News 13:00

BULLETIN 29 August 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# TLU SA says the government cannot present a murder rate decline of 5.9-percent as a victory
# COSATU calls for relief as fuel prices are set to rise
# And finally, a mother finds her 8-year old son alive after the Nepal floods

# The agriculture organistion, TLU SA, says the country’s latest quarterly police crime statistics provide no reason for complacency. Between April and June this year, five-thousand-427 people were murdered in South Africa. Contact crime decreased by 2.3-percent, while the number of murders fell by 5.9-percent. TLU SA’s Bennie van Zyl says the government cannot present a decline of 5.9-percent as a victory while almost 60 people are still murdered every day and other serious violent crimes are increasing:

# COSATU is calling for urgent measures to protect workers and the economy from steep fuel price increases expected next week. Petrol is forecast to rise by up to one-rand-seven-cents a litre, while diesel could increase by as much as two-rand-92-cents. The union federation says the increases will place further pressure on households already struggling with high transport costs and living expenses. It warns that workers are already spending a substantial share of their income getting to work, while higher fuel costs will add to pressure across the wider economy.

# SAFTU has urged government and the Higher Education and Training Department to prioritise the transformation of the higher education sector. Statistics show that at the University of Cape Town, 39.7-percent of the professors are white, 39.3-percent are foreign nationals, while African, coloured and Indian professors combined constituted only 22.6-percent. Saftu’s Asive Dyani says this must not become a competition between black South Africans and black Africans from elsewhere on the continent while the historical architecture of racial privilege remains insufficiently transformed:

And now sport:

# Rugby: Siya Kolisi says the Springboks can draw confidence from previous setbacks as they prepare to face the All Blacks in Cape Town just after 5 this afternoon. South Africa trail one-nil in the four-Test series and must win to keep their hopes of taking the new Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry trophy alive. Kolisi, returning from injury, says the Boks have been in dark places before, including after losing their opening match at the 2019 World Cup and the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in 2021. He says those experiences have strengthened their belief.

And the Springboks will return to the number one world ranking if they beat the All Blacks in Cape Town today. South Africa lost the position to New Zealand following last weekend’s 33-16 loss at Ellis Park. Ireland is currently third on the log, followed by France, England and Scotland. Argentina lies in seventh place, Australia in eighth, Fji in ninth, and Wales completes the top-ten.

# And finally, an eight-year-old boy who survived Nepal’s devastating floods by running into a forest and climbing trees has been reunited with his mother. Zoyal Ghale was rescued from the flood-hit Rasuwa district with a broken leg and injuries to his face, then airlifted to hospital in Kathmandu. His mother had spent days searching shelters for Zoyal and his brother, fearing both boys had died. A Reuters journalist who had met Zoyal helped locate his family, and his mother was finally able to reach the hospital and embrace her son.

Stay tuned for more news………….