News 08:00

BULLETIN 22 November 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Motshekga says the SANDF is capable of protecting the country
# The GOOD Party says the Reserve Bank’s repo rate decision is disappointing and conservative
# And Matt Gaetz withdraws as Trump’s nominee for attorney general

# Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Angie Motshekga, says despite the numerous challenges facing the South African National Defence Force, it is capable and ready to protect the country. The Auditor-General’s report for 2023/2024 highlights rampant unauthorised expenditure in the department, to the sum of 3.4-billion-rand, and irregular expenditure amounting to 338-million-rand. At the same time, only two of the SANDF’s 26 Gripens jets are operational and none of its C130’s are airworthy. Motshekga says the challenges are being addressed:

# The GOOD party says the decision by the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee to reduce the policy rate by 25 basis points, to 7.75-percent is disappointing and too conservative. Many economists believed that 50 basis points should have been the decision. GOOD’s secretary-general, Brett Herron, says South Africa is stuck in an economic growth crisis, trapping millions of citizens in unemployment and unacceptable levels of poverty:

# Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile has called on the police to enforce the law in the wake of suspected food poisoning incidents in the province. This follows the death of yet another child in Diepkloof, Soweto due to suspected chemical poisoning. The National Disaster Management Centre has classified food-borne illnesses as a national disaster. Maile says the level of disrespect and disregard for the law in running spaza shops is unacceptable:

# Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration as US president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general. Gaetz was facing significant scrutiny over sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies. The 42-year-old says that the controversy over his potential nomination was unfairly becoming a distraction to the work of the incoming Trump administration. Trump has now nominated Pam Bondi to be his attorney general. She is a former attorney general for Florida and worked in Trump’s previous administration.

# Tennis: Defending champions Italy beat Argentina two-one to make the Davis Cup semifinal in Malaga, Spain. The Italians dropped the opening singles match, after Lorenzo Musetti lost to Francisco Cerundolo, 6-4, 6-1. World number one Jannik Sinner kept Italy in contention with a, 6-2, 6-1, win against Sebastian Baez. He then teamed up with Matteo Berrettini to down Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, 6-4, 7-5, in the deciding doubles. Other nations in the semifinals are 28-time champions Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-8-cents and the euro at 18-rand-94-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-75-cents and Bitcoin trades at 98-thousand-822-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-684-dollars-60-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-97-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….