News 18:00

BULLETIN 30 October 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Madlanga commission says Suliman Carrim has breached his bail conditions
# AfriForum seeks accountability for millions of abandoned police emergency calls
# And, the Israeli opposition accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to ‘delegitimise’ the election

# The Madlanga commission says North West businessman Suliman Carrim has failed to comply with one of his bail conditions set by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court. The condition required Carrim’s lawyers to contact the commission in person within 48 hours to arrange his next appearance before the inquiry. However, the commission spokesperson, Jeremy Michaels, says Carrim’s attorneys only sent a letter referring to the court’s bail judgment and did not make the required arrangements:

# AfriForum demands answers from the police over ongoing failures in the 10111 emergency call-centre system. The organisation has submitted a formal information request seeking details about abandoned calls, staff shortages and outdated technology. Figures previously released by police show that about 14.9-million emergency calls were abandoned at eleven call centres between 2018 and 2024. AfriForum’s Jacques Broodryk says changing the emergency number will not solve the problem without upgrading the technology:

# AgriSA warns losing South Africa’s preferential access to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act could hurt agricultural producers who depend on the American market. While the impact would vary between products, some sectors, including litchis, citrus, table grapes, specialised seeds and ostrich products, could face higher costs and reduced competitiveness if ordinary import duties are reinstated. South Africa’s eligibility for next year remains under review, with government expecting an outcome on 2 November.

# The main Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot and Arab-led party leaders have denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleging foreign interference following the election which saw his coalition lose its majority. Netanyahu’s Likud accused Israel’s Arab-led parties of “stealing” the election. Final results confirmed that neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the Jewish opposition had won a majority in parliament. The two Arab party lists – The Joint List and the Ra’am – defied expectations to win a record 19 seats in the 120-seat Knesset following a surge in turnout among Arab voters.

# Rugby: Bulls coach Johan Ackermann believes Springbok flyhalf Handré Pollard will be fit for the United Rugby Championship match against the Lions early in December. He was injured against Ulster last weekend and will miss the Boks’ Nations Championship northern campaign next month. Ackermann picked Curwin Bosch in the number ten jersey for tomorrow’s clash against Scarlets at Loftus. The URC takes a month-long break after this weekend to accommodate the Test window.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-70-cents against the rand and the euro at 18-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-34-cents and Bitcoin trades at 76-thousand-767-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-916-dollars-37-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 118-dollars-28-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….