News 15:00

BULLETIN 21 October 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Godongwana lowers South Africa’s economic growth forecast
# A security agency seeks a blanket media ban at the trial of former intelligence officals
# And soccer: Banyana will participate in the first-round World Cup qualifying tournament in Morocco

# Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has lowered South Africa’s economic growth forecast for this year from 1.6-percent to 1.2-percent. Delivering his medium-term budget policy statement, Godongwana said growth remains too low, despite government’s efforts to stabilise public finances and reduce debt. More in our next bulletin.

# The Activists and Citizens Forum is holding all political parties in Tshwane responsible for the water crisis in Bronkhorstspruit. Spokesperson Dennis Bloem says contaminated water is endangering lives, while residents who cannot afford bottled water are forced to drink unsafe supplies. Bloem accuses political leaders of making empty promises and alleges the water tanker business benefits some politicians and municipal officials. He is calling for urgent intervention to protect communities:

# The State Security Agency is seeking a total ban on media and public access to the trial of former intelligence officials Thulani Dlomo and Patrick Mshothola in the High Court in Pretoria. They are accused of corruption and the misuse of intelligence funds. The agency argues the proceedings could expose sensitive security information, while media freedom advocates have challenged the blanket exclusion, saying restrictions should apply only to genuinely sensitive evidence. The court’s decision will determine how much of the trial can be reported publicly.

# Western Cape MEC for Social Development Wendy Kaizer-Philander is calling on members of the public and police to help protect social service professionals. This follows another hijacking involving a departmental vehicle in Khayelitsha. Kaizer-Philander says 20 injury on duty reports linked to these incidents have been recorded. She adds social service professionals must be able to carry out their duties without fear of being targeted by criminals:

Moving abroad:

# US president Donald Trump has pledged to spend more than 6.57-billion-rand to support Republican candidates ahead of the critical November Third midterm elections. Republicans hold narrow majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take control of each chamber. In a Truth Social post, Trump says 4.98-billion-rand has already been spent on campaign activities to boost Republican. He cites belief in his party, but also the riots in Europe, as his reasons behind the spending.

# Soccer: South Africa’s women’s team will participate in a first-round World Cup qualifying tournament in Morocco from the end of November. Two of the six participating teams will go through to the final qualifying playoff in February. Each team will play three matches. Banyana Banyana will come up against Taiwan in Rabat on the 28th of next month, Ecuador on the first of December and Uzbekistan on the fifth. The other two teams in the tournament are Ghana and Papua New Guinea.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-42-cents and the euro at 18-rand-43-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-98-cents and Bitcoin trades at 83-thousand-332-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-129-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 111-dollars-53-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….