News 06:00

BULLETIN 17 February 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# My Vote Counts’ court challenge of the Political Funding Act starts today
# The City of Tshwane warns about serious water shortages
# And rugby: Monster Energy is the new energy drink partner of the Springboks

# The Western Cape High Court will hear My Vote Counts’ application challenging the constitutionality of the Political Funding Act from today until Wednesday. It believes the Act does not meet its constitutional aims of transparency, openness, and accountability and needs strengthening. My Vote Counts wants the court to declare that political parties and independents are obliged to disclose all private donations, regardless of the amount. It also requires political parties and independents to disclose the expenditure of all private donations.

Meanwhile, ActionSA says it will oppose My Vote Counts’ application. ActionSA’s spokesperson, Matthew George, says the application brought by My Vote Counts is ill-conceived in its attempt to lower and remove donations and reporting thresholds respectively. He adds that they are in favour of transparency in party funding:

# The EFF says it strongly condemns the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, for seeking a 150-million-rand re-allocation to the South African Post Office from the SA Connect programme. Minister Solly Malatsi said he has approached National Treasury to request the re-allocation, as a short-term measure to address the post office’s immediate operational challenges. The EFF says instead of prioritising digital transformation, the ANC-DA government is now stripping funds from critical connectivity projects to fund a failing business rescue process.

# The City of Tshwane says it has identified its highest consuming areas, which are likely to put consumers at risk of experiencing consistent water supply interruptions. The demand in the identified areas, including Grootvlei, Montana, and Sinoville, is exceeding what the metro can provide. The metro’s spokesperson, Selby Bokaba, says the water level one restrictions that were imposed previously, were never withdrawn and are therefore still applicable:

# US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, says Iran remains the single greatest source of instability in the Middle East. He visited Israel over the weekend. The visit comes as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains fragile. He also plans to meet Russian officials in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Rubio says Iran is behind every terrorist group and every act of violence that threatens peace and stability:

# Rugby: SA Rugby has entered into a four-year sponsorship deal with energy drink manufacturer Monster Energy, becoming the official energy drink partner of the Springboks. The partnership also includes the Springbok Women, the Junior Boks, and the Springbok Sevens men’s and women’s teams. SA Rugby CEO, Rian Oberholzer, says Monster Energy’s passion for the sport aligns with their values, and they look forward to working together to achieve success on the field.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-36-cents and the euro at 19-rand-26-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-11-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-125-dollar-95-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-879-dollars-43-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-32-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….