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/ 10 January 2007
The Highveld Lions, up to second place on the log, will be the next team to challenge the Titans’ charge when they clash in the Supersport Series cricket competition in Potchefstroom, starting on Thursday. The Diamond Eagles are also on a roll after successive wins.
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/ 10 January 2007
A man has been arrested for stealing a lizard worth R750 from a pet shop in Benoni, North Rand police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Andy Pieke said the man allegedly stole the bearded dragon lizard after buying four mice from the Scales and Web pet shop in Boksburg North at about noon on Tuesday.
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/ 10 January 2007
Police on Wednesday recovered the body of a 13-year-old girl who was apparently raped and then thrown over a cliff in Durban’s Molweni area. The police search-and-rescue unit had to retrieve Londi Mdunge’s body, which had fallen nearly 60m down a cliff overlooking the Inanda Dam.
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/ 10 January 2007
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), which represents about two-thirds of all teachers in South Africa, has welcomed the fact that the threat to close poorly performing schools has been retracted. Sadtu was responding to a threat from Gauteng education provincial minister Angie Motshekga to close dysfunctional schools.
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/ 10 January 2007
Fresh from their stunning comeback from one-nil down to a series victory against India, South Africa take on Pakistan in a three-Test series starting at SuperSport Park on Thursday. Proteas coach Mickey Arthur predicts a very tough series against Pakistan, who are ranked third in the world in Test cricket.
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/ 10 January 2007
The African National Congress’s (ANC) 95th anniversary rally will be open to the general public, the party confirmed on Wednesday. Spokesperson Steyn Speed said the party wanted to correct an impression that people attending the rally would have to submit their ID numbers in order to attend.
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/ 10 January 2007
The plight of grade 11 pupils who failed last year is the biggest challenge facing education in South Africa in 2007, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Wednesday. Sadtu president Willie Madisha told a media conference in Johannesburg the Department of Education will have to give clear directions on how to deal with grade 11s who failed.
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/ 10 January 2007
Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe has backed an ongoing strike by medical doctors as well as a go-slow at the country’s schools. In a statement on Wednesday, issued by MDC secretary for information and publicity Nelson Chamisa, the party said the strike is a vote of no-confidence in the government.
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/ 10 January 2007
All Gauteng schools opened on Wednesday for the start of the 2007 school year with a few minor hitches reported, the provincial education department said. ”All our schools opened today [Wednesday],” said spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi. ”From our side we are quite excited that everything went smoothly.”
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/ 10 January 2007
The great Ronaldo was dubbed ”The Phenomenon” during the halcyon years in which he was proclaimed World Footballer of the Year on three occasions. And, in a more modest manner, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) has unravelled a phenomenon of its own.
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/ 10 January 2007
Tuberculosis, malnutrition and African wars were among the top ten most underreported humanitarian stories of 2006, the international aid organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Tuesday. ”We know that media coverage does not generate improvements on its own,” said United States MSF executive director Nicolas de Torrente.
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/ 10 January 2007
One of South Africa’s top prosecutors was robbed of two cellphones and jewellery in front of her children in Johannesburg, the Star newspaper reported on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht confirmed that Charin de Beer, who prosecuted former deputy president Jacob Zuma during his rape trial, was robbed in the driveway of her home in Bryanston by two men.
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/ 10 January 2007
South Africa and Pakistan both have concerns over their fast-bowlers ahead of the first Test of a three-match series starting at Centurion Park on Thursday. Pakistan, already with five fast-bowlers in their squad, added a sixth in the controversial Shoaib Akhtar as cover for Umar Gul, who suffered from an ankle injury during the team’s warm-up match.
Underperforming schools in Gauteng and the Free State will remain open, the provincial education departments said on Tuesday. ”The [provincial minister] is not closing any schools for non-performance,” said the Gauteng education department spokesperson Mbela Phetlhe.
Allegations of negligence on the part of guides conducting tours around the Cango Caves are to be investigated by management and the Oudtshoorn municipality, the Herald Online reported on Tuesday. This follows an incident at the tourist attraction last Sunday, in which three foreign tourists and one local tourist were left stranded underground in the dark.
