News 14:00

BULLETIN 23 October 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# WhatsApp chats reveal constant money exchanges between a police general and Cat Matlala
# Bheki Cele says police intervention saved the 2010 Soccer World Cup for South Africa
# And soccer: Salah and Hakimi are the favorites for the African Player of the Year award

# WhatsApp chats submitted as evidence at the Madlanga commission reveal constant exchanges of money between Richard Shibiri of the police’s Organised Crime unit, and attempted murder accused businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala. Witness B told the commission that investigators were reportedly shocked to discover the close relationship between the two, which included voice messages spanning from December last year to May this year:

# Former Police minister Bheki Cele has revealed that South Africa almost lost the hosting rights to the 2010 Soccer World Cup due to safety concerns. He told Parliament’s ad hoc committee that Australia and Germany were prepared to take over as hosts. Cele says he assembled a team of police generals and travelled to Zurich to convince FIFA of South Africa’s readiness. He says their presentation secured the tournament’s place:

# The People’s Movement for Change has expressed outrage at the assault of a 16-year-old Milnerton High School learner in Cape Town. The Grade 10 learner was seen on video being brutally assaulted by a group of learners at the school, allegedly including members of the school’s first team rugby squad. Precautionary suspension letters have been issued to eight of the learners who were allegedly involved in the assault. The movement’s Grant Harmse says this was not a school incident; it was a crime:

# The UDM says it is particularly disturbed by reports that students are gambling with their National Student Financial Aid Scheme allowances. Acting secretary-general Zandile Phiri says young South Africans entrusted with public funds meant for food, accommodation and study materials are using these allowances to bet online. She says universities and NSFAS cannot continue to look away while students are being consumed by the very system meant to lift them out of poverty:

# Soccer: Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Paris Saint-Germain’s Achraf Hakimi are among ten stars nominated for the 2025 African Player of the Year award. Salah finished fourth and Hakimi sixth in the 2025 Ballon d’Or and are the favourites for the African award. Apart from Salah, two other contenders from the Premier League are both Senegalese; Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pape Matar Sarr, and Everton striker Iliman Ndiaye. There are two Africa-based nominees, Congolese Fiston Mayele from the Egyptian club Pyramids, and Oussama Lamlioui of the Moroccan outfit Renaissance Berkane.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-34-cents and the euro at 20-rand-11-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-15-cents and Bitcoin trades at 109-thousand-653-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-117-dollars-10-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-40-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….