News 06:00

BULLETIN 23 October 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says political disputes must not disrupt municipal services
# South African Airways runs late with the payment of salaries for the second consecutive month
# And cricket: Temba Bavuma is proud of the Proteas

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says political disputes and instability must not disrupt essential municipal services. In his address at the launch of the revised white paper on local government at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Ramaphosa said municipalities must continue providing reliable water, electricity and other basic services, regardless of political differences. He warned residents must not be held hostage by political instability:

# The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources welcomes a High Court judgment in Johannesburg protecting funds set aside for mine rehabilitation and environmental restoration. The department says the ruling reinforces the principle that these funds must be used for their intended purpose and protected from competing commercial interests. It adds that mining companies must take responsibility for the environmental impact of their operations, ensuring the state and taxpayers are not left to cover the cost of environmental damage.

# South African Airways says it is operating in a challenging and volatile aviation environment, with geopolitical developments contributing to increased operating costs, particularly fuel. This comes as the state-owned airline has reportedly informed its staff that their salaries for October will be paid late for the second consecutive month. SAA spokesperson Mphilo Dlamini told TimesLive that management has fully engaged employees on this matter and explained that the measures being taken are to manage the sustainability of the business and its ability to continue operating.

# The Public Protector has launched an investigation into the City of Tshwane over the Bronkhorstspruit water crisis after 408 people fell ill. The probe follows complaints from the EFF and Freedom Front Plus alleging the city failed to chlorinate water between 24 September and 14 October and did not warn residents that it could be unsafe to drink. Spokesperson Oupa Segalwe says the water treatment plant has been temporarily decommissioned for cleaning and disinfection:

# Companies and governments worldwide are racing to patch critical security flaws in PHP, a programming language used to run websites. Cybersecurity firm Cloudflare has reported millions of attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities since details became public. The flaws could allow attackers to run malicious code on vulnerable servers without logging in. Several countries have temporarily taken websites offline while applying security measures. In South Africa, more than nine-thousand-800 internet-connected servers were found running PHP, although no local government breach linked to these flaws has been confirmed.

# Cricket: Proteas captain Temba Bavuma says he is proud of how the team rallied together to win the rain-affected second Test against Australia in Gqeberha. South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs to set up a series decider in Cape Town next week. Standout performances included Bavuma’s career-best 179, and fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, who took a combined 12 wickets. Bavuma says impressive all-round individual performances make his job as captain much easier:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-47-cents and the euro at 18-rand-49-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-9-cents and Bitcoin trades at 81-thousand-265-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-31-dollars-82-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 113-dollars-95-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….