News 06:00

BULLETIN 21 January 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Robert McBride says Crime Intelligence is riddled with corruption
# Cosatu slams the government for approving a pay rise for politicians
# And, president Macron warns of a shift towards a world without rules

# Former Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride says the funds allocated to the South African Police Service Crime Intelligence Unit are riddled with impropriety and corruption. He testified before Parliament’s Ad Hoc committee which is investigating allegations of criminal infiltration and political interference within the justice system. McBride says that Crime Intelligence’s counter-intelligence unit is mandated to investigate its own members, not external criminal networks:

# Union federation, Cosatu, is upset over the 2026 salary increase for politicians, provincial legislators, and municipal councillors. The 3.8-percent rise, slightly lower than the recommended 4.1-percent, comes as frontline workers and municipal staff face pay delays and austerity measures. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says the increase sends the wrong message to ordinary South Africans. Parks calls for future salary increases to be linked to performance, with public input before approval:

# The Competition Commission has welcomed the Constitutional Court’s decision to dismiss Takata South Africa’s application to appeal a previous Competition Appeal Court ruling. The case stems from 2018, when Takata and its former South African subsidiary were referred to the Competition Tribunal over 21 instances of alleged price fixing, market division, and collusive tendering. All previous appeals were unsuccessful. The commission’s Siyabulela Makunga says the case against Takata SA will now go ahead and be heard on its merits by the Tribunal.

# Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi says the driver involved in the deadly scholar transport crash in Vanderbijlpark, which claimed 12 learners’ lives, was operating with an expired public driver’s permit. The permit had lapsed in November last year. In a media briefing, Lesufi confirmed that the provincial government is conducting intensive checks on all scholar transport vehicles and drivers, and five people have been arrested so far, including three for bribery:

# French president Emmanuel Macron has warned of a shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled, and the only rule that seems to matter is the rule of the strongest. He was speaking at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on Tuesday. Macron criticised what he says is the endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable, even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty. He added that without collective governance, cooperation gives way to relentless competition.

# Cricket: SA20’s fourth season has reached the business end. The two teams finishing on top of the table, two-time champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape, and Pretoria Capitals, will do battle in today’s first qualifier in Durban. The winner goes straight through to Sunday’s final in Cape Town, while the loser gets another chance in Friday’s second qualifier at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. They will face the winner of tomorrow’s eliminator between the third and fourth-placed teams, Paarl Royals and Joburg Super Kings, in Centurion.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-40-cents and the euro at 19-rand-24-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-5-cents and Bitcoin trades at 88-thousand-252-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-759-dollars-87-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-42-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….