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/ 18 February 2008

Health professionals increase fees

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

Group Five H1 headline EPS up 41%

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

JSE stays firmer led by banks

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

ANC says DA is making a ‘mockery of Parliament’

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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/ 17 February 2008

Zuma plans to wed again

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

Curtain comes down on Lion King

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

SA battles national identity crisis

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

2010 committee riven by mistrust

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

Rose kicks Lions to narrow win over Cheetahs

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

Habana provides spark for Bulls win

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

Ajax cement position at top of the log

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

Metro cops complain about speeding drivers

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

R200m statue of King Shaka for KwaZulu-Natal

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

Arendse, Majola bury the hatchet

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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/ 15 February 2008

Terblanche scores key try for Sharks

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

Isidingo actress Ashley Callie dies

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

Zille plans another march against drug lords

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille, the mayor of Cape Town, is once again going to challenge the authorities by marching against gangsterism and drugs in a community where the drug lords are thriving. She announced that on Sunday she would conduct a march through the streets of Macassar in the east of the city, near Somerset West.

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/ 15 February 2008

Mourners pay last respects to slain schoolgirl

South Africans ought to be angry at the violent and senseless loss of precious lives affecting the country, Father Owen Franklin told mourners at the funeral of slain schoolgirl Emily Williams on Friday. The 12-year-old was killed by a bullet fired in a stand-off between robbers and security guards at a house in Fairlands, Johannesburg, on Tuesday morning.

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/ 15 February 2008

Concern over media bias in Zimbabwe

With only weeks to go before the Zimbabwean elections, there has been no let-up in the slanted coverage of the campaign by the country’s public broadcaster, according to the independent Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe. It said that it noted with concern that the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation showed no sign of observing Zimbabwean law.

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/ 15 February 2008

Mbeki on tightrope as left’s influence rises

South Africa’s left is riding high as the government prepares to unveil a budget that is expected to raise spending on social programmes and shift policy more towards fighting unemployment and poverty. Powerful trade unions and the South African Communist Party have recently seen their influence within the ruling African National Congress rise.