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/ 23 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>Hailing the Grammy Award for Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Golden Bear award for <i>uCarmen eKhayelisha</i>, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday in his 2005/06 Budget Speech that it is entirely fitting that the new season of hope and rising confidence of the nation should be proclaimed in music and in theatre.
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/ 23 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>As part of its broader initiative to encourage and support small-business development, the South African government has granted further income tax relief for the sector in the 2005 Budget, as well as extending the category of eligible small businesses to include personal services and manufacturing.
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/ 23 February 2005
Hitting lion murder victim Nelson Chisale with pangas was not part of the job description of Richard Mathebula and Simon Mathebula, their former employer Mark Scott-Crossley told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Wednesday. Scott-Crossley and the Mathebulas are on trial for Chisale’s murder.
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/ 23 February 2005
Lectures resumed at all of the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) campuses on Wednesday after a late-night agreement with students ended a class boycott and street protests, a UJ spokesperson said. On Tuesday, students took to the streets outside the campus in Bunting Road and police blocked the road to prevent a march.
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/ 23 February 2005
The Germans have named a formidable team for the upcoming Euro/Africa zone group-one Davis Cup tie against South Africa to be played at the Standard Bank Arena from March 4 to 6. German captain Patrik Kuhnen has world number 15 Tommy Haas, Nicolas Kiefer (30), Rainer Schuettler (40) and Alexander Waske, who is at 138.
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/ 23 February 2005
The Sharks will have a completely new-look loose-forward trio for their opening 2005 Vodacom Super 12 rugby fixture against the Stormers at Newlands on Friday night. Jacques Botes, Braam Immelman and Jaco Gouws, who will wear the skipper’s tag, got the nod from coach Kevin Putt in the starting line-up.
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/ 23 February 2005
Once a year, amateur clubs from all over the country dream of glory — a chance to take on the big boys, to face a professional side, to match skills with the best South Africa has to offer. There is one competition in the country that can turn such dreams into reality. That competition is the Absa Cup.
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/ 22 February 2005
Student leaders must ”sit down and talk” to resolve the issues sparking a series of student protests around Gauteng, a national Department of Education spokesperson said on Tuesday after a series of student uprisings around Gauteng and unrest at a school in the North West province.
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/ 22 February 2005
Gauteng is becoming the safest province in the country, figures from the provincial government and some independent organisations have confirmed, the South African government news agency said on Wednesday. Gauteng community safety minister Firoz Cachalia attributed all this to the increased number of police officers in the province.
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/ 22 February 2005
Protesting University of Johannesburg students stoned their leaders as they tried to call off a protest march and extend class boycotts on Tuesday. Students who had been gathering the whole morning for a march to the nearby Kingsway campus in Rossmore were angered by news of the class boycotts.
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/ 22 February 2005
Lion murder accused Simon Mathebula (43) told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Tuesday that he knew it was wrong to hold a man against his will. He said he was just carrying out orders when he helped tie up Nelson Chisale with an electrical extension cord.
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/ 22 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>The cost of an average pack of 20 cigarettes in South Africa is likely to experience a 52c rise in excise duty from Wednesday, when Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel unveils the government’s 2005/06 Budget, according to the Tobacco Institute of South Africa (Tisa). The retail price of a pack of cigarettes should rise by 70c.
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/ 22 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has been urged by the official opposition Democratic Alliance to focus his Budget — on Wednesday — on job creation. The DA said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon that the national Budget "should be the most important job-creation tool in government’s box".
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/ 22 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>Higher-than-expected government revenue growth means Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has R14-billion to allocate when he announces the 2005/06 Budget on Wednesday, Old Mutual Asset Managers (Omam) economist Rian le Roux told a media briefing on Tuesday.
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/ 22 February 2005
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Former president Nelson Mandela offered to help to ”extinguish” the debt of Deputy President Jacob Zuma. Testifying at his fraud and corruption trial on Tuesday, Schabir Shaik said Mandela felt Zuma’s financial problems were ”distracting him from his duties at the African National Congress”.
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/ 22 February 2005
Student leaders at the University of Johannesburg’s Bunting Road campus were regrouping on Tuesday morning after being banned from marching to the nearby former Rand Afrikaans University campus. Earlier, a large police contingent blocked the route the students were expecting to take in three waiting buses.
