News 09:00

BULLETIN 11 December 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF accuses president Ramaphosa of being indecisive over the Israeli prime minister
# A FNB economist expects growth in the mining sector to remain moderate
# And Zambia’s ex-president Edgar Lungu is barred from seeking re-election

# The EFF says president Cyril Ramaphosa’s answer to a parliamentary question on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was cowardly and indecisive. The party’s leader Julius Malema sought clarity from the president on whether Netanyahu would be arrested and surrendered to the International Criminal Court if he came to South Africa. The EFF says in his answer Ramaphosa opted for a feeble response, hiding behind vague commitments to South Africa’s status as a signatory to the Rome Statute. It adds that the ongoing genocide in Palestine demands clear principled action.

# FNB economist Thanda Sithole says growth in the mining sector in the near term is expected to remain moderate, due to a subdued external demand environment. Mining production rose 1.4-percent year on year in October, after an upwardly revised 4.9-percent jump in September, marking the third consecutive month of growth in mining activity. Sithole says the modest increase in mining production was broad-based, with growth recorded in seven out of 12 sectors:

# The DA in the Free State has criticised the Masilonyana Local Municipality over the handling of its director of technical services, Lungile Mokoteli. Mokoteli, accused of serious misconduct, received full pay for 25-months while on suspension before resigning without serving the required notice period. The DA’s Marieta Visser says allowing Mokoteli to resign without proper notice, reflects a lack of accountability and transparency, calling it a sign of poor governance in the ANC-led council:

# Zambia’s Constitutional Court has barred former president Edgar Lungu from standing for re-election in 2026. It ruled the 68-year-old had already served the maximum two terms allowed by law. Lungu was first elected in January 2015 to serve the remaining 20 months of his predecessor Guy Scott’s term. He had argued this should not count as he did not serve a full five-year term. But the court disagreed and reversed previous rulings that had cleared him to run three years ago when he lost to Hakainde Hichilema.

# Soccer: Liverpool all but qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League following a one-nil victory over Girona. Mohamed Salah’s penalty was enough for the win, his 46th Champions League goal. Liverpool, who have won all of their six matches can mathematically secure a last-16 tie against Lille in January. Kylian Mbappe scored his 50th Champions League goal as defending champions Real Madrid beat Atalanta three-two, improving their chances of progressing to the knockout stage. There were also victories for Aston Villa, PSG, and Bayern Munich.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-78-cents and the euro at 18-rand-72-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-71-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-435-dollars-5-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-694-dollars-76-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-59-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….