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/ 2 February 2004
The South African province of the North West was the worst offender in spending or alternatively keeping track of its capital spending of South Africa’s nine provinces. In the first nine months of the fiscal year, the North West housing department spent only 2,6% of its capital expenditure allocation of R390-million.
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/ 2 February 2004
In a recent contribution to this newspaper (”Change needs self-criticism”) Saki Macozoma spoke of the role of black intellectuals in fostering a deliberative climate in which the performance of our new society could be assessed. White intellectuals must listen to their black counterparts, writes Judge Dennis Davis.
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/ 29 January 2004
More women than men registered to vote during the voter registration drive of January 24 and 25, and 18- to 25-year-olds proved those accusing them of apathy at least partly wrong. The Independent Electoral Commission on Thursday announced the results of the country’s second voter registration weekend.
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/ 28 January 2004
Western Cape education authorities were hard at work on Wednesday trying to avert an impending education crisis in the province. Meanwhile, pupils, parents and organisations marched in various areas to highlight their unhappiness with the status quo.
Cape parents protest
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/ 28 January 2004
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Valli Moosa says he is ”absolutely embarrassed” about a leopard that had to be put down after being injured in a trap on his family’s farm in the Western Cape. According to reports, the leopard was caught in a gin trap set by workers on Monday.
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/ 28 January 2004
South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance is "fuelling the fires of racism using the fig leaf of a strong opposition", the New National Party argued on Wednesday. In a raging set of pre-election volleys — the NNP and the DA have been at each other’s throats all week
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/ 28 January 2004
Disgruntled parents and their children gathered in front of the Western Cape provincial legislature on Wednesday to express their dissatisfaction with provincial education minister Andre Gaum and his ”disregard for pupils on the Cape Flats”. Allegedly no classes have taken place this year at Norwood Central Primary School in Elsies River.
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/ 27 January 2004
The first public verbal battles in South Africa’s election campaign between the traditional parties of the white minority have focused not on domestic economic policies or development issues — but on the perennial problem of neighbouring Zimbabwe.
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/ 27 January 2004
Four German nationals pleaded guilty to illegally collecting rare stag beetles in the Western Cape when they appeared in the Paarl Regional Court on Monday. The beetles, of the Colophon genus, are reportedly worth thousands of rands on international markets.
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/ 26 January 2004
Mining magnate Brett Kebble believed that by ”giving financial assistance for the development of democracy, he was performing a public duty and would continue to do so throughout his career”. Kebble was on Sunday responding to media enquiries regarding the financial support he had given to the African National Congress.
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/ 26 January 2004
Judge Siraj Desai thanked his supporters on his arrival at Cape Town International Airport on Sunday following allegations of raping a South African woman in India. He thanked everybody, including his lawyer, for the support they had given him, saying his wife had been ”a pillar of strength”.
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/ 25 January 2004
Leaders of all major political parties were out and about, encouraging unregistered citizens to take advantage of the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC’s) last voter registration weekend before the election. The voting stations are open from 8am to 5pm on Sunday.
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/ 23 January 2004
The labour union that has been trying to ”blockade” Cape Town International airport on Friday accused the police of causing traffic jams there. ”The police have started pulling out cars of all our comrades with aims to issue them with tickets,” said a South African Transport and Allied Workers Union spokesperson.
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/ 22 January 2004
The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa on Wednesday delivered a 16-page judgement to bring down the curtain on a war of words between two national media personalities, precipitated by the Darrel Bristow-Bovey plagiarism claims.
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/ 20 January 2004
Remember ”Heineken — the beer that refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”? It was a great marketing slogan. But now, if you search the Heineken website, it is conspicuous by its absence. Advertising and marketing strategists like to move on; staleness is to be avoided at all costs, which is why it is a bit surprising considering the ANC’s old slogan …
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/ 20 January 2004
The legitimacy of previous polls in South Africa’s democratic process has been placed in the spotlight by Inkatha Freedom Party leader and Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who has spoken of boxes of IFP votes being ”emptied all over the valleys and forests of [KwaZulu-Natal]” during the 1994 elections.
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/ 20 January 2004
South Africa is not yet facing critical water shortages — but will be "in trouble" if inadequate rain falls over the next three months. The country was hit by severe dry spells in 1992/93 and 1983/84. The Weather Bureau has already declared this season’s drought the worst in 88 years.
