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/ 28 September 2007
Losing National Lottery bidder Igwija Gaming on Friday indicated that it might launch renewed court action questioning the awarding of the licence to incumbent operator Gidani. In a lengthy media statement, Igwija said it would request an urgent meeting with Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa.
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/ 28 September 2007
The medical superintendent of Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, who spoke out about the recent spate of baby deaths there, has been fired, the Eastern Cape health department said on Friday. The department found Dr Nokuzola Ntshona guilty on three charges of speaking out against its handling of the Frere Hospital maternity saga.
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/ 28 September 2007
Opposition parties on Friday called for a commission of inquiry to investigate police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi and for President Thabo Mbeki to state categorically whether a warrant was issued for Selebi’s arrest. Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said the seriousness of the situation should not be underestimated.
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/ 28 September 2007
The number of overcrowded schools has fallen from 51% in 1999 to 24% in 2006, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said on Friday. Further, ”the number of schools with electricity has increased from 11 174 in 1996 to 20 713 in 2006”, she said at the opening of Thengwe Secondary School in Limpopo.
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/ 28 September 2007
Another two bodies have been found in the sugar-cane fields near the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) town of Umzinto, police confirmed on Friday. Spokesperson Superintendent Zandra Hechter said the bodies were discovered in the early hours of Friday morning adjacent to the Shayamoya township of Umzinto. Their identities were not known yet.
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/ 28 September 2007
Three hundred former and present members of Discovery Health are suing the insurer for R852Â 000 in connection with an ancillary fee that they believe was charged illegally. But the group spearheading the action believes the company could be sued for up to R692-million should it succeed in its action, which they say could establish a precedent.
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/ 28 September 2007
South Africa recorded a trade deficit of R9,1-billion in August, compared with July’s R9,4-billion shortfall, the South African Revenue Service said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters last week had forecast a deficit of R5,3-billion, but the number is notoriously volatile and hard to predict.
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/ 28 September 2007
The drunken-driving trial of Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata has been postponed to Tuesday to give his defence team time to consider its next move. Bantubonke Tokota told magistrate Desmond Nair on Friday that he and his colleagues wanted further consultation with experts on audio recordings that the state intended to present as evidence.
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/ 28 September 2007
Three appeal court judges on Friday set aside the life-imprisonment sentence of Mark Scott-Crossley, the man earlier convicted in the Phalaborwa Circuit Court of murder for throwing Nelson Oupa Chisale to lions in January 2004. The Supreme Court of Appeal, in a unanimous judgement, upheld an appeal by Scott-Crossley against his conviction for murdering Chisale.
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/ 28 September 2007
A seaman aboard the SA Agulhas died on Friday morning in an incident involving other crew members. ”Following a non-work related incident … in the early hours of this morning, we regret to advise of the death of one of the crew members, 22-year-old Edward Robert Hulley,” a statement said.
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/ 28 September 2007
A three-bedroom house in Khutsong, near Carletonville, caved in as a result of a sinkhole on Friday, the Merafong municipality said. Spokesperson Seabo Gaeganelwe said nobody was injured as the occupants had moved two months ago. A survey in 1997 found that 90% of Khutsong fell within extremely high-risk zones.
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/ 28 September 2007
Municipal workers would oppose the City of Johannesburg’s attempt to interdict them from embarking on a strike on Monday, a union said on Friday. The South African Municipal Worker’s Union (Samwu), which represents over 10Â 000 municipal workers, planned to strike on Monday over wages.
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/ 28 September 2007
After an absence of six months, the National Lottery would make its comeback with a jackpot prize of R15-million, newly appointed Lotto operator Gidani announced on Friday. Tickets for the first draw which would take place on October 13, would go on sale at 7Â 000 retailers across the country from October 5.
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/ 28 September 2007
The Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Tito Mboweni, said on Friday that while credit problems in the United States have given the global imbalance issue some impetus, South Africa also has its own imbalance with the current-account deficit at about 6% of GDP.
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/ 28 September 2007
Meet Max, the Stud Butler. He’s an oversized, flesh-coloured ventriloquist’s dummy with a bow tie and hard-on — the world’s first hands-free sex toy, available at South Africa’s first sex expo, the Sexpo. However, he won’t fit discreetly into the underwear drawer, and will probably require a cupboard all to himself.
