News 08:00

BULLETIN 9 December 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# RISE Mzansi says South Africa is sitting on an electricity and economic timebomb
# The ANC Youth League in Gauteng will elect new leaders for the first time in 10 years
# And Joe Biden says the fall of the Assad regime is a historic opportunity

# RISE Mzansi says Electricity and Energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s statement that municipalities are owed 347.6-billion-rand by consumers; and municipalities in turn are owing Eskom 90-billion-rand, is creating a timebomb that if unattended can weaken the economy even further. RISE Mzansi’s Makashule Gana says this is more than the combined 2024/2025 budgets for the critical Departments of Police, Health and Basic Education, and Higher Education, with billions of rands to spare:

# Social Development minister Sisi Tolashe says the National Development Agency has her full support, however, it is on condition that the goals that have been set are met. The minister convened a meeting with the agency’s board to address immediate issues, including that the NDA has operated without a permanent CEO since 2021. Thabani Buthelezi is the current acting CEO. Tolashe says she cannot advocate for an entity that does not meet expectations and does not respond to the needs of the poor.

# The ANC Youth League in Gauteng is set to elect new leadership after ten years during its provincial congress in Boksburg starting today. The league has the challenge of rebuilding branches and holding regional and provincial meetings before the ninth of February 2025. Youth League president, Collen Malatji, says the young people of Gauteng must elect its leadership and give them executive powers to do their work:

# US president Joe Biden says the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime is a fundamental act of justice. Syrian anti-government rebels declared they had ousted al-Assad after seizing control of Damascus on Sunday, ending his family’s decades of autocratic rule after more than 13 years of civil war. Al-Assad and his family have fled to Russia. Biden says the fall of the regime is also a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future:

# Motorsport: Lando Norris won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and secured McLaren’s first Formula One constructors’ championship in 26 years. The Briton led the race from start to finish to claim his fourth win of the season, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finishing second and third respectively. Lewis Hamilton took fourth place in his final race for Mercedes with his teammate George Russel in fifth. Norris says this is an incredible achievement for the team:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-3-cents and the euro at 19-rand-7-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-99-cents and Bitcoin trades at 99-thousand-242-dollars-4-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-633-dollars-30-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….