News 18:00

BULLETIN 8 March 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A court orders the Police minister to pay 93.9-million-rand over a cash heist involving police members
# The ANC assures the timely release of its public representatives list 
# And tennis: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz returns to Indian Wells seeking his first title of the year

# Taxpayers may soon find themselves indirectly footing the bill for a 93.9-million-rand pay-out to underwriter Lloyd’s of London. This follows after the High Court in Pretoria held Police minister Bheki Cele liable for the actions of two police members involved in a cash heist. Cele must pay, with interest, for the 2014 Witbank heist in Mpumalanga where a gang, including police members, stole over 100-million-rand from security company SBV’s vault. News24 reports despite Cele’s claim the members acted independently, the court found him responsible for their conduct.

# The ANC has described its list for Parliament and provincial legislatures as a mosaic of intergenerational mix, gender parity, and competency in preparation for the upcoming elections. Public interest was a key factor in compiling its candidate list, aiming to purge itself from ill-discipline, corruption, and incompetency. Briefing the media, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri states the party’s electoral committee received over two-thousand nominations, rejected 31, and interviewed over 200 candidates. Bhengu-Motsiri says the list will be made public in due course:

# The demolition of the fire-damaged National Assembly building is scheduled to start in April. Parliament’s Secretary, Xolile George, indicated to the Financial Management Committee that an additional one-billion-rand is required to the initial two-billion-rand allocated for upgrades. He also mentions the deadline for completion has been extended from November 2025 to February 2026. George indicated a revised estimate of 2.1-billion-rand for main works and 943-million-rand for modernising information and communication technology infrastructure. Meanwhile, offices for Members of Parliament are completed.

# Police in Mpumalanga have opened an inquest following the death of a 65-year-old woman mauled by dogs. According to police spokesperson Donald Mdhluli, Tryphinah Elizabeth Mngomezulu’s body was found by her employers at a residential address where she worked as a domestic worker. Preliminary investigations indicate that she was attacked by six dogs while her employers were away from home. According to police the dogs were put down by the SPCA the day after the attack.

# Tennis: World number two Carlos Alcaraz will start the defence of his Indian Wells title against unseeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi tomorrow. The 20-year-old is looking for his first title since winning Wimbledon in July last year. In 2022, Alcaraz won the US Open and became the youngest men’s world number one in history. The Spaniard hopes to repeat that success:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-67-cents and the euro at 20-rand-46-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-4-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-20-dollars-47-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-171-dollars-29-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….