News 06:00

BULLETIN 17 September 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Gwarube defends her decision not to attend the BELA signing
# Ukraine refutes links to the alleged Trump assassin
# And Olympic Games: Sebastian Coe and Kirsty Coventry are among the candidates for IOC president

# Basic Education minister Siviwe Gwarube says she did not boycott any departmental activities, but she simply decided not to attend the signing ceremony of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act last Friday. Some teacher unions have slammed the minister for not attending saying she should be a servant of all the people and not for a particular grouping. Gwarube says Parliament must be allowed to fix what is constitutionally wrong with the Act:

Meanwhile, the DA has called for urgent action to address the education funding crisis that threatens thousands of teaching jobs nationwide. The party welcomed  Gwarube’s plan to meet with the National Treasury and provincial leaders to mitigate the severe budget cuts. The DA’s Delmaine Christians supports Gwarube’s plans to protect teachers, learners, and the quality of education, especially in under-resourced schools, amid this financial crisis: 

# The Ministry of Employment and Labour has revealed that Babel Restaurant and Ocean Basket, in Menlyn, Pretoria, owe over 1.3-million-rand in back wages to their employees. The revelation follows a joint inspection on Sunday, uncovering violations of the National Minimum Wage Act, with workers being paid as little as 150-rand per shift and some only receiving tips and commissions. Ministry spokesperson Thobeka Magcai condemned the exploitation of workers:  

# Two Ukrainian units, the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine and Azov Brigade, have denied allegations that Donald Trump’s suspected would-be assassin was one of their members. The 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, who was arrested as he fled from a Florida course where the Republican presidential candidate was playing golf on Sunday, has been reported to have tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine. Secret Service agents shot at Routh before arresting him on suspicion of targeting the former president.

# Olympic Games: World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe is the highest profile of the seven candidates to have declared their bid to succeed International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. Coe will face stiff opposition from, amongst others, Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe, bidding to become the first woman and African to head the IOC, and cycling boss David Lappartient. There are also two candidates from Asia, another continent never to have had an IOC president. The election will be at the IOC Session in Athens in March next year.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-61-cents and the euro at 19-rand-60-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-27-cents and Bitcoin trades at 58-thousand-265-dollars-45-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-583-dollars-29-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-95-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The Presidency has announced that former Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan will be honoured with a special official funeral category two. The service will be held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday, at 10 am. The ceremony will include formal elements conducted by the South African Police Service, followed by a private cremation. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says the Gordhan family has requested donations to charities or the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation instead of flowers.

Stay tuned for more news………….