News 13:00

BULLETIN 10 January 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Cape Town’s mayor says the ANC is lying about the reason for taking its birthday celebrations to Khayelitsha
# The Public Servants Association is to continue negotiating the best possible offer for its members
# And Cricket: The Durban Super Giants are hoping to go one step better in the SA20

# Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the ANC is lying about the reason behind its 113th birthday celebrations in Khayelitsha. ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said it was strategic as the party wants to reconnect with its supporters. Hill-Lewis says due to the ANC’s incompetence they were too late to book the Cape Town or Athlone stadiums. The Stormers are playing at the Cape Town stadium and the Klopse Carnival is in the Athlone stadium. He says by 5 December last year the ANC had not booked a venue for their January 8 rally.

# The Public Servants Association of South Africa says it will continue to negotiate the best possible offer for its members and will seek a mandate before agreeing on any offer. PSA’s John Teffo says the employers revised their offer from 4.7-percent to a 5-percent increase for the 2025/2026 financial year. He says for the next two financial years increases will be based on the projected consumer price index:

# Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth has signed contracts with 12 organisations under the Labour Action Programme job creation initiative. The partners pledged to absorb over 17-thousand job seekers across various industries. Director-General Viwe Mlenzana told SABC News that the initiative is a step towards tackling the high rate of unemployment. He explained that the placements have commenced and they will conclude by the end of the month:

# Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, in office since 2013, is due to take the oath of office for a third term today despite a global outcry that brought thousands out in protest on the ceremony’s eve. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado came out of hiding to lead a demonstration in Caracas yesterday. US President-elect Donald Trump branded Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the man who took her place on the ballot and is widely accepted to have beaten Maduro in elections on 28 July, as freedom fighters.

# Cricket: The Durban Super Giants are hoping to go one step better this year, as they begin their SA20 campaign against the Pretoria Capitals at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban today. They lost last year’s final by 89 runs to the Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Captain, Keshav Maharaj, says they have another strong group of players with a lot of returning guys and some exciting additions, so they are looking forward to starting the campaign:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-96-cents and the euro at 19-rand-53-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-30-cents and Bitcoin trades at 94-thousand-785-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-679-dollars-69-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-70-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….