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/ 18 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s national budget on Wednesday should "turn talk into action", the Independent Democrats (ID) said on Monday. "Our economy is faced with a number of constraints, from the looming threat of a global recession … to the domestic energy crisis," ID spokesperson Schalk Lubbe said.
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/ 18 February 2008
Saving electricity and promoting energy efficiency must be a top priority in 2008, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said in his State of the Province address on Monday. "The future was rosy on December 31 2007, but suddenly everyone is buying candles and researching property in Perth," Shilowa said in Johannesburg. He also discussed transport improvements planned for 2008.
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/ 18 February 2008
The South African government is still deciding whether to recognise Kosovo as an independent country, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Monday. It is expected that the decision would have to be taken soon as it would again be discussed by the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday afternoon.
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/ 18 February 2008
The Fifa local organising committee (LOC) on Monday rubbished claims of divisions within the local 2010 organising body on Monday. LOC chairperson Irvin Khoza said the focus should be on the 2010 project and not his relationship with committee CEO Danny Jordaan.
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/ 18 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel should make good on expectations of a higher age limit for the child support grant, the Black Sash said on Monday. Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya told a media briefing last week that the grant would be extended to the age of 18 and the means test recalculated.
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/ 18 February 2008
The chance of a free and fair election in Zimbabwe is ”good” if all the agreements reached as part of the political facilitation process are implemented, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Monday. Zimbabwe is due to hold joint parliamentary and presidential elections on March 29.
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/ 18 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s national budget speech on Wednesday is even more keenly anticipated this year in view of the electricity crisis and its anticipated negative effects on the economy, and Democratic Alliance spokesperson Kobus Marais has urged Manuel to tackle the crisis head-on.
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/ 18 February 2008
The Health Professions Council of South Africa said on Sunday it was putting up its annual fees because of increased administrative costs. ”The figures we reached are not grotesque and council will continue looking at better models of financing its business so as to alleviate the burden on practitioners,” said Council Registrar Boyce Mkhize.
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/ 18 February 2008
South African construction and engineering firm Group Five boosted half-year headline earnings per share by 41%, and predicted more growth as it benefits from a construction boom. The company said headline EPS from continuing operations rose to R1,74 from R1,23 in the six months to end December.
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/ 18 February 2008
The acting head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Mokotedi Mpshe, on Monday said he was puzzled by statements saying the Scorpions are to be ”disbanded” on the one hand, and ”dissolved” on the other, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
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/ 18 February 2008
The public should attend the presentation of the National Prosecuting Authority’s annual report to Parliament this week to show their sense of betrayal at the dissolution of the Scorpions, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) said on Sunday.
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/ 18 February 2008
South African stocks were sharply higher at midday on Monday led by banks ahead of Absa’s year-end earnings, while stronger overseas markets and firm metal prices spurred broad-based gains, traders said. By noon, the broader all-share index had gained 1,27% to 28 867,61, lifted mainly by a 2,36% gain in banks.
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/ 18 February 2008
After Kaizer Chiefs lost 1-0 to Thanda Royal Zulu on Wednesday evening their chairperson Kaizer Motaung voiced his displeasure on the club’s website. ”Clearly the technical team has become more defensive by playing a lone striker system that also has no supplier or some innovation in penetration,” Motaung said.
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/ 18 February 2008
The Democratic Alliance (DA) was making a mockery of Parliament, the African National Congress charged on Sunday. This, after public protector Lawrence Mushwana recommended Parliamentary action against DA MP Mike Waters. Waters complained last year that President Thabo Mbeki had abused his office by demanding that Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang get priority on a organ-transplant list.
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/ 18 February 2008
The bookmakers may well have shut up shop and refused to take bets on a goalless draw for the Premier League game between bottom-of-the-log Jomo Cosmos and struggling Kaizer Chiefs at Orkney’s Oppenheimer Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
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/ 17 February 2008
Jacob Zuma, president of the African National Congress (ANC), husband to two wives, is planning to take a third, a media report said on Sunday. Zuma (65) married 33-year-old Nompumelelo Ntuli, the mother of two of his children, in early January.
