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/ 28 December 2006
The matric class of 2006 lived up to former state president Nelson Mandela’s expectations, said Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa on Thursday. ”The 78,35% pass rate shows very clearly that we have succeeded in creating a culture of learning and teaching that Nelson Mandela talked about when these matriculants started school in 1994.”
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/ 28 December 2006
Nine people have been arrested for allegedly using explosives to blow up ATMs, police said on Wednesday. Two were later released. Gauteng police spokesperson Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said four suspects were arrested on Christmas day and appeared in court on Wednesday.
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/ 27 December 2006
One of the biggest threats facing democracy in South Africa is corruption, the South African Communist Party (SACP) said on Wednesday. ”Apart from HIV/Aids, joblessness and poverty, the single biggest threat facing our democracy is growing corruption in both the public and private sectors,” said SACP president Blade Nzimande in the party’s new year message.
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/ 27 December 2006
As grade 12 pupils around the country brace themselves ahead of the release of the 2006 matric results on Thursday, theirs will not be the only eyes poring over the outcome of the all-important examinations. Given South Africa’s massive skills shortage, particularly in the fields of science and technology, big business and the government are also likely to be keenly scrutinising the scores.
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/ 27 December 2006
An SMS alert is triggered in the Eastern Cape about four times a week, warning of bad storm conditions heading towards the province. ”We send them out regularly,” said South African Weather Service forecaster Peter Lumb. ”On average, three to four a week for individual storms. We zoom in on ones that we think will be the most severe and will cause damage.”
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/ 27 December 2006
The Rietvlei Wetland Reserve has been closed after thousands of dead fish washed up on its banks, the City of Cape Town said on Wednesday. ”More than 10 tons of fish are estimated to have washed up along the 3km banks of the wetland water,” said spokesperson Dalton Gibbs. Test results are expected on Thursday from the city’s scientific services.
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/ 27 December 2006
South Africa were in some trouble on 257-8 when bad light stopped play early on the first day of the second Castle Lager Test against India at Kingsmead on Tuesday. The Proteas had been looking fairly good until a dramatic collapse saw them go from 256-5 to 257-8.
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/ 26 December 2006
Mozambican civil aviation authorities seized a South African helicopter that allegedly landed illegally on a beach in Inhassoro in the southern province of Inhambane, the Mozambican news agency Aim reported on Monday. Aim said the helicopter was seized on Friday.
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/ 26 December 2006
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first in the second Castle Lager Test against India at Kingsmead on Tuesday. The Proteas premier batsman, Jacques Kallis, has been ruled out with a back injury and fast bowler Dale Steyn has not yet recovered from the left thigh injury that forced him off the field during the first Test at the Wanderers.
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/ 26 December 2006
A total of 5Â 412 motorists were trapped speeding by speed cameras on Christmas Day, said Johannesburg metro police. Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said the motorists were photographed on the M1, M2, N1 and N3 freeways in the city. All are 120kph zones. ”The average speed of these cars was 145kph,” said Minnaar.
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/ 25 December 2006
The driver of a bus in which 12 people, including three children, died and 34 were injured in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday was caught driving with his blood alcohol level seven times over the legal limit last year, it has emerged. Police said the driver lost control of the vehicle and it overturned, slamming into pillars under a bridge on the N3.
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/ 25 December 2006
A baby and four others were killed in a three-car pile-up between Barkley West and Kimberley in the Northern Cape, police said on Monday. Meanwhile, the Stormvoël tollgate on the N1 highway near Pretoria has been reopened after a tanker’s horse caught fire on Sunday night, Tshwane metro police said.
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/ 24 December 2006
Flash floods in Johannesburg have claimed the lives of three people and injured three more, emergency workers said on Sunday. Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said a 20-year-old man drowned when he was swept away in a flash flood after heavy rain in Motswaledi, Soweto, on Saturday.
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/ 24 December 2006
South Africa’s porcupines are being slaughtered so their quills can be turned into tourist souvenirs, an animal welfare group said on Sunday. ”Porcupines are being hunted wholesale for the fashion market and nobody has any idea how many are being killed,” said Christina Pretorius of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
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/ 24 December 2006
Former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni will not be home for Christmas, the Department of Correctional Services said on Saturday. Yengeni was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in 2003 after being convicted on fraud charges.
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/ 23 December 2006
It could not have been better for all involved. That was the general consensus at the Northwood-Crusaders cricket ground on Friday where the touring India cricket side began a two-day friendly practice match against a KwaZulu-Natal Invitation XI. On a hot and humid day, the atmosphere was outstanding.
