News 13:00

BULLETIN 11 January 1pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The death toll from the Pienaar tavern shooting has risen to seven
# GOOD Party says the Stilfontein saga is a crisis of government’s own making
# And in rugby, a new look Bulls team to take on Castres in Champions Cup

# The death toll from the shooting at a tavern in Pienaar, Mpumalanga, in the early hours of this morning has risen to seven with five others in critical condition in hospital. Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC, Jackie Macie, who condemned the incident, says two people were taken in for questioning. Police spokesperson, Donald Mdhluli, says they are confident the perpetrators involved will be arrested:

# The DA is urging the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition to adopt a department-wide policy compensating whistleblowers who expose corruption. This is as minister Parks Tau has confirmed that the National Lotteries Commission will compensate whistleblowers who helped expose up to two-billion-rand of corrupt grants, after they were dismissed from work, and suffered financial losses. The DA’s Toby Chance says this policy must extend to the South African Bureau of Standards, which has been plagued by allegations of governance and management failures.

# The GOOD Party has welcomed the ruling by the High Court in Pretoria ordering the government to immediately begin rescue operations at Shafts 10 and 11 of the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine in Stilfontein, North West. This follows an urgent application by Zinzi Tom, whose brother is among the hundreds of miners who have been underground since July last year. GOOD’s secretary-general, Brett Herron, says the court ruling once again upholds the fundamental right to life, guaranteed by Section 11 of the Constitution:

# US president Joe Biden has criticised Meta for scrapping fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, calling the move shameful. On Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company plans to fire its US fact-checkers and weaken its ability to moderate disinformation on its social media sites. Biden says this move by Meta will allow things that are simply not true to be read by millions of people:

# Rugby: Nizaam Carr returns to action to lead the Bulls against Castres in France this evening. Alulutho Tshakweni will line up alongside Springbok Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Mornay Smith in the front row. JF van Heerden and Sintu Manjezi are the locks, with Kuyenzeka Xaba and Celimpilo Gumede joining Carr as the loose forwards. Scrumhalf Bernard van der Linde and flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain will link up at half-back with Aphiwe Dyantyi and Sibongile Novuka on the wings. Chris Barend Smit and Katlego Letebele are the centres with Henry Immelman at fullback. The match kicks off at 10pm.

Stay tuned for more news………….