News 07:00

BULLETIN 23 October 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Government departments squandered 1.4-billion-rand
# ActionSA slams the government over illegal immigration costs
# And the US says Israel must capitalise on the death of the Hamas leader

# The Office of the Auditor-General says over the last five years, 36 government departments incurred irregular and wasteful expenditures of 1.48-billion-rand. State-owned entities incurred more than two-billion-rand. The departments of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Basic Education, Police, Tourism, and Treasury were some of the big contributors to wasteful and irregular expenditure. AG’s head of audit, Bongi Ngoma, told Parliament’s standing committee on Appropriations, that some of the main SOE culprits were SAA, Transnet, and the Post Office:

# ActionSA has condemned the government for wasting 200-million-rand on deporting illegal immigrants since 2022. ActionSA’s Lerato Ngobeni criticised the low deportation figures at 83-thousand-731 versus the past average of 133-thousand annually. Ngobeni argues that taxpayers unfairly bear the burden of deportation, housing, and healthcare costs for undocumented foreigners. Ngobeni also highlights the disparity between deportation costs of two-thousand-700 per person and inadequate funding for pensions and child grants. She demands immediate government action to secure borders and stop the misuse of public funds.

# The Khampepe Commission of Inquiry into the Usindiso Building fire, which killed 77 people in August 2022, has heard that national and provincial governments must be held accountable. The South African Human Rights Commission’s Palesa Sekate emphasised that blaming only the City of Johannesburg is inadequate. She urged authorities to address the housing crisis to prevent future tragedies:

# The Hawks have launched an investigation into corruption and money laundering allegations against Free State premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae and her husband Mangaung Council Speaker, Lawrence Mathae. The probe centres around a questionable tender process for a multi-million-rand construction project, from which the couple and other individuals allegedly benefited through substantial payments and lavish gifts. Payments and gifts included one-million-rand in cash to the couple and a Mercedes-Benz V300 Class. The ANC is reportedly contemplating disciplinary action against the two.

# US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to capitalise on the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, by ending the war in Gaza and bringing hostages home. Blinken, who met with the prime minister in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, made it clear that the US believes that Israel must do more to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Netanyahu described the meeting as friendly and productive, adding that they also discussed the Iranian threat.

# Tennis: Iga Swiatek from Poland confirmed her participation in next month’s Billie Jean King Cup in Málaga, Spain. She will also play in the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from the second of November. This will be her first tournament since the US Open in August, where she lost to local player Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinal. Swiatek then decided to miss the WTA Tour’s Asian leg due to fatigue, leading to her surrendering the top world ranking to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-53-cents and the euro at 16-rand-94-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-77-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-166-dollar-67-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-738-dollars-62-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-80-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….