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/ 6 February 2007
An invitation to anti-apartheid activist Allan Boesak to speak at Adelaide Tambo’s Cape Town memorial service has been withdrawn over ”sensitivities”, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said on Tuesday. Ndungane said the clergyman was approached to deliver the homily, or short sermon, at Wednesday’s memorial in St George’s Cathedral.
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/ 6 February 2007
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) demanded transparency and accountability from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in a march to its offices in Johannesburg on Tuesday. While the SABC is supposed to report fairly, in a balanced way, it seems to have become a ”fully fledged mouthpiece of the government”, FXI spokesperson Vumile Velaphi said.
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/ 6 February 2007
African economies face a daunting challenge to catch up with the rest of the world after missing out on two decades of growth, a new report by the World Bank said on Tuesday. The author of the study, Benno Ndulu, said Africa has been losing the battle against poverty in comparison to the rest of the world, but expressed hope there is enough ambition to reverse the current situation.
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/ 6 February 2007
A 21-gun salute, honour guard and parade of South African government ministers led by President Thabo Mbeki welcomed Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday. Hu started his two-day state visit to South Africa with talks with President Thabo Mbeki.
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/ 6 February 2007
A woman burst into tears in the Cape High Court on Tuesday during an angry outburst over the death of her teenage daughter, who was allegedly shot by the 64-year-old man who had fathered the girl’s baby. According to prosecutor Penelope Magona, the girl left home at the age of 13 to live with the man.
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/ 6 February 2007
The Afrikaans song, De la Rey, by Bok van Blerk is in danger of being ”hijacked” by right wingers who want to mislead Afrikaans speakers into believing the song is a struggle song that sends out a ”call to arms”, the Department of Arts and Culture warned on Tuesday.
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/ 6 February 2007
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has requested an investigation by the research ethics council following concerns about the health of participants in microbicide clinical trials. In a statement released on Tuesday, Tshabalala-Msimang said she had met with researchers following ”disturbing news” about preliminary results of a study conducted in KwaZulu-Natal.
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/ 6 February 2007
Zimbabwe will arrest white farmers who failed to meet a weekend deadline to vacate their land for newly resettled black farmers, Zimbabwe media reported on Tuesday. Security Minister Didymus Mutasa was quoted as saying: ”Those that are saying they will defy the law will soon find out that they are not clever at all when the police start doing their job. They will be arrested.”
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/ 6 February 2007
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour has ordered a medical specialist to ascertain whether convicted businessman Schabir Shaik’s stay at a Durban hospital is absolutely necessary, media reports said on Tuesday. The media speculated last month that Shaik had spent more than R500Â 000 on his hospital stay.
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/ 6 February 2007
The state might appeal against former Western Cape premier Peter Marais’s recent acquittal on corruption charges, the Cape Argus reported on Tuesday. Marais said on Monday his lawyer had told him he had been informed that Scorpions prosecutors had initiated the first step in a possible appeal against his acquittal.
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/ 6 February 2007
The cost of Cape Town’s 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium has been slashed by over a billion rand to bring it ”within reach”, the city’s mayor, Helen Zille, said on Tuesday. The reduction from the original R3,7-billion quote to R2,68-billion still leaves a gap of R180-million, she told a media briefing.
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/ 6 February 2007
A tip-off to police led to a constable being arrested and about R500Â 000 worth of dagga being seized from a police vehicle on Tuesday, eastern Free State police said. Superintendent Motarafi Ntepe said the Bloemfontein dog unit was tipped off that a police vehicle was about to load and transport dagga in the Ficksburg area.
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/ 6 February 2007
Zimbabwe’s Media and Information Commission this week issued publishing licences for the Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard, published by Mail & Guardian chief executive Trevor Ncube, despite recent fears that a much-criticised crackdown on media freedom would also affect these newspapers.
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/ 6 February 2007
The 114 000-member Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) condemned agricultural organisations AgriSA and the Transvaal Agricultural Union on Tuesday for their ”denial of the abuse of farm workers” by farmers in South Africa. In a statement on Tuesday, Fawu came out in support of claims by Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana that abuse of workers by farmers is rife.
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/ 6 February 2007
Most Gauteng newspapers have condemned the withdrawal of First National Bank’s (FNB) multimillion-rand anti-crime campaign as a cowardly act. They also accused the government and big business of using bullying tactics in the matter. FNB’s R20-million campaign involved print, television and radio advertisements.
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/ 6 February 2007
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is expected to issue a statement concerning possible action against Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi, Cricket South Africa media manager Gordon Templeton said on Tuesday. Afridi is alleged to have swung his bat at a spectator after he had been dismissed for 17 against South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Sunday.
