News 07:00

BULLETIN 1 October 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The MK Party requests the Judicial Service Commission interviews to be halted
# Over ten-thousand suspects were arrested during the weekly Operation Shanela
# And the suspect in the Trump assassination attempt pleads not guilty

# The MK Party has requested Chief Justice Mandisa Maya to postpone next week’s Judicial Services Commission interviews pending the outcome of its appeal. The party has applied for leave to appeal the Western Cape High Court’s ruling to interdict its parliamentary leader, John Hlophe, from participating in the work of the JSC. The interdict is pending a review of the National Assembly’s decision to designate Hlophe to the body. The MK Party’s spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, described the judgment as erroneous and unjustifiable:

# Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso says Transnet’s tentative private sector engagement must evolve into large-scale port and rail concessions to enhance logistics competitiveness. Mavuso advocates competition between ports and rail corridors, emphasising export competitiveness as crucial for South Africa’s growth. Mavuso urges reforms in electricity and water infrastructure, and improved government-business cooperation. She emphasised the critical role of stable infrastructure in driving economic growth.

# The South African Police Service arrested ten-thousand-668 suspects in Operation Shanela last week. Arrests included one-thousand-941 wanted suspects for serious crimes like murder and rape. Police recovered 117 firearms, 872 rounds of ammunition, and 54 stolen vehicles. Police spokesperson Amanda van Wyk, highlighted major arrests including arrests of drug mules, extortionists, and 157 illegal miners:

# The EFF in Gauteng says it is concerned about the Emfuleni Municipality’s failure to pay municipal workers their salaries this month, due to its dire financial state. This comes as Eskom recently attached the municipality’s four bank accounts due to an outstanding electricity debt of eight-billion-rand. The EFF’s, Baleni Dumisani, says at the core of the municipality’s issues is a deeply entrenched culture of corruption among municipal officials and ANC politicians in the region:

# The man accused of attempting to assassinate former US president Donald Trump at his Florida golf course has pleaded not guilty. Fifty-eight-year-old Ryan Routh faces one count of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, one count of assaulting a federal officer, and three federal firearms charges, though he is not accused of firing a shot at Trump. If convicted, Routh faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on the assassination charge. Each of the gun charges carries a 20-year maximum sentence.

# Cricket: Two South African match officials will be involved in the women’s T20 World Cup, starting in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday. Lauren Agenbag was announced as an on-field umpire, and Shandré Fritz as match referee in the elite all-female panel. Bangladesh and Scotland will open the action in Sharjah, followed by the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the same field. South Africa will take on the Windies on Friday. The final will be played in Dubai on the 20th of this month.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-26-cents and the euro at 19-rand-24-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-11-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-335-dollars-77-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-638-dollars-74-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-78-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….