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/ 17 February 2008
It was described as the show that couldn’t close, but on Sunday the curtain will finally come down on the <i>Lion King</i>, by far and away South Africa’s most popular stage production. This internationally acclaimed musical entered the South African theatre scene in June last year, and its stay has been extended three times.
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/ 17 February 2008
A draft loyalty pledge has plunged South Africa into a new identity crisis as it mulls its common values 14 years after discarding apartheid to forge a united society under a single flag. As the motley rainbow nation quibbles over a government proposal to introduce a pledge of allegiance in schools, some ideological battle lines are being redrawn.
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/ 17 February 2008
Infighting and mistrust are tearing the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) apart, a media report said on Sunday. Key players in the LOC — tasked with organising Africa’s first Fifa Soccer World Cup — were barely talking to each other, while chief executive Danny Jordaan has been labelled a ”control freak”.
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/ 16 February 2008
Replacement flyhalf Earl Rose landed two late kicks to earn the Lions a 23-22 win at the Cheetahs in the Super 14 on Saturday. The Lions were outscored by three tries to two in a tense South African derby where the lead changed hands five times. The Cheetahs were on target in the second minute when right wing Eddie Fredericks ended a sweeping move by diving over in the corner.
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/ 16 February 2008
World player of the year Bryan Habana scored the only try of the match as the Bulls began the defence of their Super 14 title with a hard-fought 16-9 victory over the Stormers on Saturday. Habana scored his 25th try in 40 matches in the competition when he dived over on the left hand side four minutes before halftime.
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/ 16 February 2008
In what might be described as circus soccer, with the goalkeepers in the role of trapeze artists taking a couple of tumbles, Golden Arrows and Free State Stars drew 2-2 in a Premier League game that contained some impressive skills and many laughable errors.
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/ 16 February 2008
Ajax came from behind to beat 10-man Black Leopards in scorching heat at the Thoyandou Stadium in their Absa Premiership encounter on Saturday afternoon. The home team led 1-0 at the break. Both played their hearts out from start to finish, but Greg Rosslee’s Cape Town team looked hungrier than Bobby Solomon’s players.
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/ 16 February 2008
Cricket South Africa (CSA) President Norman Arendse and chief executive Gerald Majola officially buried the hatchet on Friday, after a week of turmoil in South African cricket. The two men issued a joint statement in which, among other things, they apologised to the people of South Africa for the row.
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/ 16 February 2008
Johannesburg motorists had been using roads as a ”speeding track” since traffic law enforcement authorities in parts of Gauteng were barred from using speed cameras on some of the busiest roads in the city. The cameras were switched off until further notice, after traffic authorities failed to submit applications requesting permission from the National Prosecuting Authority.
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/ 16 February 2008
Acting National Prosecution Authority boss Moketedi Mpshe has defended President Thabo Mbeki against suggestions that he lied about not being informed about the probe on police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.
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/ 16 February 2008
A 106m statue of King Shaka Zulu ka Senzangakhona will be built on the banks of the Thukela River north of Durban, media reports said on Saturday. The statue would cost about R200-million to build and was expected to be 13m higher than the Statue of Liberty in New York. A feasibility study estimated that the statue would attract 4 000 visitors a day.
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/ 16 February 2008
The Magistrate’s Commission should institute an investigation into the conduct of a magistrate who handled the case against immigrants arrested during a raid at the Central Methodist Church in the inner city, the Johannesburg High Court ruled on Friday.
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/ 15 February 2008
Stefan Terblanche scored the try that sealed the Sharks’ 17-10 win over the Western Force in their Super 14 match in Durban on Friday. Fullback Terblanche, who was not in the 22 named for the match, was called into the team when French flyhalf Frederic Michalak withdrew with a calf injury.
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/ 15 February 2008
Award-winning South African actress Ashley Callie (32) died on Friday. ”It is with sincere regret that the Callie Family confirms that earlier today Ashley passed away as a result of the head injuries she sustained in a car accident,” her family said in a statement. ”Ashley continues to live on in our hearts and minds.”
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/ 15 February 2008
Author Jonny Steinberg’s <i>Three-Letter Plague</i> has attracted serious critical and retail attention in the US, writes Charlotte Bauer.
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/ 15 February 2008
Vosloorus’s monthly gig is gaining momentum, writes Kwanele Sosibo.