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/ 26 February 2008
Stormers flank Schalk Burger has received a two-week suspension after being found guilty of ”unsportsmanlike behaviour”. Burger’s suspension runs from February 23 to March 8, inclusive. He has a right to appeal the sentence. His suspension is a big setback for the Stormers, who are yet to win a match in this year’s Super 14 competition.
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/ 26 February 2008
KwaZulu-Natal has been able to show the world that when power is contested, people do not have to die, Dr Brigalia Bam, chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, said on Tuesday. She was speaking at the KwaZulu-Natal legislature in Pietermaritzburg on preparations for the 2009 election.
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/ 26 February 2008
The number of foreign visitors to South Africa grew by just under 9% last year, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday. ”I am pleased to announce that the overall foreign arrivals increased by 8,6% from January to November 2007,” he told a business tourism conference in Sandton.
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/ 26 February 2008
South African stocks were sharply higher at midday on Tuesday following in the footsteps of European markets, but a stronger rand restricted gains. Above-forecast economic growth data added to the positive sentiment. At 11.59am, the all-share index was up 1,22% at 30 176,680, thanks to a 3,08% gain in banks.
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/ 26 February 2008
The so-called ”Special Browse Mole Consolidated Report”, dismissed by the Presidency as the product of a campaign by discredited ”information peddlers”, was produced illegally by the Scorpions and in contravention of their mandate, Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence said on Tuesday.
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/ 26 February 2008
Vandalism continued through the night in Tshing settlement following Monday’s service-delivery protest, North West police said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Superintendent Lesego Metsi said two houses belonging to municipal employees were vandalised by a group of young people.
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/ 26 February 2008
South African health insurance firm Discovery said on Tuesday its loss-making United States unit Destiny Health would quit the US retail insurance market. Discovery said Destiny would continue to market its Vitality product to employer groups and health plans, but would transfer its insured block of business to a health insurance carrier.
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/ 26 February 2008
Premier Soccer League log leaders Ajax Cape Town and the ever-improving Santos will face Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates respectively in the last-32 round of the inaugural Nedbank Cup. The draw involving the Soweto clubs attracted loud applause from the crowd and there was also a huge roar of approval for the R6-million first prize.
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/ 26 February 2008
The South African women’s hockey team annihilated Russia 6-0 in the opening match of the Spar Tri-Nations at the Randburg Sports Complex on Monday, courtesy of a Cindy Brown hat-trick. The South Africans are fresh off the back of a training camp and a three-match series played against Canada last week — which they won 2-0.
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/ 26 February 2008
There is a higher recruitment drive in Zimbabwe’s engineering and related sectors due to skills flight than in any other sector, the state-controlled Herald reported on Tuesday. Since the beginning of the year, the engineering field has accounted for 47% of job advertisements in the press.
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/ 25 February 2008
The African National Congress (ANC) is not conducting a forensic audit into empowerment deals and tenders that were received by its investment company, Chancellor House, the party said on Monday. ”The ANC wishes to place on record that it is neither conducting an investigation nor a forensic audit into the company or any of its transactions.”
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/ 25 February 2008
No life could be ”sacrificed” in the name of profits, mining magnate and businessman Patrice Motsepe told protesting workers at a ferromanganese smelter near Durban on Monday. He was speaking to workers who on Monday staged a protest at the Assmang smelter following Sunday’s blast, which claimed the lives of five people.
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/ 25 February 2008
Potential job losses due to the energy crisis are not cast in stone, Gold Fields CEO Ian Cockerill said in a conference call on Monday. Earlier, the mining company announced that 6 900 jobs were at risk because of Eskom’s power rationing. ”We’re working closely with the unions to calculate potential losses. There is nothing cast in stone,” Cockerill said.
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/ 25 February 2008
Springbok and Stormers flank Schalk Burger was found guilty of an ”act contrary to good sportsmanship” by a judicial committee in Cape Town on Monday after gesticulating to referee’s assistant Willie Roos in Saturday’s Super 14 match against the Sharks in Durban. Sentence has been deferred to Tuesday.
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/ 25 February 2008
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is to hold a public forum on complaints of racial prejudice against the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ) and the issue of exclusive organisations. This stems from last Friday’s controversial FBJ meeting addressed by African National Congress president Jacob Zuma in Johannesburg.
