News 06:00

BULLETIN 14 February 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa urgently appeals to the International Court of Justice about the Rafah offensive
# The Public Protector’s Office tells Busisiwe Mkhwebane she is not entitled to her ten-million-rand gratuity
# And rugby, the Boks aren’t available for the weekend’s United Rugby Championship derbies

# South Africa says Israel’s offensive in Rafah poses a serious and irreparable breach of the Genocide Convention. The government has lodged an urgent petition to the International Court of Justice to invoke provisional measures to prevent the imminent breach of Palestinians’ rights. Concerns have heightened over Israel’s military operations in the last refuge for Gaza’s surviving population. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says government urges swift action to prevent further harm amidst a rising death toll in Gaza:

# South Africa’s bid to exit the greylisting faces hurdles due to a lack of cooperation among companies. The Financial Intelligence Centre has cited legal and property practitioners as problematic sectors, failing to fully engage in risk assessments mandated by the Financial Action Task Force. The centre emphasises the importance of meeting the task force’s requirements, warning of reputational risks, and questioning the effectiveness of supervision. Cooperation is urged to combat money laundering and meet the May 24 timeline for improved oversight.

# The Office of the Public Protector has reportedly informed impeached former Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, that she does not qualify to receive her gratuity payment because of how she left office. Mkhwebane is claiming at least a ten-million-rand in gratuity payment following her removal from office by president Cyril Ramaphosa in September 2023. The office of the Public Protector is said to have told Mkhwebane that it could not find a law in either the Constitution or the Public Protector Act, under which it could justify making the payment.

# Cape Town’s former DA mayor, Dan Plato, has joined the People’s Movement for Change. He resigned from the DA to join the PMC, led by the ANC’s former Western Cape leader, Marius Fransman. Plato was mayor for two years from May 2009 and again served in the position from November 2018 until October 2021. In between, he was the province’s MEC for Community Safety. Fransman launched the PMC in November.

# AfriForum Youth has welcomed the North West University’s decision to lift the suspension of final-year student, Shaun Christie. He was suspended last week, after openly criticising the university’s first-year orientation content, particularly LGBTQIA-plus discussions. The youth organisation’s legal team assisted Christie in his disciplinary hearing. AfriForum Youth’s, Ronald Peters, says his suspension is partially lifted as he can participate in academic programmes but is not allowed to attend the university’s public events:

# Rugby: The Springboks aren’t available for the weekend’s two United Rugby Championship matches in South Africa as they are still busy with their resting protocols. The Sharks host the Stormers in Durban while the Lions and the Bulls will do battle in Johannesburg. Stormers coach John Dobson says although he is without Bok stalwarts Manie Libbok, Deon Fourie, and Damian Willemse, the team will be boosted by the return of captain Salmaan Moerat, Evan Roos, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Garry Porter.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-13-cents and the euro at 20-rand-49-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-8-cents and Bitcoin trades at 49-thousand-469-dollars-6-cents. Gold sells at one-thousand-990-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-35-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….