News 07:00

BULLETIN 6 November 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The US Embassy in South Africa updates its Refugee Admissions Programme
# Vodacom and the Please Call Me inventor reach an out-of-court settlement
# And the ANC secretary in the Western Cape and three others join the DA

# The US Embassy in South Africa has published new information on applying for the US Refugee Admissions Programme. This programme targets Afrikaners or members of a racial minority in the country, who are victims of government-sponsored race-based discrimination. To qualify for the programme, people must be South African, Afrikaner, and be able to articulate a past personal experience of persecution or fear of future persecution based on race, religion, nationality, or political opinion. The US will only accept seven-thousand-500 refugees next year.

# Acting Police minister Firoz Cachalia says dismantling corruption is essential before it becomes entrenched within the prison system. Giving evidence before Parliament’s ad hoc committee, Cachalia warned that systemic corruption, including in hospitals and procurement, poses an existential threat to the country. He said more work is needed to rebuild weakened structures to ensure that those involved in corrupt activities face real consequences:

# Vodacom has reached an out-of-court settlement agreement in the ‘Please Call Me’ matter with former employee Nkosana Makate, ending a 17-year-long legal battle. Makate has been calling for fair compensation for inventing the Please Call Me service, which he believed should amount to almost ten-billion-rand. However, Vodacom had previously offered him around 47-million-rand. The terms of the agreement have not been revealed, with Vodacom saying that it will be accounted for in the group’s interim financial results for the six months ended 30 September 2025.

# Four ANC members, including Western Cape secretary, Neville Delport, have joined the DA. This follows the ANC’s national executive disbanding the province’s elected leadership last week. The other members who have joined the DA are regional executive member Jason Donn and ward councillors Daniel Baadjies from Bonnievale and Paul Strauss from Cederberg Municipality. DA Federal Council chairperson, Helen Zille, says this is a milestone moment, and it mirrors the swing in support by voters who continue to abandon the ANC:

# UK police have launched a manhunt after two prisoners were mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth in south London. Thirty-five-year-old William Smith, convicted of fraud, was released on Monday. A 24-year-old Algerian sex offender, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, was released last week. He entered the UK on a visit visa in 2019, and in February 2020, was logged as someone who had probably overstayed. Justice Secretary David Lammy says he has ordered an independent investigation to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental prisoner releases.

# Cricket: The Proteas men are under pressure to rescue the one-day series against Pakistan when the two teams play in the second encounter in Faisalabad today. The hosts won the first match on Tuesday after also clinching the T20 series after the drawn Test series, and victory in the remaining two ODIs is paramount for the visitors to salvage the tour. Relatively inexperienced squads were selected for the white-ball series because several regulars are rested for the upcoming Test series in India.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-42-cents and the euro at 20-rand-6-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-76-cents and Bitcoin trades at 102-thousand-831-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-970-dollars-2-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-41-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….