News 08:00

BULLETIN 5 January 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Outa calls for the resignation of minister Blade Nzimande and the NSFAS chairperson
# Athletics, the Blade Runner might not be able to compete once released
# And, the Mary Poppins actress Glynis Johns has died

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, Outa is calling for the resignation of Higher Education, Science and Technology minister, Blade Nzimande and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme board chairperson, Ernest Khosa. The organisation has released voice recordings of two meetings between Khosa and a representative of a service provider, Thulani Ntumba, which reveal how service providers allegedly paid millions of rand in kickbacks to Nzimande and Khosa, as well as at least one-million-rand to the South African Communist Party. Outa’s Rudie Heyneke says this was done in return for tenders and protection for service providers:

# The African Transformation Movement expressed its deep concern regarding the revelation of irregularities in the disbursement of social grants by the South African Social Security Agency. ATM says the reported cases of deceased social grant recipients being wrongly paid not only highlight the vulnerability of the social welfare system, but also serve as a feeding ground for corruption and maladministration. The ATM’s Zama Ntshona says the irregular and fruitless expenses exceeding 31.9-million-rand for the 2023/2024 financial year, are unacceptable in a country facing tight fiscal constraints:

# The Department of Home Affairs has announced its system is back online after being affected by a technical glitch at the State Information Technology Agency. The state-owned SITA provides IT services to public sector bodies. Internal investigations have been instituted to address the crisis. The department’s spokesperson, Siyabulela Qoza, says services are now available to citizens and other clients:

# Athletics: Legal analyst Mpumelelo Zikalala has cast doubt on Oscar Pistorius’s return to competitive athletics. Speaking to Talk 702, Zikalala suggested if the former Paralympic champion was to pursue a return to the sport, he would need permission from the Parole Board. The Blade Runner is set to be released from Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Tshwane today after serving eight years of his 13-year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013. Zikalala says the parole process is geared towards rehabilitation and not any financial advantage.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-70-cents and the euro at 20-rand-46-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 43-thousand-509-dollars-85-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-45-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-88-cents a barrel.

# And finally, Glynis Johns, the actress who played Mrs Banks in the 1964 film Mary Poppins, has died. The British actress who was born in South Africa, was 100 years old. Her manager says she died of natural causes on Thursday, at an assisted living home in Los Angeles. Johns is best known for appearing in Mary Poppins, in which she played suffragette Mrs Winifred Banks, the mother who reconnects with her children thanks to Julie Andrews’ magical nanny. Mary Poppins won five Oscars from 13 nominations and remains one of the most enduringly popular movies made by Walt Disney.

Stay tuned for more news………….