News 08:00

BULLETIN 29 December 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Public Protector is requested to probe former minister George on possible abuse of state resources
# The Border Management Authority intercepts over 6,000 people at border posts
# And, Keir Starmer is criticised for celebrating the return of an extremist activist

# The minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Willie Aucamp, has submitted a formal complaint to the Public Protector requesting an investigation into former minister Dion George, his then acting chief of staff, Shelton Mollentze, and his then personal assistant, Traverse le Goff. This relates to the possible abuse of state resources. The complaint arises after Aucamp became aware of a baseless investigation into his private business affairs. His office says the probe appears to have been potentially politically motivated and aimed at falsely linking him to the lion breeding industry.

# The Border Management Authority says during this festive season so far, over six-thousand-800 individuals, who were trying to enter or leave South Africa illegally, have been intercepted. The festive season campaign covers  71 ports of entry, comprising 52 land ports, ten international airports, and nine seaports. BMA Commissioner, Michael Masiapato, says outside the normal deportation processes, they have also arrested over 60 people so far:

# ActionSA in Johannesburg has written to Gauteng premier Panayaza Lesufi to demand an investigation into the City’s mayoral committee member for Public Safety, Mgcini Tshwaku’s conduct. The party says the MMC has publicly stated and demonstrated that he is negotiating with occupants of hijacked buildings and reclaiming buildings through executive action. ActionSA Sarah Wissler says these actions appear to be taking place without any Council-approved policy framework:

# UK prime minister Keir Starmer is facing criticism for celebrating the return of British activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah from detention in Egypt. Fattah was convicted in 2021 of spreading fake news in Egypt for sharing a Facebook post about torture in the country. Historic posts have since emerged of him calling for Zionists to be killed. Shadow Justice Secretary, Robert Jenrick, told Sky News that Keir’s endorsement of Fattah showed poor judgment:

# Cricket: Melbourne Cricket Ground head curator Matt Page said on Sunday he was in a “state of shock” watching the drama unfold during the two-day fourth Ashes test. The shortened test has left Cricket Australia facing millions of dollars in revenue shortfall. Page and his team left ten millimetres of grass on the wicket, providing fast bowlers with excessive seam movement and bounce, which made batting treacherous. The game was all over on day two as England won by four wickets for their first victory in Australia since January 2011.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-65-cents and the euro at 19-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-49-cents and Bitcoin trades at 89-thousand-169-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-517-dollars-31-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 60-dollars-72-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….