News 17:00

BULLETIN 17 September 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi reveals how the task team fought political killings in KwaZulu-Natal and beyond
# The first group of severely ill children from Gaza arrives in the UK for medical treatment
# And rugby: The Bok prop Wilco Louw rejoins the Stormers from the Bulls

# KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi says the political killings task team achieved unmatched success with high detection and conviction rates, and later expanded its operations to the Eastern Cape. Speaking at the Madlanga commission of inquiry in Pretoria, Mkhwanazi explained that the unit was restructured in 2018 as a nationally integrated team, deploying 139 officials and funded through the national budget. He testified that political murders can often be linked to other crimes:

# The South African Human Rights Commission has confirmed employing a foreign national in a senior management role, following public outrage. Of 16 senior managers, one is a foreigner, while seven of 169 staff are foreign nationals. The commission has disputed claims that most of its workforce are foreigners, stating it as false and part of a disinformation campaign.

# The National Treasury’s acting chief data analytics official, Ayanda Hlatshwayo, has told Parliament they are using a methodology linking biometric and photo data with the Home Affairs Department to flag officials without valid ID numbers. Hlatshwayo says the system cross-references anomalies in salary and administrative datasets, including bank accounts. She confirmed that preliminary checks are underway with the South African Revenue Services to identify ghost workers across government payroll systems:

Moving abroad:

# A first group of severely ill children from Gaza had arrived in the UK under a scheme allowing them to receive urgent medical treatment. A cross-government taskforce has spent weeks coordinating the complex humanitarian operation to evacuate the children and their immediate families for specialist care under the state-run National Health Service. The World Health Organisation says it had supported the medical evacuations of 10 critically ill children from Gaza to the UK, alongside 50 of their companions.

# Rugby: Springbok prop Wilco Louw will return to the Stormers from the Bulls on a long-term deal from the start of the 2026/27 season. A product of HTS Drostdy in Worcester, Louw made his debut for the Stormers in 2015. He will return to the team he grew up supporting and is ready to add to his 46 Stormers caps. Director of rugby John Dobson says bringing Louw back to the Cape is a signal of intent of where his team wants to go in the years ahead.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-36-cents and the euro at 20-rand-58-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-71-cents and Bitcoin trades at 116-thousand-282-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-675-dollars-90-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-97-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….