News 08:00

BULLETIN 13 October 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Former finance minister and Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni has died
# Water storage levels throughout Gauteng decline significantly
# And, rugby: Mixed results for SA teams in URC clashes

# Former finance minister and Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni has died. His family released a statement late on Saturday night announcing his passing. Mboweni was 65 years old. The family said that it is “with deep sadness” that they announced that he had passed away at in a hospital in Johannesburg after a short illness. He was surrounded by his loved ones. Mboweni became the first black governor of the SARB, succeeding Chris Stals in 1999 to serve for a decade. Before that, he served in Nelson Mandela’s cabinet as labour minister between 1994 and 1999.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is deeply saddened by Mboweni’s passing. The president’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya says Mboweni was the democratic South Africa’s first minister of Labour from 1994 to 1999 in the Cabinet of founding president Nelson Mandela. He says Mboweni served as Governor of the South African Reserve Bank for a decade from 1999:

# Rand Water says water storage levels throughout Gauteng Province have significantly declined due to excessive water withdrawals by municipalities. Rand Water spokesperson, Makenosi Maroo says the water entity has repeatedly warned municipalities in Gauteng about a potential crisis. She says the water supply systems in the province, including Rand Water reservoirs, are critically low, and the situation is anticipated to worsen with the ongoing heat wave. She adds that water storage could soon be depleted if municipalities do not implement its recommendations.

# Kamala Harris “possesses the physical and mental resiliency” necessary to serve as president, her doctor revealed in a letter. The Democratic presidential nominee hopes the letter will put pressure on her rival Donald Trump to release his own records. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign says in a statement that his doctors have “concluded he is in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief”. According to latest US national polls, Harris remains slightly ahead of Trump but the numbers in battleground states are extremely close.

# And rugby: The Bulls kept up their unbeaten run in this year’s United Rugby Championship with a 29-19 win over the Ospreys in Swansea last night. The Bulls were on fire early on and scored four tries to get their bonus point, but then struggled as ill-discipline took them down to 13 men. In the other two away games, the Sharks were comprehensively beaten by Benetton, losing by 38 to 10, and the Stormers went down against Edinburgh 38 -7. The Lions take on the Dragons in Wales at 15.30 this afternoon.

Stay tuned for more news………….