News 17:00

BULLETIN 4 December 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa won’t lobby nations to boycott the US-led G20 sherpa meetings
# The MK Party says maintaining a 30-percent matric pass mark entrenches mediocrity in society 
# And Golf: Oosthuizen leads a stellar list of South African stars for the Alfred Dunhill Championship

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa will not be lobbying any nation to boycott the G20 sherpa meetings under the US presidency. This after Washington confirmed that South Africa will not be invited to any G20 engagements in Miami, Florida, next year. The Presidency earlier said South Africa will take a commercial break from the forum. Ramaphosa added Pretoria will continue focusing on its own diplomatic priorities without urging others to act on its behalf:

# The Gauteng Education Department says just under 90-percent of grade one and grade eight applicants for the 2026 school year have already secured places. The department has already allocated spaces to nearly 318-thousand learners, while just over 40-thousand are still awaiting placement. Education MEC Matome Chiloane told the media daily offers will continue until all learners are accommodated, urging parents to accept placements within seven days to avoid automatic allocations:

# The MK Party says the decision by the majority of members of Parliament to vote against a motion to change the 30-percent pass mark threshold for Grade 12 learners is concerning. The motion brought by Build One SA called for the threshold to be 50-percent. The MK Party says maintaining a 30-percent matric pass mark entrenches mediocrity in society. It adds that this abysmally low standard directly undermines the ability of the youth to compete on the global stage.

# New York Times is suing the US Department of Defense over the Pentagon’s new restrictions on media access. The lawsuit in federal court in Washington DC names the department, secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell as defendants. A spokesperson says the restrictions attempt to exert control over reporting the government dislikes and violates the free media’s right to seek information under the protection of the Constitution. Hegseth and his aides will likely object, using the same national security arguments when announcing the restrictions.

# Golf: Louis Oosthuizen and a host of former winners will lead a strong South African group at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Royal Johannesburg next week. Oosthuizen, the 2023 champion, will be joined by former champions Branden Grace, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Brandon Stone, Richard Sterne, Shaun Norris and Ockie Strydom. Together they make up an impressive collection of seven of the last 12 winners of the tournament. All are looking to become only the third multiple winners of the event in its history.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-96-cents and the euro at 19-rand-79-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-62-cents and Bitcoin trades at 92-thousand-734-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-191-dollars-73-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 62-dollars-88-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….