News 13:00

BULLETIN 16 January 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Families in South Africa and Australia are devastated by the death of three boys in a car accident
# The DA questions the timing of a debt-laden one-billion-rand housing project in the Northern Cape
# And, Mauritius is on maximum cyclone alert as Storm Belal wreaks havoc

# Communities in the Western Cape and Australia mourn the death of three teenagers in a car accident in Limpopo. They were on their way back from a Vasbyt Camp in Botswana. The victims were 17-year-old Jean Conradie and 16-year-old Daniël Jordaan, both from Somerset West, and 16-year-old Werner Oosthuizen from Freemantle in Australia. Two of the boys died on the scene while the third succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. The other injured boys have already been discharged from hospital.

# The minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, will lead a two-day summit for the Water Services Authorities in response to the Blue and No Drop reports and Green Drop progress assessment report. The summit scheduled at Emperors Palace in Gauteng for Thursday and Friday gathers representatives from 144 water services authorities to address declining water quality and increased non-revenue water. The department’s spokesperson, Wisane Mavasa, says action plans will be formulated for municipalities with varying performance levels, collaboration, and transparency, including corrective measures for deficiencies:

# The DA in the Northern Cape says the huge funding injection hastily allocated to address the housing backlog in the province, reeks of electioneering as opposed to the true restoration of dignity to those waiting for a home. The party is concerned that 600-million-rand of the one-billion-rand housing project, to be launched by president Cyril Ramaphosa in Kimberley later this week, is being borrowed for this project. The DA’s Isak Fritz says the projected interest payment stands at 94-million-rand:

# The Mauritian government has raised its cyclone warning to the maximum level as Tropical Storm Belal brought powerful winds and heavy rains to the island nation. Prime minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth has issued a stay-indoors order. Several flights scheduled for today, including to France and South Africa, had been cancelled. The Meteorological Service has reported that the storm is moving eastwards away from the island. Belal has caused widespread power outages, with numerous cars submerged or stranded due to torrential rains. Cyclone Belal has already hit nearby Réunion, leaving at least one person dead.

# Soccer: South Africa plays its first group match in the Africa Cup of Nations today when the country takes on Mali in Ivory Coast at ten o’clock this evening. Earlier, neighbours Namibia will play Tunisia, with kick-off at seven o’clock. The day’s first encounter between Burkina Faso and Mauritania starts at four. Bafana Bafana’s other group matches are against Namibia on Sunday and Tunisia next Wednesday.  

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-87-cents and the euro at 20-rand-54-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 42-thousand-989-dollars-18-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and -40-dollars-57-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-56-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….