News 18:00

BULLETIN 28 October 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Madlanga commission examines multiple mistakes in early ballistics reports
# The DA urges South Africans to act against the failed BEE system
# And rugby: Five Junior Springboks are included in the SA Under-19 Academy squad for a European tour

# The police’s senior forensic analyst, Meldon Mkhatshwa, told the Madlanga commission that early ballistics reports in engineer Armand Swart’s murder case contained multiple errors. These included wrong case numbers, incorrect dates, and confusion between cartridges and cartridge cases. Mkhatshwa explained how he checked the evidence carefully and compared it properly, showing the need for correct forensic procedures:

# The DA calls on South Africans to act against the ANC’s failed broad-based black economic empowerment policy. They unveiled a new billboard along Johannesburg’s N1 highway to highlight the failures of BEE and promote its Economic Inclusion for All Bill. The DA’s federal council chairperson, Helen Zille, told the media the bill aims to create jobs, develop skills, and invest in communities, offering a fairer system that rewards effort and opportunity rather than political connections:

# The Tsakane Regional Court in Gauteng has sentenced a 47-year-old man to four life terms for repeatedly raping a 13-year-old girl between 2015 and 2016. The victim, who was undergoing cancer treatment, was found pregnant and HIV-positive. The National Prosecuting Authority’s Lumka Mahanjana says the man showed no remorse and was declared unfit to work with children and his name was also added to the Sexual Offenders Register:

Moving abroad:

# The most powerful Caribbean storm of 2025, Hurricane Melissa, is expected to cause death and destruction in Jamaica. It has now overtaken Katrina to become the seventh most intense Atlantic hurricane on record. The World Meteorological Organisation has warned of catastrophic flash flooding and landslides with storm surges of up to four metres. The Red Cross is meanwhile preparing for up to 1.5-million people in Jamaica to be directly affected by the storm. More than 800 shelters have been set up for evacuees from the worst-hit areas.

# Rugby: Five members of the triumphant Junior Springbok side from earlier this year have been included in the SA Rugby Under-19 Academy squad of 30 players for a European tour of three matches. The touring squad includes Junior Bok captain Riley Norton and his 2025 SA Under-20 team-mates Oliver Reid, Phiwayinkosi “Rambo” Kubheka, Siphosethu Mnebelele, and Vusi Moyo. The squad will face a French Under-19 Invitational Fifteen on 3 November, followed by the French Under-19s on 8 November. The tour concludes with a clash against Ireland Under-19 on 14 November.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-18-cents and the euro at 20-rand-3-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 115-thousand-880-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-941-dollars-46-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-12-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….