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/ 20 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s national budget charts a pragmatic course that offers hope for better times ahead, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on Wednesday. The budget has a definite business-friendly undertone, Citadel chief investment officer Jan van Niekerk said.
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/ 20 February 2008
Crime-hit hospitals in Gauteng should have security as soon as March, provincial health minister Brian Hlongwa announced on Wednesday during a Gauteng legislature social-cluster briefing outlining priorities in the coming year. Hlongwa also said Gautengers could have their medical histories recorded on smart cards soon.
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/ 20 February 2008
A Pietermaritzburg gangster was given two life sentences in the town’s magistrate’s court on Wednesday for taking part in a R20 000 armed robbery in which two men were shot and killed. The men — vintner De Wet Joubert (64) and gang member Sandile Jili — were shot in a busy Pietermaritzburg shopping mall in April 2004.
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/ 20 February 2008
As a Durban woman was discharged from hospital on Wednesday, members of her family spoke of their fears of being ”finished off” in a grudge war between two former friends. The feud has claimed several lives in the past four years. On Tuesday, Leanne Armugam (30) and her cousin Donovan Pillay (26) were shot in Durban’s Hillary suburb.
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/ 20 February 2008
The Sol Plaatje municipality has urged Kimberley motorists to avoid the road running next to one of its biggest tourism attractions, the Big Hole, for fears of a cave-in. The tourist attraction was dug by thousands of diamond prospectors by hand, starting in 1871 and ending in 1914.
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/ 20 February 2008
Overwhelmingly positive or mediocre? Economists on Wednesday had a variety of impressions to share of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s national budget, tabled in Parliament earlier in the day. Colen Garrow, economist at Brait, said: "There was nothing in it for the embattled consumer."
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/ 20 February 2008
Charges were withdrawn against 43 University of Johannesburg students who appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for public violence during protests last year. The students were arrested following protests against an increase in tuition fees.
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/ 20 February 2008
Keeping prices down had to remain the key objective of monetary policy, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said in his budget speech on Wednesday. ”A policy stance that accommodates higher inflation cannot be consistent with a government that is intent on reducing poverty,” he said.
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/ 20 February 2008
The Soccer City Stadium is 50% complete and will be finished in May next year, five months ahead of the Fifa deadline, Gauteng Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation minister Barbara Creecy said on Wednesday. An independent state of readiness audit had shown that the province was ”firmly on track” to meet its commitments for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
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/ 20 February 2008
Springbok rugby captain John Smit will remain at the helm of the side until the end of the year, coach Peter de Villiers announced on Wednesday, as political mudslinging continued with the Freedom Front Plus condemning the reaction of African National Congress MPs to former Springbok captains calling for an end to political interference in the sport.
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/ 20 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel played his cards close to his chest on Wednesday when questioned about his future during a media conference before his delivery of the national budget in Parliament. "I have said in the past that I serve. I can’t say what will happen," he said.
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/ 20 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, while delivering his national budget speech in Parliament on Wednesday, made a point of replying to a number of South Africans who had sent budgetary suggestions to him under the "Tips for Trevor" programme.
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/ 20 February 2008
Landowners who opt to preserve habitats and biodiversity on their land are set to receive an income-tax deduction for their efforts, according to the Budget Review tabled by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, 726 trees, almost 37 tonnes of paper, were used for the paperwork and the documents of the national budget.
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/ 20 February 2008
DRDGold has denied claims made by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) that intolerant racist behaviour was being practised at the company’s Blyvooruitzicht mine. In a statement released by Cosatu on Tuesday, the union federation alleged that Blyvooruitzicht mine management practised racism towards employees.
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/ 20 February 2008
An early-warning system is to be implemented in 240 Gauteng schools to prevent ”senseless” violence, provincial education minister Angie Motshekga announced on Wednesday at a briefing outlining the social cluster of the Gauteng legislature’s priorities for the year.
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/ 20 February 2008
Over R10-billion will be spent on strengthening the police force and judiciary over the next three years, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said in his budget speech on Wednesday. There would be more than 200Â 000 police officers by the end of March 2011, up 22% from the 163Â 000 police officers in 2006/07.
