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/ 21 February 2005
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille on Monday refused to identify her confidential Scorpions source, at the disciplinary hearing of the party’s ousted Western Cape leader, Lennit Max. ”I shall not disclose the source,” said De Lille during cross-examination by Leon van Rensburg, representing Max at the hearing in Parliament.
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/ 21 February 2005
Acclaimed South African author Dalene Matthee died at the age of 67 on Sunday, news reports said. Matthee penned more than a dozen novels, including Circles in a Forest — an instant bestseller when it was published in 1984 — and Fiela’s Child published in 1986 and later adapted into a film.
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/ 19 February 2005
A travel agent facing fraud and theft charges in the parliamentary travel scam was released on R100Â 000 bail in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Soraya Beukes, former owner of the travel agency Business and Executive Travel, was granted bail last year, but it was withdrawn after an allegation that she had misled the court.
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/ 18 February 2005
A Cape High Court judge has upheld a bid by the governing body of Cape Town’s Mikro Primary School to preserve its Afrikaans-only status. However, the matter could end up in the Constitutional Court if the Western Cape education department has its way. The department ordered the school to created a special English-medium grade-one class this year.
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/ 15 February 2005
A committee has been appointed to investigate allegations of racism in the Cape High Court, Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson said on Monday. He said he had requested the committee to give urgent attention to the matter and report back to the heads of the court as soon as possible.
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/ 10 February 2005
The hostage taker at Monte Video Primary School in the Cape Town suburb of Montana has been shot dead, police confirmed shortly after noon on Thursday.
Captain William Reid said a situation occurred where the life of a child hostage was threatened. Earlier reports said a teacher was shot during the hostage drama.
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/ 10 February 2005
African National Congress Youth League president Fikile Mbalula was stung into action this week after the Mail & Guardian raised concerns that politics and big business make uneasy bedfellows. Mbalula said that, according to the M&G, ”comrades are … not entitled to participate in the country’s economy”.
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/ 9 February 2005
The commitment of an Afrikaans-medium school to the traditions of the ”volk” came under scrutiny in the Cape High Court on Wednesday. The governing body of Mikro Primary School in Kuilsriver is asking the court to overturn a Western Cape education department ruling that it provide an English-medium class.
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/ 8 February 2005
Western Cape education minister Cameron Dugmore and his officials had acted like schoolyard bullies in the Mikro primary-school affair, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday. Mikro’s governing body is asking the court to overturn the provincial department of education’s instruction to create an English-medium class at the school.
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/ 7 February 2005
As 2005 moves well into its first quarter, the residential property market in Cape Town remains buoyant with a particularly strong demand from local buyers, according to Mick Joyce, managing director of Pam Golding Properties’ Western Cape metro region.
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/ 4 February 2005
The Cape Town Container Terminal has delivered on its promise to have a total of 2Â 000 "reefer points" — power points for refrigerated containers — in place by the end of January 2005, ahead of the peak season for exports of fruit from the Western Cape.
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/ 3 February 2005
South Africans interviewed in a survey on education had some disagreeable things to say, with about two-thirds of respondents agreeing education is in crisis and standards are falling. Asked if schools are better today than 10 years ago, 48% agreed, 46% disagreed and 6% did not know.
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/ 3 February 2005
Officials at the police watchdog body, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), are circulating sexually explicit jokes about President Thabo Mbeki on the organisation’s internal e-mail system. A senior official at the ICD said the jokes were ”grossly disrespectful” and has laid a formal complaint with the police.
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/ 1 February 2005
Listed black economic empowerment fishing, medical equipment and information technology group Sekunjalo Investments has acquired 81,56% of the entire issued capital in the computer company Synergy Computing. The acquisition of Synergy boosts Sekunjalo’s strategic growth in its IT portfolio
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/ 29 January 2005
Former anti-apartheid activist Allan Boesak was welcomed back into the fold in Bishopscourt on Friday evening by the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongokulu Ndungane. Earlier in the month Boesak received a presidential pardon from Thabo Mbeki, expunging his criminal record of a fraud conviction.
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/ 27 January 2005
The war of words between former Western Cape Independent Democrats leader Lennit Max and the ID’s top brass refused to settle on Thursday, with Max refuting earlier claims by party leader Patricia de Lille that he had ”unconditionally” withdrawn high court litigation.
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/ 27 January 2005
Suspended Independent Democrats Western Cape legislature member and former Western Cape leader Lennit Max has withdrawn his application against his suspension and upcoming disciplinary hearing by Patricia de Lille’s party. The announcement was made by De Lille on the steps of the High Court in Cape Town to a cry of joy from about 40 supporters.
