News 09:00

BULLETIN 20 January 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA questions a tourism board appointment by minister De Lille
# The IFP demands accountability following the deadly Vanderbijlpark crash
# And, the Italian fashion designer Valentino has died at 93

# The DA says the appointment of Khomotso Brian Mosehla to the South African Tourism board raises serious concerns about Tourism minister Patricia de Lille’s commitment to proper governance. The party’s Haseena Ismail says Mosehla was previously an empowerment partner of Cash Paymaster Services, the company that was unlawfully awarded the South African Social Security Agency social grants contract in 2012. She says this appointment comes on the back of a series of decisions that have already undermined SA Tourism’s credibility:

# The International Monetary Fund projects South Africa’s economy to grow by 1.4-percent this year, a slight upward revision from earlier forecasts of 1.2-percent, rising marginally to 1.5-percent in 2027. The outlook places the country at the weaker end of emerging market performance. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF says South Africa’s slow economic recovery remains vulnerable to global shocks, policy uncertainty, and long-standing structural constraints. The IMF expects the global economy to expand by 3.3-percent this year.

# The IFP is calling for a comprehensive and urgent investigation into the deadly accident involving a truck and a scholar transport minibus in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, on Tuesday. The driver of the minibus attempted to overtake multiple vehicles before colliding head-on with an oncoming truck, claiming the lives of 14 learners. The IFP’s Nhlanhla Hadebe says vehicle owners, operators, and transport companies must be held fully liable where negligence, overloading, or non-compliance is identified:

# Soccer: African governing body CAF promised appropriate action following the chaos during Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations final in Morocco. Members of Senegal’s team left the field after the referee awarded a penalty to the hosts. They only returned after 20-minutes and eventually won 1-0 in extra time to lift the trophy. The president of the world governing body FIFA, Giovanni Infantino, also condemned the incident, saying teams must compete on the pitch and within the laws, because anything else puts the game’s essence at risk.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-38-cents and the euro at 19-rand-10-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-1-cent, and Bitcoin trades at 92-thousand-139-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-685-dollars-10-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-52-cents a barrel.

# And finally, Italian fashion legend and mogul, Valentino Garavani, has passed away at the age of 93. Known by the mononym Valentino, he founded his fashion house in 1960 and adopted the signature colour “Valentino red”, which helped elevate his brand to global fame. He was known for dressing the world’s most famous women, from Princess Diana to Audrey Hepburn, to Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey and Gwyneth Paltrow. Valentino will be lying in state at Rome’s Piazza Mignanelli tomorrow and Thursday, and his funeral will be on Friday.

Stay tuned for more news………….