News 17:00

BULLETIN 16 January 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A storm over Iran’s military exercise participation prompts an urgent Defence inquiry
# Dumisani Khumalo urges Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala to lodge a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate over raid allegations
# And cricket: Two former champions do battle in the SA20 today

# The Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans has announced the establishment of a board of inquiry to investigate allegations surrounding Iran’s role in Exercise Will for Peace 2026. Ministry spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini says the inquiry follows media reports questioning whether president Cyril Ramaphosa’s instruction on how the military exercise should be conducted was properly implemented:

# Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo says businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala should have lodged a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate following claims that his wife and children were forced to the floor at gunpoint during a raid. Khumalo is giving evidence before Parliament’s ad hoc committee into alleged criminality in the police. Khumalo told the committee that if such conduct occurred, Matlala was entitled to report it for investigation:

# Cape Town recorded a strong festive season surge, with more than 1.2 million two-way passengers passing through Cape Town International Airport last month – an eight-percent increase from 2024. This is according to Airports Company South Africa. Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy says international arrivals rose 11-percent, regional 13-percent, and domestic six-percent. He says the airport handled 11.1-million passengers over the year, reflecting tourism growth:

# TikTok will start rolling out new age-detection technology across Europe, as it faces regulatory pressure to identify and remove users under 13. It analyses profile information, videos and behavioural signals to predict whether an account holder may be underage. Australia last year imposed the world’s first social media ban on under 16s. The European Parliament is pushing for age limits on social media platforms, while Denmark wants to ban social media for those under 15. A UK pilot led to the removal of thousands of users under 13.

# Cricket: Two former champions do battle in the SA20 this afternoon. Defending champion MI Cape Town welcomes the champions from the first two seasons, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, to the Mother City. The hosts are still languishing at the bottom of the log after only two victories in their first eight matches. The visitors are currently in second place behind Paarl Royals, with both teams having already qualified for the playoffs. The group stage of the competition ends on Monday.

And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-40-cents and the euro at 19-rand-6-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-98-cents and Bitcoin trades at 95-thousand-431-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-594-dollars-71-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-99-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….