News 09:00

BULLETIN 8 December 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Schreiber says bona fide travellers from Palestine are welcome
# The British prime minister will meet Zelensky, Macron, and Merz for talks on peace negotiations today
# And golf: The Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan wins the Nedbank Golf Challenge

# Home Affairs minister, Leon Schreiber, says South Africa will not be complicit in any scheme to exploit or displace Palestinians from Gaza. This comes as the department has withdrawn the 90-day visa exemption for Palestinian ordinary passport holders, after flagging deliberate and ongoing abuse of the exemption by Israeli actors. Schreiber says when the most recent charter flight carrying Palestinian passengers landed at OR Tambo International Airport, president Cyril Ramaphosa indicated that the travellers may have been flushed out of Gaza:

# The Congress of the People has expressed concern about the killing, intimidation, and harassment of witnesses linked to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. Marius van der Merwe, a witness who testified at the commission last month, was shot dead outside his home in Brakpan, Gauteng, on Friday evening. COPE’s Tom Mofokeng says the Special Investigating Unit must probe the irregular awarding of tenders in Ekurhuleni, and place all individuals called to testify before the commission under the witness protection programme:

# The ANC in the Western Cape has asked the Public Protector to investigate a 51-thousand-rand reimbursement premier Alan Winde received for flights to New York during Climate Week in 2024. According to the party, the premier’s office failed to declare the reimbursement in the adjusted estimates or in the compulsory gifts and donations register. The ANC’s provincial leader, Khalid Sayed, says the omission of the payment raises concerns about transparency, compliance with Treasury regulations, and the integrity of financial reporting in Winde’s office.

# UK prime minister Keir Starmer will host Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at Downing Street in London today. The focus of the meeting is expected to be on how to respond to America’s peace plan proposal for ending the war with Russia. The meeting will also be attended by French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz. The draft peace deal, brokered between US and Russian officials, has been criticised for leaving Ukraine in a weak and vulnerable position. Starmer has repeatedly stressed that Kyiv must determine its own future.

# Golf: Kristoffer Reitan has made history by becoming the first Norwegian to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City. He held his nerve against Jayden Schaper of South Africa and England’s Dan Bradbury for a one-shot victory on 17 under par with a closing 72. This is the 27-year-old’s second DP World Tour title of the year, which will send him to the Masters for the first time. Reitan says having a five-stroke lead going into the final round was excruciating pressure:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-92-cents and the euro at 19-rand-72-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-57-cents and Bitcoin trades at 91-thousand-144-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-210-dollars-81-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-67-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….