News 17:00

BULLETIN 17 January 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# COSATU challenges Afriforum to take legal action against the BELA Act
# The GOOD Party wants answers about the 477 new teaching posts in the Western Cape
# And tennis: Carlos Alcaraz promises to get a kangaroo tattoo if he wins the Australian Open

# Union federation Cosatu has dismissed AfriForum’s threat to challenge the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, believing such action would fail in court. Spokesperson Zanele Sabela emphasises the act’s transformative goals, promoting inclusivity and mother-tongue education while ensuring oversight to prevent discrimination. She reaffirms the BELA Act’s constitutionality and commitment to an equitable education system for all South African learners:

The GOOD Party is meanwhile calling on Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier to come clean about 477 new teaching posts that have been created. The MEC said through further budget reprioritisation, the department was in a position to make available the posts as a result of the significant increase in learner numbers this year. GOOD’s secretary-general, Brett Herron, says this is despite the department scrapping of over two-thousand teaching posts:

# AfriForum has called for an urgent meeting with Police minister Senzo Mchunu to address the surge in farm attacks. Since December last year, 33 attacks and seven murders have been reported, with some victims tortured. AfriForum’s Jacques Broodryk says there is a need for decisive action to protect rural communities and secure the agricultural sector. He has proposed enhanced cooperation with SAPS to strengthen safety measures:

# Two of the handful of countries that have pledged jet fighters to Ukraine – France and Norway – says they will meet their commitments on schedule. Norway has promised Ukraine six US-made F-16s to help it fend off Russia’s invasion, with deliveries spread out across 2024 and ’25. France has meanwhile said it would provide an unspecified number of French-made Mirage 2000-5s during the first quarter of this year.

# Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz plans to get a kangaroo tattoo should he win the Australian Open for the first time as he muscled into the last 16 in Melbourne. The 21-year-old third seed dropped a set but was a class above Portugal’s Nuno Borges on Rod Laver Arena, dumping him out in four sets. It was the Spaniard’s first time on centre court this year after being shunted to neighbouring Margaret Court Arena for his opening two matches. He is gunning for a first Grand Slam title in Australia.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-78-cents and the euro at 19-rand-33-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-77-cents and Bitcoin trades at 102-thousand-609-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-706-dollars-66-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-77-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….