News 12:00

BULLETIN 4 September 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Kubayi says government’s corruption-fighting efforts are yielding significant results
# COSATU calls for an immediate national response to the worrying child immunisation crisis
# And tennis: Auger-Aliassime is knocked out of the US Open as Monfils plays his final Grand Slam match

# Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, says the fight against corruption is yielding significant financial recoveries. The National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit has recovered 8.3-billion-rand in unlawfully obtained gains. Of this, 3.68-billion-rand was paid to victims, and 4.6-billion-rand went to the Criminal Assets Recovery Account. The Special Investigating Unit has recovered assets and cash worth 936-million-rand in the past financial year. Kubayi says despite these successes, the revelations at the Madlanga commission of the capture of law enforcement agencies and officials are worrisome.

Meanwhile, Activists and Citizens Forum is calling on president Cyril Ramaphosa to make more funds available for the extension of the commission. Of the 147-million-rand initially budgeted, 123-million-rand has already been spent, while additional funding is being sought. Spokesperson Dennis Bloem says Ramaphosa cannot tell South Africans there is no money when 700-million-rand was made available for the National Dialogue, and a staggering 600-million-rand to monitor the one-day anti-immigration demonstrations:

# Union federation Cosatu is concerned over South Africa’s child immunisation crisis, which the Health Department has declared a public health emergency. The proportion of infants under one year receiving no vaccines has tripled from 12.1-percent in 2017 to 36.3-percent earlier this year, leaving more than one in three babies completely unprotected. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says the country risks reversing the massive gains made in reducing infant and under-five mortality since 1994:

Moving abroad:

# The European Union is tightening the enforcement of sanctions against Russia, while further ramping up pressure on the country and increasing support for Ukraine. It has implemented 21 packages of restrictive measures against Moscow since 2022, targeting financial, energy, and trade sectors. European Commission vice president Kaja Kallas says EU Foreign Affairs ministers are considering using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, and also imposing tougher visa restrictions for Russian tourists:

# Tennis: Frenchman Gael Monfils played the final match of his Grand Slam career, falling to American Learner Tien in the US Open’s second round. Russia’s Karen Khachanov knocked out world number four, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. In the women’s draw, second-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan continued her bid for the world number one ranking with victory over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to reach the third round. American Coco Gauff battled past Spain’s Paula Badosa while Japan’s Naomi Osaka defeated Czech Katerina Siniakova.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-97-cents and the euro at 18-rand-55-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-62-cents and Bitcoin trades at 80-thousand-949-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-481-dollars-26-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 97-dollars-10-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….