News 15:00
BULLETIN 21 January 3 pm
Good afternoon. I am……..
In this bulletin:
# President Cyril Ramaphosa joins global leaders in Davos for collaborative solutions
# The DA urges the president to fire minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni over the 2.5-million-rand tender scandal
# And rugby: Neethling Fouché extends his Stormers’ contract to 2028
# President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in Davos, Switzerland, for the 55th World Economic Forum. Supported by his delegation, including DA leader and Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen, Ramaphosa will begin his programme with a bilateral meeting this afternoon with the founder and chairperson of the forum’s board of trustees, Klaus Schwab. The meeting marks the start of a week of engagements where Ramaphosa will address global challenges and promote South Africa’s economic priorities and G20 presidency. He will also participate in various meetings with international leaders and organisations.
# The DA says South Africans deserve a cabinet free of corruption. The party has asked Ramaphosa to dismiss of minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni. This follows her alleged involvement in a 2.5-million-rand tender scandal during her time as municipal manager in Ba-Phalaborwa in Limpopo. The DA’s Dianne Kohler Barnard says decisive action is needed to restore public trust in government:
# Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, has called on police to institute shutdowns of gang areas including the Cape Flats. Enforcement agencies recovered at least ten firearms in the past week, while five incidents happened in the space of 24-hours this past weekend. Smith is hopeful the shutdowns could make meaningful dents in the firearm and narcotics trades in the affected communities.
# Rugby: Tighthead prop Neethling Fouché has signed a three-year contract extension with the Stormers. The 32-year-old has been a consistent performer for several years and has also stepped up to a leadership role. Despite significant interest from several overseas clubs, Fouché has committed his future to the Stormers which he believes will give him the best chance of representing his country. Director of Rugby John Dobson expects Fouché to become even more influential for the Stormers over the next three years.
# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-64-cents and the euro at 19-rand-29-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 103-thousand-530-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-717-dollars-62-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-11-cents a barrel.
# And finally: Scientists who recently discovered that metal lumps on the dark seabed make oxygen, have announced plans to study the deepest parts of Earth’s oceans in order to understand the strange phenomenon. The initial discovery confounded marine scientists. It was previously accepted that oxygen could only be produced in sunlight by plants, in a process called photosynthesis. However, if oxygen is made in the dark by metal lumps, the researchers believe that process could be happening on other planets, creating oxygen-rich environments where life could thrive.
Stay tuned for more news………….