News 12:00

BULLETIN 1 October 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF condemns minister John Steenhuisen’s failure to appoint qualified staff
# Land Bank partners with Nedbank and Standard Bank to help farmers
# And soccer: Kylian Mbappé is back to face his brother’s side Lille in the Champions League

# The EFF says it condemns the flagrant incompetence and corruption of Agriculture minister and DA leader, John Steenhuisen who, within the first 100 days in office, has failed to appoint qualified staff. The minister has reportedly requested a deviation from the minimum appointment requirements for candidates in his office. Three of the four candidates he wants to hire have matric certificates, but not the minimum tertiary academic qualifications. The EFF says Steenhuisen’s actions demonstrate a complete disregard for governance and a prioritisation of personal loyalty over merit.

# The Land Bank has teamed up with Nedbank’s Avo Solar and Standard Bank’s Power Pulse to help farmers acquire alternative energy assets through its 1.2-billion-rand Agro Energy Fund. The scope of the funding is energy-intensive agricultural activities including irrigation, intensive agricultural production systems, and on-farm cold chain-related activities. The fund aims to lower energy costs and reduce power interruptions for energy-intensive farming.

# Al Jama-ah in Gauteng says it supports the proposal to rename Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive. Khaled is a Palestinian refugee, former militant and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Al Jama-ah’s spokesperson, Thapelo Amad, says while some people call her a terrorist, many who grew up under oppressive systems, like the Palestinians, see her as a figure of resistance:

# The UK government has chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon for Britons wanting to leave amid escalating violence. There are concerns about rising violence in the Middle East after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Beirut at the weekend. The Israeli military has also launched a limited, localised, and targeted ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon. UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, says the flight will leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport tomorrow:

# Soccer: Real Madrid named Kylian Mbappé in their squad to face French team Lille in the Champions League tomorrow after he missed one match with a thigh injury. The French forward was expected to be out until after the upcoming international break but appears to have made a quick recovery. Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti selected Mbappé in his squad for the trip to Lille, where the striker’s brother Ethan plays.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-32-cents and the euro at 19-rand-23-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-9-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-950-dollars-2-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-642-dollars-93-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-75-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….