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/ 20 November 2003
The parliamentary joint committee on ethics and members’ interests has apparently cleared Deputy President Jacob Zuma of all charges of alleged non-declaration of benefits required in terms of South Africa’s parliamentary code of conduct. The charges concerned amounts amounting to more than R1-million.
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/ 20 November 2003
The National Assembly has given the nod to 12 names recommended by the communications portfolio committee to serve on the new board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The Democratic Alliance, New National Party and Inkatha Freedom Party opposed the recommendations.
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/ 20 November 2003
South African technology company Sentech on Thursday announced plans to roll out its wireless broadband services to consumers and businesses. Users will not need a physical connection to use the internet. Wireless broadband internet access becomes commercially available from the end of January 2004.
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/ 19 November 2003
The African National Congress will win a two-thirds majority in next year’s general elections, in the process increasing its seats in Parliament from the current 266 members to 271 in 2004. This was the prediction from the Human Science Research Council on Wednesday, when a comprehensive survey was unveiled.
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/ 19 November 2003
A comprehensive HIV and Aids treatment plan was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday. It seeks to provide at least one anti-retroviral service point in every health district within a year. A long-term aim is to give all South Africans requiring treatment access to the programme in their local municipal area within five years.
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/ 19 November 2003
Former Stimela lead vocalist Ray Phiri was involved in a car accident that led to the death of a woman passenger — identified as his wife — on Tuesday night, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday.
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/ 19 November 2003
At least 51 people sustained serious and minor burn wounds during a gas explosion at Ratanga Junction theme park in Cape Town on Wednesday, Western Cape police reported. The blast occurred moments after a chef noticed a gas leak in one of the kitchens.
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/ 19 November 2003
The professional team driving the Roodefontein development ”set up” an official of the Western Cape’s environment and planning department — Dr Steve du Toit, who dealt with the development — to expose his personal interest in the matter, the regional court in George heard on Wednesday.
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/ 19 November 2003
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has introduced legislation in the National Assembly that provides greater flexibility for foreign corporate reorganisations. The current system of foreign taxation has "the unintended consequence of discouraging the repatriation of dividends", he said.
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/ 19 November 2003
The National Council of Provinces, the second House of the South African Parliament, on Tuesday gave the controversial National Health Bill the green light. One of the most controversial elements of the Bill is the requirement that the government regulate where private doctors can practise.
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/ 18 November 2003
Liberation struggle veteran Mac Maharaj was asked on Tuesday to react to an allegation that he himself had been an apartheid agent. The former transport minister was shown a book during his cross-examination before the Hefer commission, in which he is accused of having been an apartheid government agent.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=23724">Sparks fly at Hefer commission</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=23710">’Mo Shaik fingered Ngcuka'</a>
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/ 18 November 2003
Former Western Cape premier Peter Marais intervened directly to ensure provincial environment officials made a decision on the Roodefontein golf estate development, the regional court in George heard on Tuesday. Marais and David Malatsi are accused of being bribed to smooth the way for approval of the project.
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/ 18 November 2003
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel says the government is being schizophrenic regarding the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. "Let me be honest: I think government has been schizophrenic in promoting small business. We have laws and regulations that are often contradictory," he said in a summit address.
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/ 18 November 2003
The state does not intend to call Italian count Riccardo Agusta as a witness in the corruption trial of former Western Cape premier Peter Marais and David Malatsi. Agusta paid a R1-million fine after conceding that he ”unlawfully and corruptly” gave a R400 000 donation through the two men to the New National Party.
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/ 18 November 2003
Both taxi associations involved in violence on the Durban North Coast on Thursday and Friday last week have had their permits taken away, police said on Tuesday. The provincial taxi board withdrew their permits in order to get them to come to the negotiating table, said the police.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=23602">Taxi war simmers in KwaZulu-Natal</a>
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/ 17 November 2003
A rare new ”super” strain of tuberculosis that is costly and time-consuming to treat has been identified in South Africa’s Western Cape province, a leading scientist said on Monday. A team of scientist has found that the strain, DRF150, is resistant to almost all antibiotics used to treat tuberculosis.
