News 09:00

BULLETIN 12 November 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA says minister Simelane’s tenure as Justice minister has become untenable
# The EFF welcomes the City of Joburg’s decision to pay Eskom
# And a prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is probed for sexual misconduct

# ActionSA says it is disturbed that no substantial steps have yet been taken against Justice minister Thembi Simelane. The party wrote to president Cyril Ramaphosa over 70 days ago urging urgent action on the allegations surrounding the minister. Simelane received a loan from Gundo Wealth Solutions in 2016 while she was Polokwane mayor. The company was a third-party broker involved in alleged dodgy dealings with the VBS Mutual Bank. ActionSA’s, Athol Trollip, says Ramaphosa must announce his decision on the minister immediately:

# The Congress of the People has urged South Africans and stakeholders to actively engage in the public participation process surrounding the Immigration Amendment Bill. The bill aims to amend the Immigration Act of 2002 to revise provisions related to the arrest and detention of illegal foreigners for deportation. COPE’s, Erick Mohlapamaswi, says it is important that citizens contribute to shaping laws that influence the country’s immigration policy and uphold the rule of law:

# The EFF has welcomed the City of Johannesburg’s decision to pay a portion of the 4.9-billion-rand it owes to Eskom. Last week, the power utility issued a warning that it may cut Johannesburg’s electricity supply if the metro and City Power fail to settle its debt. The metro will pay 1.4-billion-rand by the end of the month. The EFF says it also welcomes the decision to involve the South African National Energy Development Institute, to help resolve and reconcile the billing dispute between the metro and Eskom.

# The International Criminal Court says it will launch an external investigation into its chief prosecutor Karim Khan over allegations of sexual misconduct. This follows media reports about a document outlining accusations against Khan from a woman who worked for him. Khan, who has denied the allegations, has been at the helm of the court’s prosecutions since 2021, including war crimes probes involving Russia and Ukraine as well as Palestine and Israel.

# Soccer: English Premier League referee David Coote has been suspended with immediate effect. This follows a video appearing to show him making derogatory comments about Liverpool and their former manager Jurgen Klopp. The video appears to refer to a match that Coote officiated between Liverpool and Burnley in July 2020, which finished one-all. Klopp criticised Coote after the match, saying the referee failed to give fouls for challenges made on Liverpool’s players. The 42-year-old is one of the Premier League’s most-experienced officials.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-94-cents and the euro at 19-rand-10-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-4-cents and Bitcoin trades at 88-thousand-731-dollars-9-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-617-dollars-92-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-73-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….