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/ 20 February 2007
One of the men who allegedly plotted to topple the government of Equatorial Guinea feels he has done nothing wrong, despite pleading guilty, the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Tuesday. Harry Carlse, who turned state witness, was testifying against eight alleged co-conspirators accused of contravening the Regulations on Foreign Military Assistance Act.
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/ 20 February 2007
Police have lashed out at a message campaign warning white people that black people will attack them when former president Nelson Mandela dies, saying they are without substance. A spokesperson for the police national commissioner, Director Sally de Beer, said the messages also incited white people to prepare to congregate at pre-identified ”safe areas” and to defend themselves.
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/ 20 February 2007
South African President Thabo Mbeki met FirstRand Limited chairperson GT Ferreira, FirstRand Limited CEO Paul Harris and FirstRand Bank CEO Sizwe Nxasana in Pretoria on Tuesday, the Presidency said. According to presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga, the group ”apprised the president on their widely publicised media advertisement campaign on crime”.
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/ 20 February 2007
President Thabo Mbeki should explain why he needs a security wall worth R90-million for his residence if there is no crime problem in the country, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. ”He should tell us why he will have a wall … while ordinary South Africans continue to suffer the effects of crime without such luxury,” said DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard.
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/ 20 February 2007
South Africa is considering enriching its own uranium to fuel new nuclear power plants — including pebble-bed modular reactors — to be built in coming decades, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said on Tuesday. Speaking at the opening of the French-South African Energy Conference, she said her department is finalising an energy and technology strategy.
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/ 20 February 2007
The People’s Budget Campaign coalition on Tuesday repeated its call for a basic income grant for all South Africans. ”Although the proposed R100 is too little, it can make a difference to the dignity of the people,” said South African Council of Churches general secretary Eddie Makue.
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/ 20 February 2007
Gauteng provincial minister of transport Ignatius Jacobs has given his department six weeks to clear the backlog in driving-licence examinations. This would be followed by increasing automation at all centres, Jacobs told a media briefing on Tuesday to elaborate on Premier Mbhazima Shilowa’s state of the province address.
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/ 20 February 2007
The state has sought to counter outrage that met a recent court ruling on a Limpopo farmer who shot dead an 11-year-old boy he mistook for a dog. ”It cannot be argued that the conviction of culpable homicide is incorrect, having read the statement of the witnesses,” the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said in Pretoria on Tuesday.
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/ 20 February 2007
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk dealt canned lion hunting a death blow on Tuesday by outlawing the hunting of captive-bred large predators within two years of their release on a property for the purpose of hunting. He told journalists in Cape Town he intends ”putting an end, once and for all, to the reprehensible practice of canned hunting”.
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/ 20 February 2007
More than 297Â 000 people will benefit from housing projects in Gauteng in the next financial year, provincial minister of housing Nomvula Mokonyane said on Tuesday. The 58Â 552 houses to be built will include give-away, financed and rental houses, Mokonyane said in elaborating on Premier Mbhazima Shilowa’s state of the province address.
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/ 20 February 2007
The Department of Home Affairs has denied claims by a gay couple from Witpoortjie, Johannesburg, that officials at the Roodepoort office refused to marry them because of their sexual orientation. Spokesperson Mantshele Tau said on Tuesday that claims by Marius Olivier and Tommy Meyer were ”baseless”.
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/ 20 February 2007
A delay by the Competition Commission in deciding whether Fruit & Veg City and Pick’n Pay should enter into a partnership has forced the two bodies to withdraw from the proposed deal. Fruit & Veg City managing director Brian Coppin said the groups would not be pursuing their deal because of ”an already unacceptable regulatory delay”.
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/ 20 February 2007
Thousands of Metrobus commuters were left stranded on Tuesday morning as none of the company’s 457 buses were operating. Metrobus managing director Bheki Shongwe said non-striking union, the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union, told its members not to work on Tuesday.
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/ 20 February 2007
A high-powered Fifa delegation is in South Africa for a five-day venue-inspection tour ahead of the 2010 World Cup, the media reported on Tuesday. A tight lid was kept on the proposed arrangements for the tour, although the delegation was scheduled to inspect Ellis Park and Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday, it was reported.
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/ 20 February 2007
A couple looking after a 20-month-old girl were arrested at Shelley Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast after leaving her in a locked car. Superintendent Zandra Hechter said bystanders in the parking lot on Monday heard a baby crying inside an Opel Corsa.
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/ 20 February 2007
Although sin taxes — alcohol and cigarettes — have seen an upward tax increase in the past few years, tax specialists predict that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel will announce a further increase on these items in this year’s eagerly awaited budget. Durban-based BDO Spencer Steward KwaZulu-Natal tax director Graham Earle has predicted a substantial increase on excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes.
