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/ 6 November 2007

TauTona mine shut, under government probe

A government inspection was still ongoing at on one of South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti’s larger mines, which was shut on Friday after a miner was killed in a rockfall, the company said on Tuesday. More than 150 workers have been killed in mine accidents this year in South Africa compared to about 200 last year.

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/ 6 November 2007

World Cup can heal Africa’s wounds

The first Soccer World Cup to be held in Africa can be the glue which binds a continent too often riven by conflict, according to the man in charge of organising the world’s most popular sporting event. Danny Jordaan said the 2010 tournament was a perfect opportunity to showcase Africa and banish negative stereotypes.

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/ 6 November 2007

Loxion kulcha: Soweto TV takes the lead

The only fixed-line telephone for the first community television station in South Africa to get a year-long broadcasting licence is hidden away in an outdoor broadcasting van for fear of freeloading by staff and guests. When you call the station let it ring for a long time, publicist Deon Botha advises.

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/ 5 November 2007

Patient shot dead, employee wounded at Bara

A gunman shot and wounded an employee and killed a patient at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital on Monday afternoon, Gauteng police said. The man entered the hospital during visiting hours at about 3.45pm and opened fire, said Captain Phillemon Khorombi. ”He shot a 52-year-old female employee and a male patient aged 35.”

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/ 5 November 2007

Advocate will no longer head Cape Town ‘spy’ probe

Advocate Geoff Budlender will not be conducting the investigation into the City of Cape Town’s ”spy” affair, mayor Helen Zille announced on Monday. ”It has come to my attention that advocate Geoffrey Budlender previously provided advice to the legal adviser of the speaker regarding a potential interdict of councillor [Badih] Chaaban,” she said.

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/ 5 November 2007

Grisly find in carrier bag

A woman’s body was found in a carrier bag that was left with a Johannesburg street vendor by an unknown man on Monday, Gauteng police said. Spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said a man left a carrier bag with a vendor on the corner of Pritchard and Goud streets.

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/ 5 November 2007

IMF: ‘Appropriate’ for SA to raise rates

Tighter monetary policy in South Africa and other emerging-market economies is ”very appropriate” given the upside risks to inflation, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said on Monday. Charles Collyns, deputy director for research at the IMF, said emerging markets face different problems to advanced economies.

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/ 5 November 2007

Assaulted and murdered — for R20

An Eastern Cape man was on Monday convicted of indecently assaulting and murdering his aunt because she owed him R20. Grahamstown High Court Judge Jeremy Pickering found that Caswell Nkanunu, of Emasimini, murdered Nomanci Taliwe (47), of Elliot, in her house on December 11 2004.

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/ 5 November 2007

Oprah ‘shaken’ by school sex claims

United States television magnate Oprah Winfrey said on Monday that abuse charges at her all-girl academy in Johannesburg was one of the most devastating experiences in her life. ”This has been one of the most devastating, if not the most devastating, experiences of my life,” she said in a video news conference from Chicago.

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/ 5 November 2007

Durban World Cup stadium strike looms

Union representatives and management of the company contracted to build Durban’s 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium will meet on Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to avert a strike that would halt construction at the stadium. The National Union of Mineworkers is demanding project bonuses of R1 500 a month for each worker.

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/ 5 November 2007

Former Tshwane mayor in head-on collision

Former Tshwane mayor Smangaliso Mkhatshwa was admitted to hospital on Monday after the vehicle in which he was travelling collided head-on with a Toyota Tazz in Pretoria, Tshwane metro police said. Spokesperson William Baloyi said the accident occurred at about 9am at the corner of Pretorius and Church streets.

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/ 5 November 2007

Will govt depts pay to network in Polokwane?

<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 reported networking lounge at this year’s African National Congress (ANC) national conference could set taxpayers back by up to R40-million, the Democratic Alliance warned on Monday. Media reports said that big business is to fork out R5-million for a seat on the sidelines of the ANC’s national conference in Polokwane next month.

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/ 5 November 2007

German firm pledges R1,7bn SA investment

A German manufacturing company has invested about R284-million in South Africa’s first fabrication yard for oil and gas platforms as part of a R1,7-billion investment pledge, government news agency BuaNews reported on Monday. MAN Ferrostaal has opened the fabrication yard for oil and gas platforms at Saldanha Bay near Cape Town.

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/ 5 November 2007

Aids activist urges new TB plan

African nations are failing to control tuberculosis and could be overwhelmed by drug resistant strains of the infectious lung disease, with dire implications for the war on HIV/Aids, a leading Aids activist said on Monday. ”The explosion of tuberculosis on the continent is combined with the explosion and advance of the HIV epidemic,” said Zackie Achmat of the Treatment Action Campaign.

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/ 5 November 2007

Fire damages theatres at Jo’burg hospital

Fire damaged five operating theatres at Coronation Hospital in Newclare, Johannesburg, on Monday, causing several patients to be moved to nearby hospitals, the provincial department of health said. Patients who require emergency medical operations were moved to Johannesburg and Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospitals.

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/ 5 November 2007

British warship to visit Cape Town

A British warship, the HMS Southampton, is expected to arrive in Cape Town on Monday for a visit on the final part of an eight-month deployment from the United Kingdom. The ship has operated around the Pacific, South America and the South Atlantic as the UK’s ”on call” warship in the area.