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/ 17 December 2007

The writing’s on the T-shirt

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Thousands of delegates to the ANC’s 52nd national conference converged on Polokwane International Airport on Saturday to register in a cavernous hangar for the event. The regi­stration hangar was a free-for-all for groups supporting either Thabo Mbeki or Jacob Zuma.

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/ 17 December 2007

‘This conference is different’

Delegates to the ANC’s national conference in Polokwane were on Sunday concerned about disruptions, but also hopeful that the party will emerge stronger and better. Motsotose Ndyalivani (49), a delegate from the Rogersfontein region of Grahamstown, said the conference was different from the six that he had attended in the past.

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/ 17 December 2007

Rebellion at Polokwane

It was open rebellion as the African National Congress began its 52nd national conference. Traditions of the movement, almost 100 years old, were thrown out as the majority of the more than 4 000 delegates made clear their support for the candidacy of deputy president Jacob Zuma to the top job.

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/ 17 December 2007

DA: Is NPA going to charge Selebi or not?

Uncertainty over the prosecution of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was not in anyone’s best interest, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said. The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Sunday that a decision had been made on whether Selebi ”has a case to answer”.

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/ 16 December 2007

ANC elections running late

The first day of the African National Congress’s (ANC) Polokwane conference ended abruptly just after 9.30pm on Sunday, without dealing with nominations for the party leadership. ANC national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota told delegates to come back on Monday, explaining there were ”a few details” the national executive committee wanted to tie up.

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/ 16 December 2007

Motlanthe on the Mbeki-Zuma rift

African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe’s organisational report, delivered on Sunday at the party’s national conference in Polokwane — was the first comprehensive admission from a party leader that the factionalism in the party was a result of a power struggle between two personalities: Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.

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/ 16 December 2007

Mbeki supporters booed in Polokwane

Ministers and aides in President Thabo Mbeki’s government were heckled by delegates on Sunday when the African National Congress opened a conference that could see Mbeki losing control over the party. Some of the delegates booed Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and Essop Pahad, a top aide to Mbeki, as they arrived.

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/ 16 December 2007

Missing Children website to shut down in December

South Africa’s Missing Children website is to close during December due to a lack of funding. ”December is the busiest time of the year for runaways. There are the normal cases of naughty children running away during the holidays, but given the pressure on matric students waiting for results, we find an influx of kids running away,” said Pieter Boshoff, the organisation’s founder and director.

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/ 16 December 2007

All aboard for Polokwane conference

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>The first group of delegates to the African National Congress’s 52nd national conference arrived at the University of Limpopo on Sunday. Singing and clapping, the delegates from the North West Province said they would vote for party president Thabo Mbeki. "Mbeki is the most rational leader, we have ever had. We are just here to affirm the third term [for Mbeki]."

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/ 15 December 2007

Santos topple PSL leaders

After what Santos coach Jean-Marc Itthier described as ”a blood and thunder” derby, the ”people’s team” toppled Premier League leaders Ajax Cape Town 2-1 at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday night after overcoming a torrid second half.

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/ 15 December 2007

TB patients make a run for it

Eastern Cape authorities are searching for TB patients who escaped from the Jose Pearson Hospital in the Nelson Mandela municipality. The Eastern Cape Health department said it was believed that 29 multidrug-resistant and 20 extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis patients cut through three of the hospital’s perimeter fences to make their escape.

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/ 15 December 2007

Scorpions reveal new Zuma evidence

<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>New allegations against African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma have been included in an affidavit before the Constitutional Court, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Friday. Johan du Plooy, a senior special investigator for the Scorpions, said investigations had uncovered substantial new evidence against Zuma.

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/ 14 December 2007

Norman grumbles about Open course

Greg Norman fired a second-round two-under-par 70 at the South African Open on Friday and then criticised organisers for changes to the Pearl Valley course after the first round. The former world number one is on one-over-par for the tournament, three strokes behind leader James Kingston of SA.

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/ 14 December 2007

Zuma-led ANC will cost IFP dearly

A Jacob Zuma-led African National Congress will have a major impact in KwaZulu-Natal, analysts and politicians in the province said on Friday. They agreed the ANC’s popularity in the province would increase at the expense of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) if Zuma was elected the party’s new leader in Polokwane next week.

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/ 14 December 2007

Winnie meets Zuma, Mbeki

African National Cngress veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela held meetings with both the party’s deputy president Jacob Zuma and its president Thabo Mbeki on
Friday afternoon. Madikizela-Mandela has suggested Mbeki and Zuma retain their current party positions for the next five years, but that Zuma assume the country’s presidency in 2009.

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/ 14 December 2007

Nurses receive welcome salary boost

South African nurses have received significant salary increases including back-pay of up to six months, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday in Bloemfontein. She said the increases form part of an agreement with unions of an occupational-specific dispensation for nurses signed in September this year.

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/ 14 December 2007

Mbeki: Stay true to ANC goals

In an eleventh-hour appeal before the African National Congress’s (ANC) national conference starts on Sunday, President Thabo Mbeki on Friday urged delegates to remain faithful to the party’s revolutionary goals. He said it is important that delegates fully understand the responsibility they carry on their shoulders.

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/ 14 December 2007

If you wear crocodile shoes, have an elephant leather wallet, or possess an ivory chess set, you will have to have a permit to own them from February 1 2008. If you have a cycad in your garden and you want to give it to your neighbour, you will also have to have a permit.

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/ 14 December 2007

Corrupt tender costs Post Office R60m

The South African Post Office has been ordered to pay R60-million in damages due to contamination of a tender, according to Business Report on Friday. Judge Willie Hartzenberg found the Post Office had confirmed a corrupt tender in 2002 despite the fact that senior managers had been made aware of flaws in the process.