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/ 8 December 2007
Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu was quite happy with his side’s defence in their first match when they beat Argentina 24-7 in the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series in George on Friday — but the Boks needed hardly any defence when they overran Uganda 41-0 in their second match.
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/ 8 December 2007
South Africa’s Omar Sandys, a player little known on the international golf stage, carded a four-under-par 68 on Friday to open up a two-shot lead in the €1-million Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club. Tournament favourite and world number five Ernie Els of South Africa was in joint third place.
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/ 7 December 2007
Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and financial director Graham Maddock used R5,5-million in Infinity loyalty-programme funds to pay salaries and other expenses in other Fidentia companies, according to prosecutors. The two men appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
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/ 7 December 2007
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African National Congress (ANC) member Votani Majola was denied leave on Friday to appeal against a dismissed application to have the party’s 52nd national conference postponed. Majola returned to the Johannesburg High Court on Friday in a bid to have Judge Hilton Epstein allow him to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
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/ 7 December 2007
Problem-plagued Mamelodi Sundowns on Friday announced that executive director Afzal Khan will be leaving the club in the wake of the protracted dispute in which Venezuelan international striker Jose Torrelaba alleged his signature had been forged on a document confirming the renewal of his contract with the club.
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/ 7 December 2007
”Unfortunate and regrettable” was how Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya on Friday described the publication of a letter in which he criticised Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota. ”I wish to state that the letter was intended for internal discussion within the African National Congress, and not for public consumption,” he said.
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/ 7 December 2007
Much still needs to be done to clean up the Home Affairs Department, Director General Mavuso Msimang said on Friday. He was reacting to the arrests of five home affairs officials and a former official at the Watloo home affairs office in Pretoria on Friday. The six were arrested following months of investigation.
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/ 7 December 2007
The sheer number of crimes being committed in South Africa is still at an unacceptable level, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Friday. The decrease in reported crime, however, is encouraging, it said. The rights body said its finding on the unacceptable level of crime is ”exacerbated by the massive under-reporting of crime”.
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/ 7 December 2007
Disrespect for the African National Congress’s (ANC) values by its members could destroy the party, President Thabo Mbeki warned on Friday. This would reverse all the gains made since the advent of democracy in 1994, he said in his weekly online newsletter, ANC Today.
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/ 7 December 2007
The state will foot Schabir Shaik’s legal costs at the Constitutional Court next year when he fights to retain his assets worth about R33-million, the Star newspaper reported on Friday. In an application to the Durban High Court recently, Shaik indicated that he had no cash and would need about R2,5-million to cover legal costs.
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/ 7 December 2007
The South African Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) outgoing chief executive, Zakes Myeza, has no plans following his resignation this week. Myeza said he joined an ”almost dysfunctional” CAA 20 months ago, when it had functioned without a permanent chief executive for almost three years.
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/ 7 December 2007
The Cape Town Labour Court has ordered that whistle-blowing prison doctor Paul Theron get his job in Pollsmoor back. He was suspended after telling the Inspecting Judge of Prisons and a parliamentary committee about what he said was an acute healthcare crisis at Pollsmoor, including chronic understaffing and lack of disease control.
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/ 7 December 2007
The Pretoria High Court has reversed a temporary ban on the book White Power: The Rise and Fall of the National Party. Judge Willie Seriti on Friday discharged an interim court order granted last month to Eugene de Kock to recall the book and stop its further publication, distribution and sale.
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/ 7 December 2007
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HIV/Aids has driven a wedge between the leadership and rank-and-file of the ruling African National Congress, with top officials accused of ignorance and activists aghast at the government’s handling of the pandemic. President Thabo Mbeki and his former deputy, Jacob Zuma have both been burned politically by the HIV/Aids crisis.
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/ 7 December 2007
Not only are robbers hitting more houses, they now prefer to strike when residents are at home, the Institute for Security Studies said on Friday. ”It’s fairly obvious that this is what’s happening,” said researcher Johan Burger. ”There seems to be a correlation between the decrease in burglary figures and the increase … in the house-robbery figure,” he said.
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/ 7 December 2007
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The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on Friday rejected allegations that it was favouring President Thabo Mbeki over his rival, African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma, in the battle for succession in the ruling party. The SABC has come under fire from commentators following its decision to broadcast a two-hour interview with Mbeki.