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/ 23 December 2006
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) can ban Pitso Mosimane for life from games and affairs under its jurisdiction, but its brazen declaration that its recent suspension of the beleaguered Supersport United and past interim Bafana Bafana coach applied to ”all soccer” is invalid.
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/ 23 December 2006
Proteas fast-bowler Makhaya Ntini is for the second consecutive year South Africa’s most popular sports personality among adults (those older than 18 years), according to the 2006 BMI Adult Sporttrack. He was voted ahead of soccer players Lucas Radebe, Benny McCarthy, Siyabonga Nomvete and Doctor Khumalo.
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/ 23 December 2006
A world ranking of 67th is not exactly the kind of credentials pending World Cup hosts should be proud to display — but, at least, the footballers of Bafana Bafana can hold their heads above water when it comes to the ”battle of the sexes”.
Their female equivalents, Banyana Banyana, are placed 71st in the women’s world rankings.
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/ 23 December 2006
There is an ineluctable rule of politics in developing democratic states: ruling liberation parties tend to grow in influence from election to election and the opposition declines. It holds true for South Africa’s ruling African National Congress — and for the current bleak picture for the opposition.
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/ 23 December 2006
Couples and single people will not be allowed to visit Table Mountain after 10pm during the festive season, media reports said on Friday. Said the general manager of Cape Town Tourism, Marriette du Toit: ”It was in the best interest of those visiting Table Mountain that the decision to close the roads to individuals and couples was made.”
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/ 23 December 2006
Two awaiting-trial prisoners hanged themselves in two separate police stations in Mpumalanga, police said on Friday. One of the men, who had been arrested for the rape of his eight-year-old niece, used a blanket to kill himself. ”The 19-year-old was arrested on Wednesday, a day after the alleged rape,” Superintendent Abie Khoabane said.
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/ 23 December 2006
Police are investigating a case of reckless or negligent driving against Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride after he was involved in a car accident on Thursday. On Friday afternoon McBride was still slightly concussed and on medication in hospital, said his wife, Nina.
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/ 23 December 2006
Two police officers were among people arrested for drunken driving in the presence of Transport Minister Jeff Radebe in separate roadblocks on the N3 in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday, the provincial traffic department said. By Friday, the death toll on South Africa’s roads stood at 907, down from last year’s 1 024 for the same period.
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/ 23 December 2006
Most South African families face a bleak festive season due to economic hardship caused by unemployment, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) said on Friday. ”The challenge is for us to join forces with workers and their unions to push for fair employment conditions, pay and respect for labour,” said PAC president Letlapa Mphahlele.
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/ 23 December 2006
Western Cape environment minister Tasneem Essop will decide on the rezoning of the Green Point Stadium in January, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Friday. This was agreed to on Friday following meetings between legal and technical experts from the Western Cape provincial government and the City of Cape Town.
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/ 23 December 2006
Fourteen people were injured on Saturday in an accident involving three taxis and a car on the N1 highway near Polokwane, emergency services said. Meanwhile, one person was killed and seven others were injured in an accident between a truck and a bakkie in Pretoria.
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/ 23 December 2006
An eight-year-old girl and a 50-year-old woman died after a hand grenade was apparently thrown into their home in Valencia in Nelspruit on Saturday morning, emergency services said. Witnesses said an occupant of a white car was spotted throwing ”something” through the bedroom window of the house at about 3am.
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/ 22 December 2006
It was the sight of a gunman hitting his wife and threatening to do worse that drove a 64-year-old to turn on his attackers and probably save the lives of eight people, the Star reported on Friday. And this despite him being shot twice. On Friday morning, Neville Huxham was in the intensive care unit at the Milpark Hospital.
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/ 22 December 2006
The Rating and Investment Information rating agency from Japan has upgraded the Republic of South Africa’s foreign currency long-term rating to A- (A minus) with a stable outlook (upgraded from stable BBB+), South Africa’s National Treasury announced on Friday.
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/ 22 December 2006
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi has urged 1 789 new police graduates to defend themselves in any way possible against police killers. ”There are elements that want to kill members of the police force, so I urge you to defend yourselves with whatever means [are] at your disposal,” he told them as they finished their basic training in Pretoria on Friday.
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/ 22 December 2006
The decision by the Gauteng department of agriculture, conservation and environment to approve the ”unsightly” overhead section of the Gautrain through Centurion is shocking, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday. Sizwe Matshikiza, spokesperson for the department, said the approval of the project had followed normal processes.