News 14:00

BULLETIN 20 September 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Cabinet welcomes the drop in annual inflation to 4.4-percent for August
# Saftu condemns the Reserve Bank’s continued ‘weaponisation of monetary policy against the working class’
# And cricket: South Africa’s women clinch the T20 series against Pakistan

# Cabinet has welcomed the decline in the annual inflation rate to 4.4-percent for August, down from 4.6-percent in July. This marks continued improvement in inflation, with the consumer price index showing consistent progress since March this year. Briefing the media, minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says the positive trend is expected to further support economic recovery and household affordability:  

# Saftu has strongly condemned, what it calls, the South African Reserve Bank’s continued weaponisation of monetary policy against the working class in favour of the bankers to fight inflation. The federation’s spokesperson, Mogoshadi Maserumule says since the bank’s successive interest rate increases from November 2021, households have struggled to keep pace with their debt obligations. She says the primary beneficiaries of the bank’s crusade against inflation have been the banks and their executives:

# The City of Cape Town has welcomed the Western Cape High Court’s granting of an eviction order for the unlawful occupation around the Castle of Good Hope in the CBD. The occupants have until the 17th of October to vacate the site. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the site has long been a source of public concern and complaint, as well as a source of frequent incidents of crime:

# Police in southern Pakistan shot dead a blasphemy suspect during an alleged shootout with armed men. This is the second such apparent extra-judicial killing in a week, drawing condemnation from human rights groups. Police identified the slain man as Shah Nawaz, a doctor from the Sindh province. He went into hiding two days earlier after being accused of insulting the prophet Mohammed and sharing blasphemous content on social media. Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death.

# Cricket: South Africa’s women clinched the T20 series 2-1 against Pakistan with a stunning 8 wicket victory in Multan. Pakistan were sent in to bat after captain Laura Wolvaardt won the toss. The hosts scored 153 for 5. Opener Tazmin Brits was stumped for a duck with only 3 runs on the scoreboard. Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch took control before Bosch retired hurt on 46 with South Africa on 84 for one. Annerie Dercksen hit six fours and two sixes to seal the victory with 9 balls to spare.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-56-cents and the euro at 19-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-486-dollars-94-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-608-dollars-65-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-33-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….