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/ 19 February 2008
Looking at the options available to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel when he delivers his national budget in the National Assembly on Wednesday, the experts of the Old Mutual Investment Group reckon that he could have as much as R25-billion to play with. But how would he spend it?
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/ 19 February 2008
The first of South Africa’s long-planned "new generation" prisons should be completed by February next year, MPs heard on Tuesday. The R662-million Kimberley Correctional Centre was more than one-third completed by the end of last month, prisons commissioner Vernie Petersen said.
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/ 19 February 2008
Two South African men were arrested while trying to smuggle nearly R750-million worth of heroin into the country at the Beit Bridge border post from Zimbabwe, Limpopo police said on Tuesday. Police said the heroin was found in a secret compartment at the base of the truck.
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/ 19 February 2008
Recent cases of spying involving the mayor of Cape Town and a report alleging a conspiracy to bring down the government are part of apartheid ”baggage”, Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils said in Cape Town on Tuesday. He said it is a ”knee-jerk reaction” to assume that the National Intelligence Agency is behind such cases.
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/ 19 February 2008
A man and a woman travelling in a white BMW were critically injured outside Hillary Primary School in Durban on Tuesday morning after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, which had stopped near the school. Donovan Pillay (26) was seated in the car with Leanne Armugam — the wife of his cousin, local taxi boss Duncan Armugam.
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/ 19 February 2008
The disbanding of the Scorpions is still only a ”proposal” and will go to Parliament and include public participation, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said in Cape Town on Tuesday. The unit will also stay on the high-profile cases on which it is currently working, he told a media briefing on the future of the criminal justice system.
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/ 19 February 2008
The People’s Budget Coalition has reiterated its call for a basic income grant as part of its national budget wish list. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel tables the national budget on Wednesday. The coalition comprises the Congress of South African Trade Unions, South African National NGO Coalition and the South African Council of Churches.
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/ 19 February 2008
Light is all its going to take to connect South Africans and the rest of Africa to Europe and Asia via the Middle East by 2010. International contractor Seacom is building and will own and operate a high-capacity undersea cable that will stretch over approximately 17 000km, providing cheap bandwidth at high volumes.
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/ 19 February 2008
Brait economist Colen Garrow says that while the government’s inflation-targeting and exchange-control policies are overdue to be fine-tuned, it is unlikely that any tangible announcement will be made on Wednesday in Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s budget speech.
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/ 19 February 2008
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is expected to announce the usual sin-tax increases on alcohol and tobacco when he makes his national budget speech on Wednesday. Economists said on Tuesday that they wouldn’t be surprised to hear Manuel announce an increase in taxes on these products.
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/ 19 February 2008
The bank and resources indices kept the JSE in positive territory on Tuesday, lifting the bourse 0,7% higher by midday. Banks advanced 2,14% and financials collected 1,14%. The gold mining index added 1,46%, resources lifted 1,11% and the platinum mining index was up 0,58%. However, industrials were down 0,12%.
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/ 19 February 2008
Chiefs are thirteen points behind log leaders Ajax Cape Town and are occupying 12th position in the Premier League log. Now, with a bitter attack from chairperson Kaizer Motaung on the tactics of coach Muhsin Ertugral, can things get any worse for the tottering PSL giants?
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/ 19 February 2008
South Africans will be able to see a total eclipse of the moon just before sunrise on Thursday. ”South Africans out [very] early on Thursday morning are in for a treat — an eclipsed Moon with Saturn over in the west, and a line of three planets over in the east above the rising sun,” said Claire Flanagan, Planetarium director.
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/ 19 February 2008
Evictions have begun at the housing development in Delft illegally occupied by backyard dwellers, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction campaign said on Tuesday morning. A Cape High Court judge on Monday refused the more than 1Â 000 squatters leave to appeal against an earlier eviction order.
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/ 19 February 2008
The Annestacia murder trial, involving accused Richard Engelbrecht, proceeded behind closed doors on Tuesday as the prosecutor presented the testimony of a pathologist. Prosecutor Mornay Julius was also to present the testimony of a six-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by Engelbrecht at the age of three.
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/ 19 February 2008
South African retailer Shoprite reported a 55,1% rise in half-year headline earnings per share, as an emerging black middle class spent freely, but said it faced tougher times in the year ahead. Diluted headline earnings per share — the main profit measure in South Africa — rose to 128,4 cents, while revenue climbed 21,7% to R19,105-billion.
