News 09:00

BULLETIN 22 November 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Police are investigating threats against the CEO of the Public Protector
# The DA says the budget constraints have resulted in an overload for social workers
# And Putin says Russia struck a Ukrainian city with a new mid-range ballistic missile

# Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka says police are investigating threats made to the Chapter 9 institution’s CEO Thandi Sibanyoni. The threats are over the ten-million-rand gratuity that former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane claims she is owed. Last month, Gcaleka told Parliament that Mkhwebane’s husband David Skosana made threatening calls and sent messages to Sibanyoni. She says among the text messages sent, one was from an unknown number to Sibanyoni threatening her sons if she did not pay Mkhwebane.

# The DA says it is concerning that social and auxiliary social workers are forced to handle an average of 100 cases each month, about 40 more than the ideal caseload. This is due to budget constraints hampering the filling of critical posts. The DA’s, Bridget Masango, says as of 30 June 2024, the Department of Social Development had only 44-thousand-525 social workers, and nine-thousand-652 child and youth care auxiliary workers:

# The City of Cape Town has declared a formal intergovernmental dispute over what it describes as the unconstitutional and unlawful District Development Model regulations. The regulations came into effect in May this year under the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the regulations mandate each municipality to draw up a One Plan for approval by the minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, which will be adopted by cabinet:

# Russian president Vladimir Putin says his forces used a new mid-range ballistic missile with a non-nuclear hypersonic warhead to strike the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday. He says the strike was in response to Ukraine using American and British long-range weapons to hit targets inside Russia. Putin says Moscow is entitled to strike military targets of countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russia. He adds that they are prepared to respond decisively and symmetrically in the event of an escalation.

# Soccer: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has signed a two-year contract extension that will see him at the club until 2027. His contract was due to expire at the end of the season. The 53-year-old Spaniard joined City in 2016 and has won 18 trophies, including six Premier League titles. This contract extension comes on the back of defeats to Tottenham, Brighton, Sporting and Bournemouth. Guardiola says his focus is to win more trophies with City:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-7-cents and the euro at 18-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-75-cents and Bitcoin trades at 98-thousand-855-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-688-dollars-18-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-91-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….