A weaker rand and higher commodity prices boosted mining stocks on the JSE by midday on Monday, but negative global sentiment still weighed on the bourse. By midday, the JSE’s broader all-share index was off 0,76%, dragged lower by a 4,42% dip in the bank index. Financials gave up 2,63% while industrials pulled back 1,07%.
Ten people were killed on Monday morning in an accident on the N3 highway near Pietermaritzburg, transport officials said. Rajen Chinnaboo, spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal transport department said the accident took place on the N3 Durban-bound highway before the Shongweni offramp at 7:30am.
The South African Communist Party has asked the South African Police Service to finalise its investigation into a donation scandal after an internal audit cleared their secretary general Blade Nzimande. The SACP audit was set up to investigate the whereabouts of R500 000 donated to the party by controversial businessman Charles Modise.
Kwaito star Mandoza is recovering at home following a car accident in the early hours of Saturday morning. Two people died and Mduduzi Tshabalala [Mandoza] was hospitalised after he crashed his DaimlerChrysler Crossfire into a VW Jetta along the N1 near the 14th Avenue offramp at about 1.23am.
Shamim ”Chippy” Shaik has been stripped of his doctorate degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal without reason, his brother and lawyer Yunis Shaik said on Sunday. Last year, media reports said that ”more than two-thirds” of Shaik’s 2003 PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the then-University of Natal had been plagiarised
The Birds left it late — then swooped to a scintillating 3-1 Absa Premiership win over Bloemfontein Celtic with three goals in the last ten minutes of play. After Malawian defender Patrick Mabedi had equalised for Moroka Swallows, with a superbly timed header in the 79th minute, the team completed their scoring spree with late goals from substitutes Sandile Ndlovu and Alfred Phiri.
A 30-year-old man was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a two-year-old girl from Valhalla Park in Cape Town, police said on Saturday. Spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said that the child’s mother went to work at a nearby spaza-shop and left the child in the care of her sister on Thursday.
Locked together with 31 points each, Orlando Pirates and Golden Arrows were inseparable in an evenly-matched, engrossing 0-0 Absa Premiership draw at Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday night. Whoever said a goalless game cannot be entertaining could not have witnessed the clash between two teams who both look worthy of Top Eight finishes in the log.
South Africans should arm themselves to ward off criminals, regardless of government’s efforts to disarm citizens, Gun Owners South Africa (Gosa) said on Saturday. Gosa said South Africa’s justice system was ”on the verge of collapse” and that the police and security forces were ”in a state of total disarray”.
French Test flyhalf Frederick Michalak scored his first try in Super 14 rugby when the Sharks beat the Bulls 29-15 in an all-South African match on Saturday. Michalak scored the first of three Sharks tries in the final 10 minutes to help maintain his team’s unbeaten start to the season and settle a match in which the lead changed hands four times.
A glaring error by referee Kelvin Deaker cost the Lions seven points in the Super 14 match which they eventually lost 18-16 to the Western Force at Ellis Park on Friday night. The call forced the Lions to play catch-up after a Cameron Shepherd penalty had put the visitors ahead with a long-range penalty.
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As the National Prosecuting Authority was revealing in papers submitted to the Constitutional Court how African National Congress president Jacob Zuma allegedly failed to declare his income to the taxman, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Friday was keeping mum.
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/ 29 February 2008
Industrial users of electricity feel that they are bearing the brunt of electricity rationing, while more needs to be done to involve other sectors of society, an energy working group said in Cape Town on Friday. ”Busa [Business Unity South Africa] said that businesses are bearing the brunt of this and need the rest of the economy to come in,” Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said.
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/ 29 February 2008
Architect Luyanda Mpahlwa describes the process of creating and realising new housing solutions on Mitchells Plain.
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/ 29 February 2008
Media24 on Friday announced the closure of the Gauteng and Free State editions of its Afrikaans tabloid, Son, citing weak growth prospects. The Western Cape and Eastern Cape additions would continue to publish, a statement from Fergus Sampson, CEO of the emerging markets division, said.
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/ 29 February 2008
Police are investigating a case of crimen injuria in relation to a racist video made by students at the University of the Free State. The video, which caused national outrage, features black university employees on their knees eating food that had apparently been urinated upon by white students.
