News 13:00

BULLETIN 9 February 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Kemi Behari flags irregular processes at the City of Ekurhuleni
# The FF Plus says Emfuleni is finally in court for years of polluting the Vaal River
# And rugby: Feyi-Waboso is a major doubt for England’s remaining Six Nations campaign

# Suspended Ekurhuleni head of Risk and Legal Services, Kemi Behari, has told the Madlanga commission he uncovered widespread irregular processes across departments, including Human Resources and the Metro Police. Behari says he faced pressure from attorneys over unpaid fees dating back years, while labour matters were routinely lost, costing the Gauteng city heavily. Behari emphasised that weak controls contributed to rising legal costs and accountability failures:

# The Freedom Front Plus in Gauteng says the Emfuleni Municipality will finally appear in court next month to explain why millions of litres of untreated sewage are ending up in the Vaal River daily. The party lodged a formal complaint with the Green Scorpions and requested an investigation as far back as May 2020. Spokesperson Gerda Senekal says a criminal charge was simultaneously lodged against the then administrator:

# Union federation Cosatu has welcomed government’s decision to withdraw South African National Defence Force soldiers from a United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. South Africa has been contributing its soldiers to the mission, MONUSCO, since 1999. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says peacekeeping missions can only be successful with the necessary negotiations and political will by the warring parties:

# Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian energy infrastructure is a legitimate target for strikes, because the energy sector is a source of funds for the production of weapons. Russia has targeted Kyiv’s energy grid in a campaign of attacks that has been called Moscow’s weaponisation of winter. Moscow has attacked Ukraine’s energy sector over 200 times this year alone, with the latest strikes over the weekend involving more than 400 drones. Zelensky says every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but chooses new strikes.

# Rugby: England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso could miss the entire Six Nations after suffering a hamstring injury in training last week. The 23-year-old missed Saturday’s 48-7 victory over Wales in their opener and has been ruled out of coming Saturday’s clash against Scotland at Murrayfield. Coach Steve Borthwick has several options for wingers, including Henry Arundell, Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman and Elliot Daly. England had lost on three of their last four visits to Edinburgh, but heads to the Scottish capital armed with a 12-Test winning run.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-98-cents and the euro at 18-rand-97-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-75-cents and Bitcoin trades at 69-thousand-835-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-and-25-dollars-76-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-35-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….