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/ 15 November 2007
Local companies have benefited to the tune of R850-million from defence offset contracts for equipment installed aboard the South African Navy’s four new Valour-class frigates. South Africa has acquired the four new frigates at a total cost of about €500-million (about R4,9-billion).
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/ 15 November 2007
The initial cause of the diarrhoea outbreak in Delmas was water contamination, said Mpumalanga Premier Thabang Makwetla on Thursday. ”When we noticed the outbreak in October, we discovered that the water was contaminated,” he said. However, Makwetla said that more cases were reported after the water was purified.
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/ 15 November 2007
Eighteen coffins, suspected to have been stolen from graves, were found in an empty home in Soshanguve, Pretoria, the Sowetan reported on Thursday. Police raided the abandoned home on Wednesday, removing the coffins, which seem to have been dug up from graves, the report said.
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/ 15 November 2007
The outcome of the Competition Commission’s report on collusion in the bread and milling industry did not come as a surprise, Grain SA said on Thursday. The commission ordered Tiger Brands to pay an administrative penalty of R99-million, after the company admitted that it had participated in bread and milling cartels.
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/ 15 November 2007
An official inquiry has concluded that Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool misled his legislature, a source in the legislature said on Thursday. The multiparty inquiry was set up to investigate contradictory statements last year on spending on security upgrades to the home of community safety minister Leonard Ramatlakane.
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/ 15 November 2007
The Constitutional Court on Thursday reserved judgement in the case of a man seeking to have his five-year stay in St Alban’s maximum-security jail near Port Elizabeth declared unlawful. Jonathan Zealand is claiming R10,4-million in damages from the ministers of justice and correctional services.
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/ 15 November 2007
The Nazier Kapdi drug case in the Wynberg Regional Court in Cape Town deteriorated into acrimonious exchanges on Thursday, with a defence lawyer saying the trial was ”disgustingly unfair”. The chaos erupted over a technicality involving documents that prosecutor Greg Wolmarans should have handed to the defence team.
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/ 15 November 2007
Group Five and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) were on Thursday locked in negotiations in a bid to stop the strike at the Moses Mabhida Stadium from spreading to other 2010 stadiums under construction. NUM national spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said the two sides had met on Wednesday evening and talks had resumed again on Thursday morning.
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/ 15 November 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has urged the public to hold government to account by participating in the party’s process of evaluating Cabinet ministers. Briefing the media during the launch of the party’s Cabinet report card website, DA parliamentary leader Sandra Botha said the process accorded the public a rare opportunity to rate government ministers.
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/ 15 November 2007
A 37-year old Durban man on Thursday pleaded guilty to stabbing his wife 45 times before driving into Durban’s harbour in a bid to cover up the murder. ”I’m very sorry at what transpired,” said Dhanendra Heeralall as he sat in the dock at the Durban High Court.
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/ 15 November 2007
Service delivery since 1995 has not failed, the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), said on Thursday. Releasing the results of a new survey, the SAIRR said service delivery numbers ”discounted any argument that delivery had been an absolute failure”.
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/ 15 November 2007
Trade union Solidarity has served court papers on South African Airways Technical (SAAT) division to stop its retrenchment process on the grounds that it is procedurally unfair. Last week SAA announced that it had support from trade unions on restructuring plans that would lift the airline out of massive financial losses.
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/ 15 November 2007
African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma has said South Africa would become even better if he became president. Speaking at the Rand Club in Johannesburg, Zuma’s response to those who were thinking of leaving SA if he became president was: ”I can assure you that this country will become even better.”
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/ 15 November 2007
A Durban policeman is undergoing emergency surgery after he was shot twice in the chest while trying to apprehend armed robbers fleeing a crime scene, police said on Thursday. Four armed robbers hit the Beverley Jewellery store at the Pavilion mall in Westville at about 10am and Detective Andre Mostert of the Berea police station intervened.
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/ 15 November 2007
The death toll following a clash at a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)’s meeting at Goldfields’ Beatrix mine in the Free State, has risen to four, a mine spokesperson said on Thursday. Two people were clubbed to death and died at a meeting of about 750 NUM members on Tuesday night.
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/ 15 November 2007
Defeat is too terrible to contemplate for six African minnows when they clash in 2010 World Cup qualifiers this weekend. Failure means three years in the wilderness because the fixtures double as 2010 African Nations Cup qualifiers and the losers will not play competitively again until late that year.
