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/ 19 September 2007
Sexual harassment on farms is on the increase and the victims are getting younger, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) heard on Wednesday. This was according to Claudia Lopes from Rural Education Awareness and Community Health (Reach), presenting at public hearings on the effectiveness of legislative and policy changes in farming communities.
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/ 19 September 2007
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula was on Wednesday granted leave by the Pretoria High Court to appeal against a ruling that he rebuild the shacks of a group of squatters or face arrest. The minister was also once again ordered to rebuild some of the demolished shacks before noon on Friday.
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/ 19 September 2007
Taxi operators on Wednesday blamed the registrar for public transport in Gauteng for violence that erupted between two taxi groups vying for the Clearwater Mall route west of Johannesburg. The Faraday Taxi Association and the Dobsonville, Roodepoort, Leratong, Johannesburg Taxi Association said the registrar had failed to decide who could use the route.
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/ 19 September 2007
The special investigating unit (SIU) on Wednesday confirmed it is investigating thousands of government officials believed to have fraudulently received housing subsidies. In its initial findings, the SIU identified 53 000 public servants receiving housing subsidies, for which more than 31 000 did not qualify.
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/ 19 September 2007
Metro police chief Robert McBride’s lawyer has confirmed he is the prosecutor in disciplinary charges against three of McBride’s suspended colleagues and accusers. ”I am prosecuting the three. I am acting against [Stanley] Sagathevan, [Patrick] Johnson and [Itumeleng] Koko,” Roshan Dehal said.
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/ 19 September 2007
Floor-crossing politicians managed to shift the majority party in control in 12 of the country’s 128 municipalities during the two-week crossing period, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Wednesday. The African National Congress gained the most councillors, the IEC figures showed.
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/ 19 September 2007
One person was reported missing on Wednesday following a blaze that ripped through the Island View Storage (IVS) depot in Durban, police said. In a statement released shortly after midday on Wednesday, IVS MD Koos Ehlers said eight tanks had been damaged or destroyed.
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/ 19 September 2007
Some Potchefstroom residents are intent on resorting to legal action if the city’s name changes continue, Action Potchefstroom said on Wednesday. A residents’ meeting approved a decision that the North West minister of developmental, local government and housing, Howard Yawa, be challenged in court.
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/ 19 September 2007
Volkswagen South Africa is ”on the brink of disaster” because of the motor-industry components strike, MD David Powels said on Wednesday. The six-day-old work stoppage has so far cost the company a production loss of 500 cars per day. Volkswagen’s Uitenhage plant has been brought to a standstill.
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/ 19 September 2007
A day after Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on Britain to toughen its stance on Zimbabwe and press its neighbours, including South Africa, to intervene, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said ”quiet diplomacy” was showing results. Speaking on Wednesday, Pahad hailed the constitutional changes agreed to by all the parties in Zimbabwe as a positive development.
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/ 19 September 2007
Strong measures are still needed to fight organised crime, especially in countries with new democracies, Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) head Willie Hofmeyr said in Pretoria on Wednesday. ”States with new democracies are often weak and lack skills and legal weapons to combat organised crime,” he said.
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/ 19 September 2007
Construction of Cape Town’s 2010 stadium at Green point has ground to a halt again over a labour dispute. The city council said in a statement that some workers downed tools on Tuesday and were still not working on Wednesday. The construction site had been ”closed down temporarily”.
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/ 19 September 2007
Auditor General (AG) Terence Nombembe will conduct an audit next year to assess station-level performance within the South African Police Service (SAPS). The special audit will examine, among others, uneven service delivery at station-level across the country, which affects the way that are opened and recorded, and crime statistics compiled.
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/ 19 September 2007
South Africa’s advertising watchdog rejected complaints on Wednesday over a commercial showing a secretary spitting into her boss’s coffee, saying she cleared her throat too loudly for it to be taken seriously. The advert by a chain of florists for Secretaries Day earlier this month showed a woman noisily clearing phlegm from her throat before spitting it into a cup of coffee.
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/ 19 September 2007
Another teenager has been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a King Edward VII high school pupil, Johannesburg police said on Wednesday. Mfundo Ntshangase, a grade 11 pupil, was stabbed seven times at a party in Randburg on Sunday. He died in hospital while his friend, who was also stabbed, survived the incident.
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/ 19 September 2007
The confidence levels of retailers declined during the third quarter of 2007, according to the latest Bureau for Economic Research (BER) Retail Survey. The BER’s retailer confidence index dipped from a record high of 91 index points in the second quarter of 2007 to a level of 84 during the third quarter.
