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/ 23 February 2007
The eight men accused of involvement in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea were found not guilty in the Pretoria Regional Court on Friday. The magistrate said that while the men’s actions were unlawful, he could not find by ”any stretch of the imagination” that they had knowingly contravened the Regulation on Foreign Military Assistance Act.
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/ 23 February 2007
The five people accused of stealing jewellery valued at R4-million from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s home were severely beaten by police, the Orlando Magistrate’s Court heard on Friday. Mbuso Vutela, Paul Githuka and his wife Nolwazi, his son, Mpumelelo, and daughter Jerry made their first appearance on Friday.
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/ 23 February 2007
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s condition in the Johannesburg Hospital has stabilised significantly, her doctor said on Friday. ”Any assisted ventilation has not been necessary,” said Professor Jeff Wing, who is attending to the minister in the hospital’s intensive-care unit.
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/ 23 February 2007
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon has criticised the proposal to rename Cape Town International Airport after ”little-known” trade unionist Jimmy la Guma, saying such a move will diminish the international branding of the city.
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/ 23 February 2007
President Thabo Mbeki has called on traditional leaders to tackle corruption in their ranks, and urged them to lead by example. ”I must say that I am aware that some of the provincial houses [of traditional leaders] have been addressing matters relating to the conduct and discipline of their members,” he told members of the National House of Traditional Leaders on Friday.
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/ 23 February 2007
The new social-security pension will bring relief to the middle-income earners and should not be a tax burden on the better-off. ”If you are currently contributing to a retirement fund at [a rate of] 15% the likelihood is that this will mean no extra contributions,” said Treasury official Jonathan Dixon.
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/ 23 February 2007
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Thursday morning in a post-budget seminar that only 7% of matriculants had passed higher grade maths and this had led to a serious lack of quantitative skills in the country. Education remained the largest category of government spending and $6-billion has been set aside to hire additional teachers.
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/ 23 February 2007
The government’s ”narrow focus” on land was counter-productive, says a report delivered to President Thabo Mbeki. This was often the cause of failure and lack of sustainability in land reform, argues the document. The report, handed over by a group of farmers on Tuesday, resulted from an initiative by a group of prominent Afrikaner businessmen and academics.
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/ 22 February 2007
The City of Cape Town still has a by-law on its books regulating the accommodation of ”natives”. However, it has come to light only because it has been identified by city officials as one of about 800 obsolete pieces of legislation that need to be sent to the scrap-heap.
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/ 22 February 2007
South Africa’s four frigates got their first black captain on Thursday when former Umkhonto we Sizwe operative Bravo Mhlana formally assumed command of the SAS Isandlwana. He was handed a brass ”telescope of command” at a blustery quayside ceremony attended by President Thabo Mbeki’s wife, Zanele, and navy top brass in the Simon’s Town navy docks.
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/ 22 February 2007
With five suspected criminals beaten to death in Mpumalanga over the past few weeks, police on Thursday warned residents not to take the law into their own hands. ”It’s out of anger, but it’s not crime prevention. They are actually causing more crime,” said Captain Leonard Hlathi.
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/ 22 February 2007
The Cape High Court declined on Thursday to subpoena the editor of the Daily Voice newspaper, Karl Brophy, and the publication’s attorney, Jacques Louw, to testify at the Baby Jordan murder trial. Judge Basheer Wagley chose not to follow the suggestion by senior counsel Jan Heunis, on behalf of accused Dina Rodrigues.
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/ 22 February 2007
Jailing the man who shot famous historian David Rattray for an effective 25 years on Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala said such a crime would have resulted in the death penalty not many years ago. The judge, however, found substantial and compelling circumstances that allowed him to deviate from the prescribed sentence of life.
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/ 22 February 2007
Taxi operators in Rustenburg have called for the immediate resignation of the director of public safety in the Rustenburg local municipality. The operators called for Popo Kotsedi’s resignation during a protest march against rival taxis, which they say are run illegally in the town.
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/ 22 February 2007
A new, paid-for, pan-African satellite television channel called GTV will begin operating at mid-year, its owners said on Thursday. It will target customers who have previously been unable to afford subscription services and who have been limited to national, free-to-air television stations.
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/ 22 February 2007
A disaster-management team was on full alert in eastern Mpumalanga as Cyclone Favio hit Mozambique on Thursday. The South African Weather Service said there was no immediate threat from Favio, which made landfall at about noon. ”There is no immediate threat in South Africa,” a forecaster said.
