News 14:00

BULLETIN 9 January 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# OUTA calls for an independent investigation into SANRAL’s awarding of tenders
# Umalusi halts the issuing of N3 certificates
# And tennis: Sabalenka plans to skip some tournaments this year to preserve her health

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse has called on minister of Transport Barbara Creecy to launch an independent forensic investigation into tender awards by the South African National Roads Agency. This follows Sanral rejecting suggestions the findings of its investigation into the 1.57-billion-rand Masekwaspoort tender award warrant a probe into all tenders it has awarded to the Chinese State Construction and Engineering Corporation. Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage says Sanral has a massive budget and has taken too many concerning decisions.

# Council for quality assurance, Umalusi, will no longer issue new N3 certificates. Speaking on the matric results of the Department of Basic Education, CEO Mafu Rakometsi says 2025 was the final year, following the phase-out of N1 to N3 programmes from January 2024. Candidate registrations closed in December 2023. Rakometsi assured the public that existing N3 certificates remain valid:

# Activists and Citizens Forum is calling for KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, to be appointed national commissioner. This comes as KZN premier Thami Ntuli has endorsed him for a second term. Last year, Mkhwanazi blew the lid on alleged widespread corruption and political interference within the police and the criminal justice system. The forum’s spokesperson, Dennis Bloem, says Mkhwanazi is a true ethical leader:

# The Department of Water and Sanitation says the Vaal Dam and the broader Integrated Vaal River system continue to perform strongly, maintaining stability in line with the latest weekly reservoir status update. This positive outlook is supported by the ongoing rainfall season. The department’s spokesperson, Mandla Mathebula, says the dam remains above full capacity, currently at 103.17-percent, while the system, which supplies water to Gauteng and surrounding provinces, is holding steady at 100.8-percent:

# Tennis: World number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus plans to skip some tournaments this year to preserve her health, although she expects the WTA Tour to sanction her for it. The governing body expects players to compete in all four Grand Slam tournaments, ten WTA-one-thousand tournaments and six WTA-500 events, with punishment for not competing ranging from the deduction of ranking points to fines. But Sabelanka describes the season as insane, leading to too many players getting injured.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-53-cents and the euro at 19-rand-25-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-17-cents and Bitcoin trades at 90-thousand-373-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-472-dollars-42-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 61-dollars-90-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….