News 08:00

BULLETIN 2 October 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Parliament was not briefed on the Public Protector’s Thabo Bester report
# Cosatu is aggrieved because the UIF system has been offline for a month
# And Iran launches a major missile attack on Israel

# Parliament’s portfolio committee on Correctional Services says it has not been briefed about the Public Protector’s report into convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in 2022. The report reveals that Correctional Services staff knew within weeks of Bester’s fake suicide that he had escaped from prison, but they delayed opening a criminal case for six months. Committee chairperson Kgomotso Ramolobeng says the report has also not been referred to the National Assembly.

# Cosatu says it is deeply aggrieved that the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s online system, uFiling, has been offline for a month, and there is no indication of when it will be functional again. Users wanting to utilise the platform since the 30th of August have been met with a message that says the uFiling system is offline due to planned maintenance. Cosatu’s spokesperson, Zanele Sabela, says the UIF is a contributory social security fund, and having it be offline for this long is simply unacceptable:

# ActionSA in Gauteng has expressed concern about the lack of progress in completing the Boipatong Social Integrated Facility in Emfuleni Municipality. The construction, which began in 2017 was expected to be completed in 2026 but has been halted for almost four years. ActionSA’s provincial chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, says the facility is currently the only one available to accommodate the elderly and, therefore, its completion is imperative:

# Iran launched a missile attack on Israel yesterday evening in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. At least one person was killed and several were injured during the attack. Iran’s attack came hours after Israel announced it launched a limited and localised ground operation in Lebanon. US National Security spokesperson, Jake Sullivan, says Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles toward Israel and the US naval destroyers helped Israel shoot them down:

# Cricket: MI Cape Town bought Proteas opening batter Reeza Hendricks for 4.3-million-rand at the SA20 player auction held in Cape Town. He was released from the Joburg Super Kings. MI also secured Colin Ingram, Dane Piedt, and rookie Tristan Luus. Defending champions the Sunrisers Eastern Cape got England’s Richard Gleeson for 2.3-million-rand, Okuhle Cele, and rookie Daniel Smith. Pretoria Capitals bought Evin Lewis of the West Indies for 1.5-million-rand. The Joburg Super Kings secured the services of Evan Jones and Wihan Lubbe for 175-thousand apiece.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-33-cents and the euro at 19-rand-20-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-4-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-825-dollars-43-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-661-dollars-5-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….