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/ 22 January 2007
North West police have seized drugs with an estimated street value of R270-million from a factory on a farm near Hartbeespoort Dam. Police spokesperson Superintendent Pieter du Plessis said: ”The drug ‘ice’ was seized on Monday morning when the Potchefstroom organised-crime unit and South African Revenue Service Pretoria investigators reacted to a tip-off …”
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/ 22 January 2007
A charge of assault has been opened against Sunnyside police for brutally assaulting a prostitute in Pretoria, police confirmed on Monday. ”We have obtained a statement and we are busy with the investigations,” said Gauteng police spokesperson Govindsamy Mariemuthoo.
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/ 22 January 2007
The Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons had by Monday afternoon not received any complaints of preferential treatment for convicted businessman Schabir Shaik, its head, Judge Nathan Erasmus, said. ”I have not received any official complaints. I cannot be led by speculation by the media,” he said on Monday afternoon.
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/ 22 January 2007
The bodies of five men who died while illegally mining gold near Barberton were found on Monday, Mpumalanga police said. Superintendent Benjamin Bhembe said the bodies were found in a search by the miners’ families and friends. ”This [Monday] morning they recovered the body of one miner and they continued their search.
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/ 22 January 2007
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Monday affirmed its commitment to the fight against crime, poverty and unemployment in the country. Speaking to the media in the wake of the party’s national executive committee lekgotla (meeting), ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said there needs to be ”unity and purpose” in the fight against crime.
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/ 22 January 2007
Fraud convict Tony Yengeni could be sent back to jail if found guilty of animal cruelty, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said on Monday. During his home-coming celebrations over the weekend, Yengeni is said to have stabbed a bull with a spear before it was slaughtered for a feast.
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/ 22 January 2007
Determined batting by Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal steered Pakistan to a five-wicket victory in the second Test against South Africa on Monday to level the series at 1-1. Younis was 67 not out with Kamran Akmal on 57, the pair adding 99 for the unbroken sixth wicket to pull Pakistan out of trouble to reach the victory target of 191 just before tea on day four.
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/ 22 January 2007
South Africa should forcibly isolate patients infected with a highly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis to stop the disease from spreading on the HIV/Aids-hit continent. The outbreak of extreme drug resistant tuberculosis, which has killed at least 74 people in the last several months, may force authorities to override patients’ personal rights.
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/ 22 January 2007
Workers who work for 27 hours or less per week in the wholesale and retail industry will get a 9,7% as from February 1, said the Department of Labour on Monday. ”These are just annual wage increases and will apply to all workers whether they are based in shops in urbanised, peri-urban or rural areas,” said department spokesperson Zolisa Singaba.
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/ 22 January 2007
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) intends opposing an African National Congress (ANC) plan for massive resettlement in Tshwane, it said on Monday. FF+ Tshwane councillor Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg claimed the ANC wants to build 212Â 000 low-cost houses on every council-owned park and piece of open land in Pretoria and Centurion in the next five years.
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/ 22 January 2007
Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya has released for public comment a draft law intended to address the problem of substance and alcohol abuse. Skweyiya said the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill would help reduce the prevalence of drug abuse among South Africans, particularly children.
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/ 22 January 2007
Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin should stop acting as the government’s spokesperson on national electricity problems as he has lost credibility, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. ”… Minister Erwin neither bears sole political responsibility nor is he competent to act as the government’s spokesperson,” the DA said in a statement.
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/ 22 January 2007
Thirty-four government officials have been arrested in Mpumalanga for fraud and corruption, the provincial health and social services department said on Monday. Spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said the officials were from different departments in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng.
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/ 22 January 2007
The power failures that plunged much of South Africa into darkness last week will not hurt economic growth or cost the nation nearly as much as some have predicted, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday. Factories, mines and homes throughout Africa’s economic powerhouse lost electricity last Thursday without warning.
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/ 22 January 2007
A R600-million community survey to collect demographic, geographic, social and economic data was launched by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Monday. ”This allows the government to provide services and to plan so that we can understand the trends and patterns of our people,” Manuel said, encouraging the people polled to share information about their households and themselves.
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/ 22 January 2007
A poor crowd on Sunday saw AmaZulu play out a 1-1 draw against SuperSport United in a Premier Soccer League game at the Princess Magogo Stadium. AmaZulu were in a 1-0 lead at the interval. Bennet Mnguni, the former Sundowns midfielder, and ex-Kaizer Chiefs player Lucky Mzizi made their debuts for AmaZulu.