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/ 28 September 2007
AltX-listed independent power producer the Ispa Group on Friday said it intends to bring its 1 600MW combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Coega on stream as fast as possible "to meet the desperate need for power in South Africa".
The United Kingdom-based company is expected to spend more than R2-billion on the plant.
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/ 28 September 2007
The retail price of 91 unleaded and 93 unleaded and lead-replacement petrol will rise by 9 cents a litre on Wednesday October 3, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. The price of 95 unleaded and lead-replacement petrol will increase by 10 cents a litre. The wholesale price of diesel — all grades — will rise by 23 cents a litre.
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/ 28 September 2007
Heavy storms hit North West province on Wednesday and Thursday, damaging dozens of houses and killing livestock, said the provincial department of local government and housing on Friday. In Gauteng, several areas suffered power failures on Thursday as gusting winds and heavy rainfall swept through the province.
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/ 28 September 2007
Over half of South Africa’s current maths and science teachers are not properly qualified, contributing to the country’s massive skills shortage. ”This is a real problem, as we need more than 1 000 engineers with five years’ relevant experience,” said the Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena.
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/ 28 September 2007
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has called for a special meeting next week to ”discuss and finalise” the fate of its president Willie Madisha, a media report said on Friday. Earlier this month, Madisha came under fire from his own executive for the way he handled the matter of a R500Â 000 ”donation” to the South African Communist Party.
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/ 27 September 2007
Several areas in Gauteng suffered power cuts on Thursday as gusting winds and heavy rain swept through the province, City Power said. ”There are no major outages, but houses and businesses have been affected,” said spokesperson Louise Pieterse.
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/ 27 September 2007
A warrant of arrest has been issued for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Thursday. The state broadcaster said it had reliably learnt that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) obtained the warrant. NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali would not comment on the report late on Thursday afternoon.
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/ 27 September 2007
It was a day of wrangling over evidence in the drunken-driving trial of Judge Nkola Motata at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The court adjourned on Thursday afternoon after prosecutor Zaais van Zyl attempted to enter five recordings made by Baird on his cellphone, allegedly of Motata using derogatory language.
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/ 27 September 2007
A man staggering and groping like a blind man and swearing like a sailor. That was the picture painted of Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata this week.
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/ 27 September 2007
Allegations that South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board deputy chairperson Christine Qunta is involved in a company selling medicines purported to cure HIV/Aids were ”irresponsible and defamatory”, her lawyer said on Thursday. Athol Gordon was responding to a comments by Zachie Achmat of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
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/ 27 September 2007
Festival-goers at the Aardklop National Arts Festival, under way in Potchefstroom, were forced to abandon the afternoon shows half way through on Thursday when the electricity went out in most of the town. It was not immediately clear what caused the power failure but several shows were interrupted and later scrapped as performers and audiences alike waited for the power to return.
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/ 27 September 2007
Work resumed on Cape Town’s 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium in Green Point on Thursday after a week-long strike. ”Work resumed this morning. It’s been a normal working day and we are very pleased,” deputy project director Ray Gamble said. He declined to comment further on the stoppage that has cost contractors Murray & Roberts and WBHO five days’ work.
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/ 27 September 2007
Unsustainable human settlements were part of apartheid planning, the KwaZulu-Natal local government department said on Thursday at the start of a two-day housing summit in Durban. ”We can no longer romanticise about human settlements …,” said provincial minister of local government Mike Mabuyakhulu.
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/ 27 September 2007
As you enter the gates of Soweto’s biggest shopping mall, you are welcomed by a majestic statue of an elephant. The elephant is seen to represent Richard Maponya as being part of the "big five" of business and retail in Soweto, but the actual symbolism of the stature has nothing to do with the man’s businesses.
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/ 27 September 2007
Developing countries are willing to do more when it comes to tackling climate change, but the ”trigger” has to come from the North, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Thursday. In a speech prepared for delivery in Washington, he said participants in such efforts had to include the United States.
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/ 27 September 2007
Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has criticised the South African soccer authorities for not showing more concern in his quest to shape up his team for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. ”We are hosting the World Cup in two-and-a-half years and people don’t seem to understand the urgency in preparing the team for it,” said Parreira.
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/ 27 September 2007
The giant stone found last month in the North West has still not been verified as the ”world’s largest diamond”. President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses Ernest Blom said on Thursday that he still had not seen the stone. He remains the only person permitted to examine the stone.