News 13:00

BULLETIN 4 November 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Crime Intelligence boss reveals police members are recruited as hitmen
# A Ukrainian drone attack damages a petrochemical plant deep inside Russia
# And cricket: The injured Dewald Brevis will miss the ODI series against Pakistan

# Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo has revealed to the Madlanga commission the investigation into the murder of Q-Tech employee Armand Swart in Vereeniging uncovered deep criminal infiltration within the police. Khumalo says hitmen, including a police warrant officer, were arrested hours after the murder. He revealed syndicates now deliberately recruit serving police members as hitmen in organised and political killings:

Meanwhile, the Public Servants Association says it feels vindicated after revelations at Parliament’s ad hoc committee confirmed that both deputy Police ministers have had no official duties since June last year, yet each earns over 2.2-million-rand annually. The PSA condemned the 300-million-rand spent annually on 43 deputy ministers, calling it a misuse of public funds. The association calls on president Cyril Ramaphosa to abolish these redundant roles and redirect funds to essential services like health, education, and law enforcement.

# The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has approved maximum prices of gas for three bulk gas distributors and resellers. Nersa has approved the SLG application for a maximum gas price of 155-rand-34-cents per GigaJoule, for traders or resellers of gas and 166-rand-92-cents per GigaJoule for end-user customers. Nersa’s spokesperson, Charles Hlebela, says the approved price for Natural Gas Vehicles is 388-rand-77-cents per GigaJoule, and 293-rand-30-cents per GigaJoule for the Virtual Gas Network:

Moving abroad:

# A Ukrainian drone attack damaged the Sterlitamak petrochemical plant deep inside Russia, causing a partial collapse of a water-treatment facility. No-one was injured. Regional authorities say the plant in the Bashkortostan region, about one-thousand-500 kilometres from the Ukrainian border in the Urals Mountains, continued operations without interruption. Two drones used in the attack were shot down. The Russian Defence ministry said in its daily report its defence systems destroyed 83 drones over seven other Russian regions.

# Cricket: Proteas batter Dewald Brevis will miss the three one-day matches against Pakistan in Faisalabad after sustaining a muscle strain in the shoulder. He was injured during Saturday’s final T20 in Lahore, which the hosts won to clinch the series 2-1. Twenty-two-year-old Brevis will undergo rehabilitation with the medical team, while Cricket South Africa is set to name a replacement soon. The first ODI is being played today, followed by the second one on Thursday and the final one on Saturday.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-45-cents and the euro at 20-rand-9-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-998-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-91-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….