News 15:00

BULLETIN 26 September 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister McKenzie threatens to withdraw from the GNU if Kunene is not re-appointed Transport MMC in Johannesburg
# Elaine Harrison testifies the task team achieved higher conviction rates in political killing cases
# And Tennis: Coco Gauff eases through to the next round of the Chinese Open

# Sport, Arts and Culture minister Gayton McKenzie has confirmed his intention to withdraw from the government of national unity should Patriotic Alliance deputy president Kenny Kunene not be reinstated as Johannesburg’s mayoral committee member for Transport. McKenzie has given Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero until Tuesday to reinstate Kunene. McKenzie accused the ANC and EFF of sidelining his party in Johannesburg and says the PA will also pull out of all coalitions:

# KwaZulu-Natal Director of Public Prosecutions, Elaine Harrison, has told the Madlanga commission in Pretoria that the political killings task team helped achieve higher conviction rates in politically motivated cases. Harrison said once prosecutors were dedicated to the unit’s work, cases were finalised more successfully compared to before its establishment. She described the task team as essential and necessary in tackling political violence in the province:

# The Netherlands pledged to return to Indonesia the remains of “Java Man”, the first-ever “Homo Erectus” unearthed by modern scientists in a landmark discovery for human evolution. The Dutch plan to hand back some 28-thousand fossils of the “Dubois Collection” looted by anatomist and geologist Eugene Dubois in 1891, when Indonesia was still a colony of the Netherlands. The discovery enabled scientists to reconstruct “Homo Erectus”, “upright human”, who lived from around 1.9-million years ago to about 150-thousand years ago.

# Tennis: American Coco Gauff brushed aside Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-4, 6-0 to secure a spot in the last 32 as she bids for a second successive China Open crown. The world number three will next face Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in Beijing, who triumphed decisively over Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-0. Gauff’s biggest rival in Beijing is world number two Iga Swiatek from Poland, fresh off a title in Seoul, as top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka is not playing in the tournament due to an injury.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-46-cents and the euro at 20-rand-37-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-30-cents and Bitcoin trades at 108-thousand-813-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-751-dollars-1-cent a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The City of Cape Town is encouraging residents to access free contraceptive services at its facilities, and take the opportunity to make informed decisions about their reproductive health. Today is World Contraception Day, raising awareness of all contraceptive methods available, and enabling young people to make informed choices on their sexual and reproductive health. Mayoral committee member for Community Services and Health, Francine Higham, says the metro provided over 750-thousand contraceptive services between July 2023 and June this year:

Stay tuned for more news………….