News 09:00

BULLETIN 26 October 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Government plans to develop a Township Economic Policy amid the spaza shop food poisoning cases
# KwaZulu-Natal premier hails Princess Angela Buthelezi as a pillar to the Buthelezi family
# And, rugby: The Lions are to face RG Snyman when they take on Leinster in the URC

# The Small Business Development Department and government are drafting a township and rural economic policy to regulate spaza shops following food poisoning cases in Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga. During a parliamentary debate, political parties stress that the move is not xenophobic, calling for non-compliant shops to close. Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams confirmed that interventions, consultations and regulations for micro-businesses are underway:

# KwaZulu-Natal premier Thami Ntuli has hailed Princess Angela Buthelezi as a pillar of strength to her late father, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi. The youngest daughter of Prince Buthelezi and Princess Irene Mzila, she passed away on Monday, aged 55. The princess will be laid to rest today. Her death follows her father’s passing last September. Ntuli described her as a strong woman who represented the Buthelezi family well:

# British International Investment predicts a major funding wave for Africa’s power grids, essential for expanding energy access and transitioning to renewables. The development bank’s Africa head, Chris Chijiutomi, emphasises the need for private sector investment as governments face fiscal challenges. The bank plans to allocate up to eight-billion-rand annually for African climate finance, including transmission projects. Chijiutomi advises South Africa to attract private investment to upgrade its grid and shift from coal dependency.

# The United Kingdom has confirmed it could hand over evidence of potential war crimes in Gaza to the International Criminal Court. The evidence was collected by Royal Air Force spy plane pilots during hundreds of flights over the region since December. This was reportedly done to gather intelligence in the search for hostages which Hamas took in Israel in October last year. Sky News quotes the RAF as saying the UK would consider a request from international investigators to hand over the evidence.

# And, rugby: Springbok forward RG Snyman, a two-time World Cup winner, is included in the Leinster match-day 23 to face the Lions in this evening’s United Rugby Championship clash between the top two teams on the table in Dublin. Both the Lions and Leinster are unbeaten this season. The Irish team’s coach Leo Cullen has made ten changes for the encounter. Among the changes, Robbie Henshaw will make his season debut in the midfield after recovering from an injury.

Stay tuned for more news………….