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/ 26 January 2005
South Africa’s official opposition has welcomed the step taken by one of its backbench MPs, Craig Morkel, in taking voluntary suspension. ”[Morkel’s] attorneys were informed yesterday [Tuesday] that he is among the 40 MPs the Scorpions intend to prosecute,” Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said.
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/ 26 January 2005
The implementation of regional electricity distributors (REDs) should not lead to price shocks, but the economies of scale should result in more competitive power prices in the longer term, Western Cape regional general manager of the planned first RED Leon Louw said last Tuesday.
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/ 25 January 2005
Unemployment, poverty and inequality have all grown; and an HIV/Aids epidemic of tragic proportions has unfolded…Since January 2003 a research project on social movements has been conducted jointly between the Centre for Civil Society and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Richard Ballard, manager of the project, reflects on some of the initial findings.
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/ 23 January 2005
The project of rebuilding District Six floundered as a result of lack of funds, but late last year the clouds parted, when a bank agreed to lend financial muscle to the rebuilding. A scheme to sell bonds secured against the value of the new homes is now expected to resurrect the project.
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/ 21 January 2005
South African farmers are to launch a campaign to raise public awareness about the country’s agricultural ”crisis” — particularly in the grain sector, says Grain SA. The profitability and sustainability of the country’s grain industry has been negatively affected by both local and international factors.
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/ 20 January 2005
A Cape Town primary school on Thursday lodged an application in the High Court challenging the Western Cape education department’s intention to send English-speaking students to the school, overriding the school governing body’s admission and language policy. According to the body’s chairperson, the matter has been brewing for the past three years.
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/ 20 January 2005
As infighting continued to plague the Independent Democrats, a renewed call for a postponement of the party’s Western Cape congress was made on Wednesday. Senior office bearers, including chairpersons of nine ID branches in Cape Town’s metropolis, have signed a statement calling for the postponement due to the ”chaotic planning and absence of a fair process”.
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/ 20 January 2005
Shortcomings in the enforcement and the monitoring of fire control mechanisms, such as firebreaks in informal settlements, were acknowledged by the Western Cape government on Wednesday. This followed a devastating fire at Cape Town’s Joe Slovo settlement on Saturday which left 12Â 000 people homeless and caused the death of an infant.
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/ 18 January 2005
Chief land-claims commissioner Tozi Gwanya says he believes that all 22 447 unresolved land-restitution claims will be settled by the end of this year. ”We are confident,” he said on Monday in Cape Town, where he and provincial commissioners are holding their regular quarterly meeting.
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/ 17 January 2005
The Inkatha Freedom Party on Monday reacted to cleric Allan Boesak’s presidential pardon by focusing on the 394 names it has also submitted for pardon. It was announced over the weekend that Boesak had been granted a presidential pardon, which expunged his criminal record of fraud and theft.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=178042">Boesak’s pardon raises hackles</a>
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/ 17 January 2005
Allan Boesak’s presidential pardon was greeted with pleasure and derision on Sunday — with some political parties calling it a ”travesty of justice”. The veteran anti-apartheid leader, who was convicted of stealing from the poor, will remain in South Africa with his family. Boesak was convicted in 1999 for fraud and theft of money entrusted to the Foundation for Peace and Justice.
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/ 15 January 2005
Aids activists will join President Thabo Mbeki and anticipated thousands of other mourners at the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela’s son, Makgatho Mandela, on Saturday. Makgatho died of Aids-related complications last week, and Mandela used the announcement of his death to plead for openness on the disease.
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/ 14 January 2005
As the new school year gets under way next week, Western Cape health authorities warned on Friday of a measles epidemic in Cape Town if children are not immunised against the highly infectious disease. A measles outbreak was detected in Cape Town’s Fish Hoek and Sun Valley, with Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal already experiencing epidemics.
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/ 12 January 2005
The leader of the opposition Independent Democrats, Patricia de Lille, has denied any link between her party and the alleged Western Cape crime syndicate leader Quinton Marinus, rejecting claims in media reports on Wednesday that Marinus had donated R300Â 000 to the ID, as alleged by former party member Lennit Max.
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/ 12 January 2005
The human aspect of drought would be described to President Thabo Mbeki and Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool in a bid to have affected parts of the province re-declared as disaster areas. This was according to Dr Pieter van Rooyen, chairperson of an inter-departmental task team set up to report into the social aspects of the drought.