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/ 17 August 2001

Comedy of horrors

Q&A: Nicky newman Matthew Krouse Johannesburg comes under fire in The Architecture of Fear, a frightening documentary expounding every city-dwellers worst fears. Unwittingly, it’s a dark comedy of paranoia. Well-known individuals, such as photographer David Goldblatt and confidence coach Mike Lipkin, as well as a host of suburban reprobates reflect on the way Jo’burg fortifies […]

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/ 17 August 2001

StSebastian comes to call

channel vision Robert Kirby Speaking on last Sunday’s Carte Blanche, visiting BBC interviewer Tim Sebastian recalled a comment once made to him by Northern Ireland mandarin Gerry Adams. “How long have you been in Northern Ireland?” asked Adams, after being interviewed by Sebastian. “Since this morning,” said Sebastian. “It shows,” said Adams. Last week’s series […]

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/ 17 August 2001

Mugabe calls in army to ‘speed up’ land reform

The Zimbabwean army is to be deployed on white-owned farms to “speed up” redistribution of land and to “protect” black settlers from violent farmers, says the government. Land Minister Joseph Made told the state-owned Herald newspaper that the military is being called in because the pace of farm seizures is too slow. Harare is portraying […]

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/ 17 August 2001

Cold city, warm hearts

Jo’burg people are portrayed as complex and creative in the work of Patrick de Mervelec Matthew Krouse Patrick de Mervelec’s exhibition Jo’burger, currently at the Pretoria Art Museum, is the result of a labour-intensive work of love. This master of French photography, now living in South Africa, has initiated a body of work “born out […]

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/ 17 August 2001

State not behind Merc threat

DaimlerChrysler denies there is a government-company strategy to deal with the motor strike Glenda Daniels DaimlerChrysler’s chairperson has crushed union suspicions that the government advised the company to threaten to withdraw from South Africa to stop the protracted automobile strike. Union insiders said they suspected that DaimlerChrysler, “being friends” of the government, was urged to […]

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/ 17 August 2001

Many SA schools lack water, sanitation

The government says it is working on a strategy to improve the delivery of much-needed systems Barry Streek Minister of Education Kader Asmal has disclosed in Parliament that two-thirds of South African schools (17907 schools) are without adequate sanitation and 11,7% (3188 schools) do not have any sanitation at all. There were 27148 schools in […]

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/ 17 August 2001

Centre gives link to better service delivery

Jubie Matlou One training institution that has cut a niche for itself in information and communications technology is the Learning Information Networking Knowledge Centre (Link) of the Wits University Graduate School of Public and Development Management. Cellphone provider Vodacom made funds available for the study of new information and communications technologies and their possible effects […]

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/ 16 August 2001

UK ponders escape plan from Zimbabwe

London, Harare | Thursday BRITISH and European diplomats in Zimbabwe have held secret talks on the possible evacuation of up to 25 000 British citizens from the country, The Independent newspaper reported on Thursday. Amid widespread violent looting of white-owned farms, the talks were held to update a contingency plan to help British nationals and […]

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/ 16 August 2001

THOUSANDS FLEE BURUNDI VIOLENCE

AT least two civilians were wounded and several thousands forced to flee their homes in Nyambuye — a hilly area to the east of the capital — following renewed clashes Wednesday between the Burundese army and the rebels of the Hutu-controlled National Liberation Front (FNL). The heavy fighting was concentrated in the Kibingo, Kinuke and […]

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/ 16 August 2001

TANZANIAN CELL COMPANY ‘ILLEGAL’

EAST African cellular operator Mobitel has been accused of running an illegal cellphone network by the Tanzanian Minister of Communications and Transport, Ernest Nyanda, Wired News reported on Wednesday. Mobitel has been running its network in the country for seven years. The minister said in parliament that Mobitel has been running its network without a […]

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/ 16 August 2001

SA GOVT REACTS TO ZIM CRISIS

THE South African governments immediate concern is to quell the fears of the minority community, said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad on Wednesday, in reaction to the incidents of farm attacks by war veterans in neighbouring Zimbabwe. We have to reassure our people in South Africa that a similar situation will not arise […]

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/ 16 August 2001

PROJECT MANAGEMENT, NIGERIAN STYLE

A GOVERNMENT appointed panel has found that more than 2 000 projects awarded between 1976 and 1998 are yet to be completed in Nigeria, the Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday. The commission was set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo, who came to power in May 1999, to verify and assess the extent of work done […]

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/ 16 August 2001

PANIC IN LAGOS AFTER POLICE AND KIDS CLASH

A CHILD was killed in Lagos and a policeman seriously injured on Wednesday after an attempt to make an arrest in the city’s main market spiralled out of control. Traders said the market in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital was shut down on Wednesday afternoon after efforts by police to catch a child-thief degenerated […]

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/ 16 August 2001

NIGERIAN COMMISSIONER ASKED ABOUT POISONING

POLICE in Osun State, southwest Nigeria, have interrogated a commissioner over an alleged attempt to poison the state deputy governor. Osun State Deputy Governor Iyiola Omisore claimed last week that Governor Adebisi Akande and senior aides had conspired to kill him by arranging for someone to poison his food. For more than a year, relations […]

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/ 16 August 2001

NAMIBIA, SA TAKE DOWN THE FENCES

South African Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa will on Friday sign a memorandum of understanding in Windhoek with his Namibian counterpart Philemon Malima to set up a cross-border conservation area. The department said in a statement the environmental collaboration programme would establish the Richtersveld/Ai-Ais Transfrontier Park, a protected conservation area. The area was part of […]

