News 14:00

BULLETIN 8 October 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Government Employees Pension Fund temporarily suspends two-pot retirement withdrawal applications
# A parliamentary committee is rocked by claims of ministers, police, and businessmen in shadowy alliances
# And tennis: 11.3-million-rand is on offer in the second Million Dollar One Point Slam

# The Government Employees Pension Fund has announced a temporary suspension of two-pot retirement withdrawal application submissions, effective immediately until 21 October. The pause allows the fund to update its systems with new actuarial interest factors to ensure accurate benefit calculations. Other benefits, including retirement and death payouts, will continue as normal. With over 1.2-million members, the fund says the short break is vital to maintain fairness and accuracy. Withdrawal services will resume on 22 October once updates are complete.

# KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi says there are concerning links between ministers, police officers, and businessmen that suggest organised criminal networks may be influencing police operations. He is testifying before Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating claims that criminal syndicates have infiltrated the justice system. Mkhwanazi revealed that he received the contact details of controversial businessman Brown Mogotsi from former Police minister Senzo Mchunu’s chief of staff, Cedrick Nkabinde:

# A 18-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the murder of his five-month-old biological son at Jimmy Jones Village in Malamulele, Limpopo. Police spokesperson Malesela Ledwaba says the child’s mother arrived at the local police station to report a case of domestic violence after she was allegedly assaulted by her boyfriend, who is also the father of the baby. He says the woman also informed police the suspect had repeatedly assaulted their baby:

# Tennis: A whopping 11.3-million-rand is on offer in a tournament between amateurs and high-profile players, including world number one Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, in Australia in January. The so-called Million Dollar One Point Slam will pit ten amateurs against 22 professionals before the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne. Participants will play ‘rock, paper, scissors’ to determine who serves and who receives, and the winner of the only point progresses to the next round. This year’s inaugural competition carried prize money of only 680-thousand-rand.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-17-cents and the euro at 19-rand-95-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-3-cents and Bitcoin trades at 122-thousand-698-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-24-dollars-59-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-93-cents a barrel.

# And finally: This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to the Americans, John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis for their groundbreaking experiments demonstrating quantum mechanical effects in a hand-sized electrical circuit. The laureates will share 18-million-rand. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ Olle Eriksson says the trio proved that quantum tunnelling and energy quantisation can occur on a macroscopic scale, bridging the gap between microscopic quantum theory and everyday objects:

Stay tuned for more news………….