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/ 19 October 2004
The four convicted murderers of the Van der Merwe family, two of whom were also convicted of rape, were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Circuit High Court in Secunda, Mpumalanga, on Tuesday. The men were also sentenced for other crimes, amounting to 240 years’ imprisonment — but the sentences will run concurrently.
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/ 19 October 2004
South African joint venture brandhouse, newly formed between Diageo, Heineken and Namibia Breweries, is notching up success in the local spirit-cooler sector through the recent launch of two South African-designed brand innovations — Smirnoff Triple Spin and Archers Aqua.
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/ 19 October 2004
The South African Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Tuesday that 14 South African fishermen had been arrested overnight in Zimbabwe and then released. Reports from Zimbabwe said 26 white campers were arrested at a government-run camp site after failing to pay camping fees in foreign currency.
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/ 19 October 2004
Listed retailer Pick ‘n Pay has managed the current South African environment of very low inflation and deflation in some categories by improving its operational efficiencies as well as encouraging higher sales volumes, reflected in an improvement in its operating profit margin to 2,6% from 2,4% a year earlier.
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/ 19 October 2004
Schabir Shaik’s comments about the Heath Investigating Unit to arms-company head Alain Thetard were in the context of a general discussion about other contractors and their suspicions about these contractors, his advocate told the Durban High Court on Tuesday.
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/ 18 October 2004
The Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa has welcomed the introduction of professional service fees that may be levied by pharmacists. The new fees mean pharmacists may now charge up to R60 for their ”time and skill” in preparing certain products, and as much as R24 for a ”consultation” with a customer.
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/ 18 October 2004
An Anglican church commission’s report calling for a halt to the public blessing of same-sex relationships offers a ”win-win” opportunity, the Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, said on Monday. The report also calls for no more actively gay bishops and criticises bishops who have acted in areas outside their jurisdiction.
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/ 18 October 2004
Fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik’s former assistant Bianca Singh told the Durban High Court on Monday she had to sign a confidentiality clause on leaving his employ because she knew too much about his relationship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Shaik’s assistant spills the beans
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/ 18 October 2004
Sectoral education and training authorities (Setas) are here to stay, Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana said on Monday about the oft-criticised learning institutions. ”We are not going to scrap the Setas. On the contrary, we are going to do what we can to strengthen them,” Mdladlana said.
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/ 18 October 2004
The South African government has taken "strong exception" to reported comments attributed to the interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, accusing President Thabo Mbeki of failing to respect international law by allegedly "allowing a person in his territory to organise violence in another country".
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=123896">’Mbeki not respecting international law'</a>
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/ 18 October 2004
The African Christian Democratic Party has called on President Thabo Mbeki to respond to claims he is breaking international law by allowing deposed Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide to incite violence, from South Africa, among his followers in his homeland. The Democratic Alliance also called on Mbeki to respond to the allegations.
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/ 18 October 2004
Rough seas and bad weather on Monday were preventing the salvage of the BBC China, which ran aground at Grosvenor Point on the Wild Coast at the weekend. All 16 crew members were airlifted off the ship during a six-hour rescue operation in the early hours of Sunday morning.
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/ 18 October 2004
The Nigerian government should intervene to protect two more women sentenced to death by stoning by Islamic courts, the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) said on Monday. Sentencing women to death by stoning goes against every human rights standard, said Thoba Poyo, chairperson of the LSSA standing committee on gender equality.
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/ 18 October 2004
The South African government has confirmed that Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will visit South Africa from Wednesday to Saturday and has defended the visit "in the context of ongoing efforts by South Africa to assist Israelis and Palestinians to find a long-lasting resolution to the political crisis currently affecting the Middle East".
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/ 18 October 2004
Schabir Shaik’s former personal assistant told the Durban High Court on Monday of a phone call in which Shaik asked Deputy President Jacob Zuma for help securing a slice of the arms deal. Bianca Singh said that at one point late in 1998 she was in Shaik’s office when his cellphone rang. She gathered that the caller was his brother Chippy, then head of acquisitions in the Department of Defence.
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/ 18 October 2004
The recent launch of the National Treasury’s Urban Renewal Tax Incentive is certain to stimulate further investment in Cape Town’s central city and immediate surrounds, according to Cape Town Partnership CEO Andrew Boraine. The incentive will first apply to Cape Town and Johannesburg.
