News 13:00

BULLETIN 21 September 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa concedes government must take responsibility for gender-based violence and femicide
# The National Director of Public Prosecutions orders lifestyle audits for IDAC and NPA officials
# And cricket: Australia arrives in South Africa for the ODI and Test series against the Proteas

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says government must take responsibility for protecting women against gender-based violence and femicide. Speaking at the ANC Veterans League presidential golf day in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa responded to the discovery of nine bodies in Ekurhuleni. He says government cannot make excuses when women are abused, raped or killed. Ramaphosa emphasised women should walk safely at any time and government must act:

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Development urged communities to speak out against this issue. The 24-hour GBV command centre recorded a significant increase in the number of calls between 1 and 16 September. It received six-thousand-782 calls, averaging 424 calls per day. Spokesperson Sandy Godlwana says this represents a 21-percent increase compared with the same period in August, when the centre recorded an average of 350 calls per day:

# National Director of Public Prosecutions Andy Mothibi ordered lifestyle audits for Investigating Directorate against Corruption investigators, prosecutors and National Prosecuting Authority managers. This follows damning testimony at the Madlanga commission. The Special Investigating Unit says only 16 national and provincial government departments and state-owned entities have asked it to conduct lifestyle audits of their officials over the past two to three years. Mothibi told News24 all audits will be rolled out in phases, starting with executive and management teams.

# The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment says sardine deaths are diminishing, with no renewed widespread mortality reported. The only new case in the past week was an isolated stranding near the Wild Coast in Pondoland in the Eastern Cape. Spokesperson Zolile Nqayi says a temporary precautionary measure implemented remains until 2 October. He says each rights holder may land no more than 25 percent of its outstanding sardine catch for the current season. Nqayi says the small pelagic working group will review the situation next Tuesday.

# Cricket: Old foe Australia arrives in South Africa today for a tour comprising three one-day matches and three Tests. The visitors just beat Zimbabwe in a three-match ODI series, although yesterday’s final match was a nail-biter, with Australia winning by only one wicket from the penultimate ball. Meanwhile, the Proteas rested many of their regulars for the recent visit to Namibia. The first ODI between South Africa and Australia will be played in Durban on Thursday, and the first Test starts at the same venue on 9 October.  

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-26-cents and the euro at 18-rand-67-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-78-cents and Bitcoin trades at 84-thousand-105-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-349-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 102-dollars-73-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….