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/ 21 November 2007
After being left out of the final XI in South Africa’s last four Test matches, veteran all-rounder Shaun Pollock will be back in action in the limited overs series against New Zealand, starting with a Standard Bank Pro20 match at the Wanderers on Friday night. ”He’s a crucial cog in our game,” said convenor of selectors Joubert Strydom.
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/ 21 November 2007
Zimbabwe’s participation in South African franchise cricket for the 2007/8 season has been finalised and details were released in Johannesburg on Wednesday by Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola. In terms of an agreement, Zimbabwe will play as a seventh franchise in the MTN domestic championship and the Standard Bank Pro20 Series.
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/ 21 November 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>The battle for the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) enters a climactic phase this week with the party’s two leagues and nine provincial branches each nominating their final candidates. With less than a month to go before the ANC elective conference, the nine provinces are to hold special meetings to consolidate nominations.
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/ 21 November 2007
People convicted of alleged political offences before June 16 1999 will be able to apply for a presidential pardon during a three-month ”window of opportunity” from January 15, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday. He said consideration had been given to using presidential pardons to deal with the so-called ”unfinished business” of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
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/ 21 November 2007
The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that the Road Accident Fund treat women in customary marriages claiming support the same as those married under the Marriage Act (civil marriage). The director of the Women’s Legal Centre, Jennifer Williams, said on Wednesday the ruling was a victory for women married in terms of customary law.
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/ 21 November 2007
South Africa was experiencing a possible decline of new HIV infections, Health Director General Thami Mseleku said on Wednesday. Speaking on the same day as the release of a United Nations report stating that South Africa had the highest prevalence of HIV in the world, Mseleku said there were signs that there was a turnaround in the number of new infections.
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/ 21 November 2007
Johannesburg has steadily regained lost ground in service delivery, a survey released on Wednesday said. ”Predictably issues around service delivery are at 62% this year, from last year’s 59%. The bad news is that in 2004/05, it was over 70% — there had been a decline but we are regaining lost ground,” director of the central strategic unit, Rashid Seedat, said.
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/ 21 November 2007
South Africa’s land restitution is a big success story, acting director general of land affairs Tozi Gwanya said on Wednesday. Five thousand claims out of the 79 696 lodged still needed to be settled, of which about a third would not be concluded before next year’s deadline for completion, Gwanya said at a media briefing.
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/ 21 November 2007
Failure by authorities to properly treat drinking water supplied to residents of Delmas may have triggered the recent mass outbreak of diarrhoea in the Mpumalanga town. Tests by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry have shown ”insufficient levels” of chlorine were added to the water supply between September 11 and October 14, MPs heard on Wednesday.
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/ 21 November 2007
Four youths appeared in the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday on charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. They are alleged to have killed their victim by repeatedly stabbing him, and dropping a 50kg rock on his head.
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/ 21 November 2007
When the first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930 only 13 teams participated in the finals and every country that wanted to play in the tournament was welcomed with open arms. Since then, the competition has grown in leaps and bounds and more than 200 countries have entered the first World Cup on African soil.
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/ 21 November 2007
South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup were dealt a new blow on Wednesday by a fresh bout of strike action by construction workers at one of the host stadiums. The latest strike came as thousands of delegates and journalists began arriving in South Africa ahead of this weekend’s draw in Durban.
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/ 21 November 2007
Edgars Consolidated Stores has been appointed the official operator for the 2010 Fifa World Cup stores in South Africa, the soccer body announced on Wednesday. The official event stores will be in 160 branches of Edgars throughout the country, with the first shop scheduled to open later in November to coincide with the preliminary draw in Durban on November 25.
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/ 21 November 2007
Miserable world markets dragged the JSE deeper into the red by noon on Wednesday. At noon, the all-share index dropped 1,23% and banks retreated 1,98%. Financials retreated 1,57% and industrials were off 1,81%. The platinum-mining index was down 1,36% and the gold-mining index pulled back 0,56%, while resources gave up 0,52%.
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/ 21 November 2007
Wales have never been an easy side to beat at home — not for the Springboks, anyway. In fact, after 13 matches, the Boks’ biggest winning margin against the Dragons in Wales is 17 points. This weekend won’t be any different when the two sides meet at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, promises acting head coach Nigel Davies.
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/ 21 November 2007
Lazarus Tlhahane (69), a grandfather seven times over, is hoping to be adopted. He owns one of the 15 makeshift stalls that have sprung up across the road from the Soccer City stadium in Soweto. From his stall Lazarus serves up plates of pap and stew to some of the site’s 1Â 600 construction workers.
