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/ 30 August 2000

No new wife for Swazi King

AFRICAN EYE NEWS SERVICE, Mbabane | Wednesday SWAZILAND has returned to work after the kingdom’s most sacred annual holiday, the Umhlanga Reed Dance, with the news that absolute monarch King Mswati III would not be taking an eighth wife this year. The reed dance, an annual fertility pageant at which the king is expected to […]

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/ 30 August 2000

MEN ARRESTED FOR PAINTING GIRL WHITE

TWO men have been arrested in Louis Trichardt afternoon for allegedly painting a 14-year-old girl white, Northern Province police said. The men, a manager from the town’s Pep Store and one of his workers, accused the girl, from a nearby village, of stealing, Senior Superintendent Phutti Setati said in a statement. “The girl was in […]

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/ 30 August 2000

Malawi needs US$25m for land

AFRICAN EYE NEWS SERVICE, Blantyre | Wednesday MALAWI has appealed to the World Bank and other international donors for US$25m to help resettle an estimated 21 000 landless villagers as the core of its land redistribution programme. Malawi’s land ministry principal secretary Henry Juwa said the country urgently needed to purchase 14 000 ha of […]

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/ 30 August 2000

COPS, AIRMAN IN COURT FOR RAPING TEEN

TWO policemen and an airman have been arrested in connection with raping a teenaged girl and possibly filming it during a drinking binge in Northern Province six months ago. Constables Cornelius Lourens, 30, and Nicholas Wolmarans, 31, of Hoedspruit police station and Corporal Carl Joubert, 29, of Hoedspruit air base were not asked to plead […]

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/ 30 August 2000

AFRICA ‘MUST BUILD IT SECTOR’

GLOBALISATION has become a matter of priority for Africa, with the continent needing to build capacity in the information technology sector, says Telecommunications and Broadcasting Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. Speaking at the opening of the “Making IT work for Africa” summit at Sun City, Matsepe-Casaburri said in the past so-called industrial world, globalisation meant Africa’s isolation […]

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/ 29 August 2000

POLICE TO OPPOSE BAIL IN DELMAS INCEST CASE

POLICE are expected to oppose bail when a man who allegedly had sex with his sister for 16 years, Jan Robert Fedder, 40, appears in the Delmas Magistrate’s Court. Fedder is charged with incest and has been in custody since he, his sister Heibrecht, 32, and their parents were arrested in Delmas on July 26. […]

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/ 29 August 2000

New unit to polish image of SA financial systems

REUTERS, Pretoria | Tuesday THE South African Reserve Bank (SARB) could well establish a financial stability unit to boost confidence and transparency in the country’s financial system. “The purpose of the proposed financial stability unit could be said to be to support the financial stability mission of the SARB and…monitoring the overall stability of the […]

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/ 29 August 2000

GHANA TO USE FEMALE CONDOM AGAINST HIV

THE Ghanaian government has ordered half a million female condoms to help combat the spread of the HI virus. The contraceptive, which can be used by either women or men practicing homosexual sex, was first trialed in the country as part of a pilot project run by the United Nations Population Fund and the Ghana […]

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/ 29 August 2000

Empowerment group buys Amplats equity

REUTERS, Johannesburg | Tuesday ANGLO American Platinum Corp (Amplats) has sold a stake of roughly 17.5% in miner Northam to empowerment firm Mvelaphanda Platinum. “Together with the acquisition from Rembrandt Group of a 5% shareholding in Northam, Mvela will hold approximately 22.5% which is roughly equal to Amplats remaining holding,” the platinum miner said. Amplats […]

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/ 29 August 2000

Crude prices hike Morocco trade deficit

REUTERS, Rabat | Tuesday MOROCCO’S trade deficit for the first half of this year surged 39.8% to 22.66bn dirhams due mainly to a higher crude oil imports bill. The state foreign trade regulatory Office de Changes said in a report that imports rose 14.8% at the end of June to 60.11bn dirhams while exports edged […]

