News 16:00

BULLETIN 2 October 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Sibiya’s lawyer disputes claims of coercion of a 16-year-old
# Rugby: Cape Town Sevens tournament tickets are now on sale at pre-Covid levels
# And a Japanese mayor who took maternity leave is named on TIME magazine’s TIME100 Next list

# Suspended deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya’s lawyer, Amanda Nel, has argued a 16-year-old girl was not coerced into taking intimate photographs of herself. Addressing investigating officer, detective Nokukhanya Ndlovu at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in Gauteng, Nel said the girl possibly shared them with others before they allegedly came into Sibiya’s possession. Ndlovu says digital forensic analysis will determine whether the images were shared with anyone else:

# The Abahlali baseMjondolo Women’s League is calling for an independent Women’s Ombud for Policing in South Africa. This follows the discovery of the bodies of eleven women in Ekurhuleni in the past few months. The movement’s Snenhlanhla Mncanyana says the ombud should have powers to inspect police stations, access records and investigate corruption and misconduct. She says women must also be able to approach the ombud directly:

# Statistics South Africa says electricity generation fell by 7.1-percent in August. Electricity consumption also declined by 1.1- percent compared with August last year. Monthly, seasonally adjusted electricity generation fell by 0.2-percent, while electricity consumption increased by 0.3-percent. Stats SA’s Tsholofelo Ditinti says generation decreased by 0.9-percent in the three months to August, while electricity consumption increased by 0.3-percent over the same period:

# Rugby: Tickets are now on sale for the Cape Town Sevens tournament on the fifth and sixth of December. The winners of last season’s series and World Championship, the Springbok Sevens, will aim to claim the Cape Town title for a third successive year. SA Rugby has cut ticket prices by between 17- and 28-percent across all categories. Unreserved seating anywhere in the second tier of the Cape Town Stadium costs 180-rand, while the best seat in the house costs 500-rand for a full day’s action.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-66-cents and the euro at 18-rand-72-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-2-cents and Bitcoin trades at 86-thousand-902-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-219-dollars-24-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 103-dollars-15-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Japan’s first sitting mayor to take maternity leave has been named on TIME magazine’s TIME100 Next list of rising global leaders. The 36-year-old mayor of Yawata, Shoko Kawata, became the country’s youngest female mayor when elected in 2023. She took maternity leave in July and gave birth to her first child, a girl, last month. Kawata transferred her authority to her deputy for 16 weeks while continuing to work remotely when possible. Her decision sparked debate in Japan, where elected mayors are not covered by legal maternity-leave protections.

Stay tuned for more news………….