News 09:00

BULLETIN 17 January 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The ANC gets the largest share of five-million-rand allocated by the IEC to parties in Parliament
# The economist Thabi Leoka refutes claims of false PhD qualifications
# And rugby, five women are included on Saru’s national match official panel

# The Independent Electoral Commission has allocated five-million-rand to political parties represented in Parliament, with the ANC being the biggest party receiving the largest share. This is in line with regulations governing the multi-party democracy fund. The IEC told News24 that the money will be allocated to each party under the formula of proportional share which is 67-percent and equitable share which is 33-percent. It says the formula of proportional share is based on the number of seats or representation that the party has in the National Assembly and provincial legislature.

# Esteemed economist Thabi Leoka has strongly denied accusations of misrepresenting her doctoral qualifications and has vowed to take legal action. Business Day reported she allegedly lied about having a PhD from the London School of Economics. Leoka serves on boards of Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed companies and was appointed by president Cyril Ramaphosa to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council. She disputes reports linking her departure from the Remgro board to these claims, citing health reasons instead. Leoka attributes discrepancies in the search for her PhD record.

# ActionSA says it takes note of the EFF’s deliberate mischaracterisation of the advent of the position of deputy mayor in the City of Tshwane concerning the financial position of the metro. The EFF has argued that the creation of the position of deputy mayor should not have been passed by the council as the metro has no funds to support this position. ActionSA’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, says the EFF’s manufactured outrage on this matter is thinly-guised politicking:

# Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane has strongly condemned the continued taxi violence in the province. In the latest incident, three people were shot dead while five others were injured when two taxi associations engaged in a shootout at the Port St Johns taxi rank yesterday. An eleven-year-old boy was among those wounded after he was hit by a stray bullet and was rushed to hospital. The premier’s spokesperson, Yanga Funani, says such lawlessness cannot be tolerated:

# Rugby: A record number of five women have been included on SA Rugby’s national match official panel for this year. They are Aimee Barret-Theron, Ashley Murray-Pretorius, Sinesipho Foloti, Giana Viljoen and Zoë Naudé. Two men, Eon van Zyl and Daniel Canhenga, were promoted from the academy panel to the national panel. Referees manager Banks Yantolo says their identification programmes in the provincial unions are bearing fruit as they continue to work hard with potential top-level match officials with intensive coaching and enhancement.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-98-cents and the euro at 20-rand-64-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-97-cents and Bitcoin trades at 42-thousand-804-dollars-93-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-25-dollars-16-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-70-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….