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/ 29 August 2000

CHURCHGOER ARRESTED WITH CHILD’S BODY PARTS

A MAN accused of decapitating a five-year-old boy and cutting off his genitals and left arm, was allegedly caught with the body parts at a church service and arrested. The man was arrested at a Zion Christian Church in Bettiesgood village in Mpuluzi near Piet Retief. Little Nkosinathi Thela was found mutilated in KwaThandeka near […]

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/ 28 August 2000

Vigilantes guard glitzy legislature

AFRICAN EYE NEWS SERVICE, Nelspruit | Monday MPUMALANGA has launched an inquiry into how South Africa’s largest and most controversial vigilante group, Mapogo-a-Mathamaga, was appointed to guard the province’s glitzy R600m legislature complex just outside Nelspruit. Mpumalanga public works, roads, transport, safety and security MEC Steve Mabona said officials responsible for the appointment would be […]

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/ 28 August 2000

UGANDA RISKS EU’S FISHY WRATH

BARELY a month after the European Union (EU) a fish export ban on Uganda, there are growing fears that the ban could be reinstated. A local newspaper reported that the country is behind schedule in implementing changes laid down by the EU geared to bring the fishing industry in line with their regulations. Dr James […]

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/ 28 August 2000

Sudan slams US for warmongering

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Khartoum | Monday SUDAN has accused the United States of “being one of the main reasons” behind the civil war in south Sudan by supporting and assisting the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). “The US provides one of the main reasons behind the suffering of the people in the south, […]

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/ 28 August 2000

SOUTH AFRICA NAMED IN BLOOD RACKET

SOUTH Africa has been shipping blood contaminated with the HIV virus and hepatitis via Britain to India, China and possibly other countries, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) investigation. A British newspaper reported that thousands of people could face contamination through a multi-million dollar racket, where blood from South Africa was often labelled as […]

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/ 28 August 2000

SMALL FARMERS TRY TO KEEP CLOTHES ON

A GROUP of rural women who made international headlines when they staged a naked protest last November are praying they won’t have to take their clothes off again to ensure they can grow their crops. The group of 28 women marched naked along the main road of Schoemansdal in Mpumalanga last year to protest against […]

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/ 28 August 2000

OUTSPOKEN VENDA LECTURER FACES CHARGES

AN outspoken University of Venda lecturer who mobilised students against the university’s controversial vice-chancellor, Gessler Nkondo, has been charged with violating the university’s rules. Theology lecturer Thivhalaeli Nedohe faces five charges of instigating a class boycott, organising a protest march and running a meeting during working hours. He is expected to appear before the university’s […]

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/ 28 August 2000

MBOWENI HELD UP IN GARAGE ROBBERY

SOUTH African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni has become the latest high-profile victim of crime after being held at gunpoint and robbed of his cellphone at a Johannesburg garage. Mboweni, a security guard and three cashiers were held up by five gunmen at the Houghton garage before making off with items from six other customers […]

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/ 28 August 2000

Mbeki’s economic policy slammed

AFRICAN EYE NEWS SERVICE, Washington | Monday OUTSPOKEN Wits University professor and social commentator Patrick Bond has criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s economic policies at a seminar in the US, instead lobbying US activists to join a boycott on the World Bank. Bond told non-government organisations at the Washington Centre for Economic Justice and Policy Research […]

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/ 28 August 2000

EMPLOYEE DIES HORROR DEATH BEHIND BAKKIE

A SASOLBURG businessman will appear in court today after allegedly killing one of his employees and dragging his body through the Sasolburg Industrial area behind his bakkie. Free State police said members of the public called the police after seeing the bakkie dragging what appeared to be a body behind it, and had followed a […]

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/ 28 August 2000

DEMOCRACY ROUTE TO NEW NIGERIAN ECONOMY

U.S. President Bill Clinton wrapped up a two-day state visit to Nigeria, preaching that democracy is good for business and promising American help on trade and in the fight against disease. Clinton told business leaders that the way to revitalise the battered economy was to rally round their democratically elected president and government. “Along with […]

