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/ 14 December 2007
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.
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/ 14 December 2007
The Cabinet must re-examine its recent decision on maize use in South Africa, said specialist chemical services company Omnia on Friday. ”There is a strong global consensus around the use of maize for biofuels, and an urgent need for local and international solutions in the continuous quest for sustainable development,” it said.
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/ 14 December 2007
After a protracted delay, South Africa’s tough new laws against sexual abuse will finally enter force on Sunday. The Justice and Constitutional Development Ministry said on Friday that the Sexual Offences Amendment Act will at last give greater protection to victims of sexual crimes.
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/ 14 December 2007
A weaker bank sector forced a positive JSE to pull back into the red by midday on Friday, leaving the all-share index 0,14% lower at noon. The JSE’s bank index was down 1,38% at midday as local and international traders questioned whether the move by the central banks to inject liquidity into financial markets was enough to settle global credit concerns.
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/ 14 December 2007
Zimbabwean hotels that do not implement the industry’s star-rating system will not be given contracts during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, a media report said on Friday. Chief executive of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Karikoga Kaseke said that only 30% of hotels in the country had registered for star-ratings to date.
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/ 14 December 2007
Television channel e.tv has called on the regulator to include it in any must-carry policy if it forces new pay-television providers to air SABC3 on their platforms. The South African Broadcasting Corporation is pushing for the regulation, which will force all pay television providers to carry its the SABC’s channels for a fee.
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/ 14 December 2007
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool says he was ”disinvited” to speak at Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane’s farewell dinner on Thursday. ”I was most astounded when my office was informed that, under instruction from the Mayor of Cape Town [Helen Zille], I had been disinvited to speak at your farewell,” Rasool wrote.
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/ 14 December 2007
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Investors will closely eye the African National Congress’s election conference next week, fearing a victorious Jacob Zuma would chart a leftist course. Maarten-Jan Bakkum, an economist at ABN Amro Asset Management, said the thought of Zuma governing Africa’s economic powerhouse left many investors uneasy.
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/ 14 December 2007
<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>A casino might seem a perverse setting for a presidential hopeful to address anybody, let alone what purported to be a gathering of the KwaZulu-Natal legal fraternity in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday evening. The Golden Horse Casino is a succinct answer to those who wonder what has gone wrong in our society.
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/ 13 December 2007
Friday will be a big day for Proteas fast-bowler Makhaya Ntini, recently voted the most popular sports hero in South Africa. His invitation team, consisting mainly international cricketers, take on the might of the West Indies touring team at Buffalo Park on Friday in a 25-overs benefit clash.
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/ 13 December 2007
No place in South African soccer is more intense, electric and immersed in a downright feverish atmosphere these days than Bloemfontein’s Seisa Ramabodu Stadium when the city’s revered Bloemfontein Celtic cross swords with one of the supposed glamour teams of the Premier Soccer League.
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/ 13 December 2007
A bomb scare disrupted proceedings at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court for about two hours on Thursday. Police spokesperson Captain Paul Ramaloko said chief magistrate Desmond Nair was informed of a call, warning about a bomb, just after 10am. Several police units reacted and arrived at the scene.
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/ 13 December 2007
Helicopters, horse patrols, closed-circuit television and police reservists have been roped in to boost security in Durban during the festive season, police said on Thursday. The city’s courts will be open on December 17 and 26 to allow police to prosecute offenders speedily.
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/ 13 December 2007
The pompom weed — a plant in the daisy family — is rapidly becoming one of the most serious threats to the conservation of South African grasslands, the Working for Water programme said on Thursday. The weed’s beautiful flowers are leading members of the public to collect and inadvertently spread it to more places.
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/ 13 December 2007
National, provincial and local government departments, together with state agencies in the various provinces, will work together to manage congestion at the country’s busiest land border posts over the festive season, the border-control operational coordinating committee said on Thursday.
