News 07:00

BULLETIN 16 October 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Special Investigation Unit claws back a record eight-billion-rand for the state
# The DA submits corruption charges against the Free State premier
# And president Ramaphosa declares an official funeral for Tito Mboweni

# The Special Investigating Unit says it has recovered a record eight-billion-rand for the government during the 2023/2024 financial year. This is a result of effective investigations, speedy litigation, and recovery processes. The bulk of the recoveries come from investigations into Transnet, Eskom, and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. SIU head, Andy Mothibi, says they have also successfully set aside contracts and administrative action worth over 2.13-billion-rand through the Special Tribunal and the High Court of South Africa:

# The Congress of South African Trade Unions has condemned the Department of Water and Sanitation for failing to utilise funds allocated to eradicate bucket toilets in the Free State and Northern Cape. Despite a five-year target to replace over 12-thousand toilets, only one-thousand-200 have been upgraded. The Auditor General revealed that just 12-million-rand of the allocated 504-million-rand was spent. The federation demands accountability and swift action to restore community dignity, calling the delays a violation of basic human rights.

# The DA has filed an affidavit with the Hawks, citing serious corruption allegations against Free State premier MaQueen Letsoa-Mathae. DA provincial leader Roy Jankielsohn revealed WhatsApp messages from New Beginnings CEO Patrick Phuti implicating the premier, her husband, and other officials. Jankielsohn says the allegations include misuse of public funds, payments for ANC events, and irregular road project dealings:

# US president Joe Biden’s administration has written a letter to the Israeli government giving it 30 days to urgently boost humanitarian aid access in Gaza, or risk violating US laws governing foreign military assistance. The letter was jointly written by Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin. The US has ordered Israel to implement humanitarian pauses across Gaza over the next month and allow people within the designated Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone inside Gaza to move inland before winter.

# Cricket: Proteas player Aiden Markram describes being captain of the Test side as a dream come true. The white ball captain will lead South Africa in the first Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur from the 21st. Injured skipper Temba Bavuma travelled with the Proteas to Bangladesh yesterday with the hope to be fit for the second Test in Chattagram from the 29th. Markram says he’d been dreaming of leading South Africa since he was a child and will lean on his experience in the shorter formats.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-62-cents and the euro at 19-rand-20-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-4-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-438-dollar-30-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-668-dollars-80-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-40-cents a barrel

# And finally: President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a Special Official Funeral Category 2 for former Finance minister and Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni. He passed away last Saturday after a short illness at the age of 65. On Saturday, his funeral will be held at the Nkowankowa Stadium in Tzaneen, Limpopo. Ramaphosa has directed that the national flag be flown at half-mast at all flag stations from today until the evening of the funeral.

Stay tuned for more news………….