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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.
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/ 21 January 2007
Ten people have been arrested for the possession of six tonnes of abalone with a street value of R10-million, Gauteng police said on Sunday. ”Police investigations are continuing and police are investigating the possibility that they have been operating as a syndicate,” Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said.
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/ 21 January 2007
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq hit 92 not out to dampen the celebrations of Makhaya Ntini, who took his 300th wicket for South Africa in the second Test on Saturday. South Africa were 115 for three in their second innings at the close of the second day, a deficit of 26 runs.
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/ 21 January 2007
Eskom now has enough electricity to meet the full national demand, it said on Sunday after days of power shortages that saw rolling blackouts across the country. There has been no need for load-shedding — the deliberate cutting off of electricity when demand exceeds supply — since Thursday night, a spokesperson said.
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/ 20 January 2007
South Africa were 25 for the loss of one wicket at tea on the second day of the second Castle Lager Test against Pakistan at St George’s Park on Saturday. They trail Pakistan by 116. South Africa finally managed to bowl Pakistan out for 265, but not before Inzamam Ul-Haq and tail-ender Mohammad Asif had frustrated them for an hour and a half, and put on 74 for the last wicket.
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/ 20 January 2007
The two Boeremag fugitives who were rearrested in the early hours of Saturday morning have been sent back to Pretoria’s C-Max prison. Rudi Gouws (29) and Herman van Rooyen (33) appeared briefly in the Pretoria Regional Court on Saturday morning. They were not charged but would face charges of escaping from lawful custody and the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
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/ 20 January 2007
First National Bank (FNB) is to spend R50-million on standby generators and uninterrupted power supply units at its branches nationwide in response to power failures, it said on Friday. FNB said about R15,5-million [of the total amount] had already gone towards generators at 63 branches.
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/ 20 January 2007
Police have confirmed the re-arrest of two treason-accused Boeremag members who escaped from custody May 3 last year, 702 radio reported on Saturday. Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws were arrested shortly before 6am on Saturday at a townhouse complex in Littleton, Pretoria, the report said.
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/ 20 January 2007
Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini kept South Africa in the hunt on the first day of the second Test against Pakistan on Friday. Pakistan were 135 for six in reply to South Africa’s first innings of 124 at stumps in Port Elizabeth. A bristling bowling display by Ntini saw him take four for 18 from 10 overs.
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/ 19 January 2007
The first day of the second Castle Lager Test between South Africa and Pakistan at St George’s Park on Friday ended with honours more or less even. After bowling South Africa out for a paltry 124 before tea, Pakistan had 135 for six at the close for an overall lead of 11 runs.
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/ 19 January 2007
The Western Cape directorate for public prosecutions is to decide the fate of Zimbabwean student Tinashe Rioga, who allegedly tried to hijack a South African Airways flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg in June last year. Rioga appeared in court on Friday following a month of observation at the Valkenberg psychiatric hospital.
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/ 19 January 2007
KwaZulu-Natal education minister Ina Cronje rushed to Mahlabatini Primary School in the Ulundi district on Friday after hearing that the floor of an old toilet block had caved in while nine boys were inside, her department said. The boys, aged between nine and 12, had to be freed from the rubble by an excavating machine.
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/ 19 January 2007
The bail application of the woman accused of murdering City Press editor Mathatha Tshedu’s son, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, was postponed on Friday in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court. Netshisaulu’s wife Mulalo Sivhidzo and her five co-accused will remain in custody until their next appearance on February 2.
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/ 19 January 2007
Media reports that Pretoria police had beaten a Sunnyside prostitute into a coma were an ”absolute thumb-suck”, national Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi said on Friday. Talking to a South African National Editors’ Forum delegation about media communications, Mbeki said these reports show how difficult police work can be at times.
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/ 19 January 2007
Just two days into the new academic year, pupils and teachers at the Nomzamo Madikizela Mandela public school in Thornhill woke to find most of their school building gutted by fire, Eastern Cape police said on Friday. Five of the classrooms and an administration block were burnt to ashes on Thursday night, a spokesperson said.
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/ 19 January 2007
The Waterkloof Four will know on January 30 if they will go to jail for the murder of an unknown man and the assault of another. On Friday magistrate Len Kotze heard final arguments from the defence and in the case of Christoff Becker, Frikkie du Preez, Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt.
