News 08:00

BULLETIN 7 October 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The MK Party halts its planned Judicial Service Commission picket
# Oversight visits by the EFF show challenges at police stations and in healthcare
# And a state of emergency is declared in Florida

# The MK Party says it remains steadfast in pursuing all legal remedies and has therefore decided to halt its planned picket during the Judicial Service Commission sitting. The Johannesburg High Court dismissed the party’s application to halt the meeting after its parliamentary leader John Hlophe was barred from partaking. The JSC will interview over 50 candidate judges for several vacancies from today until next Wednesday. The MK Party’s spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, told Newzroom Afrika that it is regrettable that these interviews are happening:

# The EFF says its members of Parliament have conducted 170 intensive oversight visits to various communities, schools, hospitals, unfinished infrastructure projects, and several service delivery sites. The visits were conducted during Parliament’s constituency period. The party says police stations are grappling with challenges of budget cuts, understaffing, poor infrastructure, and corruption. The EFF maintains that the country’s public healthcare system has collapsed. It has also expressed concern about the alarming number of abandoned and incomplete projects.

# The Gauteng government says 21 provincial departments and entities have achieved clean audit opinions for the 2023/2024 financial year, demonstrating a solid commitment to good governance and financial accountability. These include the Office of the Premier, the Department of Education, the Gautrain Management Agency and the provincial Treasury. Eleven departments and entities received unqualified audit opinions. The provincial government says strong fiscal controls will not only improve governance but also allow more resources to be directed towards critical areas of service delivery.

# A state of emergency has been declared in parts of Florida as tropical storm Milton has intensified into a category one hurricane. This comes days after Hurricane Helene caused devastation and destruction in several states including Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, killing at least 225 people. Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, says he has ordered all disaster management sites to remain open as the state rushes to remove debris left in the wake of Hurricane Helene:

# Golf: England’s Tyrrell Hatton clinched a record third Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title by one shot over Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts at St Andrews in Scotland. Hatton’s compatriot Tommy Fleetwood finished third on 21 under. On his debut, 23-year-old South African, Robin Williams, finished tied fourth with Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Spain’s David Puig. With this victory, Hatton has secured his place in the DP World Tour’s season-ending event in Dubai.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-46-cents and the euro at 19-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-94-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-630-dollars-52-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-644-dollars-74-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-70-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….