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/ 25 January 2008
Nosimilo Ndlovu speaks to three young men who are passionate about filmmaking.
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/ 25 January 2008
The Nigerian method of low-budget movie-making is set to take off in South Africa if an upcoming producer has his way, writes Percy Zvomuya.
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/ 25 January 2008
If local filmmakers can take advantage of incentives, there are some exciting projects lined up this year, wites Andrew Worsdale.
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/ 25 January 2008
South Africa has plenty of energy available. The problem is, we don’t have enough power. Some of the country’s biggest businesses have been queuing up to sell power to Eskom. The potential power on the table — all 5 000MW of it — is almost equivalent to two Koeberg-sized nuclear power stations.
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/ 24 January 2008
Thieving staff members caused losses worth R2,5-million in the Western Cape provincial administration in the last 12 months, the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court heard on Thursday. The deputy director in the administration’s Forensic Investigation Unit, Rajendra Naidoo, testified at the trial of a former staff member, Melanie Otto.
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/ 24 January 2008
Veteran bowler Shaun Pollock, who announced his retirement from international cricket earlier this month, will be playing his 300th one-day international (ODI) when he takes the field in the second MTN ODI against the West Indies at Newlands on Friday night.
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/ 24 January 2008
President Thabo Mbeki congratulated the country’s top matric students of 2007 — 18 pupils from the nine provinces — at the presidential guest house in Pretoria on Thursday. The pupils had received scholarships through the Thabo Mbeki Matric Merit Awards programme, which is administered by the Thabo Mbeki Education Trust.
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/ 24 January 2008
Water restrictions could be next in line for Free State businesses and residents if scheduled power cuts increase, Bloemfontein businessmen heard on Thursday. Chief executive of BloemWater, Nolene Morris, said the water supplier was completely dependent on Eskom or Centlec, the local bulk electricity supplier.
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/ 24 January 2008
HIV/Aids prevalence in the private security industry is at 15,9% and in the legal services industry it is at 13,8%, a study compiled by the Human Sciences Research Council has shown. Research was carried out among 2Â 787 participants from private security services in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
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/ 24 January 2008
About 600 mourners, officials, politicians and family members gathered at a memorial service held for the victims of the Skielik shootings just outside Swartruggens on Thursday afternoon. School principal Cherian Kocheapen said: ”Our learners cried after this incident. People are afraid of the place [Skielik] and the situation.”
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/ 24 January 2008
Two welders were critically injured when the tank in which they were working exploded in Pietermaritzburg, paramedics said. Netcare 911 said two men were taken to the city’s St Anne’s Hospital. Police spokesperson Inspector Joey Jeevan confirmed the explosion but could not immediately provide any details.
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/ 24 January 2008
Why, in God’s name, do the Scorpions need to be dissolved into the South African Police Service?
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/ 24 January 2008
Zambia’s Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the deportation of a British writer who described President Levy Mwanawasa as a ”fool”, saying the punishment sought was ”disproportionate” to the offence. The full Bench of the court said Roy Clarke should be allowed to stay in Zambia.
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/ 24 January 2008
African National Congress (ANC) parliamentary Chief Whip Isaac Mogase was on Wednesday removed from his position by the party’s new leadership. Briefing reporters after the party’s caucus met at Parliament, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said Mogase would be replaced by ANC MP Nathi Mthethwa.
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/ 24 January 2008
The government is expected to outline its plans to deal with the country’s electricity crisis on Friday. Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica and Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin have called a media briefing for Friday on ”plans for electricity generation in South Africa”.
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/ 24 January 2008
South Africa will have a second opportunity this year to head the United Nations Security Council, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. South Africa, a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council, will take over the presidency of the UN-decision making body in April again.
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/ 24 January 2008
A multi-disciplinary team of international counter-terrorism experts will visit South Africa later this year, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. The United Nations Security Council’s counter-terrorism executive directorate will assess South Africa’s counter-terrorism efforts during a visit this year.
