News 06:00

BULLETIN 22 October 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Treasury reports progress in action against 69 municipalities
# Media organisations say the Madlanga Commission cannot be sidelined by claims of confidentiality
# And rugby: The Lions confirm the cause of Hyron Andrews’ death

 # The National Treasury says of the 69 municipalities whose national funding was suspended in June due to failure to pay creditors, 37 had agreed to council-approved repayment plans. By the end of July, 4.2-billion-rand had been paid to creditors. Treasury will also add 3.5-billion-rand over the next three years to expand smart-meter programmes, intended to improve revenue collection and help fund essential municipal services. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says the government is enforcing payment commitments by municipalities and government departments:

 National Treasury has also identified 13-billion-rand in savings over the next three years by reducing fraud in social grants. The government plans to extend similar verification measures to student bursaries and housing subsidies. The checks include biometric enrolment and cross-checking government databases to detect duplicate or fraudulent claims. Godongwana says the savings form part of a wider 38.1-billion-rand effort to redirect spending from low-priority programmes, administrative inefficiencies and fraud towards other priorities:

# Media organisations, amaBhungane, News24 and Daily Maverick have warned against allowing intelligence agencies to dictate what information is revealed to the Madlanga Commission. This is over an in-camera application for the head of the national intelligence coordinating committee, Ntandazo Sifolo. Evidence leaders have argued that his testimony involves sensitive information that should be heard behind closed doors. Media houses say confidentiality claims cannot sideline the public interest in the commission’s work, adding that a private hearing may affect the commission’s final report.

# Johannesburg Water urges residents to reduce water consumption as high demand puts pressure on the city’s supply systems. Residents are reminded to follow level one restrictions, including avoiding garden watering and swimming pool filling between six in the morning and six in the evening. The utility’s spokesperson, Nombuso Shabalala, also urged residents to report leaks and illegal connections to help protect the city’s water supply:

# US special envoy Steve Witkoff has asked Russian president Vladimir Putin to consider several proposals agreed in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, including renewing trilateral peace talks with Ukraine to try to end the war. Witkoff met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday and Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia, yesterday. Zelensky stated that he was ready for peace talks with Moscow. Putin has so far rejected all proposals from Ukraine and its European allies to freeze the vast front line as it is and start peace talks.

# Rugby: The Lions say following an autopsy report, lock Hyron Andrew’s death was found to be caused by a tear in his aorta. Andrew died suddenly in a French Hotel last Friday before the team’s match against La Rochelle. The statement added that the French authorities, who conducted the autopsy, confirmed the cause of death as a tear in the aorta, leading to heart failure. The Lions decided to honour the 31-year-old by opting not to postpone the match, which the home side eventually won 31-14.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-36-cents and the euro at 18-rand-39-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-92-cents and Bitcoin trades at 84-thousand-571-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-123-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 111-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….