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/ 15 September 2007
The South African Presidency on Friday rejected as untrue reports that the government had been secretly working to remove Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe from power. The Presidency said in a statement it wished to ”caution the media from falling victim of those who … peddle untruths which may impact negatively on the ongoing process of dialogue”.
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/ 14 September 2007
The last day of testimony in the case of former spy boss Billy Masetlha in Pretoria on Friday ended with the defence applying to recall some of the witnesses who have already testified. Masetlha is charged with withholding information from Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani.
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/ 14 September 2007
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Pakistani fast-bowler Muhammad Asif stunned a near-capacity crowd of partisan supporters by taking a wicket in each of his four overs in the Twenty20 World Championship cricket match against India at the Sahara Stadium Kingsmead in Durban on Friday, setting up a grand struggle between the two Asian giants.
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/ 14 September 2007
Nurses in the public health sector would receive increases of between 20% and 88% on their starting salaries, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday. The increases come as part of the occupational-specific dispensation which would see substantial improvements in the salaries of professionals in the Health Department.
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/ 14 September 2007
The Independent Democrats (ID) came out winners on Friday in a last-minute flurry of applications to the Cape High Court by ID defectors to retain their seats. The party said bids by four former ID local councillors in the Western Cape to keep their seats were rejected by the court with costs. Two of the four were members of the Cape Town city council.
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/ 14 September 2007
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Australia bounced back from the embarrassment of defeat against Zimbabwe to crush England by eight wickets in a Twenty20 World Championship match at Newlands on Friday. Needing a win to advance past the group stage, Australia produced an emphatic performance, bowling out England for 135 and then racing to victory in 14.5 overs.
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/ 14 September 2007
South Africa cannot afford to lose the tripartite alliance, businessman Tokyo Sexwale told students in Johannesburg on Friday. ”We can’t have a Cosatu [Congress of South African Trade Unions] that feels that it has got serious difficulties with the ANC [African National Congress],” he said.
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/ 14 September 2007
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and LJ van Zyl, two of South Africa’s top athletes, have both lost their number-one positions on the latest IAAF world rankings in the 800m and 400m hurdles respectively. It followed after their disappointing performances at the recent World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
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/ 14 September 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) has issued a sharply worded statement attacking opposition parties for failing to turn up at scheduled meetings of Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests. The committee is responsible for issuing the annual statement of the interests of members of both houses.
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/ 14 September 2007
A group of Afrikaner activists under the banner of AfriForum is off to Europe to draw the International Olympic Committee’s attention to the threat of interference in sport posed by the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill. The legislation was passed by the National Council of Provinces on Thursday.
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/ 14 September 2007
The Western Cape legislature’s public accounts committee has cleared African National Congress provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha of wrongdoing in a lucrative Cape Town land deal, the ANC said on Friday. Allegations that Skwatsha had interfered in the sale of a province-owned 2,4ha erf in Tamboerskloof were referred to the committee by the Democratic Alliance.
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/ 14 September 2007
Twins Danielle and Danika Lowton were doing well a week after the operation that separated them, the Arwyp Hospital said on Friday. Spokesperson Henry du Plooy said Dr Wale Adedipe, Arwyp Medical Centre’s resident neurosurgeon, reported that the twins were doing ”very well” after he visited them on Friday.
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/ 14 September 2007
The government welcomes open debate on the issue of foreign land ownership, Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana said on Friday. She said this particularly applied to the question of whether or not proposed new regulations on land ownership should be put into effect retrospectively.
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/ 14 September 2007
Talks to resolve the wage dispute between the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa and employers in the motor industry were under way on Friday, the union said. Spokesperson Mziwakhe Hlangani said: ”They are in talks as we speak … there are no new developments yet, it’s better to speak a bit later.”
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/ 14 September 2007
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and Louis Luyt’s minuscule Federal Alliance (FA) have amalgamated, party leaders announced on Friday. At the same time, Luyt also announced his retirement from active politics at the end of September. Luyt and FF+ leader Pieter Mulder agreed that greater cooperation between opposition parties was the only way to challenge the African National Congress.
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/ 14 September 2007
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Power-packed Sri Lanka posted the biggest victory in Twenty20 cricket on Friday as they thrashed hapless Kenya by 172 runs in the world championship in Johannesburg. The World Cup finalists earlier this year hit a new Twenty20 record total of 260-6 after being sent in to bat at the Wanderers and then dismissed Kenya for 88 runs in the Group C match.
