, has congratulated the partly state-owned company and its three trade unions after an agreement was struck to put the redundancy of 4 300 of its workers on the back-burner.
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/ 28 January 2005
South Africa has sacrificed the nation’s sporting potential once before under apartheid, and the country should not make the same mistake again, says official opposition leader Tony Leon. ”If the state applies racial criteria to cricket and rugby, what is next? Will there be quotas for bridge and lawn bowls?” Leon asked in his weekly newsletter.
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/ 28 January 2005
Moroka Swallows are hoping to send struggling Jomo Cosmos deeper into the relegation quagmire at Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Phokeng near Rustenburg on Sunday. ”Cosmos are in serious trouble, we are going to tear them to pieces in their own backyard,” warned Swallows marketing and communications manager Sipho Xulu.
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/ 28 January 2005
The burgeoning cheese industry in South Africa, which has been around for more than 100 years, is set to benefit when the first plug of formerly disadvantaged cheesemakers goes to France to learn more about the trade. The objective is to offer cheesemakers the opportunity to gain new skills and expertise by doing an intensive, three-week course.
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/ 27 January 2005
The war of words between former Western Cape Independent Democrats leader Lennit Max and the ID’s top brass refused to settle on Thursday, with Max refuting earlier claims by party leader Patricia de Lille that he had ”unconditionally” withdrawn high court litigation.
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/ 27 January 2005
SA Rugby has named a team of 12 to represent the country in the next two rounds of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens Series to be held in New Zealand and the United States in February. The players leave on Sunday January 30 for the Wellington leg and then jet off to the US for the Los Angeles tournament.
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/ 27 January 2005
The Johannesburg metro has committed R500-million to deal with the recent electricity cuts in the city, the mayoral committee said on Thursday. The power cuts are largely due to old cables, illegal connections and insufficient voltage from the cables, said Brian Hlongwa, a member of the committee responsible for municipal services.
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/ 27 January 2005
Trade union Solidarity said on Thursday afternoon, after an emergency meeting with oil and chemicals group Sasol, that it has agreed to be part of the internal investigation following the explosion at Sasol’s Natref plant in Sasolburg on Wednesday. Seventeen people were injured in the explosion, Solidarity said.
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/ 27 January 2005
National Police Day will be held annually on January 27, National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi said at the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the South African Police Service on Thursday. He said the anniversary is one of the milestones defining how far South Africa has come as a country.
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/ 27 January 2005
Kaizer Chiefs revived their challenge for the Castle Premiership title after a resounding 3-0 victory over Jomo Cosmos at Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Phokeng near Rustenburg on Wednesday night. A moment of silence was observed prior to the start of the game in honour of former Cosmos and Orlando Pirates midfielder Vusi Mncwango.
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/ 27 January 2005
Supersport United were held to a 0-0 draw by Silver Stars in a Premier Soccer League encounter at Loftus Stadium on Wednesday night. Stars threatened first through Solomon Mathe early on, but United’s Calvin Marlin reacted well to clear the danger. Marlin was tested again in the 28th minute when he stretched to full length to deny Mathe.
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/ 27 January 2005
Jacques Freitag, South Africa’s world champion high jumper, started his indoor tour of Europe with a new national indoor record of 2,28m at the Café Elite Cup International Jumping meeting in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Wednesday. He had to settle for second place behind Russia’s Yaroslav Rybakov, who won the contest with a height of 2,31m.
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/ 27 January 2005
Ajax Cape Town goalkeeper Molep Joseph had to watch his team go down 2-1 in a Premier Soccer League game at Newlands on Wednesday night. The South African Football Association had slapped an indefinite suspension on him because he tested positive for the banned substance salbutanol after failing a drug test on January 11.
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/ 27 January 2005
The 2005 African Champions League campaign begins this weekend, with Kaizer Chiefs and Ajax Cape Town carrying the South African hopes. AmaKhosi welcome AS Port Louis of Mauritius at Olympia Park in Rustenburg on Saturday night. Ajax host Mhlabanyatsi Rovers, the Swaziland league champions, in Cape Town on Sunday.
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/ 26 January 2005
Eight current and former MPs have been served with summonses for repayment of more than R1,3-million in travel claims. The eight are Mnyamazeli Booi, Bangilizwe Solo, Jabu Sosibo, Barbara Thompson, Makatse Maine, Patrick Maloyi, Pemmy Majodina and Buti Mkhaliphi. The summonses were served in Cape Town on Tuesday.
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/ 26 January 2005
The world is expected to pause on Thursday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camps, but the event will largely pass unmarked in South Africa. While not an official event, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies is hosting a function to commemorate the day in Johannesburg on Thursday.
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/ 26 January 2005
The role of academics and judges is not to exercise power but to be watchdogs of it, said Judge Edwin Cameron at the opening of the Unisa academic year in Pretoria on Wednesday. ”Those who do not exercise power but stand in critical oversight to it must do so with humility,” said Cameron, addressing academics, diplomats and students.
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/ 26 January 2005
The South African Communist Party will lead a delegation of organisations concerned with landlessness to meet with Agri-SA to help expedite land reform, the SACP said on Tuesday. A date for the meeting has still to be negotiated, SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande told a meeting of organisations concerned with landlessness.
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/ 26 January 2005
Ivorian opposition leader Alassane Ouattara on Wednesday called on the United Nations to organise general elections scheduled for October in the divided West African country. Ouattara said he made the proposal during talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is acting as the African Union’s chief mediator in the Ivorian conflict.
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/ 26 January 2005
The Zimbabwean government has warned the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) not to undertake a mission to Zimbabwe on the same terms as its previous visit. At the end of last year, a Cosatu delegation was summarily ordered out of Zimbabwe. ”If they try to do what they did last time [at the end of last year], they should be prepared to face the consequences,” Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi said.
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/ 26 January 2005
BMW has announced that Wolfgang Stadler will succeed Ian Robertson as managing director of BMW South Africa on February 1 2005. As reported late last year, Robertson will be leaving South Africa to assume the post of chairperson and CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, in Goodwood in the United Kingdom.
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/ 26 January 2005
South Africa’s official opposition has welcomed the step taken by one of its backbench MPs, Craig Morkel, in taking voluntary suspension. ”[Morkel’s] attorneys were informed yesterday [Tuesday] that he is among the 40 MPs the Scorpions intend to prosecute,” Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said.
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/ 26 January 2005
After a recent spate of drownings across the country, police have emphasised the need for water-safety awareness. ”In Gauteng, we had 41 drownings in December and 22 in January,” police spokesperson Eugene Opperman said on Wednesday. The bodies of three children who drowned in separate incidents were recovered on Tuesday alone.