News 12:00

BULLETIN 27 September 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Centre for Development and Enterprise wants an inquiry into the NPA’s performance and independence
# TLU SA opposes Eskom’s proposed electricity tariff hikes
# And rugby: Argentina still has a mathematical chance to clinch the Rugby Championship title

# The Centre for Development and Enterprise is calling on president Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint a retired judge to spearhead an urgent independent inquiry into the National Prosecuting Authority. The inquiry aims to confront underperformance and the devastating effect of state capture, which crippled the prosecuting agency, leaving high-profile corruption cases languishing. The centre’s, Ann Bernstein, says the disappointing performance of the NPA has led to a pervasive sense of despair that the state cannot enforce the law:

# Agricultural union TLU SA says it strongly opposes Eskom’s proposed electricity tariff hikes as it is an unacceptable burden that consumers should not have to bear. The power utility’s application to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa proposes a 36.15-percent hike during its 2026 financial year; 11.81-percent in 2027 and 9.1-percent in 2028. TLU SA’s Bennie van Zyl says before any tariff hike can be considered, Eskom must first conduct a thorough review of its structure:

# British police are appealing to any potential victims of alleged sexual abuse by Mohamed al-Fayed to come forward. London’s Metropolitan Police Force says in a statement they must ensure every victim-survivor has the confidence to speak to them about the late Harrods owner. Five women who worked at the luxury department store have alleged they were raped by Al-Fayed, with several other former employees alleging sexual misconduct. So far, police are investigating 19 allegations of crimes involving Al-Fayed. Fifteen are of sexual assault and one is related to trafficking.

# Rugby: Argentinia still has a mathematical chance to clinch the Rugby Championship title when they take on the Springboks in Mbombela in the final round tomorrow. But they need a bonus point victory over the four-time world champions, and deprive South Africa of any log points. Pumas head coach Felipe Contepomi has made seven changes to the team that stunned the Boks in Argentina last week. Among the changes are Santiago Grondona replacing injured flanker Marcos Kremer, and imposing lock Tomas Lavanini returning to the starting team.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-16-cents and the euro at 19-rand-11-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-93-cents and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-576-dollars-6-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-664-dollars-73-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-71-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Retirees in South Africa are at a heightened risk of cybercrime due to the emergence of an artificial intelligence tool enabling sophisticated scams. FraudGPT allows anyone to commit a cybercrime by creating sophisticated phishing emails, building hacking tools, and uncovering weaknesses in IT systems. Actuary and damages expert, Gregory Whittaker, says cybercriminals frequently target retirees, as they will likely have access to capital through retirement savings. He says it is essential that pensioners are educated about the types of scams and provided with practical risk mitigation strategies.

Stay tuned for more news………….