News 13:00

BULLETIN 17 December 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# An activist says the disagreement over the publishing of matric results could have been resolved out of court
# North West social workers are repatriating 27 children trafficked from Mozambique
# And golf: USA players will be paid for competing in the 2025 Ryder Cup

# Education activist Hendrick Makaneta says the disagreement between the Basic Education Department and the Information Regulator could have been resolved through mediation. The department is challenging in court the Regulator’s ban on publishing matric results in the media, saying this is not per the law. Makaneta says the Regulator believes the department has been non-compliant with the Protection of Personal Information Act:

# The North West Department of Social Development says social workers are repatriating 27 teenage boys from Mozambique back home. This is after they resurfaced from Stilfontein’s unused mines more than a month ago. The department’s spokesperson, Petrus Siko, says among the 27 undocumented children, 15 were found by the police in Matlosana and 12 others resurfaced from the abandoned mines, and were placed in temporary safe care in Mahikeng for two weeks:

# Rand Water says that it has started switching water back on in certain areas, following an 86-hour maintenance that left parts of Johannesburg without water. Water shortages were caused by maintenance work on the Eikenhof and Zwartkopjes pump stations. Affected areas included Soweto, Randburg, Roodepoort, and Lenasia. Rand Water spokesperson, Makenosi Maroo, says it will take a few days for the system to fully recover:

# The United States Geological Survey has confirmed a 7.4 magnitude earthquake has hit near Port Vila, Vanuatu. It was followed by a magnitude 5.5 aftershock. Social media footage showed buckled windows and collapsed concrete pillars on a building hosting foreign embassies in Port Vila, including those of the US, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. According to Reuters, there were no initial reports of injuries or deaths. Locals say the quake was the biggest to have hit Vanuatu in 20 years.

# Golf: The PGA of America has announced that for the first time players for next year’s US team will be paid to play in the Ryder Cup. Each of the 12 players in captain Keegan Bradley’s team will receive 8.9-million-rand in total for competing. Of that money, 5.4-million-rand will be donated to a charity or charities chosen by each player while the remaining 3.6-million-rand is a stipend. Bradley says he will give his entire allocation to charity. Europe won the 2023 Ryder Cup.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-97-cents and the euro at 18-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 107-thousand-339-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-643-dollars-81-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….