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/ 22 February 2005
World high-jump champion Jacques Freitag was back on the winning trail on Sunday when he defeated a strong international field at the 2005 Tallinn Indoor Jumping Gala with a height of 2,28m. His win came after a lacklustre performance at the Stockholm meeting last Tuesday when he could not manage a height better than 2,21m.
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/ 22 February 2005
Food and furniture retailer Shoprite has reported a 55,4% rise in its headline earnings per share for the six months ended December 2004, to 60,6 cents from 39 cents a year earlier. The group said it envisages declaring an interim dividend of 22 cents per share, representing a 33,3% increase on the 16,5 cents declared at the interim stage in 2004.
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/ 21 February 2005
A bureaucratic hiatus is stalling plans to bring digitally interactive pay-television broadcasts to South Africa, while Namibia already enjoys this cutting-edge technology. The technology is proven also for South Africa, but there is no regulatory framework yet to run things.
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/ 21 February 2005
A constitutional duty rests on the state to prosecute alleged human rights abusers such as apartheid-era chemical and biological warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson, the Constitutional Court heard on Monday. The state is applying for leave to appeal against certain legal issues arising from Basson’s acquittal.
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/ 21 February 2005
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille on Monday refused to identify her confidential Scorpions source, at the disciplinary hearing of the party’s ousted Western Cape leader, Lennit Max. ”I shall not disclose the source,” said De Lille during cross-examination by Leon van Rensburg, representing Max at the hearing in Parliament.
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/ 21 February 2005
The process of democratic governance is rooting itself all across the African continent. This is the view of 13 African leaders as contained in a report released on Monday at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. In the report, each of the leaders assesses contemporary trends and developments in their own countries.
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/ 21 February 2005
The African National Congress has launched a series of well-planned attacks on the independence of the South African judiciary, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon warned on Monday. He said the ruling party is ”using charges of real or imagined racism to intimidate the judiciary and create a more executive-minded bench”.
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/ 21 February 2005
Nelson Chisale closed his eyes and prayed before being thrown to lions, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Monday. The defence opened its case on Monday with the evidence of one of his alleged killers, Simon Mathebula (43). Simon said he watched his employer, Mark Scott-Crossley, walk up to Chisale and kick him.
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/ 21 February 2005
An article in <i>Business Day</i> on Monday conformed "to the time-honoured practice within the South African media, stretching back to the disinformation campaigns of the 1980s, of depicting an African National Congress consumed by factionalism and conflict", says the ANC’s Smuts Ngonyama.
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/ 21 February 2005
Loss of habitat looks set to put paid to one of South Africa’s more distinctive and charismatic bird species, the southern ground hornbill. The savannah-dwelling birds, once widespread across the country’s grasslands, now face a ”very real possibility” of extinction, says the Endangered Wildlife Trust.
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/ 21 February 2005
The lead changed hands repeatedly on the final day of the Telkom PGA Championship at the Woodhill Golf Estate on Sunday but in the end it was Warren Abery who came home best of all to claim the spoils. The Mount Edgecombe Country Club professional rounded the course on Sunday on three-under-par 69.
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/ 21 February 2005
Moroka Swallows, down to 10 men, did well to hold Supersport United to a goalless draw in a drama-packed Castle Premiership clash played at the Rand Stadium on Sunday. The Birds’ goal mouth survived a number of close escapes in injury time. But, in the end, the plucky Birds held on for a deserved draw.
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/ 21 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>The South African government should stop cutting the personal and company income-tax rate but value-added tax (VAT) should be cut by 1% from 14%, according to the People’s Budget, presented by the South African Council of Churches, the South African Non-Governmental Coalition and the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
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/ 21 February 2005
Listed clothing food and homeware retailer Woolworths has successfully completed the first-ever securitisation of its in-store credit card with the issue and private placement of R1,9-billion in AAA-rated notes, the company said on Monday. The group’s new securitisation programme, Account on Us, issued four tranches of notes.
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/ 18 February 2005
The Democratic Alliance trio prohibited from entering Zimbabwe on Friday said this action undermined the protocol of the Southern African Development Community. Chairperson Joe Seremane, chief whip Douglas Gibson and researcher Paul Boughey flew to Harare on Friday morning for a pre-election fact-finding visit.
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/ 18 February 2005
Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter was forced to mix and match and select a squad of mainly unknown players for next weekend’s Cosafa Cup Group A clash against Seychelles in Mauritius. In announcing his squad on Friday, Baxter named 19 players — to be cut to 18 — with an average age of 21.