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/ 19 January 2004
Political minnow the Moderate Independent Party kicked off its 2004 election campaign on Monday, aiming to capture five to 10 seats in the Western Cape provincial parliament. Party leader Malcolm Taylor said the decision on whether to contest the elections nationally will be decided within the next two weeks.
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/ 19 January 2004
An African National Congress statement on Monday addressed the party’s relationship of cooperation between itself and the New National Party. In the wake of media reports that the ANC has "turned" on its coalition partner in the Western Cape provincial government, the ANC said it is "committed to working with the NNP".
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/ 19 January 2004
Comedian Marc Lottering admitted at the scene of a car crash in Sea Point, Cape Town, that he had had ”too much to drink”, a Cape Town magistrate heard on Monday. Lottering was arrested then for alleged drunken driving and reckless or negligent driving.
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/ 17 January 2004
There is a strong suspicion that a decomposed body police found on the Tradouw Pass, near Barrydale in the Western Cape, is that of missing Dutch exchange student Marleen Konings, police said on Friday. A 46-year-old man has been taken into custody, but not formally charged with Konings’ murder.
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/ 17 January 2004
It was recently ranked one of the top places to see before you die, but Cape Town now risks acquiring a new label as the capital of rip-off. Restaurants were accused on Friday of inflating prices by more than 1Â 000% in a frenzy of greed damaging South Africa’s tourism industry.
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/ 16 January 2004
The bulk of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress’ supporters are unemployed while 94% of them are black, according to the results of a Markinor poll. Similarly, nearly 80% of Inkatha Freedom Party supporters are jobless. The poll was conducted among 3 500 respondents nationwide late last year and was commissioned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
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/ 14 January 2004
The African National Congress leadership in the Western Cape said on Wednesday it is aiming for a 51% majority in the forthcoming election, irrespective of a coalition agreement between itself and the New National Party. ANC provincial chairperson Ebrahim Rasool said his party has no ”election pact” with the NNP.
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/ 14 January 2004
The issue of identity documents is a cause of concern for election authorities in the Western Cape, with many prisoners eligible to vote lacking them, and thousands of documents remaining uncollected at the home affairs department. The Independent Electoral Commission on Wednesday started registering inmates in the region.
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/ 12 January 2004
The Democratic Alliance should be in control of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape following this year’s elections, its leader said on Monday. DA leader Tony Leon said: "We are extremely competitive there and we are going to go for a win with our coalition partners."
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<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29493">ANC kicks off election battle</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29547">SA economy ‘not well-managed'</a>
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/ 12 January 2004
South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Inkatha Freedom Party, will launch its national election campaign in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday January 18. The pro-free-enterprise party is expected to underscore the importance of fast-tracking privatisation of state-owned enterprises.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29555">DA eyes KZN, Western Cape</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29493">ANC kicks off election battle</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29547">SA economy ‘not well-managed'</a>
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/ 12 January 2004
The African National Congress (ANC) launched what promises to be a bitter election campaign on Sunday by promising to tackle the poverty and unemployment that plague South Africa 10 years after apartheid. Unveiling a sweeping election manifesto, President Thabo Mbeki declared his party’s intention to loosen its conservative economic policies by ramping up public spending.
Mbeki ill
The man at the centre of a Western Cape shark-baiting controversy on Wednesday explained his motives and actions in a letter to a local newspaper, saying they were misunderstood by the public. ”My motive and intention was to attract the large white shark out to the open sea away from the beach area,” he said.
There were scenes of jubilation and tears of joy on the steps of the Cape High Court on Wednesday when a group of Seven-11 franchisees celebrated a judgement effectively holding the mother corporation liable for about R50-million in claims. The case was described as a ”landmark” for the South African franchise industry.
South Africa’s Department of Transport has reiterated its appeal to motorists to reduce their speed on national roads in anticipation of traffic exodus at the end of the holidays, government news agency BuaNews reported on Monday.
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/ 30 December 2003
South Africa’s 2003 national matriculation pass rate has improved by 4,4% to a total of 73,3%, Education Minister Kader Asmal announced on Tuesday, up from 68,9% in 2002, 61,7% in 2001 and only 48,9% in 1999. Asmal said the results ”clearly show that the tide has turned” for South Africa’s education system.