News 08:00

BULLETIN 3 December 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF condemns Ramaphosa’s betrayal over the BELA Act
# Eskom suspends the power interruption for Johannesburg and City Power
# And road running: The entry cap for next year’s Comrades Marathon has been reached

# The EFF says it strongly condemns president Cyril Ramaphosa for capitulating to white supremacist interests in delaying the implementation of two clauses of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act. The clauses address language and admission policies at public schools. The EFF says the recent agreement between Basic Education minister Siviwe Gwarube and Solidarity, which puts off the implementation of the clauses until critical regulations are developed, exposes the sinister reality of who truly governs South Africa. It adds that this undermines Parliament’s authority and sabotages transformation efforts in education.

Meanwhile, the Azanian People’s Organisation urges Ramaphosa to fully implement the act without delay. The organisation has raised concerns about behind-the-scenes negotiations between Solidarity and minister Gwarube, claiming they undermine black advancement. AZAPO’s spokesperson, Jabu Rakwena, accuses the government of secret talks that hinder progress on educational inequality, particularly for black children in under-resourced schools:

# Eskom has suspended its notice of potential power interruption against the City of Johannesburg and City Power. The power utility issued a notice last month saying the metro, through its electricity entity City Power, owes 4.9-billion-rand in historic debt and 1.4-billion-rand on its current account. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says the suspension of the notice is to allow the Minister of Electricity and Energy’s process undertaken by an independent expert regarding alleged historical overbilling to be concluded:

# Israel has carried out a series of airstrikes in the Nabatieh district, south Lebanon, killing nine people. This is in response to Hezbollah launching two rockets near a military post on the Mount Dov area, a disputed region on the Israel-Lebanon border. Both sides are accusing each other of violating last week’s ceasefire. US State Department’s spokesperson, Matthew Miller, says the ceasefire has not broken down and that the US-led enforcement mechanism would address violations:

# Roadrunning: The entry cap for next year’s 98th edition of the iconic Comrades Marathon in KwaZulu-Natal has been reached. The limit of 23-thousand entries was reached on Saturday afternoon, nine days before the official cut-off date. More than 80 nations will be represented in the race, a down-run over approximately 89 kilometres from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on the eighth of June. Comrades Marathon Association’s acting Race and Operations manager, Alain Dalais, says the race promises to be another memorable and challenging one.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-18-cents and the euro at 19-rand-7-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-98-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-and-1-dollars-25-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-636-dollars-96-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-82-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….