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/ 15 September 2006
Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s alma mater said on Friday it is launching an internet archive with thousands of documents and audio tapes on the life of the South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The £4,5-million project will provide a free, interactive digital resource about his humanitarian teachings and South Africa’s struggle for democracy, King’s College said.
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/ 13 September 2006
Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, Dumisani Ximbi, was rushed out of a public meeting last week after a warning of a plot to assassinate him, his office said on Wednesday. Ximbi’s spokesperson Wesley Douglas said the incident happened on Thursday evening, but was kept under wraps until the city’s VIP protection unit had completed a report.
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/ 13 September 2006
The implications would be ”grave” should the Western Cape provincial government succeed to alter Cape Town’s mayoral system, incumbent mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”It will undermine international confidence in the future of democracy,” she said.
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/ 12 September 2006
One in five pregnant women are testing HIV positive in the Western Cape’s public health antenatal clinics, according to a survey released by the department provincial health on Tuesday. The HIV prevalence is highest in women aged 25 to 29 years, with an infection rate of 20,1% of the 8 656 people examined at 400 facilities in the province’s 25 health districts.
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/ 8 September 2006
South Africa’s largest privately owned independent call-centre operator, Dialogue Group, expects to raise R51-million via a pre-listing private placement of 51-million shares at R1 a share, the group said on Friday. The JSE has granted Dialogue Holdings a listing for a maximum of 210-million ordinary shares on the Alternative Exchange (AltX).
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/ 6 September 2006
An invitation to Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to address a full council meeting of the Cape Town city council has been turned down, according to Mayor Helen Zille. In a statement on Wednesday, the mayor’s office noted that on August 31 the council adopted a motion to invite the minister to address a full council on the government’s plans to combat HIV/Aids.
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/ 6 September 2006
Labour regulations and official red tape tops a list of key constraints hampering South Africa’s economic growth, a Bureau for Economic Research survey showed on Wednesday. Other constraints identified are state leadership and capacity (policy support and municipal services), infrastructure deficiencies and costs and labour skills.
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/ 4 September 2006
More children are attending and finishing school but more are vulnerable due to poverty and the death of at least one parent, said an Education Department report released on Monday. The report found that the demand for high school and higher education institutions would probably grow strongly while demand for primary schools would grow more slowly.
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/ 1 September 2006
Kwaito star Zola, Tsotsi actor Presley Chweneyagae and actresses Shaleen Surtie-Richards and Nina Swart are among South African celebrities who have come out in support of a new emblem for Parliament. In August, Parliament called on all South Africans to take part in designing its new emblem.
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/ 1 September 2006
Analysts say widespread poverty in South Africa and a large African immigrant population has bred jealously, making Africa’s biggest economy rife for xenophobia. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, jostling for limited jobs and adding to already high crime rates, have sparked distrust and hatred of legitimate refugees.
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/ 1 September 2006
Former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni is being pampered in Malmesbury prison, according to a Cape Town tabloid newspaper. The newspaper reported this week that Yengeni, who was sentenced to four years jail for fraud, had been moved to the prison’s hospital section so that he did not have to be with other inmates.
Three African National Congress (ANC) councillors may face disciplinary action after trying to force their way into a council meeting, injuring a security official, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Thursday. The meeting’s doors were closed to allow a vote on whether the city supported the Treatment Action Campaign’s (TAC) HIV/Aids plan.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool will ask President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday for the rain-ravaged Eden district to be declared a disaster area, Rasool’s office said. ”The premier will today [Thursday] speak to the president and ask for him to declare it a disaster area. This will immediately free extra funding to do repairs,” said Rasool’s spokesperson, Shado Twala.
South Africa’s dams are 92% full, according to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s records. The department reports on its website that the dams were only 65% full this time last year. This week, dam levels in the provinces ranged from overflowing in the Northern Cape to 72% full in Limpopo.
South African hotel and gaming group Sun International on Monday reported adjusted headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 546c for the year ended June — up 33% from the previous year’s 411c. Its full year diluted HEPS declined to 431c from 500 cents before.
