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/ 22 February 2007
Intense Cyclone Favio, sweeping in after wreaking havoc in Madagascar, hit the coast of Mozambique on Thursday morning. Margie Toens, who lives on the beachfront in Vilankulo, south of Bazaruto, told the Mail & Guardian Online on Thursday that the situation was ”horrible” and that trees were crashing down around her house.
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/ 22 February 2007
Two domestic workers were due to appear in court on Thursday in connection with a R4-million robbery at Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s Soweto home, News24 reported. The pair were allegedly found in possession of Madikezela-Mandela’s jewellery and were arrested on Wednesday.
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/ 22 February 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) speaker of the Oudtshoorn Municipality in the Klein Karroo, Pierre Nel, has been fired, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday. Nel and four other DA members were suspended after siding with the African National Congress in a bid to vote out former Independent Democrat’s mayor Jeffrey Swartbooi.
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/ 21 February 2007
Disaster officials and aid agencies are closely monitoring Tropical Cyclone Favio, due to make landfall in flood-drenched Mozambique on Thursday, as it crosses the narrow sea channel from Madagascar. By 6pm local time on Wednesday afternoon, Favio was a very intense category-three storm with winds of about 185km/h.
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/ 21 February 2007
A former law student on Wednesday told the Pretoria High Court how he had bludgeoned his friend with a dumbbell before slicing off his private parts because of his unwelcome sexual advances. Frank Lebogang Mahlakoana (24) said that he found it so shocking and horrifying that he could not even look at photos of the murder scene, as it frightened him.
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/ 21 February 2007
To tax lobola, or not to tax: that is the question that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel does not want to touch with a barge pole. He told MPs in his budget speech on Wednesday that last year he received a suggestion he should make lobola, the traditional payment for a bride, tax deductible.
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/ 21 February 2007
A senior advocate was specially drafted on Wednesday to cross-examine a youth who accused his former legal representative of trying to bribe him not to testify in the Cape High Court murder trial of Dina Rodrigues. The teenager claimed last week that his former counsel, Charles Simon, had offered him a R20Â 000 bribe to remain silent.
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/ 21 February 2007
South Africa and Russia will cooperate in the fields of exploration of outer space and trade, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Wednesday. Dlamini-Zuma is hosting Russian Minister of Natural Resources Yuri Petrovich Trutnev for the sixth session of the South Africa-Russia Joint Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Operations.
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/ 21 February 2007
The safety and security budget is set to increase to R43,6-billion by 2010. According to the 2007 estimates of national expenditure, tabled by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in Parliament on Wednesday, by that year there will be 190Â 000 police officers patrolling South Africa’s streets.
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/ 21 February 2007
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s 2007/08 budget proposals tabled in Parliament on Wednesday contain further relaxation of exchange controls. The requirement that South African companies obtain a majority shareholding in foreign entities or projects outside of Africa is abolished, and they now have to obtain only a 25% shareholding.
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/ 21 February 2007
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday paid tribute to teachers as ”the front line of our education system” — and then matched his praise with hard cash. ”The investments announced in this budget constitute a concerted effort to improve the quality of schooling in our country,” he told the National Assembly.
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/ 21 February 2007
The government wants to have its ”bold and ambitious” new social-security scheme, that could include a R30 billion-a-year wage subsidy, in place by 2010, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced on Wednesday. Manuel told Parliament the planned budget surplus created space for future social-security reforms.
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/ 21 February 2007
The government is confident it will remain within budget for hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup, says Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi. Speaking at a media briefing ahead of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s Budget speech on Wednesday, he said he saw no reason why building stadiums would exceed the R17,4-billion allocated for the purpose.
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/ 21 February 2007
The Department of Defence’s budget has risen to R25,9-billion to meet the rising cost of peacekeeping operations and the military’s need to beef up its airlift capacity. Tabling his 2007/08 budget in Parliament on Wednesday, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said the South African National Defence Force had ”assisted significantly” in helping reduce a number of African conflicts.
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/ 21 February 2007
South Africa is to set an official ”poverty line” as a tool to help measure progress in the fight against the problem, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. A poverty line establishes the income required for a basic minimal standard of living, enough for an adequate food supply and other necessities.
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/ 21 February 2007
The Department of Housing has been allocated R32-billion over the next three years in an attempt to reduce backlogs and fast-track housing delivery. According to the 2007 estimates of national expenditure, tabled by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in Parliament on Wednesday, the department will receive R8,8-billion in 2007/08, R10,5-billion in 2008/09 and 12,5-billion in 2009/10.
