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/ 26 December 2007

Landmark for Smith in Windies Test

Proteas captain Graeme Smith will be leading his team for the 50th time in a Test match in the first Test against the West Indies, starting at St George’s Park on Wednesday. Smith is only the second South African captain, after the late Hansie Cronje, to achieve this landmark. Cronje captained the Proteas on 53 occasions.

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/ 25 December 2007

Buffels River bursts its banks

The Buffels River at Laingsburg has burst its banks after heavy thunderstorms in parts of the Western Cape Karoo on Monday night, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday. The report said floodwaters rose over the N1 bridge, which had to be closed for short periods during the night.

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/ 25 December 2007

SA won’t take West Indies for granted

The Proteas will treat the Test series as if they were playing the best team in the world, was captain Graeme Smith’s promise ahead of the first Test at St George’s Park on Wednesday. Smith, who will be captaining South Africa in a Test match for the 50th time, downplayed suggestions that South Africa did not have a good record at St George’s Park.

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/ 24 December 2007

Mpofu not quitting, says incensed SABC

Reports that South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief executive Dali Mpofu was going to resign were dismissed by the broadcaster on Monday. According to a report in the Sunday Times, Mpofu was heard saying at the African National Congress’s 52nd national conference in Polokwane that he would resign.

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/ 24 December 2007

Second chance for failing matrics

A national plan is in place to give thousands of matriculants who are not expected to pass this year a second chance, a newspaper reported on Monday. ”Education departments confirmed on Sunday that the plan was being finalised at provincial level,” the report in Beeld said.

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/ 24 December 2007

Gold miners add to Christmas cheer

The gold mining index added some cheer to the JSE ahead of Christmas celebrations, helping the bourse to close 0,59% firmer on Monday. The JSE closed at midday ahead of the two-day Christmas holiday and will reopen on Thursday. The gold mining index ended 2,95% higher, while resources added 0,81% and the platinum mining index recovered 0,62%.

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/ 24 December 2007

Cops on the lookout for hit-and-run driver

Heidelberg police are searching for the driver of a yellow Toyota Cressida that was involved in an accident in which one person died, Ekurhuleni police said on Sunday. The Toyota Cressida — bearing the number plate CJM 710 GP — collided with a white Hyundai three-tonne truck, leaving the driver of the truck dead.

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/ 24 December 2007

Mbeki says ANC is not at war with itself

The conduct of some African National Congress delegates at its conference in Polokwane last week showed they did not understand what the party stood for, President Thabo Mbeki has told the South African Broadcasting Corporation. He was disappointed at how little some people understood of the ANC’s political workings and policy implementation.

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/ 24 December 2007

Zuma to look into inflation targeting

Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress said on Sunday that he would look at inflation targeting, a key monetary policy tool used by the Reserve Bank to reign in inflation. The country adopted the policy in 2000 as a framework through which the central bank estimates a ”target” inflation rate.

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/ 23 December 2007

SuperSport continue climb up log

It was always going to be a Premier League game in which a solitary goal — much like a bolt of lightning on a cloudless sky — would decide the issue at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Saturday night. And, in a dour clash lacking in inspiration, the bolt of lightning was provided by a 24th minute Rudi Isaacs header.

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/ 23 December 2007

Umshini Wami echoes through SA

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>Some call it brainless, others inappropriate in the post-apartheid era but Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress, is in no mood to stop singing his signature <i>Umshini Wami</i>. "If you erase the songs, you erase the record of history," said Zuma of the anthem.

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/ 23 December 2007

New SABC chairperson rolls up her sleeves

The new chairperson of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, Khanyisiwe Mkhonza, paid tribute to the outgoing board in a statement to the media on Sunday. Mkhonza, who is the current chairperson of the public broadcasting services board sub-committee, also acknowledged challenges facing the new board.

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/ 23 December 2007

Cosmos stuck at the bottom of the log

Jomo Cosmos showed why they are at the bottom of the Absa Premiership table with another insipid performance against Thanda Royal Zulu at the Ackerville Stadium in Witbank on Saturday. The hosts, who lost 2-1, will remain at the bottom of the log until the season kicks off in February.

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/ 23 December 2007

Van Schalkwyk hails climate-change resolution

The resolution on climate change adopted in Polokwane by the African National Congress (ANC) is a critical milestone that should be applauded, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, said on Sunday. He said the resolution strengthened the mandate of the government to ”take the tough decisions that will be required”.

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/ 23 December 2007

Mandela says Zuma can heal the ANC

Former president Nelson Mandela has praised Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress (ANC), as a man who could unify the divided party. In a message of congratulations, Mandela said: ”Our experience of Comrade Zuma is of a person and leader who is inclusive in his approach, a unifier and one who values reconciliation and collective leadership.”