News 07:00

BULLETIN 19 February 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile denies reports of protecting his spokesperson accused of sexual harassment
# Brazil’s president accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza
# And in golf: France’s David Ravetto wins the Dimension Data Pro-Am

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile’s office says reports that he and his chief of staff, Mduduzi Mbada, are protecting his spokesperson, Vukani Mde, are false. Sunday World claims that since August last year, the deputy president and Mbada are believed to have failed to act on Mde, who is accused of sexual harassment until an independent investigator was appointed towards the end of last year. Mashatile’s office says the deputy president knows there is a process underway in the Presidency to investigate the allegations made against the suspended Mde.

# The Referendum Party leader Phil Craig says the party is disappointed, but not surprised, that the Multi-Party Charter rejected its application to join. He says they promised they would nationally vote with the Multi-Party Charter to try and remove the ANC from power. Craig says no serious polling company has given the Charter even the remotest chance to become the national government post-2024:

# The City of Tshwane says it has developed recovery plans to ensure accelerated expenditure of the grant funds before the end of the current financial year. The metro is on the verge of forfeiting 630-million-rand allocated for the funding of various capital grants to the National Treasury, due to its underperformance and noncompliance. The metro’s spokesperson, Selby Bokaba, says they have written to the Treasury about how it intends to spend the funds before the end of the current financial year:

# Western Cape premier, Alan Winde, is set to present the State of the Province Address at the Huguenot Community Hall, in Klippiesdal in Paarl today. His office says he will report back to the people of the province on progress made by the provincial government in delivering on its priorities of reducing load-shedding, job creation, and safety. It adds that Winde will also lay out how the provincial government intends to build on its successes by ensuring residents’ and businesses’ needs are supported.

# Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. In response to a Hamas-led attack that killed one-thousand-200 people, Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip. More than 28-thousand-400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed. Speaking at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Da Silva says what is happening in the Gaza Strip is the same as the Holocaust when Hitler decided to kill Jews.

# Golf: Frenchman, David Ravetto, won the Dimension Data Pro-Am by two shots over England’s Sam Hutsby at Fancourt, to capture his maiden Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour crown. South Africans Hennie du Plessis and Robin Williams as well as Spain’s Victor Pastor shared third place on eleven under par. Meanwhile, Scotland’s Kylie Henry claimed a two-stroke victory in the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-87-cents and the euro at 20-rand-35-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 52-thousand-153-dollars-96-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-20-dollars-20-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-83-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….