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/ 25 February 2008
More than 95% of airlines operating in the country have signed contracts with two new baggage handlers, the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) said on Monday. The handlers will be required to submit quarterly service and customer experience reports for Acsa to assess the performance of the new licensees.
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/ 25 February 2008
The alleged fraud case against former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha and his two co-accused was postponed in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on Monday. The charges relate to alleged hoax emails implicating senior African National Congress members in a conspiracy against Jacob Zuma.
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/ 25 February 2008
A ”significant” number of children drop out of the schooling system after grade nine, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said in Cape Town on Monday. ”South Africa is doing very well with respect to enrolment of children up to grade nine, but a significant number drop out at that point,” she told journalists during a Council of Education Ministers meeting.
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/ 25 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel should have considered asking for an apology rather than a gagging order against arms-deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne, the Cape High Court was told on Monday. Manuel is seeking an urgent interim order to stop Crawford-Browne from continuing to publicly accuse him of criminal conduct in signing loan agreements for the deal.
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/ 25 February 2008
Service delivery has collapsed in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo, after local authorities recently announced that the municipality was insolvent and unable to cater to the needs of its almost two million residents. The council could not pay salaries in January and employees have been on a go-slow since then.
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/ 25 February 2008
Three committees — dealing with maternal mortality, perinatal mortality and infant mortality — were launched at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park on Monday by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. ”The improvement of the health of women and children has always been a priority in the healthcare planning of our democratic government,” she said.
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/ 25 February 2008
Trade union Solidarity on Monday began to publish a series of national advertisements announcing the death of affirmative action. Deputy general secretary Dirk Hermann said the advertisements would appear in the classified sections of Beeld, Business Day, Citizen and in Volksblad on Tuesday.
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/ 25 February 2008
Yusuf Abramjee, Primedia Broadcasting group’s head of news and talk programming, and Talk Radio 702/567 host Kieno Kammies on Monday laid a formal complaint of discrimination with the South African Human Rights Commission over the inaugural meeting of the Forum of Black Journalists.
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/ 25 February 2008
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on President Thabo Mbeki to make public the full report of the Khampepe Commission. ”I have today [Monday] submitted a request to the Presidency to make the full Khampepe Commission Report public in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act,” DA leader Helen Zille said in a statement.
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/ 25 February 2008
Police found 34 petrol bombs in the Precinct Six area of the N2 Gateway housing project in Delft outside Cape Town, Western Cape police said on Monday. ”Delft police were patrolling Precinct Six on Sunday and they found three plastic crates in a hole covered with a door,” spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said.
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/ 25 February 2008
South Africa is to cull elephants for the first time since 1995, lifting a moratorium on the practice to bring ballooning populations under control, the government said on Monday. Since the government introduced a moratorium on culling in 1995, the number of elephants has risen from about 8 000 to over 20 000.
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/ 25 February 2008
Zimbabwean presidential hopeful Simba Makoni said on Monday he would not form a coalition with the main opposition party because it would alienate dissenters in President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party. ”There are a large number of people in Zanu-PF who share my proper vision,” Makoni said in an interview.
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/ 25 February 2008
African and international civil society organisations have urged the rest of the world to redouble its efforts to stop the European Union’s drive to institute economic partnership agreements (EPAs). The call for action was drawn up during a special review meeting of the Africa Trade Network in Cape Town from February 20 to 22.
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/ 25 February 2008
Mamelodi Sundowns announced on Sunday night that coach Gordon Igesund and the club will be parting ways. Recently appointed media and communications manager Mahlatse Mphahlele announced ”the club and coach will be parting company on an amicable basis with immediate effect”.
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/ 25 February 2008
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Sunday welcomed a new World Health Organisation (WHO) tobacco report that indicates that consumption of cigarettes has declined in South Africa. The WHO report states that higher taxes are especially important for deterring tobacco use among the young and the poor.
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/ 25 February 2008
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Sunday accused the government of failing all South Africans in the battle against crime, with suspended police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi being ”a symbol of that failure”. Zille spoke to about 3 000 people in Durban’s Phoenix area following a tour through the area.
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/ 25 February 2008
About R54-million-worth of cocaine, smuggled into the country from Brazil, was confiscated at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday, police said. Police in São Paulo, Brazil, had notified South African authorities on Saturday that a plane heading to OR Tambo was carrying cocaine.