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/ 13 December 2007
The proposed relocation of residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement is a bid to reverse century-old wrongs, the Cape High Court was told on Thursday. Cape Judge President John Hlophe was hearing an application by provincial authorities for permission to relocate the community, currently living in shacks alongside Cape Town’s N2 highway.
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/ 13 December 2007
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla has until January 15 to file her submissions with the Ginwala commission of inquiry into National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli. According to the rules and timeframes for the inquiry, Pikoli has until January 31 to do the same.
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/ 13 December 2007
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The African National Congress (ANC) must make the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people a ”living reality” at its upcoming national conference. The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project and the Triangle Project will send an open manifesto demanding these rights to the ANC ahead of the conference.
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/ 13 December 2007
The African National Congress Women’s League’s decision to postpone its planned Thursday meeting with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has deprived the latter of an opportunity to explain its general secretary’s controversial gender remarks made at the weekend, Cosatu said on Thursday.
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/ 13 December 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for effective sanction of government departments for failing to answer written parliamentary questions after 233 of its questions went unanswered this year. Thirteen percent (233) of the 1 690 written parliamentary questions posed by the party this year remained unanswered on Wednesday.
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/ 13 December 2007
Nationwide Airlines intends retrenching 27 support staff based at Lanseria Airport, the trade union Solidarity said on Thursday. ”Nineteen workers out of the 27 on the list have already been notified that their employment is to be terminated by January 14 2008,” said Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans.
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/ 13 December 2007
The R230-million Gautrain tunnel-boring machine has been christened ”Imbokodo [Rock]”, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said in Johannesburg on Thursday. Shilowa said the name symbolises the country’s heritage of willpower and women’s emancipation. ”If you strike a woman, you strike a rock,” he said.
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/ 13 December 2007
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The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) has expressed ”dismay” at the African National Congress’s (ANC) succession debate focusing on the personalities of President Thabo Mbeki and ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma. ”The PSAM believes that debate should be refocused on the protection of civil and political rights,” it said.
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/ 13 December 2007
Mongezi Jinxela — convicted on a total of 219 charges including rape, kidnapping, robbery and assault — was sentenced to life imprisonment and 20 years at the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday. Handing down judgement, Judge George Maluleke said he recommended that Jinxela never receive parole as he would never be rehabilitated.
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/ 13 December 2007
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy’s former dormitory matron briefly appeared on Thursday in the Sebokeng Magistrate’s Court. Tiny Makgabo (27) faces charges of indecent assault, common assault, soliciting a minor to perform indecent acts and verbal abuse.
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/ 13 December 2007
Confidence in South Africa’s manufacturing sector improved in the fourth quarter on a recovery in domestic demand, but export performance remained poor, the Bureau for Economic Research said on Thursday. The independent bureau’s manufacturing business confidence index increased by four points to 69.
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/ 13 December 2007
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) still expects to make an announcement regarding its investigation of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi this week, NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Thursday. ”An announcement will be made this week but I can’t say if it will be today,” said Tlali.
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/ 13 December 2007
President Thabo Mbeki’s free-market economic policies have been ”disastrous” for the country, Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu’s general secretary told the Financial Times in an interview published on Thursday. Vavi accused Mbeki’s government of having lost sight of the concerns of the poor and unemployed during his eight years of rule.
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/ 13 December 2007
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono has broken his silence on the country’s cash shortage, assuring the nation that the central bank will remedy the situation before Christmas, the state-controlled Herald reported on Thursday.
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/ 13 December 2007
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President Thabo Mbeki risks being cast aside by his party next week in favour of an arch rival who may yet be charged with corruption. Mbeki still has two years left as head of state but analysts say a defeat at the hands of Jacob Zuma in the African National (ANC) Congress leadership contest could leave him a lame duck.
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/ 13 December 2007
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A three-hour meeting between African National Congress (ANC) veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and the party’s secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe on Wednesday has been described as ”positive”, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
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/ 12 December 2007
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Attempts were being made to discredit African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma ahead of his possible election to the ANC’s top job by the publication of details of an inquest into the death his wife, Kate, the government said on Wednesday.