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/ 22 February 2007
The Northern Cape Afrikaner enclave of Orania has launched a chequebook as part of its own currency system, a spokesperson said on Thursday. ”The Orania business chamber launched the chequebook last night [Wednesday], during which the first ten chequebooks were auctioned off,” Eleanor Lombard said in a statement.
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/ 22 February 2007
The government’s ”narrow focus” on land is counter-productive, prominent Afrikaner businessmen and academics told President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday. It is often the cause of failure and lack of sustainability in land reform, they argued during talks in Cape Town with Mbeki and Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana.
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/ 22 February 2007
The Cabinet on Thursday objected to ”highly personalised” comments in the media on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s well-being. She is currently in a stable condition in Johannesburg Hospital. The African National Congress (ANC) parliamentary caucus also lambasted a Democratic Alliance MP for her ”insensitive” remarks about the minister.
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/ 22 February 2007
Thieves will soon be able to evade jail by simply striking a deal with their victims under the National Prosecuting Authority’s proposed restorative justice programme. Shamila Batohi, head of programme, said the model was aimed at curbing recidivism among petty offenders.
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/ 22 February 2007
24-year-old man pleaded guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday to the murder of Anglo-Zulu war historian David Rattray. South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported that Thembinkosi Ndlovu told Judge President Vuka Shabalala he and five others had gone to Rattray’s Rorke’s Drift home last month to rob him.
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/ 22 February 2007
Russian companies are welcome to tender for building a second nuclear power plant in South Africa, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in Pretoria on Thursday. Although no agreement was signed on nuclear energy, businesses from both countries had agreed to work on it, she said.
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/ 22 February 2007
The state has not reached the ”required threshold” to prove its case against eight men accused of contravening sections of the Regulation on Foreign Military Assistance Act, the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Thursday. Defence advocate Margie Victor, appearing for six of the eight accused, asked the court to discharge her clients.
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/ 22 February 2007
Two domestic workers accused of stealing jewellery worth R4-million from the home of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will appear in the Orlando Magistrate’s Court on Friday, said police. The police denied earlier reports that the pair were found in possession of the jewellery and that police had confiscated it.
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/ 22 February 2007
The ”overwhelming majority” of people arriving at Gauteng’s clinics and hospitals seek treatment related to unhealthy lifestyles, Gauteng’s provincial minister for health said on Thursday. ”If we can change this we will make a measurable impact on all facets of healthcare delivery,” Brian Hlongwa told a media briefing in Johannesburg.
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/ 22 February 2007
The Cabinet has approved a policy and strategy to implement free and open-source software (Foss) in government departments, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday. ”All new software developed for or by the government will be based on open standards and government will itself migrate current software to Foss,” he told a media briefing.
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/ 22 February 2007
Cabinet has approved the deployment of 1Â 100 South African soldiers to Burundi as part of an African Union special task force, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday. This was at the request of the AU and as part of South Africa’s commitment to contribute to socio-economic and political stability on the continent.
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/ 22 February 2007
Cabinet has rejected speculation about former president Nelson Mandela’s health and called on the media not to give undue prominence to such ”malicious messages”. Government communications head Themba Maseko on Thursday said it had noted reports of hoax e-mails and SMS messages regarding Mandela’s health.
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/ 22 February 2007
Like an imposing, irresistible sumo wrestler, defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns tightened their stranglehold on the Premier League title race with a 3-1 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic at a packed Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
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/ 22 February 2007
Using an apartheid-era law to restrict information about an alleged R90-million fence around President Thabo Mbeki’s official residence was ”concerning,” the South African National Editors Forum has said. Department of Public Works spokesperson Thami Mchunu said a ”comprehensive security upgrade” was part of the routine security and maintenance of state assets.
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/ 22 February 2007
Protection can make South African companies lazy, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told the Lion of Africa breakfast on Thursday. "Part of what we must do is engage with South African business to ensure that they too understand that they can take the world on," he said.
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/ 22 February 2007
Former internationals performed well for the Diamond Eagles as they saw off the Eastern Cape Warriors by 61 runs in the opening Standard Bank Pro20 match at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Jacques Rudolph, Morne van Wyk and Nicky Boje were notable as the Eagles began their title defence in impressive fashion.