News 07:00

BULLETIN 17 February 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Action Society denounces government abandonment in the fight against crime
# The DA in Gauteng plans to implement lifestyle audits for officials if elected to provincial office
# Rugby: Mbonambi plays his first match since World Cup final

# Action Society accuses government of abandoning citizens in the battle against crime, revealing a woman was raped every 12 minutes in the third-quarter crime statistics. Daily figures include 86 murders, 88 attempted murders, and 595 assaults with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Despite Police minister Bheki Cele’s claim of clearing the DNA backlog, Action Society’s Ian Cameron contends many cases remain unsolved. He warns of an imminent surge in murder rates, accompanied by a rise in child victimisation:

In its reaction, Rise Mzansi says the latest crime statistics paint a grim picture, revealing over seven-thousand murders in the last three months and an alarming 19-percent conviction rate. The party criticises government’s safety measures, calling for the removal of president Cyril Ramaphosa and Police minister Bheki Cele. Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana says the report disclosed 15-thousand-284 sexual offences, highlighting the urgent need for societal change:

# The DA in Gauteng plans to implement comprehensive lifestyle audits for politicians and officials if elected to provincial office. During the party’s so-called true state of the province address, Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga emphasised that government corruption is the primary reason for the Gauteng’s decline. Msimanga stresses the importance of prosecuting guilty officials instead of allowing them to resign to evade charges. This stance aims to combat corruption effectively.

# Eskom power station teams are diligently working to recover additional generating capacity amid stage two load-shedding. Unplanned outages are down to 13-thousand-733 megawatts, with eight-thousand-121 megawatts under planned maintenance. Efforts are underway to return two generating units to service tomorrow. Load-shedding is set to pause until 4 PM, and then stage two resumes until 5 AM tomorrow. Another break from 5 AM to 4 PM will be followed by the implementation of stage one load-shedding. A comprehensive update for the week ahead will be provided tomorrow.

# And, rugby: Sharks Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi will play his first match since sustaining an injury in the World Cup final. He was chosen on the bench for this afternoon’s United Rugby Championship encounter against the Stormers in Durban. There are seven Boks in the home team’s starting 15, and Mbonambi and another three on the bench. Lock Eben Etzebeth isn’t available since he had to undergo a knee operation. Kick-off at King’s Park is at 5.05 after the other local derby between the Lions and the Bulls in Johannesburg.

Stay tuned for more news………….