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/ 21 September 2007
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The inaugural Twenty20 World Championship has been whittled down from 12 teams to just four, and by 10pm on Saturday evening, it will be known which two teams will battle it out in the final at the Wanderers on Monday. The first semifinal, pits Pakistan against New Zealand, and the second, between Australia and India, should be a cracker.
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/ 21 September 2007
A mass grave containing 21 bodies was found outside Rustenburg on Friday in a search for five bodies of Umkhonto weSizwe cadres, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said. Spokesperson Tlali Tlali said the bodies of children, young women and men were discovered in Lethabong village in North West.
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/ 21 September 2007
The son of Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula smelled of liquor when he allegedly drove into oncoming traffic and caused a head-on collision earlier this year, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Friday. Siyabonga Nqakula was also unsteady on his feet, the victim, Yaseen Moses, told the court.
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/ 21 September 2007
Kroonstad blogger Juan Duval Uys (39) stepped free from the dock of the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday, after a charge of crimen injuria, laid by Independent Democrats politician Simon Grindrod, was withdrawn. Uys said that he in turn had laid charges of crimen injuria and harassment against Grindrod.
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/ 21 September 2007
Construction at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town remained at a standstill on Friday as an unprotected strike by workers continued. Striking workers had been locked out of the site, said Building, Construction and Allied Workers’ Union spokesperson Eugenia Peter.
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/ 21 September 2007
Water quality in Durban’s harbour has started to improve following the release of chemicals from a blazing chemical storage depot, a senior Water Affairs and Forestry Department official said on Friday. The chemicals were released into the harbour for three hours on Tuesday night during the blaze.
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/ 21 September 2007
The African National Congress is intent on turning South Africa into an authoritarian state, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille warned on Friday. ”The evidence is now overwhelming: the ruling party is increasingly authoritarian, intolerant of criticism and hostile to the principles of an open society,” she said.
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/ 21 September 2007
Empowerment consortium Gidani has been awarded the licence to operate the National Lottery, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa announced at a press conference on Friday afternoon. Mpahlwa had suspended the lottery on March 31, hours before operator Uthingo’s licence to run it expired.
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/ 21 September 2007
Developed countries are not living up to the promise to help alleviate poverty, hunger and under-development elsewhere, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. For example, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) estimates that only 13 countries are likely to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.
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/ 21 September 2007
Full-colour advertisements placed in a number of national newspapers on Friday by the Health Department defending its Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, were a waste of taxpayers’ money, the Democratic Alliance said. The United Democratic Movement also criticised the advertisements.
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/ 21 September 2007
A 19-year-old was arrested for child neglect after three of her four children were found in a cage, Limpopo police said on Friday. Spokesperson Superintendent Ronel Otto said the woman, who is seven months pregnant, was arrested on Thursday in Zebediela outside Polokwane.
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/ 21 September 2007
South Africa is dogged by a skills mismatch that is like a ticking time bomb, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Friday. The economy has been generating about 76% of jobs requiring semi-skilled and skilled labour, with only 26% of generated jobs requiring labour at the low-skilled level, he said.
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/ 21 September 2007
The trial of Swiss design engineer Daniel Geiges, who was allegedly part of an international nuclear smuggling ring, was postponed on Friday because he is too ill to stand trial. The court was told that Geiges (69) had been diagnosed with cancer of the rectum and was undergoing ”severe treatment”.
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/ 21 September 2007
Sport stars, poets and scientists shared the spotlight at a National Orders awards ceremony in Pretoria on Friday. President Thabo Mbeki bestowed South Africa’s highest awards on 20 recipients. Among those receiving awards were Morne du Plessis, Sam Ramsamy, Roland Schoeman, Elisabeth Eybers and Wally Serote.
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/ 21 September 2007
The ever-increasing cost of private healthcare undermines the country’s transformation agenda, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday. ”There is inadequate level of diversity of ownership and competition within the sector,” she told a private healthcare conference in Midrand.
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/ 21 September 2007
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The state’s premature attempt to gather evidence violates African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma’s right to a fair trial, the Supreme Court of Appeal heard on Friday. The Durban High Court has issued a letter of request for documents from Mauritius the state wants for a possible corruption trial against Zuma.
