News 09:00

BULLETIN 19 December 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa prioritised asset recovery within the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group
# The Tourism minister acknowledges that safety concerns could deter tourists
# And the Australian government is to introduce a national buyback scheme for firearms

# Justice and Constitutional Development minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi, says South Africa, under its G20 Presidency, prioritised asset recovery within the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group. As of August 2025, the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority secured a total of eight-thousand-456 freezing orders, with an estimated value of 31.3-billion-rand. Speaking at a conference in Qatar, Kubayi says the working group developed high-level principles on the administration of seized and confiscated assets:

# Tourism minister Patricia de Lille says government has partnered with the private sector and law enforcement agencies to strengthen tourism safety measures. Countries, including the US, Canada, and China, have issued travel advisories warning their citizens about crime in South Africa. De Lille says for the festive season, her department has provided over 202 safety monitors deployed to the Border Management Authority, and at least 40 have been deployed at the OR Tambo International Airport. The minister says that despite ongoing safety challenges, the tourism sector has shown strong growth.

# The Freedom Front Plus says the High Court in Pretoria’s dismissal of the City of Tshwane’s attempt to have private fire-fighting services declared unlawful is a resounding victory for community safety. The metro had attempted to interdict Fidelity SecureFire from providing firefighting services. FF Plus’ Grandi Theunissen says this failed legal application is a direct consequence of the ANC/EFF/ActionSA coalition’s poor governance:

# Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has announced a new national gun buyback scheme to purchase surplus, newly banned, and illegal firearms. This is in the wake of Sunday’s Bondi Beach shooting, which left 15 people dead. The scheme is the largest since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which left 35 people dead. Albanese says there are now more than four million firearms in the country, more than at the time of the Port Arthur massacre:

# Sports Personality 2025: Golfer Rory McIlroy has been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025. The Northern Irishman became just the sixth man and first European to achieve the career Grand Slam when he won the Masters in April. Team Europe won Team of the Year for their Ryder Cup success. Sarina Wiegman, who guided England’s Women’s soccer team to successive European Championship titles, won Coach of the Year. For the second successive year, the World Sport Star of the Year went to Swedish pole vault Armand Duplantis.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-74-cents and the euro at 19-rand-62-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-39-cents and Bitcoin trades at 87-thousand-74-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-317-dollars-26-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 59-dollars-37-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….