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/ 22 January 2007
The financial imbalances in South African soccer accounted for Jomo Cosmos venturing into the lion’s den to play their home Premier League game against Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday afternoon. But like Daniel in biblical times, Jomo Sono’s team tamed the feared beast in front of their army of supporters at an oppressive, sultry Oppenheimer Park.
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/ 22 January 2007
Paraguay surprised all with their seven-stroke victory on their debut in the Women’s World Cup of Golf on Sunday, making a tremendous impact for a country with only six golf courses. South Africa finished a disappointing 16th on 13 over par despite a solid 66 in the betterball.
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/ 22 January 2007
The South African government has been in contact with the United States regarding two SA citizens with suspected links to al-Qaeda.
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/ 22 January 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has asked for a probe into the alleged misleading of Parliament by the Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad. The DA has accused Pahad of misleading Parliament by denying, in 2004, that the Presidency had facilitated deal with author Ronald Suresh Roberts for a book on President Thabo Mbeki.
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/ 22 January 2007
The young Pretoria prostitute at the centre of a row over alleged police brutality found the courage to come out of hiding and make a statement to police on Sunday, newspaper reports said. National Commissioner Jackie Selebi has rejected the accusation of police brutality as an ”absolute thumb-suck”.
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/ 22 January 2007
Members of the Cape Cobras provincial cricket team were held up at gunpoint at a Nando’s fast-food restaurant near the airport in Johannesburg on Saturday night and robbed of their wallets, watches and cellphones, the Cape Times reported on Monday.
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/ 22 January 2007
South Africa have an uphill battle to save the second Castle Lager Test against Pakistan at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth. At stumps on the third day, Pakistan — chasing 191 to win — had eight without loss. Despite being without Shoaib Akhtar, who has a hamstring injury, Pakistan had South Africa on the back foot for most of the day.
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/ 22 January 2007
A South African citizen accused of having links to al-Qaeda has dismissed the allegations against him as ”patently false and devoid of merit”. The Sunday Times reported that the man and his cousin had been named on the United Nations Security Council’s list of terror suspects for alleged links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda.
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/ 21 January 2007
All-rounder Jacques Kallis compiled a patient innings to nudge South Africa into the lead on the third day of the first Test against Pakistan on Sunday. Kallis was 84 not out at lunch, which South Africa reached on 191 for four in their second innings — a lead of 50 runs.
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/ 21 January 2007
The Titans duly won their SuperSport match against the Cape Cobras, which was played at Willowmoore Park, by 10 wickets. Cobras who were asked to follow-on, started the day on 131 for one. A second wicket partnership of 68 runs added a touch of respectability, but when Alfonso Thomas claimed the wicket of Henry Davids, the writing was on the wall
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/ 21 January 2007
A 35-year-old Muizenberg woman was wounded in the stomach on Sunday morning when her ex-husband shot her outside a church, Western Cape police said. Inspector Bernadine Steyn said the woman was shot in the parking lot of the church in Marina da Gama just before 10am.
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/ 21 January 2007
The KwaZulu-Natal minister for education, Ina Cronje, expressed concern on Sunday over the closure of at least four farm schools in the province. She said her department met on Saturday with the agriculture department’s provincial minister, Mtholephi Mthimkhulu and the members of Congress of South Africa Trade Unions to discuss the farm schools’ problems.
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/ 21 January 2007
Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has expressed his deep disappointment at South Africa’s vote to block a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an end to human rights abuses in Burma, saying it was a betrayal of his country’s ”noble past”.
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/ 21 January 2007
The police do not fear a renewed treason threat from the harbourers of Boeremag fugitives Herman van Rooyen (33) and Rudi Gouws (28). The pair were recaptured on Saturday after escaping from court last year. ”Although we have made no further arrests, people should not worry as we have the core group of 22 men believed to have been behind the treason plot,” said a a police spokesperson.
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/ 21 January 2007
Police will go after those who helped two accused Boeremag members evade capture, National Commissioner Jackie Selebi said on Saturday. He attended the short court appearance of Rudi Gouws (29) and Herman van Rooyen (33), who escaped from custody in May last year. They were re-arrested early on Saturday morning.
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/ 21 January 2007
Experts predict that the cost of fraud convict Schabir Shaik’s hospital stay is nearing R500 000, the Saturday Star reported. According to doctors who spoke to the newspaper, each of Shaik’s medical conditions would only require a week-long stay in hospital and would not warrant 57 days.