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/ 21 September 2007
The lack of a sense of shared identity among South Africa’s various cultural groups was cited by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula on Friday as a barrier to fighting high crime levels. Nqakula was speaking to a business audience in Johannesburg about his plans to bring down some of the world’s highest crime levels.
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/ 21 September 2007
The city of Johannesburg has raised R156,9-million during the initial public offering of its new retail bond, the ”Jozibond”. Johannesburg was the first city in Africa to raise money through a municipal bond issue and this was the first listing to date of a municipality on the JSE.
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/ 21 September 2007
Commodity-rich African countries should act wisely in order to benefit from the prevailing global boom for the sector, because it will not last, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has warned. Manuel said in a speech at the University of Namibia that the upswing in commodity prices would ”stay in the short-to-medium term”.
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/ 21 September 2007
Strong winds damaged a high-tech zeppelin that diamond giant De Beers was using to explore for diamonds in Botswana, the firm said on Friday. Gusting winds detached the airship from its moorings on Thursday near the huge Jwaneng mine and injured a South African crew member inside, a statement said.
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/ 21 September 2007
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South African captain Graeme Smith dismissed renewed barbs of ”chokers” after his team crashed out of the Twenty20 World Championship, saying it was the tournament format that did them in.
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/ 21 September 2007
Former South African president Nelson Mandela is alive and well after comments on Iraq by United States President George Bush appear to have been misunderstood, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said on Friday. On Thursday Bush was quoted as saying: ”I heard somebody say, ‘Now where’s Mandela?’ Well, Mandela is dead. Because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas.”
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/ 21 September 2007
A 13-year-old teenager and a 23-year-old man, described by police as the teenager’s friend, were arrested for armed robbery early on Friday, Captain Manyadza Ralidzhivha of Tembisa police said. The two accosted a 22-year-old woman on her way to work and robbed her of her cellphone at gunpoint.
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/ 21 September 2007
A sixth suspect wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of Mfundo Ntshangase, a pupil at King Edward VII School, was arrested on Thursday night, the South African Police Service (SAPS) reported on Friday. The suspect was arrested in Berea, Johannesburg, said SAPS spokesperson Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo.
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/ 21 September 2007
Lawmakers in crime-ridden South Africa approved a Bill on Thursday making it harder for rapists to argue for reduced sentences. The Criminal Law Sentencing Amendment Bill bars judges and magistrates from considering a rape victim’s sexual history or an apparent lack of physical injury to justify lessening minimum jail terms.
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/ 21 September 2007
Athletes have become the first casualty of mining company Harmony’s drastic drive to cut its soaring costs. The company has decided to rid itself of about 40 star athletes on its payroll and invest in developing talent. Professional runners at Harmony earn between R500 and R14 000 a month, depending on experience.
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/ 20 September 2007
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Hosts South Africa were eliminated from the Twenty20 World Cup after paceman Rudra Pratap Singh led India to a 37-run win in their Group E Super Eights match on Thursday. Singh took four for 13 as South Africa made 116 for nine in reply to India’s 153 for five.
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/ 20 September 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday called on its members to ”ignore the insulting decision” taken by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to make recommendations for the election of the ruling party’s national leadership.
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/ 20 September 2007
A string of senior advocates acting for state institutions opposed an application by Khutsong residents in the Constitutional Court on Thursday. Outside, police fired rubber bullets at residents protesting against their municipality, Merafong, being included in North West province.
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/ 20 September 2007
There is an apparent endemic propensity and tendency on the part of all government ministers and other officials either to ignore court orders or treat them with a lack of enthusiasm and respect.
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/ 20 September 2007
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Pakistan laboured to a four-wicket win over Bangladesh at Newlands on Thursday to earn themselves a Twenty20 World Championship semifinal date at the same ground this weekend. Pakistan’s win ensured they finished top of group F in the Super Eight stage with three wins in three matches.
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/ 20 September 2007
A 34-year-old man convicted of raping a seven-year-old girl should be sent to prison for life, the Grahamstown High Court heard on Thursday. The court heard that he had lured the girl and her 10-year-old friend into the house, threatened the girl with a knife and then raped her as her terrified friend watched.