News 06:00

BULLETIN 10 January 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A political analyst says South Africa taking Israel to court speaks volumes
# The DA claims social grants will disappear if the ANC is re-elected [SOUND]
# And, President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the eulogy at Peter Magubane’s funeral

# South Africa taking Israel to the International Court of Justice speaks volumes about how highly it seeks to uphold human rights. This is the view of political analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela. South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza. It has asked the court to issue several orders including for Israel to immediately suspend its Gaza offensive. Mkhabela says this case is a matter of universal significance, one that must extract definitive answers to pertinent questions about the obligations of states towards human beings, regardless of their race, religion, citizenship and residence.

# DA leader John Steenhuisen says president Cyril Ramaphosa’s claim that social grants were likely to disappear when the ANC loses the upcoming election is a lie. Steenhuisen instead claims that social grants will disappear if the ANC is re-elected. He says due to ANC looting, the government is dismantling social grants and the child support grant has dramatically declined over the past decade. Steenhuisen has called on South Africans to vote for a new government in order to protect social grants from disappearing into the ANC’s corruption:

# Eskom has notified the City of Tshwane of major maintenance on the Bronkhorstspruit distribution network scheduled for this coming Saturday. The 13-hour maintenance, from seven in the morning to eight at night, necessitates a power shutdown for safety. The city’s Selby Bokaba urges customers to consider all electricity supply points live during this period:

# Two people arrested for the murder of a City of Cape Town environmental health practitioner are set to appear in the Strand Magistrate’s Court today. They were apprehended by the Western Cape police’s Serious and Violent Crimes Unit for the killing of Bongeka Bidi at the Strand municipal parking area on Monday. The suspects fled the scene in a white Opel Astra. Police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk says multiple witness statements were acquired, and the get-away car was successfully identified:

# Cricket: The second season of the SA20 kicks off in Gqeberha at 5.30 this afternoon where the defending champions, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, will host Joburg Super Kings at St George’s Park. The Proteas’ T20 captain, Aiden Markram will again lead the home team, while former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis is leading the visitors. The six teams in the competition will fight it out for total prize money of 70-million-rand. The winners will earn 34-million-rand and the runners-up 16.25-million-rand, while the teams ending third and fourth will receive 8.9-million-rand each.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-67-cents and the euro at 20-rand-41-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-74-cents and Bitcoin trades at 45-thousand-696-dollars-84-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-28-dollars-32-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-73-cents a barrel.

# And finally, president Cyril Ramaphosa is set to deliver the eulogy at the provincial official funeral of anti-apartheid photographer doctor Peter Magubane in Johannesburg today. The 91-year-old, who earned global acclaim for his photos that documented the violence of apartheid, died last week Monday. He was also a distinguished Member of the National Order of Luthuli. In paying tribute to Magubane, Ramaphosa said his prosaic passion was powered as much by what he felt from the heart as what he saw through his lens.

Stay tuned for more news………….