News 11:00

BULLETIN 4 November 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Madlanga commission confirms an attempted hit on the controversial businessman Brown Mogotsi
# The bomb expert Jimmy Roodt is arrested at the venue of the G20 leaders summit
# And rugby: The injured Barrett brothers are ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Scotland

# The Madlanga commission of inquiry has confirmed reports of an apparent hit targeting controversial businessman Brown Mogotsi in Vosloorus on the Gauteng East Rand last night. It is believed unknown gunmen opened fire on his vehicle, but it is unknown at this stage if he was in the car. Mogotsi’s name has featured prominently in probes into alleged rot in the Police Service. The commission’s spokesperson, Jeremy Michaels, told the SABC they are concerned about Mogotsi’s safety:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed commissioners of the Electoral Commission of South Africa, who will serve for a period of seven years. This follows the recommendation from the National Assembly. The commissioners are Joyce Pitso, Judge Dhaya Pillay and Mosotho Moepya. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says the president wishes the commissioners well in safeguarding the integrity of diverse elections in the country:

# Gauntlet Security Solutions operations director and explosives manager, Jimmy Roodt, has been arrested for trespassing at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto, Gauteng. This is the venue for the G20 leaders summit later this month. Roodt recently stated that the country’s major international airports could be dangerously underprepared for a bomb threat. Government deputy spokesperson, William Baloyi, says Roodt’s stunt at Nasrec was an attempt to prove his falsehood that South Africa’s security apparatus was not ready to secure the summit:

Moving abroad:

# The International Organisation for Migration says reports of violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of human rights in Sudan, especially the city of El Fasher, are deeply concerning. Over 150-thousand people have been killed and over 14-million were displaced since the war between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces started in April 2023. The IOM has warned that indiscriminate attacks, targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, gender-based violence, and ethnically motivated attacks against displaced populations are increasing rapidly.

# Rugby: New Zealand will be without both captain Scott Barrett and brother Jordie for Saturday’s Test against Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Scott suffered a cut on his leg in the third minute of their 26-13 victory over Ireland in Chicago last weekend, which required stitches. Jordie suffered an ankle injury during the match. Fabian Holland and Josh Lord are likely to start at lock, with Sam Darry and Samipeni Finau the other options.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-41-cents and the euro at 20-rand-7-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-83-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-424-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-986-dollars-16-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-46-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….