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/ 3 February 2008

Downs, Birds edge home in Atteridgeville

In the wake of much bravado preceding what was termed the ”Gauteng Challenge”, Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows edged home on penalty kicks against Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United respectively in what were no more than gloried friendlies at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

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/ 3 February 2008

Bafana defeated, but all is not lost

He conceded that it left a lump in the throat that they were back in South Africa at this early juncture of the Africa Cup of Nations, but worldly Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said it was heartening and encouraging that many positives had emerged in spite of South Africa’s opening-round elimination.

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/ 3 February 2008

Grim memories of Rwanda genocide come alive

Marguerite Sabamahoro, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, remembers the moment she was woken at her home in Kigali on April 7 1994 by the sound of gunfire and bombing as if it were yesterday. ”I lost aunts, uncles, cousins and friends to the genocide,” Sabamahoro tells visitors to a new genocide exhibition at the Apartheid Museum.

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/ 2 February 2008

Three dead in Carnival City collapse

Emergency personnel were on Saturday still searching for survivors after part of the Carnival City shopping complex near Brakpan on the East Rand in Gauteng partially collapsed into a parking area, killing three people. Netcare 911 spokesperson Mark Stokoe said an exterior wall of the mall had collapsed on to a car.

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/ 2 February 2008

Mixed fortunes at Potch athletics meet

The second meeting of the Yellow Pages Ultimate Athletics series, held at the PUK McArthur Stadium in Potchefstroom, was an evening of mixed fortunes. The weather played a huge part as a fierce wind and dust storm caused several events to be cancelled while others were interrupted and completed later in the evening.

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/ 2 February 2008

Pollock bids Durban farewell

AB de Villiers struck a confident 77 while Shaun Pollock bid an emotional home town farewell as South Africa beat the West Indies by five wickets at Kingsmead on Friday to maintain a perfect record in the one-day series. Pollock delighted a capacity crowd by hitting the winning boundary to seal South Africa’s win.

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/ 2 February 2008

Truck driver shot after collision

A truck driver was shot and wounded by a man in a car with which he had collided in Randburg on Friday, said Netcare 911. Spokesperson Nick Dollman said the truck driver apparently went through a red traffic light, colliding with the passenger side of a family car. A mother and her two young children were injured in the collision.

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/ 2 February 2008

ANC MP backs down on prostitution comments

An African National Congress (ANC) MP on Friday apologised to women for his comments that prostitution be legalised ahead of the Soccer World Cup. ”I wish to submit my profound and unreserved apology to all women of South Africa for the manner in which these comments in the portfolio committee were attributed,” said George Lekgetho.

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/ 1 February 2008

ANC eyes improved attendance at Parliament

Dealing with poor attendance by African National Congress (ANC) members at parliamentary and caucus meetings would be one of the year’s priorities, the party’s chief whip said on Friday. Nathi Mthethwa said: ”Inculcating a culture of discipline among some of the organisation’s public representatives in this institution will form part of the priorities.”

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/ 1 February 2008

Petrol price set to increase

South African petrol prices will increase by 17 cents, or 2,3%, to R7,64 a litre for all grades next Wednesday, the government said on Friday. A statement from the Department of Minerals and Energy said the wholesale price of diesel would go up by 7 cents to R7,32. High fuel and food prices have been the main driver for consumer inflation.

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/ 1 February 2008

Ramaphosa summoned by Annan to help in Kenya

Prominent South African businessman Cyril Ramaphosa was expected in Kenya later on Friday to help mediate in talks between the government and the opposition aimed at ending a month of post-election violence. Ramaphosa led the African National Congress in negotiations with the National Party to end apartheid in the early 1990s.

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/ 1 February 2008

SA mines make slow progress in restarting

South African mines made slow progress in bringing back production on Friday after Eskom allowed them to make only limited increases to their electricity consumption. The power cuts that shut the mines a week ago have helped push global precious metals prices to record highs and stoked concerns about a slowdown of growth.

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/ 1 February 2008

Zuma reduces claims against media

A host of defamation claims lodged by the African National Congress president Jacob Zuma against several publications were on Friday slashed to ”approximately R12-million”, a spokesperson for Zuma said. Liesl Göttert said: ”Mr Jacob Zuma will instruct his media legal team to drop the defamation component of all media claims that he instituted against some media.”

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/ 1 February 2008

Sars simplifies VAT registration

Value-Added Tax (VAT) registration would be easier from this month, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Friday. Sars said the new VAT-registration process reduced the paperwork required for registration and provided for the instant issuing of VAT registration numbers over the counter at Sars branches.

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/ 1 February 2008

Church leaders outraged at police raid

Church leaders expressed shock and outrage on Friday at a police raid this week on the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, during which hundreds of immigrants were arrested. Eddie Makue, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, said for many years the Church had welcomed those who had been displaced.

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/ 1 February 2008

Selebi case postponed to June

Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was charged with three counts of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice in the Randburg Regional Court on Friday. He also faced an alternate charge of receiving an unauthorised gratification ”by a person who is party to an employment relation”. The case was postponed to June 26.