News 08:00

BULLETIN 13 January 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# An education activist is concerned by the selling of matric results before the deadline
# A tribunal finds Judge Nana Makhubele guilty of gross misconduct
# And Zelenskyy offers to release captured North Korean soldiers in exchange for Ukrainian soldiers

# Education activist, Hendrick Makaneta, is calling on the Department of Basic Education to clarify its position regarding the selling of the 2024 matric results by a private company. Edumarks claims that matrics can view their final results early on their website, for a fee of 100-rand. This is even before the department has officially released the results. Makaneta says this raises serious questions about how Edumarks gained access to such sensitive information, and whether the results being sold are authentic:

# A judicial conduct tribunal has found suspended Gauteng judge Nana Makhubele guilty of gross misconduct. Her conduct as the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s interim board chairperson was also found to be equally unethical. The tribunal ruled her conduct, including approving a secret 56-million-rand settlement with the Siyaya group of companies and sidelining Prasa’s legal team, was dishonest and unethical. The tribunal’s findings, which could result in Makhubele’s impeachment, will now be considered by the Judicial Service Commission.

# Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, has cautioned unregistered scholar transport operators to comply with operating licensing regulations or face the full might of the law. This is as schools are set to reopen for the 2025 academic year on Wednesday. The department’s spokesperson, Lesiba Mpya, says they have issued a notice to all scholar transport operators to ensure they operate legally and that vehicles are roadworthy:

# Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is willing to release North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia, in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war in Moscow. Two soldiers were captured in Kursk on Saturday, the scene of intense fighting since Ukraine launched a cross-border raid five months ago. Zelenskyy says there should be no doubt left in the world that the Russian army is dependent on military assistance from North Korea. It is estimated that eleven-thousand North Korean troops are deployed in Kursk.

# Soccer: Orlando Pirates have secured their place in the CAF Champions League quarterfinals with a game to spare in Group C, following a two-one win over Algerian side CR Belouizdad in Soweto. Goals by Relebohile Mofokeng and Thalente Mbatha were enough for the Soweto giants to bag maximum points. Pirates coach, Jose Riveiro, says they played intending to win from the beginning of the match:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-12-cents and the euro at 19-rand-55-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-23-cents and Bitcoin trades at 94-thousand-223-dollars-5-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-687-dollars-47-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-94-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….