News 16:00

BULLETIN 8 September 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The police commissioner commends the political killings task team for a breakthrough
# Rugby: The Bok Women’s coach takes positives from their heavy defeat to France
# And Church Defenders slam the comment that people hearing from God need psychiatric care

# National police commissioner Fannie Masemola has commended the police’s political killings task team for the swift arrest of suspects that were wanted for the murder of a whistleblower, Xolani Ntombela. Ntombela’s murder docket was one of the 121 returned to the task team for investigation. Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says a KwaZulu-Natal local chief and an alleged hitman were arrested for the November 2022 murder:

# Numsa and the South African Guild of Actors say the creative sector is parasitic, feeding off the labour of artists while denying them fair compensation and security. The passing of actress Nandi Nyembe last month reignited the debate about the lack of support available to South African artists who are unable to work. Numsa’s spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, says SAGA has committed to working with organised labour to push for regulation and basic protections for creative workers:

Moving abroad:

# A fugitive father who had been hiding with his three children in the dense New Zealand wilderness was shot dead by police. Thomas Phillips and the children, between nine and 12, had been evading police in a remote part of North Island since December 2021, triggering a manhunt that gripped the nation. Their time on the run ended in the early hours of today when police responded to a break-in at a farm shop in a rural town and gave chase. The three children are now in police custody.

# Rugby: Springbok Women coach Swys de Bruin says there are a lot of positives to take from their final World Cup Pool D match against France in Northampton. South Africa suffered a disappointing 57-10 defeat to Les Bleues and will now face defending champions New Zealand in the quarterfinals on Saturday. De Bruin says the reality is that France is ranked fourth in the world, and that showed, as they were very clinical and scored from every opportunity:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-57-cents and the euro at 20-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-78-cents and Bitcoin trades at 111-thousand-939-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-616-dollars-79-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-72-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The South African Church Defenders have voiced concern after Cultural, Religious And Linguistic Communities Rights Commission chairperson, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, suggested that people who claim to hear from God should be referred to psychiatric care. Her remarks have been condemned by religious groups as a dangerous denial of spiritual reality. Mkhwanazi-Xaluva defended her stance, citing the need to regulate religious practices to prevent abuse.

Stay tuned for more news………….