News 09:00

NEWSFLASH NEWS AGENCY 17 November 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Oscar Pistorius will know his fate soon
# The Border Management Authority continues to intercept criminal activities at South African ports of entry
# And, the City of Cape Town says attempts to disempower the Metro Police need to be stopped

# Former Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius will know his fate two days after his 37th birthday as the parole board is expected to determine a date for his release next week Friday. The Constitutional Court in October found that he already served the minimum sentence for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013.  The court also instructed that his sentence be backdated to July 2016. The Department of Correctional Services at the time of Pistorius’ appeal to the Constitutional Court admitted that in March this year, he had already served his minimum sentence.

# Border Management Authority commissioner Michael Masiapato has issued a stern warning to criminals engaging in unlawful activities and attempting to cross borders with illicit and stolen goods. In the latest incident, two people have been charged with the possession of stolen goods worth 1.9-million-rand and damage to essential infrastructure, after they attempted to take the goods into Mozambique. Masiapato says the suspects were found with 52 street lights belonging to eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal amongst other things:

Play sound: ENG MmemmeonSAPorts

# The City of Cape Town says it is deeply disturbed by the latest attempt to derail the good work that the Metropolitan Police Department and other enforcement agencies are doing. The latest proposal by the national government is to limit the city enforcement services’ powers to by-law and traffic enforcement only. Mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says this means they will no longer play a part in crime prevention, as conveyed in an entire section of the national draft policy devoted to this subject:

Play sound: ENG JPonDisempower

# Music mogul Sean Combs, also known as Diddy or Puff Daddy, has been accused of rape, abuse, and sex trafficking by his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura. In court papers, the singer and dancer who performs under the stage name Cassie, alleges that the Hip-Hop icon raped and beat her over ten years starting when she was 19 and he was 37. She is demanding around 551-million-rand from the Bad Boys Records founder. Combs has denied the allegations, accusing Ventura of trying to extort him.

# Soccer: Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association over comments he made after his side’s defeat to Newcastle earlier this month. He branded the video assistant referee’s decision an absolute disgrace, after not ruling out Anthony Gordon’s goal in the one-nil defeat at St James’ Park. The FA says Arteta’s comments constitute misconduct as they are insulting towards match officials and detrimental to the game. He has until Tuesday to respond to the charge.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-37-cents and the euro at 19-rand-94-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-80-cents and Bitcoin trades at 36-thousand-371-dollars-4-cents. Gold sells at one-thousand-985-dollars-77-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-41-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….