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/ 15 October 2004
About 30 hawkers, mostly women, were chased off the streets of Johannesburg during a joint operation by metro police and the South African Police Service in Yeoville on Thursday. The head of the Traders Crisis Committee, Edmund Elias said: ”The hawkers, mostly elderly women who have been trading here, were terrified.”
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/ 15 October 2004
A wealthy South African, accused of illegally exporting more than R200-million-worth of precious metals, was arrested at Johannesburg International airport on Friday. The man, now living in Newmarket, United Kingdom, had arrived in South Africa for a holiday with his family when he was arrested at the airport.
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/ 15 October 2004
The man suspected of kidnapping and killing Johannesburg student Leigh Matthews will appear in the Wynberg Regional Court on October 22 for a formal bail hearing. The date was set by a Randburg magistrate on Friday. The bail application by Donovan Moodley (24) is expected to be opposed by the state.
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/ 15 October 2004
The European Union’s decision this week to extend the ban on ostrich imports from South Africa because of an avian influenza scare in the country has caught the local ostrich sector by surprise, industry representatives say. "We were hoping to resume export by November 1," said Anton Kruger, general manager of the South African Ostrich Business Chamber.
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/ 15 October 2004
Stephen Saad — MD of South African pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare Holdings — has been named as the South African winner of the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for 2004/05, Ernst & Young announced on Friday. Saad will represent South Africa at the global awards ceremony, to be held in Monte Carlo in May next year.
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/ 14 October 2004
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has cancelled its Great South Africans TV programme two weeks after the series started, the national broadcaster announced on Thursday. ”We are going back to the drawing board on this one,” said CEO Peter Matlare.
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/ 14 October 2004
National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has granted permission for Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille and the former chairperson of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), Gavin Woods, to appear in court as state witnesses in the trial of Schabir Shaik.
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/ 14 October 2004
Themba Luke Radebe, one of four men accused of murdering members of two Benoni families in February, on Thursday accused the police of assaulting and torturing him to extract a confession. Radebe (44) told Judge Nico Coetzee in the Secunda High Court that a plastic bag was put over his head and kept there until he fainted.
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/ 14 October 2004
Cape Town conservation authorities are increasingly considering capturing a young hippopotamus that has been on the run for a couple of weeks after escaping from the Zeekoevlei Nature Reserve. The hippo has captured the public’s imagination. So far, passive capture methods have proved unsuccessful.
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/ 14 October 2004
The African National Congress has rejected media speculation that it is opening debate on who is to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as South African leader. In a statement on Thursday — in response to such speculation — the party said it wants to clarify a number of issues regarding the leadership succession.
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/ 14 October 2004
The strategic black economic empowerment (BEE) partnership between listed financial services group Metropolitan and black-owned investment group Kagiso Trust Investments, details of which were announced in June, has been officially finalised with the transfer of both shares and money on the part of both partners.
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/ 14 October 2004
A Kempton Park woman who looks after street children has alleged that cases involving police in the Ekurhuleni area do not receive the necessary attention, but the police have denied this. ”The Ekurhuleni Metro Police have held guns against the heads of street children,” alleged Siphumelele ministries founder Elsabe Coetzee.
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/ 14 October 2004
The first witness in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial, Independent Democrats deputy leader Themba Sono, was in the witness box in the Durban High Court on Thursday. Sono said he met Shaik in 1996 through a colleague.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=123695">Tangled web of intrigue at Shaik trial</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=123679">Zuma debt aired in Shaik trial</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=123667">State shows link between Shaik, Zuma</a>
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/ 13 October 2004
Improved security for banks and cash-in-transit vehicles has seen robbers turn to the retail industry, which has suffered a R12-million loss so far this year, Kobus Kuyler, general manager of safety and security at Pick ‘n Pay, said on Wednesday. This is up from the total loss for 2003 of R9-million.
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/ 13 October 2004
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) believes it has already obtained permission for former public accounts committee chairperson Gavin Woods to testify at Schabir Shaik’s fraud and corruption trial. This follows a warning by National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete that two MPs due to give evidence will need Parliament’s permission.