News 15:00

BULLETIN 8 October 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# KwaZulu-Natal’s police commissioner claims the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption is deeply divided
# The Government Employees Pension Fund temporarily suspends two-pot retirement withdrawal applications
# And Canoeing: The ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships prize money has doubled

# KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi says the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption is deeply divided. Speaking before Parliament’s ad hoc committee, Mkhwanazi claims one faction is being used to sabotage criminal justice operations, including investigations into drug cartels. He has called for a full shutdown and restructuring of the Crime Intelligence Division, warning that investigations are difficult to manage once dockets move to the directorate:

# The Government Employees Pension Fund has announced a temporary suspension of two-pot retirement withdrawal applications 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.

# The City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Directorate spent more than 15.3-million-rand to repair and replace vandalised or stolen infrastructure between July last year and June this year. This includes critical items such as taps in informal settlements, sewer manhole covers and water meters, as well as valve and fire hydrant covers. Mayoral committee member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, says the public must help safeguard vital infrastructure by reporting vandalism and theft:

# Canoeing: The prize money for next weekend’s Ocean Racing World Championships in Durban has been doubled to 200-thousand-rand. The men’s and women’s winners in the singles races will receive 26-thousand-rand each. The top male and female Under-23 and junior paddlers will get five-thousand-rand each. The winning mixed doubles will get seven-thousand-rand, with the Under-23s and junior boats taking home two-thousand-rand. Both the men’s and women’s defending champions, Germany’s Gordan Harbrecht and South Africa’s Kira Bester, have entered the singles event.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-17-cents and the euro at 19-rand-97-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-3-cents and Bitcoin trades at 122-thousand-996-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-35-dollars-60-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-5-cents a barrel.

# And finally: 2025’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa of Japan, Richard Robson of Australia, and Omar Yaghi of the US for their development of metal organic frameworks. These porous molecular structures can capture gases, harvest water from the air, store toxic chemicals, and catalyse chemical reactions. The Nobel Committee’s Hiener Linke says their groundbreaking work could help tackle global challenges such as water scarcity and pollution, offering new solutions for environmental and technological problems:

Stay tuned for more news………….