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/ 17 November 2003
The Democratic Alliance has criticised President Thabo Mbeki for saying he does not plan to raise the topic of French company Thales’s involvement in South Africa’s controversial arms deal. Mbeki, currently in France on a state visit, said he would not discuss the issue with French President Jacques Chirac.
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/ 17 November 2003
Household expenditure in South Africa will rise from R279,1-billion in 1993 to an expected R673,4-billion this year, the University of South Africa’s Bureau of Market Research said on Monday. African households are expected to have the largest share in total household expenditure of the four population groups in 2003.
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/ 17 November 2003
Total investment in South Africa grew by more than 8% in the first half of the year, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday. Private investment expanded by 7% in the same period, he told an investment forum of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Johannesburg.
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/ 17 November 2003
Former Western Cape premier Peter Marais and his co-accused David Malatsi on Monday pleaded not guilty to corruption charges related to the Roodefontein golf development. In court, Marais and Malatsi were seated in specially placed soft chairs behind their advocates, and not in the hard wooden dock.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=23627">Marais and Malatsi on trial</a>
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/ 17 November 2003
Counsel for the police obtained permission from the Boeremag treason trial judge on Monday to study an alleged secret informer file compiled on the strength of information supplied by police spy Johannes Coenrad Smit. The police intend opposing an application by the defence for access to the file.
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/ 15 November 2003
Ten people were arrested and about 20 taxis impounded after the vehicles blocked the main road in Stanger, KwaZulu-Natal, on Friday afternoon, police reported. This was after four people were killed and three injured in a morning shoot-out involving a taxi on the R102 in Ntshawini.
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/ 15 November 2003
From centuries-old shipwrecks to ancient Stone Age middens and fish traps, South Africa’s coastline is a treasure-trove of historical gems and archaeological riches. Little information is available on the exact location and condition of these sites — but now the country’s first long-term underwater heritage survey has been launched.
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/ 14 November 2003
Department of Labour inspectors have surveyed the wreckage of a bridge that collapsed at the Coega development zone outside Port Elizabeth and interviewed eight construction workers about the disaster. Two construction workers were killed and 18 injured on Thursday when the bottom formwork of the bridge collapsed.
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/ 14 November 2003
Nearly 60% of the 1,4-million South Africans who registered as voters for the first time during the past weekend were between 18 and 25 years old, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Friday. About 43% of the new registrations during the weekend’s registration drive occurred in rural areas.
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/ 14 November 2003
The Department of Defence has allocated about R205-million to provide spares needed for the first three years of operation of the South African navy’s new corvettes — the first of which arrived in Cape Town last week from Germany. The four corvettes have been priced at just short of R6-billion.
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/ 14 November 2003
South Africa’s crime prevention system has undergone a radical transformation since 1994, effectively ending political violence, dealing with urban and right-wing terror and taking important steps to stabilise crime, the ruling African National Congress has reported. But aggravated robbery has persistently increased.
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/ 13 November 2003
The Democratic Alliance on Thursday said almost the entire provincial leadership of the Freedom Front Plus in Limpopo had decided to join it instead. However, the FF+ said all provincial structures had been disbanded after provincial leader Gerhard Venter had apparently appeared in court on a criminal charge.
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/ 13 November 2003
Rebels in south Sudan have launched a diplomatic offensive in Africa, ahead of November 30 peace talks in Kenya, as part of efforts to end Sudan’s 20-year civil war. More than two million people, most of them civilians, have died in Sudan since the fighting between rebels and the Islamic government in the north resumed in 1983.
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/ 13 November 2003
The Johannesburg High court heard closing arguments on Thursday by the state in the jurisdiction hearing of Israeli national Lior Saat, who is charged with murdering diamond merchant Shai Avissar, the estranged husband of socialite Hazel Crane who was shot dead in Abbotsford, Johannesburg, on Monday.
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/ 13 November 2003
The government and the Big Business Working Group have agreed to set up a joint working team to consider ways of managing the impact of the strong rand, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Valli Moosa said on Thursday. Nail CEO Saki Macozoma said the most important thing was the rand’s stability.
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/ 12 November 2003
Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospital is in a financial crisis because of a lack of a cost-allocation system and cost-monitoring measures, according to a National Labour and Economic Development Institute report released on Wednesday. ”There is high duplication of duties, wastage, corruption and theft at the hospital,” a researcher said.