News 12:00

BULLETIN 31 October 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA says Parliament’s oversight process cannot be compromised by the refusal of key witnesses to appear
# The environmental green light is granted for the Cape Winelands airport expansion
# And soccer: Desiree Ellis commits to Banyana Banyana until 2029

# ActionSA says the integrity of Parliament’s oversight process cannot be compromised by the refusal of key witnesses to appear, particularly those who held executive authority over entities under investigation. The party supports the resolution by the standing committee on Public Accounts to secure the appearance of former Road Accident Fund CEO, Collins Letsoalo, as a witness in its ongoing inquiry. ActionSA’s Matthew George says it is vital to get to the bottom of the misuse of public funds at the fund:

# The Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning has given environmental authorisation to the Cape Winelands Airport project in Cape Town. The eight-billion-rand project entails the expansion of the now renamed Cape Winelands Airport just outside Durbanville in a series of phased developments. The airport’s managing director, Deon Cloete, says the development will also include airside infrastructure such as taxiways and aircraft parking stands:

# Solidarity, in partnership with drilling company Booysens Bore, has helped save 65 workers of the company from retrenchment. This follows the closure of Assmang’s Beeshoek iron ore mine near Postmasburg in the Northern Cape. The mine was forced to cease operations due to the ongoing economic crisis affecting both the mine and the broader industry. Solidarity’s Pieter Jordaan says the 65 employees were redeployed to Booysens Bore’s branches in nearby Kathu and Kuruman:

Moving abroad:

# US president Donald Trump’s administration has been criticised for its decision to significantly cut the number of refugees admitted to the country every year to seven-thousand-500. Last year’s ceiling set under former president Joe Biden’s administration was 125-thousand. Trump says priority will be given to white Afrikaners from South Africa and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination. The International Refugee Assistance Project says the administration is once again politicising a humanitarian programme by privileging Afrikaners while continuing to ban thousands of refugees who have already been vetted and approved.

# Soccer: Desiree Ellis will coach Banyana Banyana for another four years after extending her contract until 2029. She took over from her predecessor, Vera Pauw, after the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Safa president Danny Jordaan says Ellis can now start preparing South Africa for next year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations after they qualified earlier this week. He says they also have to rebuild Banyana and look at alternatives and younger players for the future.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-30-cents and the euro at 20-rand-1-cent. One British pound costs 22-rand-74-cents and Bitcoin trades at 109-thousand-555-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-18-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-16-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….