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/ 19 September 2007
"Let’s stop meaningless journalism." That was the cry from new South African press ombudsman Joe Nong Thloloe at a forum, themed Leading Conversations, held on Tuesday. Thloloe, a former South African Broadcasting Corporation and e.tv news editor-in-chief, was appointed to the position at the launch of the new Press Council of South Africa on Friday August 3.
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/ 19 September 2007
Too much ambition might leave a politician without a seat on a council — this was the lesson that some councillors learned the hard way during the recent floor-crossing period. Figures released by the Independent Electoral Commission on Wednesday showed that 30 councillors would have no seats on individual municipal councils.
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/ 19 September 2007
Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa needs to explain the ”confusion” between his department and the National Lotteries Board (NLB), the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. While the department denied involvement in the 42,4% increase in performance bonuses at the NLB, board spokesperson Sershan Naidoo had contended Mpahlwa authorised the bonuses himself.
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/ 19 September 2007
Delegations from the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) met in Johannesburg on Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the contents of a letter SABC group CEO Dali Mpofu sent to Sanef on August 31, announcing that the broadcaster had broken ties with the editors’ forum.
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/ 19 September 2007
The growing number of violent incidents in schools stems from problems within society and parents being too lenient, the Gauteng African National Congress’s education sub-committee said on Wednesday. ”We need good role models in society to be able to influence children,” said sub-committee chairperson Amon Msane.
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/ 19 September 2007
Judge Jeanette Traverso, hearing FirstRand’s urgent application for an interdict against the satirical magazine <i>NoseWeek</i> in the Cape High Court, said on Wednesday that there seemed to be little doubt that the tax-avoidance scheme at the heart of the case "is suspect".
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/ 19 September 2007
The JSE extended its gains by midday on Wednesday following the rally in world markets that was driven by a strong performance on Wall Street overnight. Wall Street surged on news that the United States Federal Reserve had cut interest rates by 50 basis points, creating a positive sentiment for investors for bargain-hunting.
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/ 19 September 2007
Having for the first time in a decade halted the draining away of freight transportation from the railways to the roads, Maria Ramos, the chief executive of Transnet, is aiming to win back a large slice of the business. "Not all cargo on the roads is suitable for rail," Ramos explained in Cape Town on Wednesday, "but we are targeting the container traffic aggressively."
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/ 19 September 2007
Some of South Africa’s most famous artists, including singer Johnny Clegg, have accused the country’s public broadcaster of demanding bribes if they want to be heard on air. ”It’s a very crazy situation … that we local musicians have to pay to get airplay on radio stations,” said Clegg, who is nicknamed the White Zulu.
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/ 19 September 2007
Firefighters battled for more than four hours on Tuesday evening to control a blaze at Durban’s Island View chemical storage depot. The inferno erupted when three tanks containing highly flammable chemicals exploded at 7pm. Hundreds of residents on the Bluff flocked to view the flames shooting high into the night sky.
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/ 18 September 2007
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Bangladesh were dumped out of the Twenty20 World Championship on Tuesday after slumping to a 64-run defeat to Sri Lanka, whose miserly attack quashed early fears of an upset. Veteran seamer Chaminda Vaas, who took 2-14 off his four overs, and Dilhara Fernando were the stars for Sri Lanka.
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/ 18 September 2007
Durban’s Island View oil depot was ablaze on Tuesday night after three tanks exploded. Hundreds of residents on the Bluff flocked to various streets and points to view flames shooting high into the night sky. A Bluff resident, Ivan Raimbault, said there was an explosion at about 7pm. Ten minutes later the second tank blew. The third one exploded five minutes later.
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/ 18 September 2007
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England captain Paul Collingwood apologised on Tuesday for visiting a lap-dancing club one day before playing South Africa in Twenty20 World Championship. ”It’s obviously unacceptable and I’ll have to learn from that,” Collingwood said. ”I made a mistake.” Collingwood visited the club in Cape Town after England had lost to Australia on Friday by eight wickets.
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/ 18 September 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) is not attacking the labour movement when it says it needs to be strengthened, the organisation said on Tuesday. ”Comments suggesting that the ANC is trying to belittle, abuse, ridicule or undermine the contribution of workers in the fight for freedom are wrong and misplaced,” said the ANC in a statement.
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/ 18 September 2007
Media personality Stan Katz’s ex-wife, Philippa Sklaar, on Tuesday denied that she had exaggerated an assault on her to gain publicity for her new cookbook. Sklaar, a professional chef who now lives in America, was being cross-examined in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court where Talk Radio 702’s former chief executive, Katz, is facing two charges of having assaulted her in 2000.
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/ 18 September 2007
There is a ”massive” service crisis within rail-passenger company Metrorail, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. There are also concerns about the Transnet division’s readiness for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, DA MP Mpowele Swath said in a statement. Responding, Metrorail on Tuesday denied the claims that it was experiencing a service crisis.