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/ 11 September 2007
Three people were injured and 22 striking refuse workers were arrested for intimidation and public disturbance in Pretoria on Tuesday, the City of Tshwane said. Member of the mayoral committee Gabriel Thwala said the workers were throwing rubbish into the streets and were intimidating non-striking workers, of whom three were injured.
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/ 11 September 2007
State-owned broadcast signal distributor Sentech is protesting that it simply does not have enough money to do its job properly. Writing in the company’s annual report, chairperson Colin Hickling points out that it has been proved impossible to roll out a national broadband radio network until extra funds are received from the government.
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/ 11 September 2007
Demand for skilled South Africans is soaring in the United Kingdom, which is experiencing a major skills shortage, a UK recruitment agency said on Tuesday. "Demand for South African professionals is soaring in the UK because London’s top financial-services industry experiences a massive skills shortage," said Nabila Sadiq of the Joslin Rowe Temporaries agency.
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/ 11 September 2007
The Social Assistance Act unfairly discriminates against a group of men who are among the poorest of the poor in South Africa, the Pretoria High Court heard on Tuesday. The Act entitled men to apply for state old-age pensions, based on a needs test, when they reached the age of 65, but entitled women to start receiving the pension at the of 60.
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/ 11 September 2007
An elephant cow in the Pilanesberg nature reserve first chased a game warden for 100m, tore his pants open with her tusk, then ”played a bit of soccer with him”, a media report said on Wednesday. When he landed on his back next to her she stared into his eyes for a few seconds, then shook her head and ambled away.
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/ 11 September 2007
The policy of affirmative action in South Africa will remain, despite calls from some labour unions to end it, the chief executive of Business Unity South Africa told Parliament on Tuesday. Since the end of apartheid, the government has targeted black South Africans, women and the disabled for preferential treatment when it comes to jobs which they previously had no access to.
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/ 11 September 2007
The African National Congress leadership contest can make or break the tripartite alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday. The warning comes in draft policy documents to be discussed at the trade-union federation’s central committee meeting, which takes place in Esselen Park next week.
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/ 11 September 2007
Taxi violence is disturbing and must be curbed in order to build confidence in the taxi industry, the Gauteng registrar for public transport said on Tuesday. ”We all come to the point of saying enough is enough and let us stop the carnage. Let us all bring back confidence in the taxi industry,” Sam Ledwaba told a media conference in Johannesburg.
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/ 11 September 2007
The National Assembly’s communications committee on Tuesday recommended 12 names for the new South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board, including six current board members. The six are Alison Gilwald, Andile Mbeki, Fadila Lagadien, Khanyisile Mkhonza, Christine Qunta and Ashwin Trikamjee.
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/ 11 September 2007
What do you when you are offered the chance to have a hot date on a Tuesday afternoon, even though you are married? You invite your husband to share the experience with you, of course. Yolandi Groenewald had an amazing afternoon with an Aston Martin Vantage Roadster and her hubby (in that order).
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/ 11 September 2007
In a startling admission, many of the Bafana Bafana players have confirmed they were ”in the dark” over the Confederation of African Football rules that resulted in Zambia catapulting past South Africa to become Group 11 winners after their stunning 3-1 win in an African Nations Cup qualifier in Cape Town on Sunday.
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/ 11 September 2007
The fraud case against Brett Kebble’s former security chief, Clinton Nassif, was again postponed for further investigation at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. National Prosecuting Authority advocate Andrea Kasiram requested that the case be postponed to November 19 and for Nassif’s R300 000 bail to be extended.
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/ 11 September 2007
Australia captain Ricky Ponting capped another excellent year by picking up the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) cricketer of the year award for the second successive year on Monday. ”I am the first player to win this award twice in a row and it’s a great thrill for me and something I am very proud of,” said Ponting.
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/ 11 September 2007
South African batsman Ashwell Prince has resigned as president of the South African Cricketers’ Association after alleged details of a meeting were published. Rapport claimed on Sunday that Prince was among 30 players who signed a memorandum calling for an end to South Africa’s racially influenced selection policies.
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/ 11 September 2007
With just a day to go before the start of the inaugural International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 World Championship, President Ray Mali expressed his excitement at the prospect of the world’s top cricketing nations going head-to-head in the shortest form of the game.
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/ 11 September 2007
The Department of Home Affairs has suspended two of its senior officials, including a former acting director general. Chief financial officer Pat Nkambule and the deputy director general of civic services, Joel Chavalala — who once acted as director general — were suspended with immediate effect on Monday.