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With live video
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/ 29 February 2008
A Drum magazine journalist was beaten up in what is believed to have been a racial attack in a café in Bloemfontein on Thursday night, the magazine said. ”Drum condemns the incident and believes there is no place for such racist behaviour,” said deputy editor Elmari Rautenbach on Friday.
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/ 29 February 2008
South Africa’s monthly trade deficit widened to R10,2-billion in January, compared with December’s R1,2-billion gap, the South African Revenue Service said on Friday. Compared with the previous month, exports fell by 8% while imports increased by 13%, largely due to a rise in imports of minerals products and machinery.
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/ 29 February 2008
Private hospitals have rejected the minister of health’s call for CPIX (consumer inflation less mortgage costs) to be used as a benchmark for their tariff increases. ”CPIX is not an accurate benchmark of healthcare costs,” the Hospital Association of South Africa said in a statement on Friday.
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/ 29 February 2008
A passenger rail service between East London and Mthatha will be inaugurated this weekend, Eastern Cape provincial transport minister Thobile Mhlahlo said on Friday. The Kei Rail Service would start operating on Saturday, transporting 216 passengers between the two towns, he said.
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/ 29 February 2008
The first beneficiaries of the Delft homes that were invaded in December have begun moving in, Thubelisha Homes said on Friday. Prince Sigcawu, general manager of the N2 Gateway Pilot Project, said 10 families completed the move on Friday, another 20 would move in on Monday and Tuesday, and 100 per week would follow
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/ 29 February 2008
The issue of the Khutsong demarcation was not on the agenda of an African National Congress delegation visiting Carletonville, a media report said on Saturday. The eight-member team from the party’s national executive committee met other ANC members and community members behind closed doors in the troubled North West area.
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/ 29 February 2008
New Zealand’s Canterbury Crusaders maintained their winning start to the Super 14 season with a third successive victory in beating the Stormers 22-0 in Cape Town on Friday. They dominated all aspects of the game and denied the Stormers even the chance of a kickable penalty until the final 10 minutes.
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/ 29 February 2008
It was probably not meant for public consumption, but SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt was overheard suggesting during the goalless Absa Premiership draw against Wits University at Bidvest Stadium on Friday night that ”the people watching the game should get their money back”.
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/ 29 February 2008
Murder accused Najwa Petersen made an unexpected appearance in the Cape High Court on Friday in a bid to find out what was happening with her legal representation. She and three alleged hit men are scheduled to go on trial on Monday for the slaying of her entertainer husband, Taliep, in 2006.
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/ 29 February 2008
Luthuli House — headquarters of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) — was evacuated on Friday after a man tried to torch the building, the party said. ANC spokesperson Steyn Speed said that the man entered the door of the building at about 10.30am, poured petrol on the floor and set it alight.
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/ 29 February 2008
Police had to land a helicopter near the Rivonia Road off-ramp on the N1 highway in Johannesburg on Friday morning to stop a shoot-out between two rival taxi associations. A taxi driver was shot dead in the gun battle. Members involved in the shoot-out moved away from the scene when police arrived. However, 13 people were arrested.
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/ 29 February 2008
Growth in demand for credit by South Africa’s private sector accelerated to 23% in January, official data showed on Friday, raising the chances interest rates may have to rise again. Figures from the Reserve Bank showed that year-on-year credit growth quickened from an upwardly revised 21,57% in December.
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/ 29 February 2008
Gold-mining stocks and other commodity counters helped keep the JSE’s head above the water by midday on Friday, as metal prices kept driving higher on the back of a weaker United States dollar. By 12.01pm, the JSE’s broader all-share index was up 0,24%, led by a 1,85% climb in the gold-mining index.
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/ 29 February 2008
The retail price of all grades of petrol will increase by 61 cents per litre on Wednesday March 5 after increasing by 17 cents a litre last month, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. The retail price of a litre of 95 octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng increases to R8,25, and to R8,01 at the coast — new highs.
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/ 29 February 2008
South African Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica has confirmed that job losses at mines are unavoidable, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. Sonjica said this became apparent at Thursday’s meeting with labour unions and the Chamber of Mines, but she would not disclose the number of job losses that will take place.
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/ 29 February 2008
Popular Afrikaans singer Jurie Els, now living in New Zealand with his athlete wife Hestrie Cloete, has broken the silence around accusations of sexual abuse levelled against him by another, younger singer, Robbie Klay, media reports said on Friday. Klay has alleged that he was for seven years sexually molested as a child.