News 09:00

BULLETIN 3 September 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA calls for the disbandment of the Government Pensions Administration Agency 
# Parliament’s Basic Education committee welcomes efforts to eliminate pay for posts and ghost teachers
# And the US House committee releases over 33-thousand pages of Jeffrey Epstein-related files

# The DA is calling for the disbandment of the Government Pensions Administration Agency, arguing that its work should be taken over by the Government Employees Pension Fund, to protect pensions and taxpayers. The agency has been implicated in reports of procurement irregularities, including allegedly awarding a 500-million-rand biometric contract to a company without any directors. The DA’s Willie Aucamp says the targeting of whistleblowers, who exposed alleged looting at the agency, is unacceptable:

# Parliament’s portfolio committee on Basic Education has commended the Education Labour Relations Council for its work in verifying educators across the country. Last month, the council started its investigation at more than 22-thousand public schools to identify ghost teachers, and probe allegations involving the sale of teacher posts. Teacher posts are allegedly being sold for as much as 25-thousand-rand per post. Committee chairperson, Joy Maimela, says ensuring every person on the payroll is a legitimate teacher or departmental official will eliminate financial losses.

# The Freedom Front Plus says a thorough analysis of the Ekurhuleni Municipality’s unaudited annual report and financial statements for 2024/2025 reveals serious shortcomings in governance, service delivery and financial accountability. The report indicates that the metro reached only 79-percent of its targets, with 21-percent completely unmet. The FF Plus’ Denise Janse van Rensburg says the Finance Department achieved only 56-percent of its targets, despite an annual budget exceeding 50-billion-rand:

# The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee has released over 33-thousand pages of Jeffrey Epstein-related files it had received from the Justice Department. These include flight logs, jail surveillance video, court filings, audio recordings and emails. Disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Top Democrat on the committee, Robert Garcia, says 97-percent of the documents released are already public:

# Cricket: Australian captain Pat Cummins should be fit for the start of the Ashes Series against England despite a back issue. The injury means he will miss next month’s three T20s in New Zealand and a one-day and a T20 series against India at home. The first of the five Ashes Tests starts in Perth on the 21st of November. Cummins took 18 wickets in the previous series in England which ended in a draw, with Australia retaining the Ashes.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-71-cents and the euro at 20-rand-60-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-67-cents and Bitcoin trades at 110-thousand-989-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-535-dollars-32-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-76-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….