News 14:00

BULLETIN 26 August 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Lamola hails South Africa and Brazil’s strategic, diplomatic partnership
# The title deeds backlog tops one-million as the IRR seeks Human Rights Commission intervention
# And cricket: Vaughan wants harsh punishment after another England player is involved in a night club incident

# South Africa and Brazil have held the eighth session of their joint commission in Pretoria, reaffirming their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations. Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, and Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira co-chaired discussions covering trade, agriculture, energy, defence, health, mining and technology, and cooperation through BRICS, the G20 and the Global South. Lamola says both countries must identify new areas of collaboration to advance shared interests:

# The Institute of Race Relations will ask the Human Rights Commission to declare South Africa’s housing and title deeds backlogs human rights violations. Spokesperson Makone Maja says it follows revelations the title deeds backlog exceeded one-million, with over 30-thousand dating back to apartheid. The number grew from 423-thousand in 2014 to 774-thousand by 2024. Maja says this mirrors the commission’s 2024 findings:

# A police captain investigating the murder of former Knysna mayor Aubrey Tsengwa was killed in a shootout this morning. The Tactical Response Team officer was deployed to the Western Cape Town to probe Tsengwa’s killing and the murders of two other ANC politicians, Mandla Matiwane and Mandla Tyololo, last week. The unnamed officer died during an operation at the Sewendelaan informal settlement targeting illegal firearms. Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa says a 38-year-old suspect was also killed in the shootout

# Seventeen suspects linked to a hijacking syndicate have been arrested in Orange Farm in the south of Johannesburg. Police spokesperson Tintswalo Sibeko says officials acted on information about a truck targeted for hijacking on the N1. Members of the syndicate were intercepted at a plot in Rietfontein. They opened fire, sparking a shootout with police. Four suspects were wounded and are under police guard in hospital. Sibeko says they seized an AK-47 rifle, four pistols, five vehicles, signal-jamming gear, traffic official uniforms and other items.

# Cricket: Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes really harsh punishment is needed to ensure all the country’s players realise there will be consequences for unruly behaviour. Pace bowler Brydon Carse became the third national player involved in a drinking controversy in the past year when he was handcuffed by police outside a Derby nightclub last weekend. He was then dropped from the team for the second Test against Pakistan. Vaughan says someone needs to get a punishment that sends a shiver down the whole team.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-92-cents and the euro at 18-rand-57-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-68-cents and Bitcoin trades at 78-thousand-599-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-619-dollars-11-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 87-dollars-46-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….