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/ 7 December 2007
Parliament’s transport portfolio committee has tabled a scathing report on the country’s transport preparedness to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The report, circulated in Parliament on Friday, says that at present there is only one senior official, a chief director, who is working full time on 2010 in the Department of Transport.
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/ 7 December 2007
South African taxpayers should brace themselves for scant relief when the Budget is announced in February next year as analysts feel Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is likely to be very cautious due to the cyclical risks underpinning the economy. Analysts also feel that the Budget needs to be better harnessed to improve effective expenditure.
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/ 7 December 2007
Axed <i>Sowetan</i> sub-editor Llewellyn Kriel will on Monday appeal against the findings of the disciplinary hearing that made him the first South African fired for blogging. Kriel was dismissed when he was found to have brought the company’s name into disrepute through a blog on the <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i>’s <i>Thought Leader</i>.
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/ 7 December 2007
Platinum-mining stocks were propping up the JSE in noon trade on Friday, enhancing gains driven by Wall Street in the morning session. By 11.58am, the JSE all-share index lifted 0,7%, supported by a 3,24% advance in the platinum-mining index. Resources collected 0,94% but the gold-mining index dipped 0,87%.
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/ 7 December 2007
Serial rapist Mongezi Jinxela was found guilty in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday on 220 charges of rape, kidnapping, robbery and assault, the National Prosecuting Authority said. Spokesperson Tlali Tlali said Justice George Maluleka found Jinxela guilty of raping 57 women — making him one of the country’s worst serial rape offenders.
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/ 7 December 2007
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Aides of Jacob Zuma have drawn up contingency plans to try to force his rival President Thabo Mbeki out of office early, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Friday. If Zuma was elected party leader at the African National Congress’s five-yearly conference, he would insist on being privy to big government decisions.
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/ 7 December 2007
The KwaZulu-Natal health department on Thursday evening denied reports that a sixth baby had died from the klebsiella at Durban’s Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital. Department spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said a sixth baby had indeed died, but not from the klebsiella which it had earlier contracted.
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/ 7 December 2007
Police are investigating charges of corruption and obstruction of justice against a senior Cape Town policeman involved in Tony Yengeni’s alleged drunk-driving saga. Provincial police spokesperson Novel Potelwa said that Goodwood station commissioner, Senior Superintendent Siphiwe Hewana, had also been suspended without pay, and faced an internal disciplinary hearing.
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/ 7 December 2007
Tiger Brands chief executive Nick Dennis has advised the company’s board of directors that he intended to take early retirement. He would also resign as a director of the company with effect from the conclusion of the annual general meeting of shareholders, scheduled for February 19 2008.
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/ 6 December 2007
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Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has declined a nomination as African National Congress (ANC) chairperson but has accepted a nomination for deputy president. This emerged on Thursday when the ANC released its long-awaited consolidated list of nominations for its national executive committee.
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/ 6 December 2007
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Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi will not accept a nomination to the national executive committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC), Cosatu said on Thursday. Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the congress was seriously concerned about leaders who embraced ”patronage”.
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/ 6 December 2007
Government ministers have changed their minds about referring the forensic report on the affairs of the Land Bank to the police. According to Cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko, they did so after hearing that a number of board members and senior executives of the bank had challenged statements in the report.
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/ 6 December 2007
The South African Police Service (SAPS) was not involved in reviewing the arrest warrant for its National Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Thursday. However, he confirmed that the warrant was indeed the subject of review.
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/ 6 December 2007
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The African National Congress (ANC) group that applied unsuccessfully to the Johannesburg High Court to have the party’s imminent conference postponed would appeal the decision, their lawyer said on Thursday. ”We are definitely going to appeal,” said Votani Majola.
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/ 6 December 2007
The so-called ”boot killer”, Daniel van der Walt, was sentenced on Thursday to 17 years’ imprisonment for brutally beating and strangling a frail young prospective employee. Van der Walt, a powerfully built blockman who used to work at a butchery, admitted that he had in February last year murdered petite Marlene Mauer (20).
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/ 6 December 2007
A late start after lunch and an early closure because of fading light left the Dolphins with the upper hand on the first day of their SuperSport Series cricket match against the Highveld Lions at the Sahara Stadium, at Kingsmead in Durban, on Thursday. Heavy rain made play impossible before lunch.