News 06:00

BULLETIN 15 February 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Motsoaledi addresses tourism issues and the visa policy
# The Special Investigation Unit labels the National Lottery Commission as a criminal enterprise
# And, Israel orders the largest hospital in southern Gaza to be evacuated

# Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the recently published white paper on citizenship, immigration, and refugee legislation will completely overhaul the immigration system. Speaking during the State of the Nation address debate, he acknowledged confusion caused by last year’s directive, insisting it was meant to be internal. The white paper was introduced to establish a process for foreign nationals to obtain residency and citizenship. Motsoaledi says 32 countries no longer require tourist visas for South Africa:

# The head of the Special Investigating Unit, Andy Mothibi, has branded the National Lotteries Commission a criminal enterprise. The unit uncovered a 1.4-billion-rand collusion network involving lottery officials, ex-board members, lawyers, and non-profits over three years. Celebrities like actress Terry Pheto and musician Arthur Mafokate have also had their properties seized in recovery efforts.  Mothibi stresses the need for meticulous scrutiny, revealing how funding meant for crèches was diverted to people and firms, leaving beneficiaries deprived. An interim report is due by month-end.

# Action Society has vowed to protect victims and calls for the removal of corrupt police officials, starting from the top with minister Bheki Cele. They advocate for police reform and are intensifying efforts to purge the South African Police Service of criminal elements. The organisation revealed a disconcerting statistic of three-thousand-981 police members facing serious criminal charges. Action Society’s Ian Cameron says the eight blue light police members allegedly involved in the brutal assault of a motorist in Johannesburg remain employed:

# A 23-year-old US citizen, Phillips Olagoke Allen Bakare, was stabbed to death on Friday morning at the popular Green Point Backpackers in Cape Town. Bakare was in Cape Town on a church missionary trip.  The American church group he was with had already made its way back to the US just days before his murder. According to eyewitnesses he had an altercation with the 27-year-old Gedeon Tshimowa. Tshimowa is a Congolese national and already appeared in court on a charge of murder. The case was postponed to 27 February.

# Palestinians say Israeli forces have ordered thousands of displaced people to evacuate the Nasser Medical Complex, the largest hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military said it had opened a secure route for civilians but did not intend to evacuate patients and medics. The United Nations says the hospital has been under siege for around a week and is only minimally functional. The Israeli military has previously accused Hamas fighters of operating from inside and around hospitals, a claim that the armed group and medical officials have denied.

# Motorsport: Lewis Hamilton admitted he was emotional at the launching of his Mercedes for the new Formula One season. He announced recently he will leave at the end of the year to join Ferrari, saying the prospect of driving in the famous red car was just too hard to turn down.  The British driver won six of his seven world champion titles since joining Mercedes in 2013, but couldn’t win a race in the past two seasons. He said he was mega-motivated to change that this year.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-6-cents and the euro at 20-rand-45-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-95-cents and Bitcoin trades at 51-thousand-974-dollars-17-cents. Gold sells at one-thousand-992-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-26-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….