News 07:00

BULLETIN 11 January 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The ACDP says South Africa won’t be able to prove Israel has the necessary genocidal intent
# The City of Cape Town is accused of double standards over the removal of Palestinian graffiti
# And, 71 state-issued firearms vanished from the South African National Defence Force and Correctional Services over five years

# The ACDP believes South Africa will not be able to prove that Israel has the necessary genocidal intent against the Palestinian people as required by the Genocide Convention. The International Court of Justice in The Hague in the Netherlands will hear South Africa’s genocide case against Israel today and tomorrow. ACDP leader, Kenneth Meshoe, says the South African government could have played a far more constructive role in influencing Hamas to release hostages, to bring about lasting peace in the Middle East:

# The Palestine Solidarity Campaign and African Artists Against Apartheid strongly condemn the City of Cape Town’s removal of Palestinian flag murals in communities affected by apartheid and forced removals. The move sparked outrage, with critics highlighting the swift action to erase pro-Palestinian messages while ignoring longstanding gang violence graffiti. Experts suggest the city’s actions may violate its by-laws. The DA-led metro faces accusations of hypocrisy in handling solidarity acts and favouring certain international causes over Palestine. The organisations plan to challenge graffiti by-laws to protect community rights.

# The DA has revealed forensic chemistry laboratories across Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Pretoria face a toxicology backlog of 37-thousand-962 outstanding tests. Health minister Joe Phaahla responded to a DA parliamentary question and cited issues like inadequate infrastructure, broken equipment, load-shedding, water supply problems, the Covid-19 pandemic, and human resources shortages as contributors to the backlog. The DA’s Michele Clarke seeks answers on the National Health Laboratory Service’s efforts to expand toxicology capacity:

# At least 71 state-issued firearms vanished from the South African National Defence Force and Correctional Services over the past five years. According to parliamentary responses, 53 SANDF firearms and 18 of the department’s firearms were either stolen or lost. Six-thousand-808 rounds of ammunition disappeared from the SANDF, and 295 rounds from the department during the same period. While Correctional Services reported all incidents to police, no arrests were made. Internal disciplinary actions resulted in 19 guilty officials, with two dismissals.

# Rugby: The Rugby Football Union has introduced stricter punishment for players and coaches abusing referees in England. This as 49-percent of match officials surveyed by the union have said they have been subjected to abuse in recent seasons. Anyone found guilty at any level of the game in England will now have a minimum addition of two, three or four weeks added to their punishment depending on the entry-level of their offence. Fines, letters of apology and refereeing courses will still be available to disciplinary panels as they consider judgments.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-64-cents and the euro at 20-rand-48-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 46-thousand-550-dollars-5-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-31-dollars-61-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-8-cents a barrel.

# And finally, the films Oppenheimer and Barbie lead the nominations for the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards. They both received four nominations, including for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Succession scored the most television nominations with five, followed closely behind by Ted Lasso, The Bear and The Last of Us. Actors including Margot Robbie for Barbie, Bradley Cooper for Maestro and Emma Stone for Poor Things have also been nominated. The SAG Awards will stream live globally on Netflix, a first for the show on the 24th of February.

Stay tuned for more news………….