News 06:00

BULLETIN 10 January 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Gwen Ramokgopa says the ANC must work harder to improve the lives of citizens
# At least 20 people are arrested during the Los Angeles wildfires
# And motorsport: Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings extend their overall lead in the Dakar rally

# ANC Treasurer General, Gwen Ramokgopa, says the party needs to work even harder now to improve the lives of most South Africans. ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa is set to deliver the January 8 Statement in Cape Town on Saturday as the party celebrates its 113th birthday. Ramokgopa says the ANC has done a great deal over the last three decades, but not everyone has benefited from the party’s policies:

Meanwhile, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union urges the ANC to focus on unity and leadership renewal to tackle the nation’s challenges. The union calls on leaders to restore public trust and support the party’s efforts for effective governance. It commended the ANC’s efforts in advancing education, particularly through initiatives like the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and free education for lower-income schools, which align with the Freedom Charter’s goals.

# The deadline is looming for stakeholders to submit input on proposed regulations for unconventional gas extraction. This includes fracking, coal bed methane, and underground coal gasification. The Department of Water and Sanitation is accepting written comments until 15 January 2025. The regulations aim to protect water resources from contamination while ensuring responsible exploration. Public consultations resumed on 6 January 2025, following a holiday break, to finalise these crucial environmental safeguards under the National Water Act.

# ActionSA urges KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Public Works and Infrastructure, Martin Meyer, to refer the dismissal of a senior supply chain management official to the Hawks for investigation. The official was fired following an internal probe revealing the awarding of 1.1-billion-rand in contracts to a single consultancy company. ActionSA’s Sanelisiwe Zuma believes further investigation is needed to determine if others were involved and probe possible collusion:

# At least 20 people have been arrested for looting or burglary as five wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles. Five people have been killed as the fires have destroyed thousands of structures and forced the evacuation of more than 130-thousand people. LA City Fire Chief, Kristin Crowley, says the Palisades fire, which is scorching the seaside area between Malibu and Santa Monica, is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles:

# Motorsport: South Africa’s Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings have extended their overall Dakar Rally lead to ten minutes over Sweden’s Mattias Ekström and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi. However, the 428-kilometre stage saw Nasser Al-Attiyah and Frenchman Edouard Boulanger dominated in performance as they cut their overall deficit to Lategan to 25 minutes. South African teams, including Saood Variawa, faced mixed results. Competitors now prepare for Saturday’s 605-kilometre stage after today’s rest day in Ha’il, Saudi Arabia.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-90-cents and the euro at 19-rand-49-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 92-thousand-626-dollar-80-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-669-dollars-88-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-26-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….