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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.
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/ 26 February 2008
The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court adjourned on Tuesday with no clear answer on how many files on accused Muziwendoda Kunene’s computer were related to the ”hoax email” saga. This followed the cross-examination of state witness and computer expert Senior Superintendent Bernard Grobler.
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/ 26 February 2008
A 47-year-old man was given an effective 20 years in prison by the Grahamstown High Court on Tuesday after he was found guilty of rape and housebreaking. When he convicted Mthethunzima Ndzila Vangeli, of Elliot, of housebreaking with intent to rape, rape and theft, Judge Pieter van der Byl described him as a ”lying and pathetic witness”.
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/ 26 February 2008
Security guard Richard Engelbrecht on Tuesday persisted in his defence of ”temporary, non-pathological criminal incapacity” due to his abuse of the drug tik as his trial for the alleged rape and murder of 11-year-old schoolgirl Annestacia Wiese drew to a close.
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/ 26 February 2008
An application to have a Labour Department inquiry into workers’ exposure to poisonous fumes at a Cato Ridge ferromanganese smelter dismissed because of alleged bias was itself dismissed to loud cheers on Tuesday afternoon by the inquiry’s presiding officer, departmental inspector Vuli Sibisi.
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/ 26 February 2008
The Mpumalanga local government hopes to boost the provincial economy, attract investment and create employment over the next two years. The economy, investment and employment executive council committee on Tuesday outlined some of the projects to be undertaken during this period.
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/ 26 February 2008
The confiscation of ”R30-million to R40-million”-worth of assets from Schabir Shaik following his fraud and corruption conviction was out of proportion to his ”friend” Jacob Zuma’s intervention in one arms-deal dispute, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday.
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/ 26 February 2008
French President Nicholas Sarkozy will be accompanied by 40 key French business chief executives during his visit to South Africa, director general in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Gert Grobler, said on Tuesday. Sarkozy will arrive in Cape Town on Thursday where he will meet President Thabo Mbeki to discuss political, economic and business ties.
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/ 26 February 2008
There was no dictator in Zimbabwe, just unwelcome outside interference, its ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo said in Pretoria on Tuesday. Britain and the United States were financially backing the opposition because they wanted President Robert Mugabe out of power over his land reforms, Moyo said.
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/ 26 February 2008
The unnecessary confinement and transportation of elephants for entertainment purposes has left the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) ”seriously perturbed”. It was on Tuesday responding to the Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants in South Africa, announced a day before.
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/ 26 February 2008
South African government plans to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014 appeared increasingly at risk on Tuesday as official statistics confirmed fears of a downturn in economic growth. Figures released by Statistics South Africa showed a drop in gross domestic product growth to 5,1% last year from 5,4% in 2006.
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/ 26 February 2008
South Africa’s economic growth jumped unexpectedly in the fourth quarter of 2007, keeping expansion for the year near a two-decade record at 5,1% as buoyant corporates outweighed slower consumer spending. Africa’s biggest economy has remained resilient despite higher interest rates, although growth is likely to slow in 2008.
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/ 26 February 2008
There is no dictator in Zimbabwe, just a lot of outside, unwelcome interference in the country’s affairs, the country’s ambassador to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, said in Pretoria on Tuesday. ”Only the people of Zimbabwe can, through the ballot, tell the world who they think has their interests at heart,” he said.
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/ 26 February 2008
The government is to intervene to curb rocketing private healthcare costs and prevent the sector’s ”demise”, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Tuesday. The health charter task team, among others, has been discussing the challenge of making healthcare more affordable, she told the National Assembly’s health committee.
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/ 26 February 2008
The man and the youth accused of murdering 17-year-old Cassandra van Rooyen were released on R5 000 bail each in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Karl Schuler, lawyer for both accused, said the case was postponed to May 27 for further investigation.
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/ 26 February 2008
South Africa’s economic growth has increased to 5,3% in the fourth quarter of 2007, up from a revised figure of 4,8% in the third quarter, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. The 5,3% annualised quarter-on-quarter growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter is the highest of 2007.
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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.