News 18:00

BULLETIN 6 February 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Julius Malema would roll out red carpet if Mbuyiseni Ndlozi returned to the party
# COSATU welcomes South Africa’s full accession to Afreximbank
# And, the ACDP in Gauteng raises the alarm over the learner transport crisis

# EFF leader Julius Malema says he would welcome former Member of Parliament Mbuyiseni Ndlozi back to the party, praising his honorable exit in February 2025. Ndlozi left after being charged over alleged involvement in an MK Party infiltration strategy following former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu’s departure. Speaking to SABC News, he said Ndlozi kept his dignity and never crossed political lines:

# COSATU welcomes South Africa’s full accession to the African Export-Import Bank. It says membership will strengthen the country’s trade and development opportunities across the continent. Spokesperson Matthew Parks praises the tireless efforts of minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition Parks Tau for securing this valuable coup for the country’s efforts to stimulate economic growth. He urges government and business to leverage this membership to benefit workers and communities:

# The ACDP in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, says parents in Boksburg are paying for learner transport after the Gauteng Education Department failed to pay operators. The party’s Palesa Yates says the school year has just started, yet learners are absent and teachers struggle to manage classes. She says transporters continue working without pay, forcing parents to cover costs, disrupting education, and raising safety concerns:

# The Netherlands returned a three-thousand-500-year-old sculpture to Egypt after the looted artefact resurfaced at an art fair in 2022. A Dutch investigation confirmed last year the sculpture had been plundered and unlawfully removed from Egypt, most likely during the Arab Spring unrest of 2011, before appearing on the international art market. Experts believe the artefact, a stone head that was originally part of a block statue, originated from Luxor in southern Egypt. It depicts a senior official from the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose the Third.

# Olympics: A unique twinned opening ceremony will start the Milano Cortina Winter Games in Northern Italy tonight. The event will reportedly combine elements of co-hosts Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo, reflecting city and mountain life. World-famous local tenor Andrea Bocelli and American pop diva Mariah Carey will perform in Milan’s San Siro soccer stadium, while Cortina will join the celebrations from over 400-kilometres away in the mountains. Two Olympic cauldrons will be lit simultaneous.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-7-cents and the euro at 18-rand-98-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-84-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-875-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-921-dollars-81-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-68-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….