News 12:00

BULLETIN 29 August 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Calls for a life sentence for a former teacher who murdered her boyfriend’s young daughter
# The Activists and Citizens Forum calls for government intervention over the Eskom tariff increases
# And rugby: The Cheetahs’ captain hopes for victory over Griquas in his 100th match

# Women and Men Against Child Abuse has welcomed the conviction of former preschool teacher Amber-Lee Hughes, who confessed to drowning her boyfriend’s four-year-old daughter in 2023. The High Court in Johannesburg found her guilty of the premeditated murder and rape of Nada-Jane Challita. She will be sentenced in October. WMACA says Hughes should receive a life sentence. It adds this heartbreaking case highlights the urgent need to address the dangers children face from abusive stepparents or unsuitable partners trusted with their care.

# The Activists and Citizens Forum is calling on government to step in and protect consumers from Eskom’s tariff increases. Eskom and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa have reached an out-of-court settlement that will further raise tariffs in the next two financials years. Tariffs will now increase by 8.8-percent in each year. The forum’s spokesperson, Dennis Bloem, says this reckless electricity price increase must be stopped:

# The DA has welcomed Parliament’s House chairperson Cedric Frolick’s decision to call minister of Higher Education, Buti Manamela, to appear before the Oversight Committee next month. The party’s Karabo Khakhau says the minister must account for the growing scandal of new ANC cadre deployments as Sector Education and Training Authorities’ administrators. She says Manamela has appointed ANC cadres implicated in corruption, fraud and mismanagement:

Moving abroad:

# France, Germany and the United Kingdom have begun the process to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran, which were lifted in 2015, in a bid to restrain its nuclear programme. The sanctions include freezing Iranian assets, halting arms deals with Tehran, and penalising any development of its ballistic missile programme. The three European nations, known as the E3, say Iran’s nuclear programme remains a clear threat to international peace and security. Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned this move, calling it a provocative and unnecessary escalation.

# Rugby: Captain Victor Sekekete hopes to lead the Cheetahs to victory over Griquas in his 100th match when they meet in the Currie Cup in Bloemfontein this afternoon. He describes the milestone as a dream come true, saying a victory would be the cherry on the cake. Both teams have won four of their five previous matches, with the Cheetahs top of the log and the visitors in third position. Sekekete says they fixed their mistakes after almost allowing the Lions back in the game last weekend.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-76-cents and the euro at 20-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-93-cents and Bitcoin trades at 110-thousand-124-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-412-dollars-72-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….