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/ 21 November 2007
Teko Modise netted twice to give Bafana Bafana a 2-0 win in an international friendly against Canada at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Tuesday. The Orlando Pirates playmaker netted a splendid goal from 20m in the 39th minute and got his second on the stroke of halftime with a well-taken penalty.
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/ 21 November 2007
It has been more than 31 hours since a petrol tank was struck by lightning at Durban’s Engen Refinery and by 7am on Wednesday the tank was still burning. plant officials said. ”The fire seems to be very persistent,” said Engen spokesperson Herb Payne.
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/ 21 November 2007
In the run-up to the World Cup preliminary draw in Durban on Sunday, fresh questions are being raised over South Africa’s preparedness to host the world’s second-largest sporting event in 932 days. Once again the spotlight is on the 10 World Cup stadiums after strikes by thousands of workers.
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/ 20 November 2007
The cause of the outbreak of diarrhoea in Delmas was not tainted water, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Lindiwe Hendricks said on Tuesday. ”The results from tests conducted on water samples taken from Delmas have proven negative for microbiological contamination,” Hendricks said.
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/ 20 November 2007
The City of Cape Town’s spy saga took another turn on Tuesday with Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille deciding on legal action against controversial expelled councillor Badih Chaaban. De Lille met police on Tuesday afternoon in connection with the alleged illegal surveillance of politicians in the city.
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/ 20 November 2007
Residents of Botleng township near Delmas have resorted to buying water from local shops following the outbreak of diarrhoea in the area. Maria Sisiphuma, a mother of five children, said she buys water for R8,50 per five litres because she does not want her children to get sick.
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/ 20 November 2007
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool has blamed ”overeager” members of his own party for a report that President Thabo Mbeki has intervened to defuse a row over Rasool himself. Rasool, a member of the African National Congress (ANC), was accused in an official report last week of knowingly making incorrect statements to the legislature.
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/ 20 November 2007
Two of the country’s best heavyweights, Corrie Sanders and Osborne Machimana, will clash at Emperors Palace on February 2 next year, it was announced by promoter Rodney Berman on Tuesday. The tantalising showdown for Machimana’s South African heavyweight title will head a boxing extravaganza.
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/ 20 November 2007
Legislation relating to judicial conduct and ethics was unanimously approved in the National Assembly on Tuesday. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla said recent controversial incidents regarding alleged indiscretions by members of the judiciary had highlighted the lack of a credible legal framework.
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/ 20 November 2007
Newly appointed Johannesburg metro police officers who downed tools to protest against a lack of equipment went back to work on Tuesday, police said. ”Officers were told that if they did not go back to work then they would be charged, since they form part of an essential service,” said metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.
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/ 20 November 2007
President Thabo Mbeki will not attend a Dakar summit aimed at accelerating an African initiative to increase government accountability and reduce poverty, his deputy minister of foreign affairs said on Tuesday. Mbeki had been expected to be among a group of African leaders gathering capital to discuss ways of improving the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad).
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/ 20 November 2007
A police sergeant sitting in a car at the Woodstock police station saw two men in a red BMW opening fire on police Inspector Lourens le Roux, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday. It is alleged that the two men were being investigated by Le Roux for the earlier murder of Godfrey Hendricks, in an argument over a baseball cap.
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/ 20 November 2007
South Africa urged rich countries on Tuesday to provide the hardware required for the deployment of a hybrid United Nations-Africa peacekeeping force in the strife-torn Darfur region of western Sudan. The Darfur conflict between rebels and a pro-government militia has claimed an estimated 200 000 lives in the past four years.
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/ 20 November 2007
Bushmen in Botswana on Tuesday confirmed that they planned to return to court within a matter of weeks if the government continued to prevent them from returning home, Survival International said in a statement. ”Hundreds of letters signed by Bushmen were today [Tuesday] handed to Botswana’s Department of Wildlife, detailing their concerns,” the statement said.
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/ 20 November 2007
Pollution at the Vaal River has reached crisis proportions, an environmental scientist said on Tuesday. Claudia Holgate described the sewerage spillage running into the Vaal River as ”a crisis” at a meeting of Save the Vaal Environment held at the Vaal River Barrage Reservoir.
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/ 20 November 2007
A South African Airways (SAA) Express flight travelling on Tuesday between Cape Town and Namibia, which had to turn around due to technical difficulties, departed at 1pm, the airline said. ”The aircraft was repaired,” said SAA Express spokesperson Dileseng Koetle.