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/ 12 November 2003

Munusamy will appeal order to testify

Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy intends to appeal against a High Court order that she testify before the Hefer commission, she said on Wednesday. Earlier this week, Bloemfontein High Court Judge President JP Malherbe upheld a decision by former judge Joos Hefer that Munusamy must testify before his commission.

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/ 12 November 2003

Aids spending to reach R3bn next year

Total expenditure in response to HIV and Aids, including amounts directly spent by provincial health departments, will exceed R3-million in 2004/05, says Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel. In his mini-Budget speech in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Manuel said R1,1-billion of this would be in the national Department of Health.

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/ 12 November 2003

Mboweni: Budget policy won’t impact inflation

The South African government’s expansionary Budget policy for the next four years would not have an inflationary impact on the economy, according to South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni. He said that he was confident there would be no "fiscal dominance" arising out of the higher budget deficits projected through 2006-07.

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/ 12 November 2003

Fighter jet crashes into highway

Two Impala MK1 fighter pilots died almost instantly on Wednesday morning when their jet crashed 10m from the N4 highway in Mpumalanga’s notorious Crocodile Gorge. One of the pilots was flung through the roof of a passing truck after an apparent attempt to eject from his burning plane.

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/ 11 November 2003

D-Day approaches for Marais and Malatsi

More than 60 witnesses are expected to be called by the prosecution in the corruption trial of politicians Peter Marais and David Malatsi, which gets under way next week. ”Everybody is very positive about the fact that they would like the matter to proceed and be brought to finality as soon as possible,” Scorpions prosecutor Bruce Morrison said.

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/ 10 November 2003

Manto’s garlic won’t stop Aids

Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s lemon, garlic and olive-oil diet for people with HIV/Aids has been given a firm thumbs-down by the South African Medical Journal. The editorial of the latest issue of the journal says there is currently no convincing evidence that these foods alter the course of the disease.

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/ 10 November 2003

Cosatu: Leave public holidays alone

Tampering with South Africa’s public holidays would amount to a betrayal of those who died for freedom, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Monday. Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi last week indicated the country might soon have multi-purpose public holidays.

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/ 30 October 2003

Luyt: ‘Old NP more corrupt than ANC’

The former National Party government was a ”magnificent master or teacher” of the present African National Congress government regarding corruption, according to Federal Alliance leader, rugby supremo and businessman Louis Luyt. He has also voiced his support for the reintroduction of the death penalty.

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/ 30 October 2003

Robert McBride, chief of police

Foreign Affairs official and former death row inmate Robert McBride has been appointed chief of the East Rand municipality’s Metro Police. The announcement was immediately decried by the Democratic Alliance, which said in a statement that it was reacting with ”shock and disgust” to the appointment.

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/ 30 October 2003

Thousands of Germans heading for South Africa

Tourism operator Thomas Cook is set to bring the first of 26 000 Germans over the next two years to South Africa on Friday. It has organised charter flights from Germany as a result of a ground-breaking agreement signed between the tour operator, South African Tourism, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape Tourism Board.

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/ 29 October 2003

ANC MP tells of Gear battle

In a candid account in his new book <i>Nothing But the Truth</i>, a leading member of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, Professor Ben Turok, has provided a new account of the battle within the party to accept the current economic policy, called Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear).

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/ 29 October 2003

Pretoria’s croc could be a kidnap victim

The crocodile playing Loch Ness monster in the Hennops River, west of Pretoria, might have been kidnapped, or else it was an escapee, an expert said on Wednesday. He believes Charlie, as the croc has been named, escaped from a crocodile farm or was removed from his natural environment as a baby crocodile.

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/ 29 October 2003

Yengeni, Winnie off ANC lists

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Tony Yengeni are two surprise omissions from the Gauteng African National Congress’s provincial and national election list. ”We don’t know ourselves why they are not there,” ANC provincial secretary David Makhura said in reply to several questions on Madikizela-Mandela and Yengeni.

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/ 29 October 2003

Boeremag: Defence Force bases in coup plot

Some South African National Defence Force bases and their troops were identified in 2001 to help carry out a plan to overthrow the state, the Pretoria High Court heard in the Boeremag treason trial on Wednesday. Meetings to this end had taken place with the commanding officers of several commandos and generals.

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/ 29 October 2003

Hefer calls up spy masters

Former judge Joos Hefer has decided to subpoena the country’s intelligence agencies for information, his commission announced on Wednesday. Commission secretary Advocate John Bacon said the heads of the various agencies will be summonsed to testify before the commission.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=22773">’Misleading’ Ngwema in trouble with NIA</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=22774">Spy masters’ ‘flawed’ argument</a>

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/ 28 October 2003

Airports strike may widen

Workers at airports run by the Airports Company of South Africa on Tuesday asked their aviation industry colleagues to join them in an attempt to get Acsa to agree to a higher pay rise. The union has asked colleagues from South African Airways and three other firms to support them.

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/ 28 October 2003

SA arms sales double — but not to Zim

South Africa’s conventional arms exports nearly doubled between 2000 and 2002, according to a government paper referred to the parliamentary defence portfolio committee and joint standing committee on defence. A notable change in the listing is that South Africa sold no arms to Zimbabwe in the past two years.

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/ 28 October 2003

DA welcomes SA’s lowered CPIX

South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance says it has taken a lot of time and effort for the CPIX to reach a figure of 5,4% notched up for September. A DA spokesperson said "it is the first time that the CPIX falls within the Reserve Bank’s inflation target band [of between 3% and 6%]".

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/ 27 October 2003

NDA chief suspended

National Development Agency (NDA) CEO Delani Mthembu has been suspended from his position pending an investigation into allegations of mismanagement and corruption, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya announced on Monday. The suspension followed a preliminary forensic audit of the NDA.

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/ 27 October 2003

Phosa, Mbeki head ANC candidate lists

Former Mpumalanga premier-turned-businessman Mathews Phosa has been elected to the provincial African National Congress’s list of provincial and national candidates for next year’s elections, SABC Radio News reported on Monday. The ANC also announced on Monday that President Thabo Mbeki heads the North West’s national candidates nominations list.

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/ 27 October 2003

IFP youth leaders tested for HIV

The leaders of the Inkatha Freedom Party youth brigade have had themselves tested for HIV/Aids at the party’s headquarters in Durban. The group said it had taken "the bold step of having ourselves tested" in line with a resolution taken by the IFP youth brigade conference held in Ulundi at the end of August.

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/ 25 October 2003

‘Lies behind the lies’ must be exposed

Deputy President Jacob Zuma has taken a swipe at the National Prosecuting Authority, saying three years was a long time for it to fail to find any evidence of wrongdoing or corruption against him, referring to the probe into allegations he was involved in corruption related to South Africa’s multibillion-rand arms deal.

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/ 23 October 2003

Maharaj, Shaik again absent from Hefer

National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka’s main accusers, Mac Maharaj and Mo Shaik, were again absent from the Hefer commission’s public hearings on Thursday. Their absence on Thursday again robbed them of the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses who made allegations against them.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=22481">Mac Maharaj’s ‘fishing trip'</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=22488">ANC: Zuma need not testify</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=22455">Former activists testify before Hefer</a>