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/ 15 November 2007
R1-billion was ”looted” from the Land Bank, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs said on Wednesday. ”The amounts reported as ‘looted’ in the weekend newspapers are inaccurate,” said ministry spokesperson Godfrey Mdhluli. The Sunday Times reported that top Land Bank officials had siphoned off more than R2-billion meant for farmers.
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/ 15 November 2007
AmaZulu collected three points away from home when they beat a determined Platinum Stars in their Absa Premier League game at the Olympia Park Stadium on Wednesday night. The game started at a frenetic pace, with AmaZulu threatening the home side and visiting their goalmouth on several occasions in the first ten minutes.
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/ 15 November 2007
Piet Koornhof, who died in a Stellenbosch frail care centre on Monday at the age of 82, following a stroke, was a man of contradictions. Seen as a ”verligte” in successive apartheid-era Cabinets, the posts he accepted carried responsibility for some of apartheid’s most bizarre and inhumane policies.
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/ 15 November 2007
Telkom Knockout finalists Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns failed to imprint a psychological advantage for their cup clash next month in a goalless draw at King’s Park Stadium on Wednesday night. After Ajax Cape Town clobbered Moroka Swallows 4-1 in Cape Town, Chiefs now trail the log leaders by a massive 10 points.
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/ 15 November 2007
Matatiele residents were set to march through Pietermaritzburg on Thursday to the KwaZulu-Natal legislature in protest over their incorporation into the Eastern Cape. Matatiele-Maluti Mass Action Organising Committee chairperson Mandla Galo said that at least 45 minibus taxis had transported residents to Pietermaritzburg.
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/ 15 November 2007
Former Cabinet minister Dr Piet Koornhof has been cremated in Stellenbosch in what was apparently a hush-hush service, a media report said on Thursday. Koornhof died on Monday at the age of 82. This follows reports that Koornhof’s former partner, Marcelle Adams, who was planning to fly to Cape Town from Germany, cancelled her plans.
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/ 15 November 2007
Bloemfontein Celtic beat the Limpopo-based Black Leopards 1-0 in a fast, entertaining Absa Premier League game played at Giyani Stadium on Wednesday night. Leopards’ coach, Boebie Solomons, could not believe his eyes when defender Luvhengo Mungomeni scored an own goal trying to clear four minutes before halftime.
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/ 15 November 2007
SuperSport United thrashed Orlando Pirates 3-1 in an Absa Premier League match at Loftus Stadium on Wednesday night. Siboniso Gaxa, Bongani Khumalo and Katlego Mashego netted for SuperSport and Teko Modise got the consolation goal for Pirates.
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/ 15 November 2007
The JSE continued to follow the downward trend in international markets at midday on Thursday, remaining firmly in the red. By 11.58am, the JSE’s all-share index lost 0,7%. The gold mining index gave up 0,8% and resources fell 0,7%, but the platinum mining index added 0,57%.
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/ 14 November 2007
A medical-aid scheme for cats and dogs has been launched, the company behind the initiative said on Wednesday. ”It’s hard enough for us as humans to wade through the multitude of options available to us from the various medical-aid offerings, so a simple one for dogs and cats is as essential for their owners,” Medipet SA said.
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/ 14 November 2007
The Sandton branch of the African National Congress (ANC) has not drawn up or endorsed any list of desired candidates for ANC leadership positions due to be determined later this year. The branch responded on Wednesday to a City Press article published this week that alleged the party had created such a list.
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/ 14 November 2007
An American exchange student from California was raped in the early hours of Tuesday morning in a women’s residence at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. South African Police Service spokesperson Superintendent Vincent Mdunge confirmed that the incident occurred at about 1.30am.
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/ 14 November 2007
Johannesburg police discovered 16kg of cocaine with a street value of R7,2-million at OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday. Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo said officers came across the drugs, hidden in a knapsack, in the airport’s cargo section. The knapsack was concealed in a maize bag.
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/ 14 November 2007
”We have to find a way of dealing with the aggressive way they play,” was the suggestion made by New Zealand cricket vice-captain Brendon McCullum on Wednesday, two days before the second Castle Lager Test match between New Zealand and South Africa at Supersport Park.
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/ 14 November 2007
The Jo’burg Open will again be hosted at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club from January 9 to 13 after a successful inaugural tournament held at the same venue last year. A total of 204 international and local players are expected to tee up in the tournament worth an overall cash prize of €1,1-million.
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/ 14 November 2007
The protracted guessing game is over with the much-anticipated announcement by the Premier Soccer League on Tuesday that the Telkom Knockout final between Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday December 1 will be staged at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.