News 08:00

BULLETIN 22 December 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa still has at least seven bills he needs to sign into law
# A study finds early grade repetition can boost learner performance
# And, the MK Party is going to lay criminal charges against the eThekwini mayor and city manager

# As the end of the year approaches, president Cyril Ramaphosa still has at least seven bills on his desk awaiting his signature. These are the Revenue Laws Amendment Bill and the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill, which are often tabled alongside the budget and the Immigration Amendment Bill. The others are the Public Service Amendment Bill, the Economic Regulation of Transport Amendment Bill, the Public Administration Management Amendment Bill, and the Marine Oil Pollution Bill. The president has, however, signed several bills into law this year, including the controversial Expropriation Act.

# A Stellenbosch University Research report on Socio-Economic Policy states that early grade repetition can boost learner performance and not harm learners. The study, led by researcher Ross Clayton, finds that repeating early grades, particularly Grade 1 or Grade 4, can significantly improve academic outcomes. She emphasised to Newzroom Afrika that the study cautions that repetition should be applied carefully due to capacity and cost constraints in schools:

# The MK Party is set to lay criminal charges against eThekwini mayor, Cyril Xaba, and city manager, Musa Mbhele, at the Durban Central Police Station today. This comes after four Durban beaches were closed due to water contamination from sewage spillage. The party says the sewage spills and failing wastewater infrastructure have caused serious economic harm to tourism, small businesses, and livelihoods, especially during the festive season. It described the beach closures as the latest example of a continued collapse of sewerage and wastewater management.

# US deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, says the Justice Department will continue to review and redact materials from the thousands of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation released since Friday. The department released some new files while also removing more than a dozen others from its website related to Epstein. In an interview on NBC, Blanche defended the decision to remove an image containing a photo of president Donald Trump, saying this was to protect the victims in the picture:

# Cricket: England captain Ben Stokes has praised his side’s resolve despite losing the Ashes series against Australia, but assured that their competitive edge remained intact. Australia secured an unassailable lead of 3-0 with an impressive showing in Adelaide as they won by 82 runs in the third Test. England will now be looking to avoid a series whitewash as they head into the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, beginning on Friday. Stokes says they want to finish the series positively:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-74-cents and the euro at 19-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-42-cents and Bitcoin trades at 88-thousand-617-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-388-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 60-dollars-56-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….