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/ 19 February 2008
A cholera outbreak in Mashonaland East and Central provinces that claimed at least 11 lives is now under control. The Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr David Parirenyatwa said the epidemic taskforce committee was on the lookout for any suspected cholera cases in Nyamukuyo Village in Mudzi.
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/ 19 February 2008
Absa increased full-year headline earnings per share by about 19% and played down the potential impact of a slowdown in the domestic economy. Absa said on Tuesday that headline EPS rose to R14,01 in 2007 from R11,81 while headline earnings increased to R9,413-billion from R7,872-billion.
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/ 19 February 2008
A Johannesburg restaurant manager has been charged with indecent assault after allegedly having sex with a street child at the weekend, a media report said on Tuesday. The man, who may not be named, apparently offered to pay the 16-year-old boy to have sex with him.
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/ 19 February 2008
A Pretoria High Court judge ruled on Monday that a murderer and robber did not deserve life imprisonment because of his disadvantaged background. Acting Judge Legodi Phatudi sentenced 35-year-old Jeffrey Mogatla of Mamelodi East to 40 years imprisonment, of which he effectively has to serve about 19 years — for the murder and robbery of Mariana Bothma.
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/ 18 February 2008
The newly established Isivande Women’s Fund is a step towards reducing poverty among women, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday. Unveiling the fund logo to business and media at the presidential guest house in Pretoria, the deputy president said it will help mainly black woman entrepreneurs.
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/ 18 February 2008
The Cape High Court on Monday dismissed an application for leave to appeal against an eviction order that compelled illegal occupiers of unfinished homes in Delft on the Cape Flats to vacate their houses by 6pm last Sunday. Judge Deon van Zyl ruled late on Monday that the grounds for appeal were altogether without merit.
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/ 18 February 2008
An anti-Aids gel that had reached the final phase of testing was unable to prevent the transmission of HIV, research NGO and non-profit organisation the Population Council said on Monday. It said the third phase of the clinical trials into the product found it ineffective in preventing male-to-female HIV transmission during vaginal intercourse.
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/ 18 February 2008
The goal posts for Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s spending plans in Wednesday’s national budget were carefully placed last October when he revealed his medium-term expenditure framework. However, political change and the dramatic change in economic outlook caused by the electricity crisis have set the posts whirling.
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/ 18 February 2008
An Eastern Cape gardener accused of raping an 11-year-old girl was sentenced to 54 months’ imprisonment by a Grahamstown High Court judge on Monday after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of statutory rape. The state initially charged Khulile Ntshabase (24) with raping the girl at a house in Hogsback on August 4 last year.
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/ 18 February 2008
South African schoolchildren will be taught a Bill of Responsibilities along with the Bill of Rights, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said in Pretoria on Monday. Unveiling the Bill of Responsibilities, Pandor said: ”It is to say how we exercise rights, with the understanding that rights come with responsibility.”
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/ 18 February 2008
Janine Wiese, mother of slain 11-year-old Annestacia, wants her daughter’s alleged killer to remain in prison for the rest of his life, she told the Cape High Court on Monday. The mother was asked by prosecutor Mornay Julius how she felt about Richard Engelbrecht, who has pleaded guilty to the girl’s rape and murder.
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/ 18 February 2008
South Africa will set up a fully fledged high commission in New-Zealand’s capital, Wellington, by next year, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Monday. Dlamini-Zuma met her visiting New Zealand counterpart, Winston Peters, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday.
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/ 18 February 2008
The arrest of a Durban cemetery supervisor has led to the discovery that many of the city’s municipal supervisors are making extra money on the side.
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/ 18 February 2008
Akasia High School in Pretoria had a normal school day on Monday following last week’s double stabbing, the school’s headmaster said. Headmaster Frik van Wyk said pupils were back in class at about 9.30am after he had spoken to angry parents about the incident and assured them of their children’s safety.
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/ 18 February 2008
A statue of King Shaka Zulu ka Senzangakhona to be built north of Durban will be ”very high” but not 106m tall, the KwaZulu-Natal premier’s office said on Monday. Logan Maistry, spokesperson for Premier S’bu Ndebele, said the exact height and cost of the statue cannot be determined until architects complete the design.
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/ 18 February 2008
Johannesburg twins Dora Uys and Ethel Nembula will be among the world’s oldest twins when they turn 100 on Wednesday. Dora’s daughter Joyce Uys said about 150 family members will be gathering in Riverlea next weekend to celebrate the twins’ birthday, and a church service will be held in their honour on Wednesday.