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/ 19 January 2007
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi moved swiftly on Friday in a meeting with editors to revoke instructions that police information to the media be restricted to only provincial channels. ”Whatever it was, that is revoked,” he said at the meeting with a South African National Editors’ Forum delegation in Pretoria.
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/ 19 January 2007
The government should increase its subsidy to Child Welfare South Africa (CWSA) to prevent the exodus of social workers to overseas countries, CWSA CEO Ashley Theron said on Friday. Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg, Theron said CWSA was losing much-needed social workers because they could not afford to give them competitive salaries.
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/ 19 January 2007
South Africa’s Parliament must reassert its constitutional role as the true representative of the people and do its constitutionally entrenched function of framing, debating and passing laws and offering a check on executive power, says official opposition leader Tony Leon.
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/ 19 January 2007
Eskom’s national power-alert messages will be flighted on television to encourage countrywide electricity savings, a spokesperson said on Thursday. Eskom general manager Andrew Etzinger said the power-alert messages would illustrate the current state of electricity supply while asking individuals to respond by reducing electricity use.
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/ 19 January 2007
Just over 20 years ago a Bloemfontein Celtic side inspired by a then unknown youngster, Ernest Chirwali, scored four against Orlando Pirates at the Orlando Stadium. For the fans, that 4-0 defeat in 1985 was the last straw. Coach Sergio dos Santos had stayed too long.
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/ 19 January 2007
South Africans are increasingly pessimistic about the government’s ability to tackle the country’s crippling crime rates, a survey released on Thursday showed. The biannual Government Performance Barometer report showed 40% of South Africans believed the government was doing enough to fight crime, down from 50% last year.
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/ 18 January 2007
The Independent Democrats (ID) named its top team for the City of Cape Town after it opted this week to be part of the seven-party coalition, led by the Democratic Alliance (DA), which runs the city. At a press conference at Parliament on Thursday, it was announced that the party’s candidate for deputy mayor, to serve as number two to DA mayor Helen Zille, is Charlotte Williams.
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/ 18 January 2007
Parties who have not lodged a notice to appeal against the Gautrain viaduct to be built through Centurion can no longer do so, the Gauteng provincial government said this week. ”People were given time to lodge notice of intention … That period is now over,” said spokesperson for the Gauteng department of agriculture, conservation and environment Sizwe Matshikiza.
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/ 18 January 2007
Senior editors and journalist are to meet police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in Pretoria on Friday to discuss the centralisation of police communication departments. The restructuring removes area media-liaison officers within the police who previously facilitated the dissemination of information on crime.
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/ 18 January 2007
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad’s excuses for why South Africa voted against a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning human rights abuses in Burma ”are dismal”, says official opposition Democratic Alliance foreign affairs spokesperson Douglas Gibson.
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/ 18 January 2007
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s decision that the media will only be allowed to direct questions to provincial officials is an attempt to gag the media, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Thursday. ”It does not only infringe on media freedom but also on the constitutional right to freedom of speech,” said Pieter Groenewald, the party’s spokesperson on safety and security.
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/ 18 January 2007
A tourist was injured when she fell off a suspension bridge at the Tsitsikamma National Park near Plettenberg Bay, South African National Parks said on Thursday. Spokesperson Wanda Mkutshulwa said Sandra Malan suffered a broken leg, a sprained ankle and cuts and bruises on her jaw and legs.
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/ 18 January 2007
Power cuts rippled across South Africa on Thursday, blacking out parts of major cities and spurring warnings from state utility Eskom that unexpected shortages could extend into next week. The cuts, which Eskom attributed to power-station maintenance and the shutdown of one unit at Koeberg, caused power failures stretching from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
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/ 18 January 2007
Michael Mbanjwa made history on Thursday in the first stage of this year’s edition of the Hansa Powerade Dusi canoe marathon when he placed first. This makes history as he is the first black paddler to ever win the first stage of the three-day event.
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/ 18 January 2007
Truckers and others working in the road-freight industry could go on strike soon, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) warned on Thursday. Satawu spokesperson Ronnie Mamba said negotiations with road-freight sector employers had collapsed.
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/ 18 January 2007
The lights went out in several parts of South Africa on Thursday morning as Eskom carried out load-shedding as its capacity was stretched by a surprise surge in consumption. Power plants failed, including Koeberg nuclear power station’s unit one, when the turbine tripped at 2.18am. ”There is a national alert,” said Eskom spokesperson Tony Stott.