News 14:00

BULLETIN 21 October 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Witness A confirms the manhunt for Katiso Molefe’s nephew Lucky remains unresolved
# France’s Sarkozy becomes the first former head of an EU state to be jailed
# And cricket: Shaheen Shah Afridi will captain Pakistan in three ODIs against South Africa

# Witness A told the Madlanga commission the search for the nephew of controversial businessman Katiso “KT” Molefe, Lucky Molefe, is still ongoing. Katiso stands accused of tender fraud and the murder of DJ Sumbody, and is currently out on 400-thousand-rand bail. Witness A says he led the December operation to arrest Katiso, while another team tried to find Lucky, a former Transnet Freight Rail employee who is wanted for the murder of engineer Armand Swart, but failed to locate him:

# The Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute expressed concern over South Africa’s two-trillion-rand Integrated Resource Plan, presented by Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. Executive director Francesca de Gasparis warns against continued reliance on fossil fuels, gas, and nuclear, citing safety risks and speculative technologies. She urges the minister to focus on renewable energy solutions like solar, wind, and storage that are clean, affordable, and sustainable for the nation’s energy future:

# The Southern Africa Network for Immigrants and Refugees is calling on the Home Affairs Department to urgently resolve system disruptions and backlogs at all Refugee Reception Offices. The network’s spokesperson, Bernard Kayitare, says the pattern of system outages has become a mechanism of exclusion, leaving thousands vulnerable to arrest and deportation due to expired documents beyond their control. He says system failures cannot continue to be used as instruments of exclusion:

Moving abroad:

# France’s ex-president, Nicolas Sarkozy, became the first former head of an European Union state to be jailed today, proclaiming his innocence as he entered a Paris prison. France’s right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012 was found guilty last month of seeking to acquire funding from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya for the campaign that saw him elected. AFP journalists saw the 70-year-old, who has appealed the verdict, leave his home, and after a short drive flanked by police on motorbikes, enter the La Sante prison in the French capital.

# Cricket: The experienced bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi will captain Pakistan in the one-day series against South Africa. He replaces Mohammad Rizwan after just a year in the role, after the country crashed out in the first round of the Champions Trophy, followed by their first series loss in the West Indies in 34 years. The governing body says the selection committee and white-ball head coach Mike Hesson decided on the change in leadership. The three ODIs will be played early next month, all in Faisalabad.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-32-cents and the euro at 20-rand-12-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-16-cents and Bitcoin trades at 107-thousand-668-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-262-dollars-29-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 61-dollars-33-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….