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/ 28 December 2007
The disappointing South African matric pass rate came as no surprise, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday. MP George Boinamo said it was, however, disappointing that the pass rate had deteriorated. ”During the past year our country’s education system, and more importantly, its learners, faced many challenges.”
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/ 28 December 2007
Rescue services are still searching for the Cessna 210 light aircraft that went missing on Wednesday, said South African Search and Rescue Organisation head Charles Norval on Friday. ”We haven’t had success, but are still searching. The rescue team is following all the leads,” Norval said.
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/ 28 December 2007
The JSE had recovered some of its earlier losses by midday on Friday, but was still over half a percent in the red. It had been down as much as 0,93% for the day. By noon on the JSE, the all-share index was 0,55% lower. The gold- and platinum-mining indices pulled back 2,42% and 1,17% respectively, while resources lost 0,46%.
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/ 28 December 2007
Brenthurst Clinic in Parktown, Jo’burg, was the one of the first clinics to allow single women to have babies.
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/ 27 December 2007
Fast bowlers Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor struck hard at the South African top order as the tourists took control on the second day of the first Test at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Thursday. South Africa crashed to 122-5 at close of play in reply to a West Indian total of 408 in which Shivnarine Chanderpaul made a patient century.
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/ 27 December 2007
Over 20 000 Gauteng matric pupils who attended public schools failed their final exams, Gauteng’s provincial minister of education said on Thursday. ”It is indeed sad to have 21 572 learners failing their matric,” Angie Motshekga said.
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/ 27 December 2007
Leader and co-founder of the right-wing Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP) Willie Marais has died of a heart attack at the age of 79, the party said on Thursday. Party chief secretary Louis van der Schyff said Marais was on holiday at Klein Brakrivier when he had a heart attack and died in hospital at Mossel Bay on Wednesday.
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/ 27 December 2007
Well-known comedian Barry Hilton appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on charges of robbery and crimen injuria on Thursday, state prosecutor Advocate Tania Zwiegelaar said. Hilton was arrested on Monday by Walmer police following a complaint by the owner of an arts and craft shop.
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/ 27 December 2007
The retail price of all grades of petrol will remain unchanged on Wednesday January 2 from a previous increase of 43 cents a litre, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Thursday. The retail price of a litre of 95 octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng remains at R7,47, and R7,23 at the coast — new highs set in December.
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/ 27 December 2007
About 234 people have been arrested over a 48-hour period in the inner city, Johannesburg police said on Thursday. ”All these people were arrested in Hillbrow, Berea and Joubert Park as part of our accelerated crime combat operations, to maintain a safe environment as we are preparing for the new year celebrations,” said police spokesperson Captain Bhekizizwe Mavundla.
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/ 27 December 2007
Two Fidelity guards, who had taken cash to an ATM machine, were robbed of their firearms at a shopping centre in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday, police said. Spokesperson Superintendent Muzi Mngmoezulu said two armed men held up the guards at the Glebe shopping centre in Umlazi.
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/ 27 December 2007
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South African prosecutors are likely to wait at least two weeks before deciding whether to file charges against the new African National Congress president and the country’s police chief, a newspaper said on Thursday. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) recently said it had enough evidence to re-charge ANC president Jacob Zuma.
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/ 27 December 2007
A century partnership between Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and a whirlwind 66 by Chris Gayle, put the West Indies in a commanding position on 281 for four at the end of the first day of the first Castle Lager Test against South Africa at St George’s Park on Wednesday.
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/ 26 December 2007
A century partnership between Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and a whirlwind 66 by Chris Gayle, put the West Indies in a commanding position on 281 for four at the end of the first day of the first Test against South Africa at St George’s Park on Wednesday.
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/ 26 December 2007
Heavy rains have caused flooding and rockslides in the southern Cape over the past two days. A group of 60 caravanners had to be evacuated from the Pine Creek holiday resort near the Groot Brakrivier, and the road between Ladysmith and Calitzdorp was closed because of rockfalls.
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/ 26 December 2007
A teenaged girl’s burned body has been found under a tree next to the N1 highway through Bloemfontein, Free State police said on Wednesday. Her body was discovered at 4pm on Tuesday by the young daughter of a police officer when she walked into the grass at the side of the road to relieve herself.
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/ 26 December 2007
Another illegal dumping ground of tens of thousands of defective condoms has been found in KwaZulu-Natal, the provincial department of agriculture and environmental affairs said on Wednesday. Locals found the condoms strewn on the road near a primary school on the main road to Indwedwe on Christmas Day.
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/ 26 December 2007
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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/ 26 December 2007
Wrapped Christmas presents lay strewn across a KwaZulu-Natal highway following a horrific accident that claimed the lives of five people on Tuesday. Bayview police Commissioner Superintendent Rajen Ramchunder said a car travelling into Chatsworth hit a traffic island and went into oncoming traffic.
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/ 25 December 2007
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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/ 25 December 2007
Springbok winger Akona Ndungane wants the display of the old South African flag — seen as a symbol of the apartheid regime — banned at all rugby games. Some fans, said Ndungane, still lived in the past. ”The national anthem is no longer just Die Stem, it is a combination of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem”.
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/ 25 December 2007
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
Black outs could put the entertainment industry into the red, writes Zahira Kharsany.
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/ 24 December 2007
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
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
Santa Claus will have to slide down slippery chimneys on Christmas Day as thunderstorms are expected in most parts of South Africa on Tuesday. Rain and thunderstorms across several parts of the country have been predicted by the South African Weather Service.
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/ 24 December 2007
Gauteng drownings are a cause for concern, as the province’s number of instances of drowning is higher than on the coast, provincial minister of local government Qedani Dorothy Mahlangu said on Monday. Mahlangu said 15 more people have recently drowned in Gauteng than at the coast.
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/ 24 December 2007
Campaigners say they are eyeing legal action ”sooner rather than later” to block a bid to change Grahamstown’s name to iRhini. ”All such name changes have to be fully motivated and must reflect the views of the community,” one of the coordinators of the Keep Grahamstown Campaign said in a statement on Monday.
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/ 24 December 2007
Several hundred people who have occupied homes at Delft on the Cape Flats were on Monday on their way to the Cape High Court in a bid to block their impending eviction, a spokesperson said. The occupiers had been unable to secure an interdict at the Bellville Magistrate’s Court earlier in the day.
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/ 24 December 2007
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
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
A three-year-old Germiston toddler will spend Christmas recovering after being raped by a friend of the family, police said on Monday. Germiston police spokesperson Captain Steady Nawa said the child’s mother was preparing a meal on Sunday when she noticed that her daughter was missing.