News 07:00

BULLETIN 22 October 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The FF Plus criticises the ANC for allowing China to influence South Africa’s foreign policy
# Eskom confirms there is no extension for prepaid meter updates
# And the World Health Organisation is planning to evacuate Palestinian women and children

# The Freedom Front Plus warns that the ANC’s decision to move Taiwan’s embassy from Pretoria to Johannesburg could hurt South Africa’s 16-billion-rand trade relationship with Taiwan. They say this move, influenced by China, risks damaging trade and causing job losses. FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald argues it undermines South Africa’s independence and was done without consulting other partners in the government of national unity:

# The National Prosecuting Authority says it is still tracing the whereabouts of two individuals linked to the corruption, fraud, and money laundering case of former Transnet Group Capital CEO Herbert Msagala. The charges relate to five dodgy contracts worth 218-million-rand that a company called IGS Consulting Engineers won from Transnet Group Capital between January 2015 and December 2016. In 2019, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg found the contracts were unlawful. Msagala is currently out on 60-thousand-rand bail.

# Eskom has announced there will be no extension for the deadline requiring prepaid customers to update their meters by 24 November. About 6.9-million meters need to be recoded to key revision number two to keep accepting electricity tokens. Eskom has pre-coded 97-percent of the meters, making the update process easier. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says meters not updated before the deadline will no longer work: 

# The DA calls for an investigation into all agreements made during Kabelo Gwamanda’s tenure as mayor of Johannesburg following his arrest for alleged involvement in a fraudulent funeral policy scheme. The party says this proves their earlier concerns about Gwamanda’s leadership and blames the ANC for backing him despite fraud accusations. The DA’s Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku insists the legal process must proceed without interference and those affected by the alleged fraud deserve justice:  

# The World Health Organisation says it is looking to facilitate the possible evacuation of up to one-thousand Palestinian women and children to several European Union countries via Israel. It forms part of ongoing work to evacuate individuals to third countries for lifesaving treatment. WHO Europe has already facilitated 600 medical evacuations from Gaza to seven European countries since the start of the Israel/Hamas war in October last year. WHO says it has long reiterated calls for a ceasefire.

# Cricket: England white-ball captain Jos Buttler will miss the upcoming one-day international series against the West Indies, after suffering a setback in his recovery from a calf injury. He has not played a competitive match since the T20 World Cup in June. Buttler will join the squad in Barbados, hoping to play the five-match T20 series. All-rounder Liam Livingstone will captain the side in Buttler’s absence, while uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Michael Pepper has been added to the ODI squad.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-60-cents and the euro at 19-rand-5-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-87-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-622-dollar-6-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-730-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-1-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….