News 15:00

BULLETIN 3 September 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ATM argues Ramaphosa gave an unlawful instruction after the Phala Phala theft
# An alleged mastermind is nabbed for ten-million-rand’s fraud in Emfuleni
# And rugby: Captain Taylor is left out of the All Blacks’s squad for the third Test

# The African Transformation Movement’s legal representative, Kessler Perumalsamy, has argued president Cyril Ramaphosa gave then Presidential Protection Unit’s head, Wally Rhoode, an unlawful instruction during the Phala Phala farm theft investigation. He told the Western Cape High Court Parliament’s independent panel probing the case considered both incriminating and exculpatory evidence before finding sufficient evidence of an unlawful instruction, but the court questioned whether the case depends on information from Namibia:

# The alleged mastermind behind a syndicate accused of defrauding Gauteng’s Emfuleni Municipality out of nearly ten-million-rand was arrested this morning. Former service provider, 25-year-old Janitha van Reenen, was apprehended by the provincial political killings task team while leaving the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court, where she appeared in another similar case. She was granted bail by the High Court in Johannesburg early last week after the lower court denied her bail three times. The syndicate was allegedly involved in illegal electricity connections.

# Build One South Africa is calling on the City of Cape Town to scrap its proposed 120-million-rand N2 wall and redirect the money to fighting violent crime. BOSA says 869 people were murdered in Cape Town between April and June, equivalent to one murder every two-and-a-half hours. The party says the funds could instead support additional Metro Police, CCTV cameras, street lighting and community patrols. BOSA argues safety requires people-centred policing, better investigations and stronger community involvement.

# Rugby: All Blacks coach Dave Rennie has included three inexperienced players in his pack for Saturday’s third Test against the Springboks at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. Loose forward Peter Lakai, lock Sam Darry and hooker Asafo Aumua will get their first chances in the starting-15 on tour. Aumua replaces captain Codie Taylor, who was left out after struggling to make an impact against the Boks bruisers in the first two Tests. New Zealand’s backline is unchanged from the team that lost the second Test in Cape Town.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-3-cents and the euro at 18-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-62-cents and Bitcoin trades at 77-thousand-944-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-438-dollars-47-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 99-dollars-38-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Nearly one in seven South Africans say they have missed work, school or university because they could not afford transport. This is according to market research company Ipsos. The study shows the age group 25 to 34 reported the highest incidence of transport-related absenteeism at 23-percent. The Free State recorded the highest proportion at 20-percent, followed by the Northern Cape and Gauteng. Ipsos’ Natalie Otte says the findings highlight transport affordability as an often-overlooked barrier to education and employment mobility:

Stay tuned for more news………….