South Africa, which has backed Iran’s right to enrich uranium, says it is contemplating processing its own uranium to boost power generation and envisages building up to six new nuclear reactors. But Minerals and Energy Affiars Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said in a speech that any enrichment of uranium would be pursued within international obligations.
Building a non-racial society was one of South Africa’s greatest challenges, but nowhere was it more challenging than in the Western Cape, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday. There was a greater sensitivity to issues of race in the region than anywhere else in the country, he told a media briefing in Cape Town.
Jailed African National Congress fraudster Tony Yengeni has been transferred to Malmesbury prison, the Cape Argus reported on Friday. The newspaper also said Yengeni was given a big lunch in a prison boardroom before leaving. Quoting an unnamed warder, it said Yengeni was driven to the modern jail, about 60km north of Cape Town.
South Africans have become vegetally preoccupied with the ramblings of Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, on HIV/Aids. As she tosses her mad Greek salad, we have lost sight of the crumbling of the broader health system. We have visited 26 public hospitals across the country and found a system in crisis.
Members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) staged protests outside government offices around the country on Thursday. The illegal protest was part of a ”global day of action” to pressure the government on its response to HIV/Aids. However, the Department of Health said it will continue to focus on prevention in its fight against HIV/Aids.
African National Congress national executive committee member Tony Yengeni, who was swept to the gates of Pollsmoor prison on a wave of solidarity from party officials, suggested on Thursday that Parliament erred in its handling of his fraud case. He was addressing a crowd of supporters outside the prison’s gates.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) had decided to deliberately stage illegal protests because it was tired of the government’s failure to act on HIV/Aids, it said on Thursday. ”We deliberately did not apply for permission to protest and we don’t apologise for that because we are tired of government’s inactivity in the face of the Aids pandemic,” said the TAC’s general secretary Sipho Mthathi.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is remaining tight-lipped hours ahead of a planned international day of action on Thursday. ”It is a secret,” said Rukia Cornelius, the TAC’s national manager, on Wednesday. The day will see protests at South African embassies and government institutions in South Africa, the United States and Europe.
Senior members of the African National Congress in the Western Cape region will accompany politician Tony Yengeni, who has been convicted of fraud, when he reports to Pollsmoor prison on Thursday. ”The ANC provincial leadership will accompany Yengeni. We will be showing our solidarity with him,” said Max Ozinsky, the ANC’s deputy provincial secretary, on Wednesday.
Forty-three members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), including the organisation’s chairperson Zackie Achmat, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on charges of trespassing. The appearance follows last week’s TAC occupation of a provincial government building in Cape Town.
Pick ‘n Pay chairperson Raymond Ackerman confirmed on Tuesday that company CEO Sean Summers would be succeeded by current retail MD Nick Badminton in March 2007. Summers will have spent 34 years at the company and eleven years at the helm.
Lack of access to finance, poor business management and a dearth of skills are some of the challenges women face in the construction sector, Minister of Public Works Thoko Didiza said on Monday. Didiza was addressing the start of a two-day conference aimed at levelling the playing field for women in the construction sector.
The revelation that the official opposition Democratic Alliance allegedly received a donation from slain businessman Brett Kebble points to the need for serious reform in the party political funding regime in South Africa, says Independent Democrats MP Lance Greyling.
Parliament is calling on all South Africans to get artistic and take part in designing its new emblem. According to the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, Parliament belongs to the people, hence the need to involve all South Africans to partake in designing its new identity.
Minorities of whatever race, creed or culture are best protected when the rights and values of all citizens are defended and actively fought for, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said on Saturday. Leon was speaking at the DA’s provincial congress in KwaZulu-Natal.
A taxi owner was shot dead and four others were wounded by a gang of gunmen that opened fire on them on Friday night at a long-distance taxi rank in Khayelitsha, said Western Cape police. Three passengers — two men and a woman — were also wounded in the shooting, said Superintendent Billy Jones.
Black people and women are just as capable of excelling at mathematics or science as men and whites, said Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel on Friday. Quoting statistics from the directors of the top 100 companies in South Africa, Manuel said there are 2 489 directors, of whom 202 are women — 105 white women and 97 black women.