News 08:00

BULLETIN 21 Februarie 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA welcomes the confirmation of the election date
# The EFF says the upcoming elections are an opportunity to end the suffering under the ANC
# And soccer, the next Afcon will be played in the middle of the year

# The DA says the announcement of the election date is a countdown to a historic moment where South Africa has the opportunity to rescue itself from 30 years of ANC failure, corruption, and state capture. President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially announced that the general elections will be held on the 29th of May. DA leader, John Steenhuisen, says this election is a turning point for the country, and it comes at a time when the nation needs it the most:

Meanwhile, the EFF says the upcoming general elections are an opportunity for South Africans to put an end to the misery they have suffered under the incompetent, corrupt and misguided guidance of the ANC.  It says under the ANC all citizens have known were poverty, unemployment, landlessness, economic despair, and load-shedding. The party encourages South Africans to read its manifesto, which it says will alleviate all the socio-economic conditions facing citizens, through practical and believable solutions.

# The National Police Commissioner, Fannie Masemola, has ordered the maximum mobilisation of resources along Gauteng highways and other strategic locations during peak hour traffic. This follows an incident on the M1 North near the Crown Interchange in Johannesburg yesterday, where suspected robbers targeted motorists during peak hour traffic. National police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe, says a manhunt is underway for the suspects:

# The US Justice Department says a former FBI informant accused of lying about president Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and a Ukrainian energy company, had contacts with officials affiliated with Russian intelligence. Alexander Smirnov has been charged for falsely reporting to the FBI in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, paid the president and his son almost 95-million-rand each in 2015 or 2016. In court filings, the department says Smirnov’s contacts with Russian officials were recent and extensive.

# Soccer: The next Africa Cup of Nations will be played in the middle of the year, and not in January as was the case in the last two tournaments. Africa’s governing body, the C-A-F, reportedly reached an agreement with hosts Morocco that it would be played between July and August 2025. The agreement apparently has the support of world governing body FIFA, despite the dates clashing with FIFA’s Club World Cup in North America. Dates for the Afcon qualifiers weren’t announced yet.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-87-cents and the euro at 20-rand-42-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 52-thousand-65-dollars-41-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-29-dollars-92-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….