News 14:00

BULLETIN 26 November 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Madlanga commission grants a postponement of Hawks Major General Senona’s testimony
# Twenty-four 24 abducted Nigerian schoolgirls are released
# And Rugby Australia regards Joe Schmidt as the best coach in the world despite the Wallabies’ woes

# The Madlanga commission has postponed Hawks Major General Lesetja Senona’s expected testimony to 27 January. He requested additional time to prepare amid allegations linking him to police and justice structure infiltration. Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo accused Senona of assisting criminal kingpin Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala in securing a controversial 360-million-rand police tender. Commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga confirmed the agreement between Senona and the evidence leaders:

# State-owned entity Transnet has welcomed a six-billion-rand loan from the French Development Agency to advance its decarbonisation goals. The sustainability-linked loan will support Transnet’s shift to renewable energy, including purchasing 300-gigawatt-hours of green power annually. It will also fund railway rehabilitation and port modernisation. The agency says the partnership strengthens South Africa’s low-carbon transition.

# United Africans Transformation says South Africa cannot benefit from global partnerships like the G20 while facing weak leadership, failing governance, and chronic infrastructure problems. The party warns that poor leadership at national, provincial, and local levels is slowing economic recovery, eroding public confidence, and leaving communities without reliable services. UAT’s Kgotso Molokomme calls for stronger oversight, ethical leadership, and better management to rebuild institutions and help the country compete on the world stage:

Moving abroad:

# Nigerian president Bola Tinubu has confirmed the 24 school girls who were abducted in last week’s raid in Kebbi State have been released. The assailants, armed with rifles, stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, killing a staff member and abducting 25 learners. One was able to escape soon after. More than one-thousand-500 children have been abducted from Nigerian schools since 2014. Tinubu says more personnel will be deployed to vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping.

# Rugby: Coach Joe Schmidt still has the backing of Rugby Australia despite the Wallabies returning home win-less from their tour of Europe, taking their losses for the year to ten. CEO Phil Waugh says they have absolute confidence in Schmidt, who will be in charge until Les Kiss takes over middle next year. The Wallabies’ 48-33 loss to France in their final match capped their first European tour without a victory since 1958. Waugh describes Schmidt as one of the world’s best coaches, if not the best.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-14-cents and the euro at 19-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-57-cents and Bitcoin trades at 86-thousand-810-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-159-dollars-90-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 61-dollars-60-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….