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/ 28 February 2008
Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin should refrain from making unsubstantiated comments on the job-loss threats faced by thousands of mineworkers, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday. On Wednesday Erwin said that it was unclear whether proposed job cuts in the industry were caused by power cuts and electricity rationing.
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/ 28 February 2008
A video made by white students that shows them humiliating black university employees on Thursday continued to draw angry protests as well as criticism that racism remains entrenched in South Africa 14 years after the end of apartheid, with the Democratic Alliance questioning the role of the Freedom Front Plus in the matter.
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/ 28 February 2008
The total number of travellers who visited South Africa through all its ports of entry during December was up 3% year-on-year (y/y) to 2,757-million, from the 5,7% y/y growth recorded in November 2007, according to Statistics South Africa data released on Thursday.
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/ 28 February 2008
French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Cape Town on Thursday morning for a two-day state visit, which will include discussions with President Thabo Mbeki and top business leaders. Sarkozy was welcomed by Mbeki at Tuynhuys, where a 21-gun salute was fired in his honour while a military band played the French and South African national anthems.
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/ 28 February 2008
The gold mining index and industrials helped perk up the JSE by noon on Thursday, helping it to reverse its losses from the morning session. By noon, the JSE’s broader all share index added 0,62%. The gold mining index collected 1,86%, resources gained 0,35% but the platinum mining index pulled 0,96%.
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/ 28 February 2008
A charge of insurance fraud against Clinton Nassif, former security head for slain mining magnate Brett Kebble, was withdrawn in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. ”The accused is a witness in other matters we are pursuing,” prosecutor Patrick Nkuna told the court in withdrawing the charge.
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/ 28 February 2008
Four Harmony Gold mine employees died in separate incidents at the Bambanani and Elandsrand mines this week, Solidarity said on Thursday. ”Solidarity erroneously reported that another Bambanani worker, who had been admitted to the intensive care ward of the Ernst Oppenheimer Hospital in Welkom, had died. The person is recuperating,” said Solidarity.
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/ 28 February 2008
Herschelle Gibbs, who has been going through a lean period in recent weeks, bounced back on Wednesday, making an unbeaten 74 to take the Cape Cobras to a massive seven-wicket victory over the Lions in their MTN Domestic Championship match at the Wanderers.
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/ 28 February 2008
Wednesday night was former Bafana Bafana coach Trott Moloto’s baptism as the caretaker coach of Mamelodi Sundowns following the premature, much-publicised departure of Gordon Igesund earlier in the week. But it was the same old Sundowns who slumped to a 3-1 Premier Soccer League defeat against Moroka Swallows at Loftus.
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/ 28 February 2008
Legsaan Levember can only pray for better days as he huddles with 12 family members in a roadside tent, another victim of South Africa’s spiralling housing backlog. The family uses a plastic sheet to extend their tiny tent, which perches precariously on the slope of a small dune and is regularly blown away by Cape Town’s relentless south-easterly winds.
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/ 28 February 2008
Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola on Thursday congratulated Mark Boucher on reclaiming his world record as the most successful Test wicketkeeper of all time. Boucher contributed five dismissals to the Proteas’ victory in the first Test against Bangladesh, which finished in Dhaka on Monday, and has thus set a new mark of 418 dismissals.
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/ 28 February 2008
South Africa’s consumer inflation, which jumped unexpectedly in January, raised the risk of further monetary tightening despite worries over slowing economic growth. Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday that targeted CPIX (consumer inflation less mortgage costs) stood at 8,8% year-on-year in January compared with 8,6% in December.
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/ 27 February 2008
South Africa’s early democracy after 1994 reached out too far with a policy of reconciliation at the expense of transformation, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Wednesday. ”We focused too much on reconciliation in the first years of our democracy,” said SAHRC chairperson Jody Kollapen.
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/ 27 February 2008
The loudest cheers in a goalless Premier Soccer League match between Platinum Stars and Jomo Cosmos came when Stars communication manager Putco Mafan danced during a water break at a stifling hot Olympia Stadium in Rustenburg on Wednesday. The match was a tedious affair and the 500-strong crowd had little to cheer about.
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/ 27 February 2008
Custom and ethnicity allow young women to wear miniskirts, the National House of Traditional Leaders said on Wednesday in reaction to a recent attack on a woman wearing a short skirt at a Johannesburg taxi rank. The traditional leaders said the actions of the woman’s attackers were not only ”barbaric”, but also unconstitutional.
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/ 27 February 2008
Two workers at Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine near Carletonville were killed in a rockfall on Wednesday, the mining company said. Spokesperson Alwyn Pretorius said a localised seismic event caused the deaths of the two mineworkers at about 10.30am on Wednesday.
