News 12:00

BULLETIN 7 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A former municpal chief financial official faces arrest after failing to appear in court for a VBS-related case
# The DA in Gauteng wants a task-team established to confront the poisoning of children
# And soccer: Manchester City is ordered to pay Benjamin Mendy the majority of 256-million-rand

# The Hawks in Limpopo are searching for the Fetakgomo-Greater Tubatse Municipality’s former chief financial official, Tumelo Ratau, after he failed to appear in the High Court in Pretoria twice this week in a VBS Mutual Bank case. He was arrested in November 2021 for his alleged role in facilitating 230-million-rand in unlawful investments with the collapsed back. Ratau’s co-accused, former municipal manager Nkhono Mohlala, reached a plea deal, receiving a five-year suspended sentence. He has also been ordered to repay 100-thousand to the VBS liquidators.

# The DA in Gauteng is calling on premier Panyaza Lesufi to establish a multi-disciplinary task team to confront the poisoning of children. The province has seen a sharp increase in food poisoning cases involving children over the last few months who consume food bought at spaza shops. The DA’s Crezane Bosch says proper vetting of vendors and spaza shops is needed:

Meanwhile, COPE says the unabating incidence of food poisoning is a severe cause for concern for people’s well-being and health. Last month, six children died in Soweto after eating chips bought at a spaza shop were found to have contained a substance used as rat poison. Cases have also been reported in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the Free State. COPE’s Pakes Dikgetsi says these incidents have been years in the making:

# FNB has teamed with BankservAfrica to offer near real-time cross-border payments within the Common Monetary Area, covering South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, and Eswatini. FNB clients can now transfer up to 25-thousand-rand instantly, 24 hours per day, across borders with enhanced security and lower costs. The move addresses Common Monetary Area customers’ demand for faster, secure remittances and aligns with regulatory compliance under South Africa’s grey-listing status.

# Soccer: A British judge ordered Manchester City to pay former player Benjamin Mendy the majority of 265-million-rand withheld after he was charged with rape and sexual assault in 2021. The 30-year-old defender took the matter to an employment tribunal after he was acquitted on all nine charges against him. The former French international left City last year. He says a senior club official assured him he would get his unpaid salary once he had been cleared of the charges.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-52-cents and the euro at 18-rand-86-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-66-cents and Bitcoin trades at 74-thousand-921-dollars-97-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-633-dollars-75-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-17-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….