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/ 24 January 2008
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has nudged the public protector, Lawrence Mushwana, in an attempt to get a response to their request that he reopen his investigation into the Oilgate scandal. DA spokesperson Motlatjo Thetjeng said it was now nine months since the DA first wrote to Mushwana about the matter.
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/ 24 January 2008
The attorney of murder accused Johan Nel is to apply for his client to be sent for a psychiatric evaluation. Frikkie Pretorius told reporters on Thursday that at his client’s next court appearance on February 12 he would apply for Nel to be sent to Weskoppies for psychiatric and mental evaluation.
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/ 24 January 2008
Bargain hunting among global equity markets underpinned a solid performance on the JSE on Thursday, lifting it by 3,3% at noon. By the same time, resources had collected 4,74%, the platinum-mining index advanced 5,1% and the gold-mining index added 1,51%. Industrials perked up 2,25%, financials gained 2,2% and banks were 2,07% higher.
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/ 24 January 2008
The case against alleged Skielik shooter Johan Nel was postponed in the Swartruggens District Court on Thursday. Nel stands accused of the murder of four people and the attempted murder of six others in a shooting incident in the Skielik informal settlement last Monday. The case was postponed to February 12.
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/ 24 January 2008
Police massed outside the Swartruggens Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in anticipation of the arrival of a large group of protesters ahead of the appearance of Johan Nel on murder charges. Nel (18) stands accused of killing four and injuring six residents of the Skielik informal settlement, about 10km outside Swartruggens in North West, last Monday.
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/ 24 January 2008
Speeding down a road with no worries of being caught on camera may be the fortunate situation for some Johannesburg drivers until next week after the National Prosecuting Authority has said that metro police must reapply for permission to use speed cameras on specific roads.
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/ 24 January 2008
Recent power cuts in South Africa have enraged the public, raised questions over future investment in Africa’s biggest economy and increased scepticism in the country’s leaders at a time of political uncertainty. Economists estimate the cost of the power cuts already runs to hundreds of millions of rands.
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/ 23 January 2008
Activists and doctors on Wednesday accused the government of backsliding on promises to provide more effective treatment to prevent mothers passing on Aids to unborn children. The Treatment Action Campaign said that more than 60Â 000 babies are infected with HIV yearly in South Africa, most of them in the womb.
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/ 23 January 2008
The Tshwane metropolitan council has activated its disaster operations centre as several parts of Pretoria experienced flooding due to heavy rains in the city. ”The centre operates 24 hours a day and includes emergency services and other personnel who will monitor the situation,” council spokesperson Console Tleane said on Wednesday.
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/ 23 January 2008
Treason trial accused Kobus Pretorius was a danger to society and would commit further acts of violence if released on bail, the chief investigating officer told the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday. Pretorius this week, for the first time since his arrest in December 2002, applied for bail.
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/ 23 January 2008
Allegations of a ”serious rift” between Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille and the party’s parliamentary leader, Sandra Botha, have been dismissed by the DA. ”As far as we are concerned, the story … has absolutely no facts or grounds,” DA national media officer Aimee Franklin said on Wednesday.
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/ 23 January 2008
The man linked to the African National Congress (ANC) hoax-email saga, Muziwendoda Kunene, appeared in the Kestell Magistrate’s Court in the Free State on Wednesday. A court official said the matter was postponed to April 9 for further investigation. Kunene is facing a provisional charge of murder in the Free State court and remains in custody at the Kroonstad Prison.
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/ 23 January 2008
John Gomomo, a former president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions has died, the federation said. Gomomo (62) was — at the time of his death — an African National Congress MP and the chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on public service and administration.
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/ 23 January 2008
South African business leaders on Wednesday met the management of Eskom to thrash out ways to cope with an electricity crisis that has caused chaos in factories and offices. Businesses have lost hundreds of millions of rands since South Africa began being hit by rolling power cuts, lasting for up to four hours, about three weeks ago.
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/ 23 January 2008
The Department of Public Works has started on the business of revising the laws on expropriation, which became a matter of urgency following the African National Congress national conference last month. An announcement from the department on Wednesday said that it will start the ball rolling with a national workshop to be held in Gauteng next month.