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/ 27 February 2008
South Africa produced 30% more genetically modified (GM) crops in 2007, with 1,8-million hectares of GM maize, soya and cotton being planted, Agri SA said on Wednesday. This makes the country the eighth-largest producer of GM crops in the world, behind larger countries such as the United States, Brazil, India and China.
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/ 27 February 2008
The elephant management norms and standards published this week are not a decision to cull, and should not be interpreted as such, global wildlife fund WWF said on Wednesday. It said it welcomed the rules, which would provide a uniform framework for the management of elephants in South Africa.
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/ 27 February 2008
A racist video — featuring University of the Free State employees on their knees eating food that had been urinated upon — was widely condemned by various institutions and political parties on Wednesday. The video, made by members of the Reitz men’s residence on the Bloemfontein campus, came to the attention of the public on Tuesday.
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/ 27 February 2008
The City of Johannesburg on Wednesday launched a timetable of possible four-hour power cuts to help industry and residents plan ahead. The timetable, effective from March 1, divides the city into eight geographic blocks and sets out the times when planned power cuts could occur, explained Vally Padayachee, director of engineering operations for City Power.
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/ 27 February 2008
It is unclear whether proposed job cuts in the mining industry are caused by power cuts and electricity rationing, or other factors, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said in Parliament on Wednesday. ”I’ve been a trade unionist for many years, and you often use an event like this to explain something you’re going to do anyway,” he said.
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/ 27 February 2008
The fraud case against former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha and his two co-accused was postponed in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday. The case against Masetlha, IT specialist Muziwendoda Kunene and former NIA manager for electronic surveillance Funokwakhe Madlala was postponed to June 11 to 13.
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/ 27 February 2008
The Cape High Court on Wednesday rejected a second bail bid by murder accused Najwa Petersen, expressing scepticism over her ”almost miraculous recovery” from mental illness. ”The appellant’s case relating to her precarious state of health, as presented in the first bail application, appears to have undergone a complete volte-face in the second,” the judges said.
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/ 27 February 2008
The Bulls have included their fit-again World Cup Springboks Bakkies Botha and Akona Ndungane in the team to play the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday in a repeat of last year’s Super 14 final. Their inclusion was expected, pending their fitness, but coach Frans Ludeke made a surprise selection of Morne Steyn at flyhalf, while giving Springbok Derick Hougaard a rest.
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/ 27 February 2008
The JSE moved southwards by midday on Wednesday due to profit-taking among financials as well as worse-than-expected consumer-inflation data. It was announced that the local consumer price index excluding mortgage rate changes (CPIX) for metro and other areas was up 8,8% year-on-year (y/y) in January, from 8,6% y/y in December.
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/ 27 February 2008
South Africa’s government threw its weight behind embattled Cricket South Africa (CSA) president Norman Arendse on Tuesday by calling for an increase in the number of black players in national teams. Arendse angered selectors and CSA chief executive Gerald Majola by vetoing the squad chosen by national selectors to tour Bangladesh.
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/ 27 February 2008
South Africa’s targeted CPIX inflation rate quickened to 8,8% year-on-year in January from 8,6% in December, above forecasts, data showed on Wednesday. The all-items consumer price index (CPI) increased by an annual rate of 9,3%, compared to 9% in December, Statistics South Africa said.
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/ 27 February 2008
Nedbank Group, South Africa’s fourth-largest bank, said on Wednesday 2007 headline earnings per share rose 33,8% despite rising household debt, but it warned of increasing default rates. Nedbank, majority-owned by insurer Old Mutual, said 2007 headline earnings rose 33,5% to R5,921-billion as its retail and corporate units grew on higher investment in infrastructure.
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/ 27 February 2008
Nationwide Airlines will sell a majority stake to black investors that will result in the company’s recapitalisation, a media report said on Wednesday. Vernon Bricknell, Nationwide’s chief executive said investors, whom he declined to name, would bring resources to the table, including the company’s recapitalisation.
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/ 27 February 2008
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) axed Willie Madisha as its president on Wednesday over his involvement in a missing donation scandal. This comes after a commission probing the matter presented its findings and recommendations to Cosatu’s central executive committee at its meeting this week.
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/ 26 February 2008
It was not cruel to make Schabir Shaik forfeit more than R30-million in shares after ”brashly using the prize” of Jacob Zuma to secure a business deal with an arms company, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. Advocate Wim Trengove argued this during Shaik’s court application to have his assets returned.
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/ 26 February 2008
A video of University of the Free State employees on their knees eating food which had been urinated upon was condemned ”in the strongest possible terms” by the university on Tuesday. The video, made by male students at the Reitz Residence, surfaced on Tuesday morning and adds to an already tense racial situation at UFS.