News 16:00

BULLETIN 10 April 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Ndimande brothers abandon bail in the AKA murder case
# The European Union launches its upgraded border security system
# And rugby: Ten uncapped players are invited to the Springbok Women’s alignment camp

# The Ndimande brothers, Siyabonga and Malusi, have withdrawn their bail applications in the murder case of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his friend Tebello “Tibs” Motsoane. They appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court again today, where the matter was postponed to next Friday. The brothers are among seven accused linked to the 2023 killings outside a Durban restaurant. They were extradited from Eswatini in November after a lengthy legal process, with the case now moving closer to trial.

# Forum for South Africa has expressed concern at the nearly 110-thousand illegal immigrants deported from the country over the past two financial years. According to the Home Affairs Department, deportations have surged by a cumulative 46-percent over the period. FOSA leader, Tebogo Mashilompane, says government has allowed illegal immigration to escalate to crisis levels:

Moving abroad:

# The European Union has officially launched its new Entry/Exit System, a major digital upgrade to border security that replaces traditional manual passport stamping with a biometric database. The system is fully operational across all external border crossing points of the participating 29 European countries. It requires of travellers to use their biometric data to pass through borders into a Schengen-area country. The EU commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, says the system will make it harder for criminals, terrorists or spies to use fake passports.

# Rugby: Springbok Women head coach Swys de Bruin has invited 10 uncapped players to the first alignment camp of 2026, with 34 players set to congregate in Stellenbosch from Monday to the 24th. The Bok Women will play in the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup at the end of May before hosting the USA in two Tests in July, and New Zealand’s Black Ferns in September. Fourteen Tests are planned for this year. For De Bruin, the focus is to get the new players aligned with the established ones.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-41-cents and the euro at 19-rand-21-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-7-cents and Bitcoin trades at 72-thousand-137-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-761-dollars-58-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 92-dollars-96-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Easter reflected the strength of consumer spending in driving business growth across South Africa, with debit card usage rising by 24-percent. The Easter period saw point of sale total transaction values rising by 18.82-percent year-on-year, and transaction volumes increasing by 19.87-percent compared to the same period last year. Standard Bank’s Norman Nyawo says the sectors that generated the highest turnover were food and convenience stores, entertainment, hardware stores and restaurants:

Stay tuned for more news………….