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/ 7 February 2008
The Soul Brothers’ lead singer was arrested at his home in Mofolo Park, Soweto, for assaulting his wife, police said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Inspector Kay Makhubele said police had been looking for David Masondo (58) since February 2. ”A case was opened and a protection order was sought against him by his wife, Nomsa,” he said.
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/ 7 February 2008
The British high commission has confirmed that it is conducting a global review of its visit visa requirements. High commissioner Paul Boateng said on Wednesday that Britain is in regular contact with the South African government regarding the process and that no decision has been taken.
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/ 7 February 2008
Three South Africans who had initially stayed in their homes in Ndjamena, Chad, arrived at a local French school on Wednesday and were ready for evacuation, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. ”They will be transported to the French military for evacuation,” said departmental spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
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/ 7 February 2008
Diamond giant De Beers spends $100-million a year on exploration activities in the regions where the company expects to have the most impact, and has invested more than this in the past few years to establish a greater presence and activity rate in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, its group MD said on Wednesday.
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/ 7 February 2008
Due to the country’s power supply crisis, AngloGold Ashanti expected a reduction of approximately 400Â 000 ounces of gold in 2008. Diamond, gold and platinum mines in South Africa shut down production for just under a week in late January because of safety considerations.
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/ 6 February 2008
All traffic lights at the 788 controlled intersections in Pretoria are to be retrofitted with light-emitting diodes and later backed up to solar power, the Tshwane metropolitan council said on Wednesday. This followed meetings between mayor Gwen Ramokgopa and big business outlining the council’s plans to deal with the electricity crisis.
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/ 6 February 2008
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor on Wednesday condemned the recent student protests that have led to the closure of the Durban University of Technology. ”It is entirely unacceptable that a democratic right to protest is being perverted in this way,” Pandor said in a statement.
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/ 6 February 2008
The Kliptown Concerned Residents group on Wednesday took the media on a tour of the area to highlight the damage caused by recent heavy rains. Organiser Sipho Jantjie said the settlement in Kliptown had no electricity and used the bucket system. As the media walked around the settlement, raw sewage was seen flowing out of a manhole.
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/ 6 February 2008
The Chevron Refinery in Cape Town is set to resume production of liquid petroleum gas, bunker gas oil (ship’s fuel) and jet fuel from Thursday evening. ”These products will again be available for sale by the end of the week,” the refinery said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
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/ 6 February 2008
An interim report on crime-related violence is expected to be handed to the government before the end of the year, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Wednesday. He was speaking after the signing of a bilateral agreement on policing between South Africa and The Netherlands.
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/ 6 February 2008
Many Zimbabwean refugees seek shelter at the Central Methodist church in Johannesburg’s CBD, sleeping on stairs and in passageways in the only place they can find free accommodation. Up to 1 500 refugees living on the church premises were arrested in a late-night raid last week to round up illegal immigrants.
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/ 6 February 2008
Pandemonium broke out in the Cape High Court on Wednesday after Judge Deon van Zyl granted an order for the eviction of people illegally occupying houses still under construction in Delft on the Cape Flats. The homes are intended for residents at the Joe Slovo informal settlement, who are to be relocated to Delft.
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/ 6 February 2008
Over half of South Africa’s public dams, including the biggest — the 5,3-billion cubic metre Gariep Dam — do not fully comply with modern-day safety standards, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Wednesday. ”As at October [last year], 160 of the 294 dams do not comply with current dam safety standards,” the department said.
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/ 6 February 2008
Growth in house prices in the middle segment of the market slowed to a nominal 9,1% in January 2008 — the lowest price growth since December 1999, when it was 9,3%, Absa said on Wednesday. Nominal price growth of 10,6% year-on-year was recorded in December last year.
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/ 6 February 2008
Support widened on Wednesday for the African National Congress Youth League’s call for a ban on the sale of alcohol on Sundays as part of the fight against drug and substance abuse among youths. Both the African Christian Democratic Party and the Young Communist League said the idea should be given serious thought.
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/ 6 February 2008
A report by the South African Institute for Race Relations, which said South African schools were the most dangerous in the world, is ”media hype”, the Department of Education said on Wednesday. The report ”is evidence that this once-credible institution has fallen prey to a political agenda”, said department Director General Duncan Hindle.