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/ 14 September 2007
London-listed Petra Diamonds aims to reopen South Africa’s Kimberley underground mine in six to 12 months and restore output to 120 000-carats per year, the firm’s chief executive, Johan Dippenaar, said on Friday. The firm would invest about R100-million per year in Kimberley, which it agreed to buy for R78,5-million from De Beers.
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/ 14 September 2007
Poppy Buthelezi, who was shot by police during the 1976 Soweto uprising died this week. She was ubuntu personified, a family friend said on Friday. Buthelezi (48), who had been confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life after she was shot in the back in the 1976 uprising, died on Thursday, said Cecil Moeng, Buthelezi’s spokesperson.
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/ 14 September 2007
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has accused the police and Western Cape provincial minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane of trying to justify their actions by disseminating misinformation and conducting smear campaigns. ”Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” she said in her weekly online newsletter on Friday.
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/ 14 September 2007
South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Friday that it was concerned that the proposed Employee Share Ownership Scheme (ESOP) proposed under Sasol’s R17,9-billion black economic empowerment (BEE) deal "falls short of the level of empowerment envisioned in the Codes [of Good Practice]".
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/ 14 September 2007
South African inflation is expected to return to its target range in the second half of 2008, the country’s central bank said on Friday. The South African Reserve Bank’s forecast was more hawkish than previous predictions. After its August monetary policy meeting, it expected inflation to come back to the target band in the second quarter of 2008.
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/ 14 September 2007
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African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma may not intervene in the state’s plan to extend an investigation into him to the United Kingdom. Judge Willie van der Merwe ruled against an application brought by Zuma to intervene in the state’s request to obtain information from banks and lawyers.
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/ 14 September 2007
The former deputy to South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the minister deliberately undercut her efforts to tackle chronic illness in the HIV/Aids-ravaged country. Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said Msimang sabotaged her work in the department.
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/ 13 September 2007
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Rain washed out the Twenty20 World Championship match between India and Scotland on Thursday without a ball being bowled. The teams were awarded one point each. India are scheduled to play Pakistan in Group D at the same venue on Friday.
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/ 13 September 2007
A fifth badly decomposed body of a woman has been found in a KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) sugar-cane field, police said on Thursday. ”We suspect the woman was about 18 to 35 years of age,” said police spokesperson Superintendent Zandra Hechter. The body was found on Thursday afternoon.
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/ 13 September 2007
Former intelligence director general Billy Masetlha, charged with withholding information from Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani, went out of his way to provide such information, the Hatfield Community Court heard on Thursday during testimony by Masetlha.
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/ 13 September 2007
The eight 2010 Soccer World Cup host cities will hold celebrations to mark the beginning of the 1Â 000-day countdown to the event, the City of Tshwane said on Thursday. President Thabo Mbeki is expected to make an address at celebrations taking place at the Union Buildings on Friday — which marks exactly 1Â 000 days until the soccer spectacle kicks off.
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/ 13 September 2007
Since the beginning of the year not a single illegal farm eviction has been reported to farming union AgriSA, it said in a statement on Thursday. The union was responding to remarks by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Dirk du Toit that farmers who illegally evicted tenant workers would have their land expropriated.
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/ 13 September 2007
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Kevin Pietersen lashed 79 off 37 balls as England beat giant-killers Zimbabwe in a Twenty20 World Championship match at Newlands on Thursday. England won by 50 runs as they sent Zimbabwe crashing back to earth after their shock five-wicket win over tournament favourites Australia at the same ground on Wednesday.
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/ 13 September 2007
Transnet Pipelines has been given the go-ahead to construct a petroleum pipeline from Durban to Gauteng, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) said on Thursday. Expected to cost R11-billion to build, it will carry petrol and diesel and is expected to come into use in the third quarter of 2010, said spokesperson Wanda Langenhoven.
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/ 13 September 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape has accused the Independent Democrats (ID) of attempting to lure ANC councillors to cross the floor with job offers. ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha told a media briefing on Thursday the ANC was in possession of a letter in this regard, signed by ID provincial chairperson Sakkie Jenner.
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/ 13 September 2007
Despite loud and bitter protests from the opposition, the National Assembly on Thursday approved the slate of candidates for the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which was proposed by the communications portfolio committee.