News 16:00

BULLETIN 25 September 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A Police expert warns that ministers lack the power to ‘close things’ in policing decisions
# An FNB economist says consumer confidence slips as the middle class comes under pressure
# And Rugby: Argentina gets a boost by the return of fly-half Tomas Albornoz

# South African Police Service legislative expert Marga van Rooyen told the Madlanga commission that the Constitution makes it clear police officers must reject unlawful orders, even if they come from political leaders. Testifying at the commission in Pretoria, Van Rooyen said politicians cannot be expected to grasp the complexities of policing or foresee the consequences of their directives. She warned that ministers cannot simply ‘close things,’ as it may have serious and unintended effects on policing:

# FNB chief economist Mamello Matikinca-Ngwenya says the FNB/BER consumer confidence index retreated from negative-ten to negative-13 in the third quarter of this year. She says the decline in the overall index to negative-13 means that consumer sentiment moved even further south of the average index reading of negative-one since 1994. Matikinca-Ngwenya says this is signaling a slowdown in real household consumption expenditure growth during the third quarter of this year:

# The African Transformation Movement has called on government to declare underage pregnancy a national pandemic. Alarmed by over two-thousand-700 girls aged ten-to-14 giving birth in a year, including more than 100 cases in the Eastern Cape, the ATM cites systemic failures, lack of reproductive health services, and sexual abuse as key drivers. ATM’s Zama Ntshona urges comprehensive sexuality education, and support for young mothers to break cycles of exploitation and poverty:

# India signed a 121-billion-rand order for 97 domestically designed and built fighter jets as its air force retires its outgoing Russian MiG-21 jets after decades of use. The first Tejas jets, meaning “brilliance” in Hindi, were commissioned into the airforce in 2016, with the latest commission for the fourth-generation version of the fighter. India, one of the world’s largest arms importers, has made the modernisation of its forces a top priority, and made repeated pushes to boost local arms production.

# Rugby: Argentina’s hopes of causing a similar upset in the Rugby Championship to the one they pulled off in Durban in 2015 got a welcome boost. Flyhalf Tomas Albornoz has joined the squad this week and is likely to start in Durban against the Boks. Albanoz, nicknamed – El Mago Nuevo – the new wizard, has been a huge part of why Felipe Contepomi’s side is so highly regarded. What makes him exceptionally good, is his ability to get his backline going and threading holes into the opposition.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-38-cents and the euro at 20-rand-36-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-29-cents and Bitcoin trades at 111-thousand-519-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-745-dollars-90-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-24-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….