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/ 11 September 2007
South Africa’s biggest mining union said on Monday it may strike to force mining companies to focus on the safety of workers, following a spate of recent deaths at mines. About 200 miners are killed in accidents at South African mines every year, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary Frans Baleni said.
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/ 11 September 2007
Sections of Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg have been without water for nearly a week, media reports said on Tuesday. This has resulted in theatres being closed, several toilets out of order and, according to one specialist surgeon, the hygiene of patients being compromised.
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/ 10 September 2007
The City of Tshwane was considering on Monday evening whether or not to fire companies it had hired to remove refuse. ”We are mulling over it and considering all factors,” said spokesperson Console Tleane. Letters had been handed to Milnex and Capacity over the weekend telling them to get their workers back on the job or have their contracts with the city cancelled.
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/ 10 September 2007
The present vice-chairperson of the University of Pretoria’s student representative council (SRC), Cobus van der Linde, will not be a candidate in Tuesday’s elections for next year’s SRC. Pretoria High Court judge Lettie Malopa on Monday dismissed Van der Linde’s urgent application to remain on the candidates list.
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/ 10 September 2007
South African President Thabo Mbeki opened an international biotechnology centre on Monday that aims to develop vaccines for HIV/Aids and other diseases that kill thousands of Africans daily. The Cape Town-based branch of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology will focus on infectious diseases including malaria and tuberculosis.
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/ 10 September 2007
The South African National Aids Council is on track with its National Strategic Plan on HIV and Aids, which would see the halving of new infections by 2011, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday. She chaired the first meeting of the newly constituted council in Pretoria, which officially brings together the government and civil society in the fight against HIV/Aids.
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/ 10 September 2007
It was ”unacceptable” for government bodies to threaten the withdrawal of advertising from newspapers, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) said on Monday. It was ”unacceptable” for public bodies to use this as a punitive measure to promote self-censorship, the forum said in a statement.
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/ 10 September 2007
As Africa’s economies grow, the production of alcohol, along with consumption of the substance, will increase, it was said at a seminar on alcohol in Pretoria on Monday. ”Africa will be experiencing a growth market and a lot of activity is still going to happen,” said Isidore Obot from the Centre of Research and Information on Substance Abuse.
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/ 10 September 2007
Views expressed in the media that the African National Congress’s (ANC) upcoming national conference was nothing more than a ”power struggle” also came in part from within the organisation, its secretary general said on Monday. ”We know that the media also speaks to members of the ANC from time to time,” Kgalema Motlanthe said
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/ 10 September 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) had a ”lively” exchange of views with National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete on Monday in a meeting held to discuss her suspension of DA MP Mike Waters. The meeting was also aimed at discussing Mbete’s ruling as out of order a question, asked by Waters, about Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s theft conviction.
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/ 10 September 2007
A wine glass with an imprinted logo of the famous painted Soweto power station was handed to me at the door of the Standard Bank Soweto Wine Festival on the weekend. As I walked into the hall, I found that there were a lot of people like me, people who didn’t’ know much about wine and wanted to learn.
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/ 10 September 2007
Cape Town city councillor Badhi Chaaban said on Monday he is a member of both the African Muslim Party (AMP) and the newly formed National People’s Party (NPP), as both allow dual membership. But he has asked the AMP leadership for permission to formally cross to the NPP, taking his council seat with him.
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/ 10 September 2007
More than 50 000 South African vehicle-component workers are set to go on indefinite strike on Wednesday after a breakdown in wage talks, the main metalworkers’ union said on Monday. Mziwakhe Hlangani, spokesperson for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, said in a statement the strike would affect automotive-component suppliers.
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/ 10 September 2007
Men are five times more likely to commit suicide than women, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group said on Monday, World Suicide Day. The World Health Organisation (WHO), meanwhile, estimates that on average almost 3 000 people commit suicide every day.
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/ 10 September 2007
The JSE continued to hold on to its earlier gains by noon on Monday as miners gained speed after a rally in the gold and platinum price. Shortly before midday, the rand was bid at 7,19 to the United States dollar from 7,25 when the JSE closed on Friday, while gold was quoted at $703,75 a troy ounce from $703 at the JSE’s last close.
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/ 10 September 2007
The situation at the scene of a housing protest at the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa, which earlier shut the N2 highway between Cape Town and the airport, is under control, said Captain Elliot Sinyangana of the Cape Town police on Monday. ”Situation is calm at present, but we are monitoring the situation. The roads are clear and people can use the N2,” he said.