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/ 17 January 2007
Four South Africans abducted in Iraq a month ago are still alive, Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad said on Wednesday. Pahad said the men’s captors had told negotiators they were safe and that negotiations to free them continue. ”Of course this is their word,” Pahad said, adding that there was no independent confirmation of the men’s health.
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/ 17 January 2007
South African retail sales growth accelerated to 12,3% year-on-year in November at constant prices, backing the case for a rate rise in February, official data showed on Wednesday. Retail sales rose by a downwardly revised 8,7% in October, while sales growth for the three months to November climbed to 11,5%, also at constant prices.
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/ 17 January 2007
The number of injuries in the older age groups of schoolboy rugby is on the increase and is a major cause for concern, says former Springbok captain Morne du Plessis. Addressing the 29th Discovery SharkSmart Coaching Conference last week, Du Plessis explained that the age group most at risk is boys 19 years and younger.
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/ 17 January 2007
Two members of the Delicious Rugby Club in the Boland, who allegedly rendered an opposing player unconscious in an on-field brawl, appeared on Tuesday in the Worcester Regional Court on charges of culpable homicide. Ben Zimry and Wayne Matthee were not asked to plead when they appeared before magistrate PJ van Rensburg, who postponed the case to May 15.
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/ 17 January 2007
Channel Life has acquired the entire share capital of South Africa’s oldest black life insurer, Safrican, the companies announced on Wednesday. ”Having Channel Life as a shareholder will allow us to fully realise our potential and expand the operation into areas that we previously didn’t have access to,” Safrican chief executive officer Nthabiseng Mmatli said in a statement.
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/ 17 January 2007
Africa’s first America’s Cup hopefuls Team Shosholoza started out with the aim of winning a race or two. Now, despite having the oldest boat in the challengers’ series, the South African team have raised their sights and are determined to make this year’s semifinals.
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/ 17 January 2007
The future of the Cape Town government will be decided in talks on Wednesday, the city’s executive mayor, Helen Zille, said. ”As this morning dawns, I am at the head of a minority government in Cape Town, which is never a comfortable place to be,” she told SAfm presenter John Perlman. ”Today will be decisive. There are lots of talks ongoing and we will see what emerges. At the end of the day we will know.”
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/ 17 January 2007
The Democratic Alliance-led coalition in the Cape Town city council has approached the Independent Democrats (ID) to join them, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Wednesday. Cape Town ID caucus leader Simon Grindrod told the broadcaster that a proposal had been forwarded to the party’s leaders.
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/ 17 January 2007
Tenders for all five new Soccer World Cup stadiums have come back at least R2-billion over budget, the Star reported on Wednesday. It said the same applied to the upgrade of the FNB stadium. The National Treasury had allocated R8,4-billion for the construction and renovation of the country’s 10 World Cup stadiums, but more money would be needed.
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/ 17 January 2007
Crime experts and victims have accused President Thabo Mbeki of being out of touch with reality with his denial that crime was out of hand, Beeld reported on Wednesday. A senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Johan Burger, said Mbeki’s statement showed he was not clued up about the experiences of ordinary people.
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/ 17 January 2007
The leadership of the National Taxi Alliance is to call for a strike against the taxi recapitalisation programme, media reports said on Wednesday. A source said the week-long strike from Monday would be announced on Thursday. This could leave tens of thousands of workers, pupils and students in major cities stranded.
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/ 16 January 2007
More than 3Â 500kg of toxic waste has been illegally dumped in a landfill site in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, since late December. Working in the scorching heat at the Walkerville de Deur landfill site on Tuesday, the IFRT Spill Response team had to plough through metres of stinking garbage to locate two bags, weighing about 50kg each.
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/ 16 January 2007
Botswana, the world’s largest diamond producer, is targeting a 17-fold increase in its fledgling cutting industry within five years. It also aims to provide its diamond mines with all support services from local sources, President Festus Mogae said on Tuesday.
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/ 16 January 2007
The Democratic Alliance-led Cape Town multiparty coalition government suffered a major blow on Tuesday when it lost a key partner on the council. The African Muslim Partyis no longer part of the of city’s government after one of its members, with the approval of his party leadership, was found to have engaged in ”secret talks” with the African National Congress, mayor Helen Zille said.
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/ 16 January 2007
Several publications on Tuesday expressed fears that the current restructuring of the South African Police Service (SAPS) will severely limit the media’s ability to access information. Up until the restructuring started, media outlets approached designated police officers at area level. However, media organisations have now been told to contact designated officers at a provincial level.
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/ 16 January 2007
A recovery team is trying to find the bodies of the five men who died while illegally mining near Barberton, said the team leader on Tuesday. ”We’re on the site. We’ve decided to try to recover the bodies,” said Mines Rescue Services general manager Christo de Klerk from the site. ”We’re going to work right around the clock.”
