News 15:00

BULLETIN 26 October 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# De Kock accuses prosecutor Ackermann of lying over the apartheid-era probe
# The MK Party’s deputy president calls for youth-led economic change
# And rugby: The new sevens world series again kicks off in Dubai

# Former apartheid-era police officer Eugene de Kock has accused Advocate Anton Ackermann of misleading him about using his evidence to pursue senior apartheid officials. De Kock told the Truth and Reconsiliation Commission inquiry Ackermann had promised to target higher-ranking figures after his 1996 sentencing. He alleges the National Prosecuting Authority never interviewed him while in prison to obtain the names of generals and politicians allegedly behind operations against anti-apartheid activists:

# The murder case against alleged underworld kingpin Katiso Molefe and co-accused Michael Pule Tau, Tiego Floyd Mabusela and Musa Kekana has been postponed to the 19th of July next year. The High Court in Johannesburg says the postponement is to allow Kekana and Mabusela’s separate matter involving Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala to conclude, as both cases cannot run concurrently. Molefe and his co-accused face a combined 35 charges, including the high-profile 2022 contract killings of musician DJ Sumbody, DJ Vintos, and engineer Armand Swart.

# MK Party first deputy president Duduzane Zuma says government alone cannot create the jobs South Africa needs. Addressing a provincial election rally in Umlazi, Durban, Zuma urged young people to pursue entrepreneurship and business opportunities. Zuma says investment is key to sustainable job creation and called for younger leaders across politics, business and technology. He emphasised that the party has a plan to expand opportunities for young people if elected in the local government elections:

# The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment says it has received no reports indicating a recurrence of the widespread sardine mortality event observed in the Western Cape between late July and early September. However, it is investigating a small number of juvenile sardines, measuring less than five centimetres, washed up sparsely along approximately 200 metres of beach near Mossel Bay. The department’s spokesperson, Zolile Nqayi, says samples have been collected for pilchard herpesvirus testing:

# Rugby: The new sevens world series will start in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on the last weekend of November. That will be followed by the Cape Town event a week later, and regular season tournaments in Singapore, Perth in Australia, and Vancouver in Canada, ending in New York in the US. The world championship events will be played in Hong Kong in China in April, and Valladolid in Spain and Bordeaux in France in May. South Africa won both series last season.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-62-cents and the euro at 18-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-19-cents and Bitcoin trades at 80-thousand-223-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-15-dollars-46-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 115-dollars-44-sents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….