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/ 14 February 2008
Ajax Cape Town maintained their position at the top of the Premier Soccer League standings with a well-deserved 3-1 win over Bloemfontein Celtic at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night. The opening minutes of the game were scrappy as neither team were able to stamp their authority on the match.
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/ 14 February 2008
The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has condemned the conduct of the Durban metro police in arresting and detaining a Sowetan reporter, Mhlaba Memela, while covering an incident in Durban’s central business district on Wednesday night.
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/ 14 February 2008
African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma was in Mauritius on Wednesday in connection with the corruption case he faces. Zuma’s lawyer, Michael Hulley, confirmed by telephone from the Indian Ocean island that his client was meeting with legal representatives about documents that allegedly contain proof of bribes being solicited.
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/ 13 February 2008
Three forms of technical evidence submitted to the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday fingered some of the accused in the Jeppestown ”massacre”. Two of them were linked through fingerprints to cars parked at the scene of the crime. DNA samples from clothes were linked to the blood of another accused.
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/ 13 February 2008
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Judge President Vuka Tshabalala said on Wednesday that he had returned all the shares in Absa Bank worth millions of rands, which were given to him by a consortium headed by businessman Tokyo Sexwale. ”I have returned the shares. That’s the end of the matter,” said Tshabalala.
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/ 13 February 2008
At least 830 of KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) law-enforcement officers are under investigation for a host of crimes ranging from assault through to rape and murder, figures released by the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) revealed on Wednesday.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Greater Kliptown Development Project is well on track, the Gauteng department of housing said on Wednesday. ”The project has, however, not been without challenges. ”During the implementation, the project experienced delays brought about by the density of the informal settlement and the slow delivery by previous contractors,” the department said.
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/ 13 February 2008
The pledge the government intends having all schoolchildren recite during morning assembly is a good start, but more is needed to instil values in children, experts said on Wednesday. The proposed pledge was unveiled by Education Minister Naledi Pandor on Tuesday.
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/ 13 February 2008
Five independent brokers have been identified as allegedly using personal client information to submit unauthorised policy applications to Liberty Life, the financial-services group said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Mandy Denton said Liberty Life had sent one forensic investigator to KwaZulu-Natal to assist police with investigations.
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/ 13 February 2008
Investigations into more than 500 000 social-welfare grants in KwaZulu-Natal have saved the taxpayer close to R520-million that would have been lost to corruption, KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele said on Wednesday, delivering his State of the Province address in Pietermaritzburg.
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/ 13 February 2008
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) met the South African Liquor Traders’ Association (Salta) in Johannesburg on Wednesday to discuss a proposed liquor ban on Sundays. The league proposed to ban Sunday liquor sales after its annual national executive committee’s lekgotla (meeting) two weeks ago.
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/ 13 February 2008
Security guard Richard Engelbrecht, who on Wednesday pleaded guilty in the Cape High Court to the rape and murder of Cape Flats schoolgirl Annestacia Wiese, alleges that police threatened him with harm if he did not confess to a magistrate. Although he has pleaded guilty, the judge has not yet pronounced him guilty.
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/ 13 February 2008
The management of Port Elizabeth’s Jose Pearson Tuberculosis (TB) Hospital has taken steps to crack down on dagga smoking by patients with drug-resistant strains of TB. Some patients with extensively or multidrug-resistant TB being held in isolation have been using their cellphones to order the drug.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday urged President Thabo Mbeki to disband the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry into suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli in view of ”disturbing new evidence”.
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/ 13 February 2008
South Africa’s consumers will continue to fuel economic growth as their incomes increase, a government minister said on Wednesday. Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa told Parliament on Wednesday the economy had gone through structural changes and consumer spending will be resilient.
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/ 13 February 2008
The African National Congress (ANC) has rejected the call made on Tuesday by the Democratic Alliance for Parliament to be dissolved and new elections held, as well as the call made by the Independent Democrats for the government to resign. A statement issued by the ANC on Wednesday said: ”We believe that such calls have no merit.”
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/ 13 February 2008
Workers at one of the stadiums due to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup have downed tools in the latest pay strike to threaten tight construction deadlines, their union said Wednesday. Work on the Mbombela Stadium outside Nelspruit has been frozen since Monday lunchtime, George Ledwaba of the National Union of Mineworkers said.
