News 13:00

BULLETIN 8 September 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The IEC introduces a new Disinformation Code ahead of the local government elections
# Australia pushes to give social media users greater control over algorithmic feeds
# And cricket: Kevin Pietersen helps England prepare for next year’s World Cup in Southern Africa

# The Electoral Commission has promulgated the Electoral Code of Conduct Countering Disinformation in the Local Government Elections and published it in the Government Gazette ahead of the 4 November elections. The IEC says under the code, political parties and candidates must check information for accuracy before sharing it and publicly retract and correct any false or misleading information within 36 hours. It adds that a free and fair election depends not only on procedural fairness but also on whether voters can trust the information shaping their voting choices:

# The South African National Defence Force has refuted allegations that soldiers on a training mission in Cuba were pressured to make so-called voluntary contributions from their allowances to assist needy Cubans. According to a News24 report, senior soldiers were allegedly pressured to donate more than 15-thousand-rand and junior officers more than three-thousand-rand each. The SANDF says although a preliminary report was received, it is awaiting a comprehensive report on the matter. It adds irresponsible and misleading claims undermine public trust and tarnish relations between South Africa and Cuba.

# Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese says his government is holding tech giants, including Meta, TikTok, Alphabet, X, and Reddit, to account, and giving citizens more power over their feeds. Australia has unveiled draft laws that would give social media users greater control over algorithmic feeds, including the option to switch off personalised recommendations. Albanese says the law also targets harmful online content and addictive platform designs with major fines:

# Cricket: Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has joined the country’s white-ball squad as a specialist mentor while it prepares for next year’s one-day World Cup in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Forty-six-year-old Pieterson, who was born in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, will be part of coach Brendon McCullum’s coaching group from this month’s T20 and ODI series against Sri Lanka. He scored a total of over five-thousand-500 runs in 136 ODIs and 37 T20s for his adopted country until his retirement in 2014.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-7-cents and the euro at 18-rand-66-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-73-cents and Bitcoin trades at 78-thousand-623-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-396-dollars-22-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 100-dollars-53-cents a barrel.

# And finally: President Cyril Ramaphosa, as Southern African Development Community chairperson, has extended his condolences to Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan on the passing of her husband, Hafidh Ameir Hassan. The 71-year-old died yesterday while receiving treatment for a cardiac condition. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says Hassan had a distinguished career as an agricultural academic and agriculturalist:

Stay tuned for more news………….