News 08:00

BULLETIN 11 February 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Patriotic Alliance leader calls for vengeance against the M23 rebels
# Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is facing expulsion from the MK Party
# And Trump says all hell will break out if Hamas does not return all hostages by Saturday

# Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie has called for vengeance against the M23 rebels responsible for the deaths of 14 South African National Defence Force soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In an urgent Parliamentary debate, McKenzie expressed his condolences to the fallen soldiers’ families. He criticised members of Parliament who claimed to be commanders-in-chief and challenged them to fight alongside the soldiers:

# The MK Party has condemned the social media posts by Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla insulting the party’s secretary general Floyd Shivambu. In posts on X, Zuma-Sambudla rejected Shivambu’s leadership saying he is the worst thing to happen to the MK Party. The party’s president Jacob Zuma has ordered his daughter Zuma-Sambudla to publicly apologise to Shivambu and all structures she serves in or leads. Zuma says failure to comply with this directive will result in her membership being terminated and her recall from all party responsibilities including Parliament.

# The City of Cape Town says resources are in place to boost visible policing efforts in Nyanga. Thirteen taxis, four sprinter buses and a civilian vehicle were gutted when a fire ripped through the Nyanga taxi rank on Sunday night. Police are investigating a case of arson. Mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says this incident comes just weeks after a deadly shooting at the rank that resulted in more than a dozen arrests:

# US president Donald Trump has suggested that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas should be cancelled if all the hostages held in Gaza are not returned by Saturday. This comes after Hamas said it was postponing the next hostage release until further notice, accusing Israel of breaking the ceasefire deal. Since the ceasefire began on 19 January, 16 Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released in exchange for 566 Palestinian prisoners. Trump also expressed scepticism that many hostages remain alive to be released:

# Tennis: Five-time Grand Slam champion, Iga Swiatek, is through to the round of 16 of the Qatar Open as she continues her bid for a fourth straight title in Doha. The world number two from Poland defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari, 6-3, 6-2. Russian tenth seed Daria Kasatkina demolished compatriot Polina Kudermetova, 6-0, 6-0 in just 42-minutes, making this one of the quickest WTA matches ever. Czech youngster Linda Noskova knocked out 15th seed Croatian Donna Vekic, 6-2, 6-4.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-45-cents and the euro at 19-rand-1-cent. One British pound costs 22-rand-80-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-949-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-924-dollars-72-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-81-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….