News 09:00

BULLETIN 5 January 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A political analyst says the MK Party is becoming more popular in South Africa
# National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is cleared of improper conduct
# And, Darts: Teenage sensation Luke Littler is selected for Premier League Darts

# Political analyst Ebrahim Harvey says the uMkhonto weSizwe Party is becoming more popular in South Africa since the former president, Jacob Zuma announced that he would not be voting for the ANC in this year’s elections but for the MK Party instead. Ebrahim says Zuma’s calling on ANC members and his followers to vote for the MK party, is bound to create huge confusion among the ruling party and MK members and followers, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where the former president still has a huge following:

# 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 Public Protector has cleared National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula of improper conduct in response to a complaint by the former Public Enterprises director-general. Kgathatso Tlhakudi alleged minister Pravin Gordhan was involved in an improper transaction related to the sale of South African Airways. Tlhakudi complained that Mapisa-Nqakula had not acted promptly on a protected disclosure he made in 2022. The Public Protector found no improper conduct or maladministration on Mapisa-Nqakula’s part and noted that she had referred the matter to the Public Enterprises portfolio committee.

# Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has outlined proposals for the future governance of Gaza once the war between Israel and Hamas is over. He said Hamas would no longer control Gaza and Israel would retain overall security control. Meanwhile US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due back in the region this week for talks with Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank and Israeli leaders. His visit comes amid heightened tensions following the assassination of top Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri on Tuesday. His killing has widely been blamed on Israel, who neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

# Luke Littler has been selected for Premier League Darts following his fairytale run to the final of the PDC World Championship. Only eight players contest the 16-week series and the 16-year-old, who was beaten 7-4 by Luke Humphries in Wednesday’s final, has been included. World number one Humphries is also involved and will make his debut in the competition. The tournament begins in Cardiff on 1 February. Littler, who will be 17 when the event begins, will be the youngest player ever to compete in the Premier League.

# And 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-640-dollars-56-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-43-dollars-77-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-97-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….