News 07:00

BULLETIN 30 September 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa commits additional funding for gender-based violence and femicide
# The EFF welcomes the High Court decision permitting Malema to appeal
# And tennis: Sabalenka plays in her first tournament since losing the number one ranking

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has directed the minister of Police, the National Commissioner of Police, and relevant forensic authorities to submit, within 60 days, a funded plan to reduce forensic backlogs in gender-based violence and femicide cases. The president announced a series of measures and directives yesterday evening, following a series of killings of women in and around Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. Ramaphosa said the plan must also establish clear turnaround standards for priority cases:

# AfriForum says an alleged 182-million-rand spent on marketing the National Health Insurance should be investigated. The organisation believes the allegations of irregularities in contracts and the reported diversion of funds from other health programmes raise concerns about possible corruption and mismanagement. AfriForum’s Louis Boshoff says no wrongdoing can be confirmed until the investigations are completed:

# Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi warned the Film and Publications Board to sharpen its oversight and strengthen the fight against online harms. This comes as South Africa confronts rapid technological change. Earlier this month, the board’s Enforcement Committee announced it had clamped down hard on non-compliance, issuing fines totalling 16.1-million-rand. Malatsi says the FPB plays a key role in protecting children’s digital dignity, raising awareness of online safety, and working with law enforcement agencies to fight cybercrime.

# The EFF has welcomed the decision of the Makhanda High Court in the Eastern Cape to grant Julius Malema leave to appeal his conviction in the firearm matter. He was found guilty of contravening the Firearms Control Act last year, and handed an effective five years in direct imprisonment in April. In 2018, Malema was filmed firing a rifle into the air during the party’s fifth anniversary celebrations in Mdantsane. The EFF reiterated that this case is not about firearm control, but a politically motivated prosecution initiated by AfriForum.

# The World Health Organisation says health workers fighting the country’s largest-ever Ebola outbreak are struggling to overcome critical challenges to patient care. With eight-thousand-and-67 confirmed cases and three-thousand-901 deaths, the case fatality rate is more than 48-percent in 63 affected health zones in seven out of DRC’s 26 provinces. World Health Organisation doctor Janet Diaz says that while they are beginning to see a reduction in transmission in some areas, the number of cases remains high for this outbreak:

# Tennis: Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus says she is refreshed before her first tournament since losing the number one world ranking to Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan earlier this month. This happened after the US Open, where she also lost to Rybakina in the final. Sabalenka topped the rankings for 99 weeks, but the four-time Grand Slam champion will end the season without a major title for the first time since 2022. Both players are participating in the China Open in Beijing starting today.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-40-cents and the euro at 18-rand-58-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-69-cents and Bitcoin trades at 83-thousand-408-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-172-dollars-68-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 100-dollars-27-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….