News 08:00

BULLETIN 28 September 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA is calling for stronger crime intelligence
# SAFTU asks for a national campaign against illegal firearms
# And soccer: South Africa beat Mozambique to retain the COSAFA U20 Championship title

# The DA is calling for an immediate multidisciplinary operation bringing together Crime Intelligence, specialised detectives, the Hawks, firearm tracing and forensic capacity, to identify and dismantle the networks behind mass shootings, gangsterism and extortion. This follows mass shootings that claimed 27 lives and left 26 wounded in Gauteng and the Western Cape over the weekend. The DA’s Lisa Schickerling says South Africa cannot become accustomed to heavily armed criminals walking into public places, killing people and disappearing without consequences:

Meanwhile, the South African Federation of Trade Unions is calling for the creation of a broad national movement to disarm criminal gangs and reclaim communities from violence. This comes after the two mass shootings in Gauteng and the Western Cape over the weekend. SAFTU’s Asive Dyani says government cannot treat the proliferation of illegal guns merely as a street-level policing problem; it must dismantle the entire economy that supplies the guns:

# The Special Investigating Unit has secured 42.4-million-rand in cash, properties, pensions and investments linked to bribes allegedly paid by businessman Stefan Joel Govindraju to officials at Tembisa Hospital. According to the SIU, Govindraju’s syndicate used 75 companies to secure around 600-million-rand in hospital contracts, and 100-million-rand was paid to hospital officials as kickbacks. Govindraju was arrested last month and faces 70 charges of fraud, theft, money laundering and corruption-related offences. He was released on 200-thousand-rand bail and is set to appear in court this week for plea and sentencing proceedings.

# US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, has accused Iran of negotiating in bad faith. President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week and resume nuclear talks in return for the lifting of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. The seven-month-old conflict has disrupted oil flows through the Strait. Waltz told NBC that Iran’s deal was a cynical attempt to put something on the table that it knew was unacceptable:

# Soccer: South Africa’s Under-20 men’s side retained their COSAFA Under-20 Championship title after a hard-fought 2-1 victory against hosts Mozambique. Amajita got the breakthrough in the 27th minute when Oarabile Booysen found the back of the net; however, Mozambique equalised two minutes later through Martinho Começar’s goal. In the second half, South Africa won a penalty which the tournament’s top goal scorer, Steven Mendes, converted to secure the win. Amajita have also secured qualification for the CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-34-cents and the euro at 18-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-64-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 83-thousand-322-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-195-dollars-55-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 102-dollars-50-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….