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/ 16 August 2001

FARMERS KEEN TO SELL LAND FOR EMPOWERMENT

More than 40 Northern Province farmers have offered to sell 16 852 hectares of land to the provincial department of land affairs as part of a project to transfer 30% of agricultural land to blacks within 15 years. Provincial land affairs representative Phumudzo Makharemedza said on Wednesday that 43 farmers had responded to government advertisements […]

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/ 16 August 2001

DRC REBELS TO DEMOBILISE CHILD SOLDIERS

Unicef chief Carol Bellamy said on Wednesday that rebel groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo had agreed to work with her organisation towards the demobilisation of child soldiers and to stop recruiting children. “The rebel forces too, want to work with us in the program to integrate these children back to their normal […]

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/ 16 August 2001

Dead end haggling marks auto strike

Johannesburg | Thursday THE strike in the automobile manufacturers industry was set to enter its tenth day on Thursday as late night negotiations between employers and Numsa reached a dead end on Wednesday. Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation (Ameo) representative Dave Kirby said that there were still two key areas which the parties could not agree […]

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/ 16 August 2001

BOTSWANA HALTS AID TO TRIBE IN GAME RESERVE

THE Botswana government will cut services to members of the nomadic Basarwa tribe living in the southern African country’s largest game reserve because it has become too expensive to maintain them, a minister said on Wednesday. Assistant Local Government Minister Gladys Kokorwe said services to the nomads, living in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, would […]

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/ 16 August 2001

BANKER’S DEATH WON’T DERAIL PRIVATISATION

THE prime minister of Mozambique on Monday vowed that the suspected murder of a top banker at the weekend would not sway the government from re-privatising the country’s commercial banks. “The privatisation will go ahead as planned in line with our government’s policy,” Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi told state radio. The body of Antonio Siba […]

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/ 16 August 2001

AIR AFRIQUE II TO SPREAD ITS WINGS

AFRICAN heads of state agreed on Tuesday to liquidate troubled Air Afrique and form a new regional airline with Air France as the majority shareholder – but with the original name and logo. The decision, based on a proposal from shareholder Air France, was announced in a statement after a last ditch meeting of the […]

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/ 16 August 2001

Absa scrutinises Banco Austral

Maseru | Monday THE Amalgamated Banks of South Africa has begun assessing the financial situation of Mozambique’s Banco Austral, ahead of the troubled bank’s reprivatization and only days after its chairman was apparently murdered. Police have indicated that Antonio Siba Siba Macuacua was on Saturday apparently pushed down the steps from the 15th floor of […]

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/ 16 August 2001

WHITE MEN STILL FILL 9 OUT OF 10 TOP SA JOBS

AFFIRMATIVE action and the law on employment equity has had virtually no effect in South Africa, with white men still filling nine out of ten positions in top local companies, according to a report published on Tuesday. The report by auditers Deloitte and Touche, printed in the Johannesburg-based Business Day newspaper, said white men still […]

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/ 16 August 2001

11-year-old dies after botched circumcision

DUMISANE LUBISI, Bushbuckridge | Thursday AN 11-YEAR-old boy became yet another victim of a botched circumcision in the Northern Province when he died just hours after being admitted to hospital on Sunday. Sipho Mathe of Cork Trust village in Bushbuckridge was admitted to Mapulaneng Hospital on Sunday afternoon after being circumcised at an initiation school […]

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/ 14 August 2001

PROVIDING EDUCATION FOR AFRICAN GEMS

EDUCATION experts and policy makers from across Africa meet in Kampala on Wednesday to discuss ways to overcome barriers that exclude girls from receiving a full education, conference officials said here. UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) representative Mads Oyen said that girls from across Africa will lead debate with ministers of education at the three-day forum. […]

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/ 14 August 2001

NIGERIA AIRWAYS SLASHES WORKFORCE

NIGERIA Airways will soon lay off 809 workers ahead of a planned restructuring of the ailing national carrier, a press report said on Sunday. Under the exercise, which has already been approved by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the 2 309-strong workforce of the airline will be reduced by 809, the Guardian newspaper reported. It said the […]

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/ 14 August 2001

LESOTHO VOTERS REGISTER AHEAD OF 2002 POLL

LESOTHO’S reconstituted Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) began registering voters on Monday for general elections in the politically turbulent mountain kingdom in April or May 2002. Registration of the approximately 800 000 potential voters among the population of about two million is taking place in more than 1 000 centres under the observation of all participating […]

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/ 14 August 2001

Lesotho dams corruption trial on ice

Maseru | Monday THE High Court of Lesotho has postponed a high-profile corporate corruption trial until December. The postponement came after pressure from lawyers for a number of Western construction companies, members of a consortium accused of paying US$2m (US$1=3D M8,20) or more in bribes over a dam-building project, and a request for more time […]

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/ 14 August 2001

INFLATION DRIVES ZIM TO ISSUE 500 DOLLAR NOTE

ZIMBABWE will late this month introduce a 500 dollar banknote (worth about nine US) due to rising inflation which has eroded the value of the currency. The largest denomination note available so far had been a 100 dollar (1.81 US) note, which was introduced in 1995. “In view of rising inflation, the 500-dollar note is […]

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/ 14 August 2001

DING DONG, LONG LIVE TOLERANCE

THE South African government urged its citizens on Monday to light candles, torches and lanterns on Tuesday next week to demonstrate their commitment to tolerance, and said official torches would burn until the end of a world conference against racism. Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, who made the plea, also asked South African churches to […]