Provincial education departments on Tuesday reported readiness for the arrival of millions of pupils at the start of the 2007 school year on Wednesday. Schools will reopen in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West and Free State. ”The Gauteng department of education is ready to roll out the 2007 academic calendar,” education provincial minister Angie Motshekga said.
In public, nobody wants to be South Africa’s next leader. In reality, the presidential race began in earnest this week. Political analysts say the country is quietly gearing up for a contentious campaign ahead of a key congress in December when the ruling African National Congress is expected to select a new leader for the party and, in turn, the nation.
Vehicle sales in 2007 are likely to move sideways or register modest growth, Johan van Zyl, president of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa, said on Tuesday. He said that while 2006 had been an outstanding record year in terms of new-vehicle sales, this year will be ”more challenging”.
Convenor of selectors Haroon Lorgat said South Africa were confident of reaching racial targets after naming 14 non-white players on Tuesday in their provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup. Cricket South Africa has imposed a target of seven non-white players in the final 15-man squad, which needs to be announced by February 13.
Shebeens near schools are a source of school violence and an access to drugs and alcohol for minors, the Young Communist League of South Africa said on Tuesday. The league was announcing at a Johannesburg press conference the launch of its Joe Slovo ”Right to Learn” campaign, which will run from Thursday until the end of January.
Only a few white farmers have been offered new farms in Zimbabwe, ZimOnline said on Tuesday. According to the website, the Zimbabwean government promised to return land to former white farmers, but farmers on Monday said that only a handful of them had been offered new farms out of hundreds that had applied.
Police are investigating a case of arson after a fire raged through a four-storey block of flats in central Pretoria on Tuesday. Spokesperson Inspector Paul Ramaloko said the cause of the fire at Kinnoulle Mansions on Prinsloo Street was unknown and a case of arson would be investigated.
Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata has taken leave of absence from duty, Judge President Bernard Ngoepe said in a statement on Tuesday. Ngoepe met with Motata on Tuesday following Motata’s arrest in Hurlingham, Johannesburg, on Friday, allegedly for drunk driving. ”The judge has, in the interests of justice, asked for a leave of absence from duty,” Ngoepe said.
Convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik will not be seeking a medical pardon, his brother Yunis Shaik said in a statement on Tuesday. This comes in the wake of a statement by the former KwaZulu-Natal chairperson of the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights, Derrick Mdluli.
South Africa’s tourism-marketing efforts are paying off in ”very concrete terms”, with statistics showing there had been a nearly 16% tourism spike in the period January to July 2006, compared with the corresponding period in 2005, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in Utrecht, The Netherlands, on Tuesday.
A state funeral and private burial will be held respectively in Pretoria, Gauteng, and Bloemfontein, Free State, on Saturday for the late former state president Marais Viljoen, who died in Pretoria last week, according to the South African government news agency, BuaNews.
There was no Christmas pudding on the menu for Survivor South Africa presenter Mark Bayly and contestant Sam Allerton, who spent the festive season training hard for a new and gruelling challenge. On January 18 they will be teaming up with Doug Bird in a three-man kayak for the Hansa Powerade Dusi.
Off-field drama overshadowed the action on the field as the match between the touring Pakistanis and the Rest of South Africa ended in a tame draw at the De Beers Diamond Oval on Monday. Injured fast-bowler Umar Gul would be assessed on Wednesday after suffering an ankle injury that restricted him to three overs in the Rest’s innings.
It might have been the sight of a disorganised, relegation-threatened Maritzburg United plummeting to a 3-0 defeat against Wits University on Saturday that finally sent Steve Komphela scurrying back to Amaglug-glug with his tail between his legs on Monday — abandoning plans to coach the KwaZulu-Natal Premier League club in the process.
South Africa’s women’s hockey team promised much after a convincing display against the Olympic champions, Germany, last week, but failed to deliver on Monday and allowed Britain to dominate second-half possession and win the match in the Spar Hockey Festival by 2-1 at the University of Stellenbosch.
The African Union’s Peace and Security Council has asked South Africa to send troops to Somalia, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. The request was made during a visit to Washington by Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
Calls for convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik to be released on medical grounds were on Monday labelled as ”baseless, absurd, silly, nonsensical and somehow opportunistic” by the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights. Shaik was reported to have suffered a mild stroke shortly after he was admitted to St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban.