News 12:00

BULLETIN 13 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Parliament’s Higher Education Committee calls for strengthened administrative systems
# Home Affairs recalls 44 officials deployed at South African missions abroad
# And six more women accuse jailed Russell Brand of sexual misconduct

# Parliament’s portfolio committee on Higher Education and Training has urged the department to realise the serious impact the late release of funds has on students. The department’s overall spending had reached 96.6-billion-rand by the end of the second quarter, partly due to increased transfers and subsidies to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, TVET Colleges and universities. Committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie says there should be a cultural change in the department and its entities:

# Home Affairs has begun the process of recalling 44 of its officials deployed at South African missions abroad. They will be redeployed to local offices where capacity is needed. Government launched the Electronic Travel Authorisation system this week, replacing the manual process. This means officials at overseas missions don’t have a role to play in visa processing. The department estimates the cost of deploying the officials abroad for four years exceeded 528-million-rand. It says this move demonstrates its commitment to systematically eliminating opportunities for corruption.

# Western Cape police have arrested a 46-year-old man in connection with threatening messages directed at premier Alan Winde. The arrest follows an investigation into intimidating text messages received by the complainant last month. Police spokesperson André Traut says the messages allegedly contained threats directed at Winde, as well as a direct threat to shoot him. He says the suspect was arrested at a premises in Kensington, Cape Town:

# Disgraced British actor, comedian and media personality Russell Brand has been accused of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour by a further six women. The 51-year-old was sentenced to ten years and six months in jail for rape and three counts of sexual assault. According to a Times investigation, one woman has accused Brand of having sex with her without her consent and then apologising afterwards. The newspaper says the new allegations could not be reported until his trial ended to avoid prejudicing proceedings.

# Rugby: Veteran flyhalf Beauden Barrett will captain the All Blacks for the first time against Wales in Cardiff tomorrow. Barrett, who is set to earn his 149th Test cap, takes over the captaincy from Codie Taylor, who is being rested. Loose forward Anton Segner and wing Fehi Fineanganofo will both make their first Test starts, while flyhalf Richie Mo’unga and lock Josh Lord are back in the team. Coach Dave Rennie says Barrett deserves this opportunity:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-83-cents and the euro at 18-rand-63-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-29-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-600-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-893-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 98-dollars-22-sents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….