News 08:00
BULLETIN 28 November 8 am
Good morning. I am……..
In this bulletin:
# My Vote Counts is calling on the minister of Home Affairs to publicise the electoral reform progress reports
# Research confirms South Africa’s loss of billions in the fight against intense organised crime
# And, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is calling for a full humanitarian ceasefire
# My Vote Counts is calling on Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi to publish the progress reports on the Electoral Reform consultation panel and the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill. The minister was scheduled to appear before Parliament’s portfolio committee on Home Affairs last week to provide an update on these two matters but did not attend. My Vote Counts’, Boikanyo Moloto, says the public must have access to adequate information related to the electoral system in order to be able to fully exercise their political rights:
# The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime warns that South Africa is grappling with an existential crisis in organised crime. The 2023 Organised Crime Index from the European Union’s Enhancing Africa’s ability to Counter Transnational Crime reveals that South Africa is ranked third-worst on the continent with regard to organised crime. Researcher Jenni Irish-Qgobosheane says South Africa’s resilience is declining due to organised crime becoming deeply entrenched. However, she clarifies that while the situation is dire, South Africa would not be classified as a mafia state.
# City Power has denied reports that it implemented stage eight load-shedding rather than the announced stage six at the weekend. The Johannesburg power utility took over the management of load-shedding from Eskom earlier this month. City Power’s spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, says all municipalities and Eskom are guided by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s code of practice when implementing load-shedding. He says this is for equitable distribution of the burden of rotational power supply cuts to save the national grid from potentially collapsing:
# The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says it has scaled up the delivery of humanitarian aid throughout Gaza, however, a full humanitarian ceasefire is needed. Israel and Hamas have extended the temporary humanitarian ceasefire for a further two days. The UN organisation has been able to provide food, water, medical supplies, tents, and more in Gaza, but says this aid barely registers against the huge needs of 1.7-million displaced people. It adds that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is getting worse by the day.
# Cricket: Australia has to win today’s third T20 against India in Guwahati to save the five-match series. The hosts followed up the two-wicket victory of the first game with a 44-run win in the second when they restricted the visitors to just 191 for nine in their 20 overs. India earlier posted 235 for four when Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rururaj Gaikwad, and Ishan Kishan all contributed half-centuries. The penultimate T20 will be played in Raipur on Friday and the final one in Bengaluru on Sunday.
# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-62-cents and the euro at 20-rand-41-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-53-cents and Bitcoin trades at 37-thousand-139-dollars-34-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-15-dollars-62-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars a barrel.
Stay tuned for more news………….