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/ 16 January 2007
Proteas batsman Herschelle Gibbs will probably be able to play in the second Test against Pakistan in Port Elizabeth from Friday, after notifying the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday that he intends appealing against his two-Test ban. Gibbs was banned for two Test matches after he was found guilty on Monday of breaching level 3.3 of the ICC code of conduct.
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/ 16 January 2007
Crime-combating strategies should be decentralised and province-specific, the South African Institute for Race Relations said on Tuesday. Researcher Kerwin Lebone said the institute advocated the decentralisation of crime-fighting strategies following the release of a report on crime across the provinces.
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/ 16 January 2007
The Waterkloof Four court case is nearing its conclusion with only the defence team and state still to present final arguments before the magistrate passes sentence. Christoff Becker, Frikkie du Preez, Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt were found guilty by the Pretoria Regional Court in 2005 of murdering an unidentified black man and assaulting another.
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/ 16 January 2007
Common assault charges against Mzwakhe Mbuli, a musician known as the People’s Poet, have been withdrawn in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday. The charge sheet did not specify the reasons for the withdrawal of the case.
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/ 16 January 2007
The Free State department of transport on Tuesday announced changes to the province’s vehicle number-plate regulations. ”The [provincial minister] for public works, roads and transport, Seiso Mohai, has approved amendments to the provincial notices regarding number plates after the department was flooded with requests from the public,” Gunnett Kaaf, a departmental spokesperson, said.
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/ 16 January 2007
A South African soldier’s passion for military memorabilia led him to buy a set of medals belonging to executed Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein — and they are now on display in Johannesburg. ”Medals tell the story of a country,” said William Endley, a retired South African National Defence Force colonel now working for a United States de-mining company.
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/ 16 January 2007
President Thabo Mbeki has a personal prerogative on whether to take a public HIV test, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in Pretoria on Tuesday. An individual’s state of health — including that of the president — was highly sensitive and a private matter, she told a select group of journalists.
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/ 16 January 2007
Fifteen windscreen washers were arrested at intersections around Johannesburg on Monday, metro police said. ”We have received a lot of complaints about these guys … they are annoying, some people pay but when people don’t want their windows washed, these guys spray soap on their windscreens … it’s very irritating,” said the Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.
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/ 16 January 2007
The Rail Safety Regulator will investigate an apparent suicide on Monday in which a couple and a baby died in Ga-Rankuwa. A train crashed into their bakkie on a level-crossing at midday. ”We remain concerned at the growing number of accidents at level crossings and will continue to work closely with operators to find lasting solutions,” the regulator said in statement on Tuesday.
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/ 16 January 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has rejected the Gauteng education department’s plans to close underperforming schools and instead proposed a rescue plan that it said would help improve matric results in those schools. DA education spokesperson George Boinamo told reporters in Cape Town on Tuesday about the proposed six-point plan.
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/ 16 January 2007
About 40 San Bushmen have returned to their ancestral homeland in Botswana following a court ruling that found they were wrongly evicted by the government and could return, a statement said on Tuesday. ”A group of 40 Bushmen have managed to return to their homes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve …,” rights group Survival International said.
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/ 16 January 2007
Insurer SA Eagle is taking the Johannesburg City Council to court in a bid to get back R30-million it forked out to rebuild the Wanderers Club, which burnt down in 2004. Business Day reported on Tuesday that the firm contended the council was negligent in letting the historic building be destroyed by fire.
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/ 16 January 2007
Lonmin, the world’s third largest platinum producer, has decided to completely rebuild a furnace, following a leak in December, a process that will take 80 days. ”…The prior failures of the furnace have fundamentally compromised the structural integrity of the vessel and it is therefore not prudent to attempt to repair the furnace in its current condition,” Lonmin said.
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/ 16 January 2007
A Cricket South Africa (CSA) disciplinary hearing against Proteas batsman Herschelle Gibbs for using abusive language during a match was postponed on Tuesday. Chair of the proceedings Judge Mervyn King said the matter was put off after he learnt that Gibbs would appeal against an International Cricket Council finding on the issue.
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/ 16 January 2007
There is probably no better argument for the close connection between politics and sport than apartheid South Africa. Not only were politics and sport intrinsically entwined in the country, but sport was also used as a vehicle to rid the country of the apartheid policy.
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/ 16 January 2007
The Department of Minerals and Energy could implement a retail petrol-price cut of 24 cents per litre (c/l) on February 7, provided the daily over-recovery remains at or above the January 15 level. South Africa’s daily unleaded petrol price over-recovery eased to 31,869c/l on January 15 from 34,879c/l on January 12.