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/ 21 February 2007
Spending on dedicated HIV/Aids programmes by national and provincial government departments will exceed R5-billion within the next two years, according to Wednesday’s budget. The Treasury says in its budget review that an additional R1,65-billion has been committed to provinces over the next three years for their Aids-treatment programmes.
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/ 21 February 2007
Agencies operating under the umbrella of the Department of Trade and Industry will receive R1,7-billion to promote black economic empowerment (BEE) and small-business development, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. Delivering his budget speech to Parliament, he said an additional R380-million will go to the national empowerment fund.
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/ 21 February 2007
The South African Parliament is expected to cost R1,07-billion in 2007/8, with constituency allowances for MPs showing the largest spike. Constituency support will cost R188-million in 2007/8 — up from R105-million in 2006/7, while the estimated allocation for 2008/9 rises to R202-million.
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/ 21 February 2007
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has unveiled personal-tax cuts totalling R8,4-billion across all income brackets in the budget for the 2007/08 financial year. The relief, which is being implemented through upward adjustments to all of the income-tax bracket levels, has been made possible by the R29-billion in revenue overruns experienced in the current 2006/07 financial year.
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/ 21 February 2007
Priority crimes are still too common, Gauteng provincial minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia said on Wednesday in announcing a second Operation Iron Fist. ”Specific types of violent crime remain at unacceptable levels, especially house robberies and business robberies,” Cachalia said in elaborating on Premier Mbhazima Shilowa’s state of the province address two days ago.
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/ 21 February 2007
The 2007/08 budget represents a watershed for South Africa’s taxation regime as it scraps retirement fund tax, does away with the unpopular secondary tax on companies and paves the way for the introduction of a social-security system. These are far and away the most significant taxation features of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s 11th budget.
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/ 21 February 2007
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s 2007/08 budget tabled in Parliament on Wednesday holds good news for most, with R8,4-billion staying in the pockets of individual taxpayers — who will also benefit from the abolition of retirement-fund tax from March 1.
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/ 21 February 2007
The year 2006 proved to be a profitable year for Anglo American and this is evident in the record hike of 46% they achieved in earnings. The company said in a statement on Wednesday that the hike earned them an increase of ,5-billion. The company also achieved an operating profit increase of 54%, which amounts to ,8-billion.
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/ 21 February 2007
One of the men who allegedly killed historian David Rattray is also under investigation for raping two young teenagers at gunpoint and armed robbery, the media reported on Wednesday. This emerged on Tuesday in the Dundee Magistrate’s Court during the bail application of Simphiwe Ndlovu (25).
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/ 21 February 2007
Officials from President Thabo Mbeki’s office and the South African secret service are likely to be called to testify in a case against eight men who were allegedly involved in an Equatorial Guinea coup plot. State advocate Torie Pretorius SC on Wednesday asked the Pretoria Regional Court for a postponement to call officials from the president’s office and the secret service.
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/ 21 February 2007
As if defending Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns have not posed sufficient problems for their opponents of late, up pops the player the Brazilians call ”El Buddah” to further torment Bloemfontein Celtic at Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
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/ 21 February 2007
Woolworths has withdrawn all its house brand dry dog and cat food from its shelves over concerns that it may be contaminated, the South African Broadcasting Corporation said on Tuesday. The company said it was alerted by a supplier that there might be traces of a contaminant, ethylene-glycol, in its range of pet food.
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/ 21 February 2007
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has laid a complaint with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa about the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), related to its alleged blacklisting of commentators. The FXI is concerned about the SABC’s lack of response to the findings by a commission of inquiry into the matter.
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/ 20 February 2007
A Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) statement on Monday, apparently threatening violence if the case against former deputy president Jacob Zuma is pursued, was strongly criticised by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday.
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/ 20 February 2007
The former national director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, might be called to testify in the court case of eight men charged with contravening sections of the Regulation of Military Assistance Act relating to an alleged attempted coup in the Equatorial Guinea. State advocate Torie Pretorius told the Pretoria Regional Court on Tuesday that he might call Ngcuka.
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/ 20 February 2007
Given his military background, it is likely Ananias Mathe could have squeezed through the tiny window of a C-Max prison cell on his own to escape from jail last year, a ministerial task team has found. It is possible he did so without the assistance of prison warders, task team member Paul Govindsamy said on Tuesday. However, MPs disagreed.