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/ 20 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that recent political developments within the African National Congress (ANC) made the drafting of the 2008 budget difficult. "I never had any concerns on whether there will be difficulties in these areas," he said.
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/ 20 February 2008
South Africa’s current account increased to 7,2% of gross domestic product in 2007 and will rise to 8% by 2010, as imports soar and export growth remains sluggish, the Treasury said on Wednesday. The Treasury said the current account had shifted from a surplus of R10-billion in 2002 to a deficit of R143-billion in 2007.
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/ 20 February 2008
The age limit for the child-support grant will be raised by one year to include 14-year-olds as from January next year, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced on Wednesday. He also said the qualifying age for men for the state old-age pension would be reduced from 65 to 63 this year, to 61 in 2009, and 60 by 2010.
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/ 20 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s 2008/09 national budget tabled in Parliament on Wednesday brings tax relief, reduced corporate taxes, financial support for Eskom’s programme to build power stations, a new electricity levy, more social spending and a boost for job creation.
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/ 20 February 2008
The government will fund embattled electricity producer Eskom to the tune of R60-billion over the next five years, according to national budget documents tabled by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday. At the same time, it will introduce a levy in a bid to get consumers to save electricity.
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/ 20 February 2008
Despite global economic turmoil, South Africa’s economy remains robust and the longer-term outlook favourable, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. "It is time for neither gloom nor panic," he said in his 2008/09 budget speech to the National Assembly.
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/ 20 February 2008
African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), South Africa’s second-largest black-owned mining group, said first-half earnings rose 34% as it enjoyed booming commodity prices and achieved record output. ARM said headline earnings per share climbed to 353 cents in the latter half of 2007.
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/ 20 February 2008
Eskom is not as concerned about the domestic availability of sufficient coal as it is with the speed at which it could be mined, <i>Business Day</i> reported on Wednesday. The national power utility is also worried about logistical problems in transporting the coal to power stations.
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/ 20 February 2008
The first microbicide to reach the final phase of testing has failed to prevent HIV transmission, researchers announced this week.
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/ 20 February 2008
Former Absa CEO and chairperson Dr Danie Cronje has been appointed as the independent non-executive chairperson of Sappi, the global pulp and paper group announced on Wednesday. He succeeds Eugene van As, whose impending retirement as chairperson and from the board was announced earlier.
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/ 20 February 2008
Classes were still suspended at three Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) campuses on Wednesday amid meetings to resolve matters, said a university spokesperson. The university suspended all lectures on all three campuses on Tuesday following ongoing violent protests over fee hikes and academic exclusion.
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/ 20 February 2008
The JSE recovered some of its earlier losses by midday on Wednesday, as gold and resource stocks started to lift the market despite the negative global sentiment. Higher oil prices overnight spurred inflation worries among world markets, after oil closed above $100, prompting a global sell off in equities.
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/ 20 February 2008
The Western Cape anti-eviction campaign said about 1 000 people were occupying Delft’s Symphony Road on Wednesday and would remain there until their appeal for housing was lodged in the Supreme Court, hopefully later in the day.
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/ 20 February 2008
Port Elizabeth’s wandering baboon spotted at Fort Frederick last week is still roaming around the city’s suburbs, a media report said on Wednesday. Wildlife rescue specialist Mark Marshall said the frightened animal was now probably holed up on the Port Elizabeth golf course.
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/ 20 February 2008
An armed robber was convicted on Tuesday of the murders of a fellow gang member and a businessman who shot each other during a R20 000 robbery in Pietermaritzburg. Judge Ron McLaren convicted Cato Ridge gangster John Ndawonde (35) — who pleaded guilty to the aggravated robbery of well-known vintner De Wet Joubert (64).
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/ 20 February 2008
A group of Nobel laureates called on Wednesday for an arms embargo against Burma, dismissing elections planned for 2010 as flawed if pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from standing. Seven laureates, including Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said the junta should face sanctions for its crackdown on Buddhist monks.