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/ 6 February 2008
About 300 police reservists handed over a memorandum of grievances to the Presidency in Pretoria on Wednesday. The two-page memorandum called for the ”immediate and unconditional” integration of 8 000 reservists into the South African Police Service (SAPS). It also called for the remuneration of reservists.
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/ 6 February 2008
South Africa’s preparation for the World Cross-Country Championships enters a crucial stage when some of the country’s leading athletes compete at the 34th Janmeda International Cross-Country Championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday. ”This race is a brilliant test run,” said Boy Soke, who hails from the Free State.
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/ 6 February 2008
Swimming South Africa announced on Wednesday a full-strength line up for the Fina World Short-Course Championships in Manchester, United Kingdom, from April 9 to 13. President Jace Naidoo and national coach Dirk Lange said it is the strongest South African short-course squad selected to date.
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/ 6 February 2008
Child rights organisations on Wednesday intensified calls for Parliament to increase the age at which a child can be held responsible for criminal conduct to 12, saying the current cut-off age of 10 proposed in the Child Justice Bill is too low. The organisations were briefing the National Assembly’s justice committee.
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/ 6 February 2008
There is a ”very real” risk that South Africa could face an economic recession as a result of the current electricity crisis, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said on Wednesday. ”We have already been going through an economic slowdown; this [the electricity crisis] could push us into a recession,” Sacci economist Richard Downing said.
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/ 6 February 2008
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday lauded the decision by the chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), Themba Godi, to place the DA’s request for Scopa to reopen the arms-deal probe on the agenda.
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/ 6 February 2008
Any move by Britain to impose visa requirements on South Africans will have a serious effect on business and travel links between the two countries, the Democratic Alliance (DA) warned. British legislators were now examining evidence that might lead to such a visa requirement, the DA’s Tony Leon said.
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/ 6 February 2008
A Belgian tourist was robbed on Table Mountain by two men armed with knives, Cape Town police said on Wednesday. Captain Randall Stoffels said the men robbed the 56-year-old hiker of his camera, cellphone and an undisclosed amount of cash. The tourist was ascending Table Mountain through Skeleton Gorge when he was attacked.
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/ 6 February 2008
Ekurhuleni metro police head Robert McBride was awarded R200 000 of the R3,6-million damages claim he lodged against the Citizen in the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday. The case concerned mainly editorial comment by acting editor Martin Williams and opinion in a column by freelancer Andrew Kenny in September and October 2003.
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/ 6 February 2008
Results of the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence for the first half of 2008 show that consumer confidence in South Africa remains optimistic, despite a minor decrease from last year. Out of a possible score of 100, the South African index score decreased from 86,5 for the first half of 2007 to 83,7, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
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/ 6 February 2008
The power-supply crisis and looming fresh-water shortage are early warning signs that South Africa needs to curb use of natural resources, global wildlife fund WWF said on Wednesday. ”South Africa has a narrowing time window in which to act decisively to prevent critical resource shortages,” said South African WWF chief executive Dr Morné du Plessis.
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/ 6 February 2008
The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) Business Confidence Index (BCI) dropped even further in January to 93,8 after measuring 94,8 in December 2007. SACCI said that apart from a single instance in April 2007 when the BCI flared up to 101,9, the index had been in a declining trend throughout 2007.
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/ 6 February 2008
The new leader of the African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, will be one of the principal dignitaries at the opening of Parliament on Friday, when his predecessor Thabo Mbeki will be making what could be his last speech on the state of the nation.
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/ 6 February 2008
A matriculant who earned eight distinctions last year may have lost the use of her legs after an armed robber ”emptied his gun on her”, a media report said on Wednesday. Razelle Botha (18), was at her home in Moreletta Park at 9.45pm on Monday night when the robber shot her in the arm, chest, stomach, lung and spine.
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/ 6 February 2008
The Chevron Refinery said it will not be able to supply consumers with liquefied petroleum gas from Wednesday. Chevron Refinery’s public affairs manager, Phumi Nhlapo, said on Tuesday night that it had sufficient diesel and petrol stocks but could not resume production because it did not have a stable power supply.
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/ 5 February 2008
Minerals and Energy Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica on Tuesday denied advising South Africans to go to bed early as a means of conserving electricity. ”That speech didn’t say ‘Go to bed, go to bed, go to bed’,” she said at a media briefing at the launch of the department’s national energy efficiency campaign.