News 08:00

BULLETIN 2 August 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Police are concerned about the huge spike in kidnappings in South Africa
# The Public Works minister calls for accountability following a Telkom Towers oversight visit
# And Olympic Games: Andy Murray has played the final match of his career

# National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola says the spike in kidnappings in South Africa is a major concern but believes the anti-kidnapping units at national and provincial levels are making inroads. Last year, the police recorded 15-thousand-342 kidnapping cases, a massive increase from four-thousand-306 in 2013/2014. In the latest incident on Wednesday, businessman Ashraf Kaka was rescued from a house in Lenasia, Johannesburg. Eight suspects were arrested in connection with the kidnapping. Masemola says the increase in kidnappings is linked to other crimes, such as rape and car hijacking.

# Union federation Saftu urges the government and municipalities to improve water management and invest in infrastructure to tackle water shortages. The federation is alarmed by frequent outages across provinces, which they attribute to delayed maintenance and poor management. They argue these shortages disproportionately affect poor and working-class communities, posing significant health risks and compromising sanitation. Saftu’s Mogoshadi Maserumule calls for enhanced accountability and effective resource management to address the crisis: 

# Public Works and Infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson, alongside Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink, inspected Telkom Towers in Pretoria CBD. This follows an ongoing investigation into its procurement and developments. Despite 695-million-rand spent in 2016 and over 200-million-rand in renovations, the building remains uninhabitable. Macpherson demands accountability. Meanwhile, mayor Brink addresses strategies to prevent the deterioration of essential city buildings:

# Israeli airstrikes on a shelter in Shujaya, central Gaza, killed at least 15 Palestinians and injured dozens more people yesterday. The Gaza Civil Defence says three missiles struck the Dalal al-Mughrabi school, where many hundreds of displaced people had sought refuge. The Israeli Defence Force says Hamas used the school as a hideout for commanders and operatives and to plan terror attacks against the country. This follows the killing of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh and a senior Hezbollah commander.

# Olympic Games: Britain Andy Murray’s illustrious tennis career has ended after he and Dan Evans were knocked out in the men’s doubles quarterfinal in Paris. Murray, a two-time Olympic singles champion, and Evans lost, 6-2, 6-4, to American third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. The 37-year-old departs the sport having won three Grand Slam titles, and 46 ATP titles, and also led Britain to Davis Cup victory in 2015. Murray says he is proud of his career:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-27-cents and the euro at 19-rand-73-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-25-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-446-dollars-5-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-457-dollars-34-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-9-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….