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/ 6 February 2007
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and the Federal Alliance (FA) are to merge before the 2009 general election, the parties announced on Tuesday. Briefing the media at Parliament, FF+ leader Pieter Mulder said his party has been in discussions with Louis Luyt’s FA for a few months, ”in the light of the seriousness of the situation in the country”.
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/ 6 February 2007
Advertisements appeared in South African newspapers on Tuesday calling on President Thabo Mbeki to get a grip on the alarming crime rate as he prepares for his annual State of the Nation address. The PSG Group, a Cape Town-based financial-service provider, published an open letter in which it urged Mbeki to ”show us you care”.
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/ 6 February 2007
The eight men accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea had their case postponed in the Pretoria Regional Court on Tuesday. Defence attorney Margie Victor requested the case be postponed for a day in order to give a response to documents handed to them by the state.
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/ 6 February 2007
Chinese President Hu Jintao was due in South Africa on Tuesday to cement ties with Beijing’s key trading partner on the continent and a crucial ally in pushing the interests of the world’s have-nots. He is scheduled to hold talks with counterpart Thabo Mbeki during his two-day visit, sign trade agreements and discuss a raft of bilateral issues.
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/ 6 February 2007
Zimbabwe has witnessed a spate of unprecedented price increases for most goods and services in the past week, many of which had been raised in anticipation of a devaluation that did not materialise, the media reported on Tuesday. A price survey showed the cost of foodstuffs, alcohol, clothes, rent and furniture, among others, had risen by up to 400% in less than one week.
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/ 6 February 2007
The Durban University of Technology and the University of KwaZulu-Natal faced a second day of student boycotts and strikes on Tuesday. The student representative council called for the strike, claiming that management had reneged on a deal to release all 2006 exam results.
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/ 6 February 2007
The debate around flow-through shares as a solution to kick-start the junior mining industry in South Africa came in for some debate on the first day of the 2007 Mining Indaba, and this instrument has also been mooted as a potential solution to grow economic activity and jobs in Africa as a whole.
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/ 6 February 2007
Great Soweto rivals Moroka Swallows and Orlando Pirates have been paired together for the first round of South Africa’s Absa Cup soccer competition. One official called it ”the million to one shot”. The draw on Monday evening uncannily paired a good number of teams from the Premier League against each other.
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/ 6 February 2007
Fidentia Asset Management may have transferred part of the missing R689-million in clients’ funds to overseas bank accounts. The Cape High Court placed Fidentia under curatorship last Thursday after the Financial Services Board exposed the misappropriation of funds at the company, which managed at least R1,6-billion on behalf of clients.
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/ 6 February 2007
The Democratic Alliance and the Independent Democrats have ousted the African National Congress (ANC) from control of the Bergrivier municipality in the Western Cape. The two parties on Monday afternoon won a vote of no confidence in the ANC mayor, deputy mayor and speaker.
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/ 5 February 2007
The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government on Monday joined the South African Tourism Services Association in welcoming the conviction and sentencing of the first of the men involved in the David Rattray murder. The sentence given to the man fitted the crime, said KwaZulu-Natal provincial minister of arts and culture Weziwe Thusi.
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/ 5 February 2007
South Africa, which will host China’s President Hu Jintao on Tuesday, sees mutual benefits flowing from Beijing’s push into Africa while being wary of being seen as a mere source for raw materials. Hu is expected to receive the full red-carpet treatment when he arrives in the capital, Pretoria, on the latest leg of a sweep through the continent.
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/ 5 February 2007
The Afrikanerbond will use its influence to strengthen the economy, the political and justice systems and broaden cultural links to improve the country for all its citizens, its board of directors said on Monday. They met over the weekend to discuss the once-secretive organisation’s future.
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/ 5 February 2007
The Krugersdorp Regional Court has been asked to grant bail of between R5 000 and R10 000 to Mulalo Sivhidzo, who is accused of killing her husband, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, the son of City Press editor Mathatha Tsedu. Her lawyer on Monday accused the state of trying to delay and frustrate the judicial system.
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/ 5 February 2007
Only months after the Letseng Mine in Lesotho discovered the world’s fifteenth-largest diamond another rare find has been unearthed at the mine. A 216-carat diamond — a white D-colour flawless stone with a small naturally formed plane — was sent to be sold in Antwerp last week, Gem Diamonds company and the Lesotho government said in a statement on Monday.
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/ 5 February 2007
The future of the Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn is in jeopardy because of uncertainty over who should run the tourist attraction, it was reported on Monday. Last week, caves manager Hein Gerstner told reporters the municipality is not interested in the caves and that the world-famous attraction is in danger of falling into disrepair.