News 08:00

BULLETIN 24 January 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA wants the Human Rights Commission to probe Wesbank for alleged racial discrimination
# The African Transformation Movement says the Wesbank allegations show systemic discrimination within the financial sector
# And, Donald Trump wins New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary

# ActionSA says it will be writing to the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate claims made by a former employee of Wesbank. The finance provider has been accused of using a specific system to charge higher interest rates to black clients. WesBank has refuted the allegations of discrimination against customers based on race as alleged. ActionSA’s spokesperson, Lerato Ngobeni, says the covert racism the finance provider represents cannot be tolerated:

Meanwhile, the African Transformation Movement has intensified its call for a commission of inquiry into the rand manipulation case by the major banks in SA amid the new allegations by Wesbank. ATM’s spokesperson, Zama Tshona, says these allegations are deeply concerning, as they reflect a pattern of systemic discrimination within the financial sector:

# The Uncedo Taxi Association and Border Taxi Association have agreed to end the taxi violence in Port St Johns and Lusikiski in the Eastern Cape. Six people were killed when members of the two associations started shooting at each other at the Port St Johns taxi rank. An eleven-year-old boy was among the injured. Part of the agreement is that any taxi association that is involved in closing and interrupting traffic flow will be fined 500-thousand-rand. The associations say they want to make sure that there are no more killings.

# Former US president Donald Trump has won New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary over former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. Last week, he won overwhelmingly in Iowa’s caucuses. Exit polls show Trump won among participants who said the economy and immigration were the most important issues to their vote, while Haley won with voters who prioritised abortion and foreign policy. The winners of the primary in the state in the last four competitive election cycles have gone on to secure the party’s presidential nomination, including Trump in 2016.

# Soccer: Defending champions Senegal beat Guinea two-nil to make it three wins from three in the Africa Cup of Nations Group C, with both teams advancing to the last-16. Mauritania served up another shock result, knocking out 2019 winners Algeria with a narrow one-nil victory and sealing a historic place in the knockout stages. Cameroon fought back with two goals in the closing stages to edge Gambia three-two to book a spot in the last 16. Angola finished top of Group D with a two-nil victory against second-placed Burkina Faso.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-4-cents and the euro at 20-rand-68-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-18-cents and Bitcoin trades at 39-thousand-618-dollars-64-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-24-dollars-7-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….