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/ 13 February 2008
Attempts to reach an out-of-court settlement between a KwaZulu-Natal ferromanganese factory and its workers over compensation for manganese poisoning foundered on Wednesday. The workers’ trade union and attorney accused the company, Assmang, of negotiating in bad faith.
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/ 13 February 2008
The KwaZulu-Natal doctor who faces a disciplinary hearing for giving dual-therapy drugs to babies at risk of HIV infection should be hailed as a hero, a doctors’ organisation said on Wednesday. ”To discipline him for doing his ethical duty is disgraceful,” the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society said in a statement.
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/ 13 February 2008
Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson will replace Paul Harris in the South African squad to tour Bangladesh, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said on Wednesday. A CSA statement said Harris would miss the tour because of an abscess that required surgery. ”Robbie has shown excellent form in the SuperSport Series,” selection chief Joubert Strydom said in the statement.
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/ 13 February 2008
At least 284 schools in the greater Durban region owe the eThekwini Water Department over R5-million for unpaid water and electricity. eThekwini water and sanitation head, Neil Macleod, said none of the schools in question had their water or electricity supply disconnected because of the arrears.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Department of Home Affairs expects to introduce the proposed new smart-card identity document (ID) to the general public within two years, it said on Wednesday. The card will replace the old ID, which is prone to fraud. The new ID will be much more difficult to forge.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Presidency said on Wednesday that it would have to consult President Thabo Mbeki before commenting on a report quoting former ambassador to France Barbara Masekela. In the report, Masekela is quoted as saying she had arranged a meeting between Mbeki and an arms company that is the co-accused in Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial.
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/ 13 February 2008
A forensic expert told the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday that some of the accused in the Jeppestown massacre trial — who tested positive for gunshot primer residue — either discharged a firearm or were within two metres from where it had been discharged.
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/ 13 February 2008
Steve Goodwin, the man who has been described as the real founder of Fidentia, has been named repeatedly in a draft indictment against J Arthur Brown. The 38-page document was handed over by prosecutors this week when Brown and the suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, Piet Bothma, appeared briefly in court.
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/ 13 February 2008
The MD of Standard and Poor’s (S&P) South Africa, Konrad Reuss, said on Wednesday that some of the recent pessimism in South Africa is completely overdone and that he does not feel the country is going to dip into a recession. South Africa currently has a "stable" foreign-currency rating by S&P.
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/ 13 February 2008
A resolution to open up the arms deal to further discussion was shot down by the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday. Democratic Alliance MP Eddie Trent, who brought the proposal, finally withdrew it and agreed to the suggestion that the committee merely look into what progress has been made in implementing Scopa’s recommendations.
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/ 13 February 2008
The railway police have arrested 7 487 people during the last 10 weeks, the National Rail-Crime Combating Forum said in a statement on Wednesday. ”The presence of policemen and policewomen within the rail environment is certainly having a huge impact on crime prevention as well as the safety of commuters,” the forum said.
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/ 13 February 2008
South African stocks were slightly lower at midday on Wednesday as heavily weighted miners continue to falter on falling metal prices, while other investors refrained from making any large moves ahead of Wall Street opening. At midday, the broader all-share index had was off 0,18% at 28 533,810.
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/ 13 February 2008
Top seed Ivan Ljubicic had to survive a second-set scare before putting away qualifier Lamine Ouahab of Algeria in the first round of the SAA Tennis Open at Selborne Park on Tuesday. After one hour and 40 minutes, the Croatian finally won through 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and set up a second round encounter against Laurent Recourderc of France.
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/ 13 February 2008
Pupils at the Trinity House Preparatory School will remember their slain classmate Emily Williams (12) with a memorial service in the school hall on Monday. Williams died when she was hit by a bullet fired in a stand-off between robbers and security guards at a house in Kessel Street, Fairlands, on Tuesday morning.
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/ 13 February 2008
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday declared he would work with anyone who opposed the dictatorship of President Robert Mugabe while denouncing former ruling party presidential candidate Simba Makoni as tainted goods.