News 15:00

BULLETIN 2 September 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A serial killer and an ex-cop are sentenced to four life terms each for a double murder
#High commissioner Sooklal is cleared over Zuma’s visit to the Guptas in India
# And soccer: Premier League clubs break the transfer spending record for the second consecutive year

# The High Court in Pretoria sentenced serial killer Rassie Nkuna and dismissed police official Jacob Chego to four life terms each for the murders of six-month pregnant Sabeiliwe Mogashoa and her husband Lucky in Pretoria in March 2022. They faced 12 charges, including murder, kidnapping and fraud. The couple was killed for their car in front of their children. Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe commended Sergeant Nkosingphile Mathenjwa and the Gauteng tracking team:

# The FF Plus in Gauteng says the Ekurhuleni Metro’s failure to ensure accountability for irregular expenditure is unacceptable. During Monday’s council meeting, recommendations were tabled to write off over 140-million-rand in historical irregular expenditure, with one report noting 53-million-rand is irrecoverable as documents and staff are no longer available. The party’s Karl Rautenbach says writing off funds should never replace consequence management:

# The Department of International Relations and Cooperation cleared South Africa’s high commissioner to India, Anil Sooklal, following former president Jacob Zuma’s reported visit to the Gupta family in the Asian country in June. The investigation was launched after reports suggested Sooklal had assisted in arranging the meeting between Zuma and the Gupta brothers. The department says Sooklal acted within his mandate and followed proper protocol. DIRCO says its investigation found no evidence that he facilitated or had prior knowledge of the visit.

# Soccer: English Premier League clubs have smashed the transfer spending record for a second straight year, spending 75.5-billion-rand. Eleven of the 20 clubs broke their transfer records. Enzo Fernandez’s joint-British transfer record move from Chelsea to Manchester City grabbed the headlines after being sold for 2.7-billion-rand. The Argentinian is the fourth player to be sold for over two-billion-rand in this transfer window, following Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa to Chelsea, Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain to Liverpool and Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City. 

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-10-cents and the euro at 18-rand-64-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 76-thousand-355-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-317-dollars-61-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 96-dollars-54-cents a barrel.

# And finally: China’s National Energy Administration says at the end of July, the country’s installed solar power capacity reached 1.286-billion kilowatts. For the first time, photovoltaic installed capacity surpassed coal-fired power, becoming the largest power source category in China. During the first seven months of 2026 alone, China added more than 86 gigawatts of new solar capacity, with total solar capacity rising about 16-percent compared with the previous year. China now has more installed solar power than the rest of the world combined.

Stay tuned for more news………….