News 11:00

BULLETIN 20 October 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa says eradicating food poverty must be a society-wide effort
# The Madlanga commission will hold partially in-camera hearings this week
# And Trump says the ceasefire in Gaza is still in effect

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says overcoming poverty and tackling the cost of living for South Africans is one of the strategic priorities of the government of national unity. Around 15- to 16-million people in the country have inadequate or severely inadequate access to food. In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa says as retailers work to grow their market share among low-income households, they have a responsibility to ensure this includes affordable, healthy food choices. He adds that eradicating extreme food poverty must be a collaborative effort.

# Three witnesses are expected to testify before the Madlanga commission of inquiry in Pretoria this week, with proceedings partially heard in-camera. Witnesses A, B and C will take the stand from a remote location, but with their voices audible. The commission’s spokesperson, Jeremy Michaels, says the three were serving detectives, attached to either the Gauteng Counter-intelligence operations unit or the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team. He says their testimony relates to their experiences investigating crimes related to the criminal cartels, which form the subject matter of the commission’s investigations.

# The MK Party in Gauteng says it will approach the Auditor General and the Public Protector to hold Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya accountable for the reckless expenditure on water tankers. A News24 exposé has revealed that Tshwane’s spending on water tankers has increased to 777-million-rand in the fiscal year that ended in June. In the 2023/24 financial year, the metro spent only 140-million-rand on water tankers. MK’s Abel Tau says this is a clear abuse of public funds:

Moving abroad:

# US president Donald Trump says the ceasefire in Gaza is still in place. Israel carried out a series of strikes across Gaza yesterday after it accused Hamas of carrying out an attack that killed two soldiers. The Israeli strikes killed at least 44 people. Hamas and Israel have blamed each other for violating the US-brokered ceasefire. Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One, Trump said they will handle the recent developments firmly:

# Soccer: Liverpool manager Arne Slot has expressed his frustration over his team’s set-piece vulnerabilities, saying they need to focus on improving both scoring and defending, especially from set pieces. The reigning Premier League champions suffered a fourth consecutive loss in all competitions, losing 2-1 to Manchester United at Anfield yesterday. Since May, Liverpool has conceded two or more goals in eight of their 12 league games, more than any other team. Slot says he is confident they will bounce back:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-33-cents and the euro at 20-rand-20-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-24-cents and Bitcoin trades at 111-thousand-287-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-245-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 60-dollars-68-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….