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/ 28 August 2000

War vets axe ‘dictatorial’ Hitler

OWN CORRESPONDENT with AFP, Harare | Monday ZIMBABWE’S war veterans association has voted to oust its firebrand leader Chenjerai “Hitler” Hunzvi for being too dictatorial, and plans to make the often-violent farm invasions that he started “more orderly” – but a defiant Hunzvi has dismissed the challenge as a waste of time. Provincial leaders of […]

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/ 27 August 2000

POLICE WAIT FOR SUSPECT TO PASS EVIDENCE

SOUTH A BOLIVIAN man arrested this week for drug smuggling has passed 20 of the “cocaine bullets” detected in his stomach, but police suspect the 31-year-old man has at least another 60 of the foreign objects in his stomach. The Bolivian apparently swallowed up to 80 condoms filled with cocaine before attempting to pass through […]

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/ 27 August 2000

MAN GETS 229 YEARS FOR RAPE SPREE

A 30-YEAR-old man has been sentenced to 229 years in prison by the Pretoria Regional Court after he pleaded guilty to 23 charges, including rape, attempted rape, indecent assault, armed robbery and the illegal possession of a firearm. Andre Gregory Mohammed admitted to attacking his victims at or near their homes during the day in […]

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/ 27 August 2000

King doubts Hansie has come clean

STEVEN MANN, Cape Town | Friday RETIRED Judge Edwin King, who is heading a commission probing corruption in South African cricket, has doubts about whether disgraced cricket captain Hansie Cronje has come clean about his illicit involvement with bookmakers. King’s interim report was made public on Friday, two weeks after it was handed over to […]

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/ 27 August 2000

50 SUDANESE SCHOOL CHILDREN DROWN

FIFTY Sudanese school children died when a wooden ferry capsized in the fast-flowing Blue Nile River in eastern Sudan this week. The overloaded ferry capsized in midstream, killing 50 pupils between the ages of 10 to 17. The small wooden craft was overloaded with 30 bags of sweet potatoes and 10 bags of sorghum in […]

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/ 25 August 2000

Queiroz takes over the hot seat

Ntuthuko Maphumulo soccer On paper Carlos Queiroz is one of the best coaches ever to set foot in South Africa. He is known as the “professor” in Portugal, but despite his outstanding achievements he was not well known in Africa until world ruling body Fifa recommended him to the South African Football Association (Safa) as […]

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/ 25 August 2000

High profiler

Neil Sonnekus CATCH ME A KILLER by Micki Pistorius (Penguin) Micki Pistorius is this country’s top profiler and has written a book about her six years’ experience in the South African Police Services. She tells us she has a kind of sixth sense (cryptesthesia) about these things and has apparently helped catch more serial killers […]

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/ 25 August 2000

Blackburn mourns ‘Uncle Jack’

Daniel Taylor soccer The first bouquets started arriving just before 11am. It started as a slow trickle, followed by a steady flow. Very soon, as the news reverberated across the old cotton town, Ewood Park had become the focal point for the mourning of a club and its community. Not only Blackburn but English football […]

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/ 25 August 2000

What the kids are taking and how to

recognise it Nawaal Deane Ecstasy: “E”, or the “love drug”, costs between R50 and R80, depending on the dealer. A person on E will display affectionate behaviour, wanting to massage (non-sexually), hug or touch anyone for hours. To spot a person on E, look for someone with dilated pupils and a tense jaw, someone who […]

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/ 25 August 2000

Principal’s poisoned pen

Khadija Magardie A Free State school principal who wrote acid testimonials for a group of matric pupils has dashed the hopes of the youngsters of studying further or getting jobs after school. The letters of reference from the poisoned pen of the principal of Diphetoho High School, in Botha-ville, near Kroonstad, conclude with the principal’s […]

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/ 25 August 2000

Growing up gorgeous

Boom Shaka’s best-known vocalist has launched her debut CD single in style Charl Blignaut You can say what you like about Lebo Mathosa – and, heaven knows, much has been said about Lebo Mathosa – but after last week even her most insistent detractors will be hard- pressed to overlook her singular talents and simply […]