News 07:00

BULLETIN 17 January 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The minister of Finance says there are no plans to tap a 497-billion-rand contingency fund
# Outa says the SABC Bill unsuccessfully tries to address funding issues
# And soccer, Bafana Bafana suffer a defeat in their Afcon opener against Mali

# Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says South Africa has no imminent plans to tap a 497-billion-rand contingency fund. The South African Reserve Bank oversees the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account on behalf of the National Treasury. The money could help contain debt-servicing costs or fund a ballooning state wage bill. Speaking to Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Godongwana says lots of things need to be taken into consideration for the fund to be used:

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says the three-year delay in developing a funding model, as proposed in the SABC Bill, could put the public broadcaster in a more difficult financial position. The SABC reported a loss of 1.2-billion-rand during the 2022/2023 financial year. The bill is currently out for public comment. Outa’s Andrea van Heerden, says the SABC needs financial certainty for the interim period, which the bill does not provide:

# Trade union Solidarity condemns the Gauteng Department of Education’s poor planning, leading to challenges with school placements at the start of the academic year. The union has expressed concerns about the potential consequences of the proposed Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill on school management. Solidarity’s Anlia Archer suspects the department’s online placement system influences language demographics in Afrikaans schools, aligning it with the BELA legislation. Archer urges parents and school communities to oppose state control in education.

# Action Society has joined calls for disciplinary action against the Paarl police station commander Nokuthala Pete to be expedited so she can be sacked. On Facebook in December last year, she let it known that she believed the South African Police Service in Paarl is too white, and she encouraged someone to apply for a transfer to the Western Cape town and promised to sign off on it. Action Society’s Ian Cameron says the country needs a motivated, united police service led by people with integrity, rather than racial agendas.

# The European Union added Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, to its terrorist sanctions blacklist over the October 7 attacks on Israel. AFP reports the move means that Sinwar is subject to an asset freeze in the 27-nation EU and bans EU citizens conducting transactions with him. Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is already listed as a terrorist organisation by the bloc.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana got their Africa Cup of Nations campaign off with a defeat, going down two-nil to Mali in the Ivory Coast. Percy Tau’s first-half penalty miss came back to haunt Bafana as goals from Hamari Traore and Lassine Sinayoko gave Mali the three points, and pushed South Africa to the bottom of Group E. In the other match in the group, Namibia produced a huge upset as Deon Hotto’s late header secured victory over 2004 champions Tunisia. Bafana Bafana coach, Hugo Broos, gives reasons why they lost the game:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-98-cents and the euro at 20-rand-65-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-99-cents and Bitcoin trades at 42-thousand-955-dollars-77-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-28-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-85-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….