News 07:00

BULLETIN 8 January 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA accuses ActionSA of being hypocritical over its blue light brigade
# Meta is getting rid of its fact-checkers over political bias
# And motorsport: Henk Lategan extends his overall lead in the Dakar rally

# The DA says all ministerial vehicles for its cabinet ministers are inherited from the previous administration, and the ministers themselves have strictly blocked the acquisition of new vehicles. ActionSA has criticised Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen after he conceded to using blue-light-fitted luxury SUVs valued at nearly three million Rand for his security detail. The DA says in their rush to play cheap politics, ActionSA has also exposed its own hypocrisy, as when he was Johannesburg mayor, leader Herman Mashaba made use of a mayoral convoy of vehicles.

# The MK Party says ArcelorMittal South Africa’s decision to close its Newcastle and Vereeniging operations reflects the absence of a government capable of safeguarding the country’s strategic industries. The closure threatens the jobs of around three-thousand-500 workers. The MK Party calls for immediate policy interventions, including prohibiting cheap steel imports to protect local industries and create jobs. It adds that Parliament’s portfolio committees on Transport and Trade, Industry, and Competition must urgently intervene to avoid the closure of ArcelorMittal’s operations.

# ActionSA has thrown its weight behind Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya in her legal battle to address a South African Local Bargaining Council ruling. The council ordered the reinstatement of officials suspended over the unlawful awarding of a tender to businessman Edwin Sodi in 2019, citing procedural flaws. ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont blames the previous DA-led administration under former mayor Cilliers Brink for procedural errors and supports the city’s plan to seek legal advice:

# Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi says plans to revamp the flooded General De La Rey Hospital in the North West are in place, but just awaiting approval. The minister visited the hospital in Lichtenburg on Tuesday, where 30 patients were relocated due to flooding. It’s the third hospital in the province to be affected by heavy rains in the past week. Motsoaledi says floods in the facility were worsened by poor drainage systems in Lichtenburg:

# Meta says it will adjust its content review policies on Facebook and Instagram, getting rid of fact-checkers and replacing them with user-generated community notes. US president-elect Donald Trump and his Republican allies have criticised Meta for its fact-checking policy, calling it censorship of right-wing voices. The company has more than three-billion users globally. Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, says getting rid of fact-checkers will mean more freedom of expression:

# Motorsport: Nineteen-year-old South African, Saood Variawa, won stage three of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah in Saudi Arabia. Variawa reached the finish line with a 23-second margin to become the youngest Dakar stage winner in the top car category. Another South African, Henk Lategan, who finished the stage in 12th place has managed to hold on to the overall lead, ahead of Qatar’s five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mattias Ekstrom of Sweden. Lategan says he had a decent race:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-70-cents and the euro at 19-rand-36-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-991-dollar-10-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-648-dollars-45-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-17-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….