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/ 20 February 2007
French nuclear power companies are circling power utility Eskom, hoping to get in on the construction of the next conventional nuclear plant in the Western Cape. Industry speculation is that the Areva company is prepared to take a stake in the development of the fourth-generation pebble-bed modular reactor programme.
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/ 20 February 2007
President Thabo Mbeki will meet senior executives of FirstRand in Pretoria on Tuesday, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported. Mbeki and the executives were expected to discuss the bank’s controversial campaign against crime, which was withdrawn at the last minute.
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/ 20 February 2007
The three agencies that conducted a joint investigation into the multibillion-rand arms deal are to meet again on March 12 to decide if they need to investigate new claims of corruption, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday.
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/ 19 February 2007
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) has lambasted the South African Defence Force’s transformation policy, saying it has contributed to thousands of experienced white officers leaving the force. The party’s spokesperson on defence, Pieter Groenewald, said the policy, introduced two years ago, required more than 5Â 000 white senior officers to leave the force.
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/ 19 February 2007
Groups wanting to retain the names of Potchefstroom and Pretoria have joined forces, civil rights group AfriForum said on Monday. ”Action Group Potchefstroom and AfriForum will pool their legal expertise and will use the same legal team for possible legal steps required for the preservation of both place names,” said AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel.
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/ 19 February 2007
Truman Prince is to be allowed to appeal against his dismissal from the post of Beaufort West’s municipal manager, the Democratic Alliance (DA) confirmed on Monday. It was reacting to an African National Congress statement saying that the Central Karoo council had voted for the move despite a legal opinion that ”clearly” stated Prince had no right to a challenge.
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/ 19 February 2007
A Metrobus driver was shot and killed while driving in Mooi Street in Faraday on Monday morning, Johannesburg emergency services said. Spokesperson Chief Superintendent Malcolm Midgley said the man lost control of the bus after he was shot at about 6.30am. ”The bus overturned and landed on the embankment.” Rescuers used the Jaws of Life to remove the man’s body.
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/ 19 February 2007
Ekurhuleni metro police have pleaded that self-defence was behind their shooting of live ammunition at an illegal drag race in Duduza where a teenager died on Sunday afternoon. However, the family of Sipho Twala is demanding justice, claiming the metro police used excessive force.
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/ 19 February 2007
Freedom of expression is central to the Constitutional Court appeal against a Durban schoolgirl’s right to wear a nose stud to school, the Freedom of Expression Institute said on Monday. The appeal is against a KwaZulu-Natal high court decision in favour of Sunali Pillay’s wearing of a nose stud to school.
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/ 19 February 2007
Jackie Maarohanye, the embattled principal of the Ithuteng Trust school in Kliptown, was taken to hospital after collapsing following her appearance in the Protea Magistrate’s Court in Soweto, media reports said on Monday. She was allegedly part of a group that held a reporter and driver from the Sowetan newspaper hostage at the weekend.
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/ 19 February 2007
The office of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, former Spanish President José MarÃa Aznar and the United States Navy Seals all had some connection to the alleged attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Monday.
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/ 19 February 2007
A twin boy and girl burnt to death in a blaze that gutted their home in Sea View, Durban, on Monday afternoon, emergency services said. Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said the seven-year-old siblings had tried to escape, but could not because of burglar bars. Paramedics declared them dead on scene.
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/ 19 February 2007
Two buses collided head-on, killing 17 people, in South Africa on Monday, after one swerved to avoid a donkey in the road, police said. At least 45 others were injured in what police called the worst road accident this year in the northern Limpopo province. ”The donkey was just passing by. Animals roam around here,” said Limpopo police Superintendent Mohale Ramatseba.
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/ 19 February 2007
Litigation continued in the Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday to change the name of the Makhado municipality back to Louis Trichardt. A full bench of five judges heard argument in the appeal by the Louis Trichardt Chairpersons’ Association against the minister of arts and culture and others.
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/ 19 February 2007
South Africa’s grain industry body, Grain SA, on Monday slammed the alleged price-fixing of bread, saying it is "a shame that certain large food companies" are allegedly involved. The Competition Commission has launched a case against two food companies, accusing them of running a bread cartel in the Western Cape.
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/ 19 February 2007
The City of Cape Town needs to spend about R1-billion on treatment plants over the next five years to avoid a sewage crisis, mayoral committee member for trading services Lionel Roelf said on Monday. Most of the city’s waste-water treatment plants are already operating near or beyond capacity, with ageing, ineffective infrastructure, he said in a statement.