News 08:00

BULLETIN 28 December 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# An Afrikaner seeking asylum in the US was detained after arriving on a tourist visa
# The Weather Service issues a warning of disruptive rains for six provinces today    
# And in Cricket, the Joburg Super Kings and the Sunrisers Eastern Cape secure dominant away wins in the SA20

# A 59-year-old South African, Benjamin Schoonwinkel, travelled to the US in September with a tourist visa under the impression he would receive asylum under president Donald Trump’s programme for protecting minorities against persecution. Instead he has been held for nearly three months in immigration detention. According to the New York Times Schoonwinkel did not apply via the official US refugee programme while still in South Africa, as required.  The spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation Chrispin Phiri in response said South Africa expects its citizens to comply with the laws of other countries.

# The Forum for South Africa says it remain deeply concerned about selective justice in South Africa. The past week, the Special Investigating Unit obtained a preservation order to freeze a Pretoria property linked to the late actor Presley Chweneyagae. FOSA leder, Tebogo Mashilompane says the SIU appears swift and decisive in some cases, while many serious matters involving politically connected individuals, large-scale corruption, and the looting of state resources continue to drag on without consequence:

# The South African Weather Service has issued a weather level 2 warning for disruptive rains and severe thunderstorms across six provinces today. This is for the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal,  Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and Gauteng. Forecaster Leholohonolo Thobela says severe thunderstorms, leading to localised flooding of susceptible roads, settlements and low-lying areas, excessive lightning, strong damaging winds and large amounts of small hail are expected:

# Gauteng Police have launched a manhunt for number of suspects who committed a cash-in-transit robbery at Thokoza, Ekurhuleni on Saturday afternoon. Police spokesperson, Mavela Masondo says the cash-in-transit armoured vehicle was driving in Thokoza when it was bumped by a white Mercedes Benz, forcing it to capsize. He says a group of suspects then disarmed the security officers and bombed the armoured vehicle:

# Russia attacked Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones yesterday, ahead of today’s crucial meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to plan the end of the four years of war. Zelensky says about 500 drones and 40 missiles were involved knocking out power and heat in parts of the capital. The Ukrainian leader has said today’s talks in Florida would focus on security guarantees and territorial control once fighting ends.

# And finally cricket: The Joburg Super Kings defeated the Pretoria Capitals by 22 runs in their SA20 encounter at Centurion yesterday, posting a competitive 168 for 6 and restricting the Capitals to 146 for 9. The Sunrisers Eastern Cape achieved a dominant 137-run win over the hosts Paarl Royals at Boland Park. The Sunrisers scored 186 for 4 before bowling out the Royals for a record-low total of just 49 runs. This afternoon defending champions MI Cape Town take on the Durban Super Giants at Kingsmead in their second encounter, after the Durbanites beat the Capetonians by 15 runs at Newlands on Friday.

Stay tuned for more news………….