News 09:00

BULLETIN 28 January 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Steenhuisen warns that legal action could derail the foot-and-mouth vaccination
# The police release a preliminary report into the deaths of three officers in the Hennops River
# And, Zelensky condemns a deadly Russian drone attack on a passenger train

# Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, has expressed concern at the legal letter received from Saai, Sakeliga and the Free State Agriculture, demanding that owners of livestock be allowed to privately administer vaccines. This is amid the country’s worst foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. Department of Agriculture’s Joylene van Wyk says this legal venture is most unfortunate as it seeks to attack the Animal Diseases Act under which the government is about to procure vaccines and roll out the FMD plan:

Meanwhile the agriculture organisation TLU SA says that at the heart of the country’s foot-and-mouth disease outbreak lies a regulatory system and state capacity that are not adapted to these circumstances. TLU SA’s Bennie van Zyl says this outbreak is becoming a serious threat to South Africa’s food security, agricultural economy and rural livelihoods:

# A preliminary report into the deaths of three police constables, whose bodies were retrieved from the Hennops River in Centurion, Gauteng, last year, indicates that the incident was an accident. Constables Boipelo Senoge, Keamogetswe Buys, and Cebekhulu Linda went missing on 24 April while travelling from the Free State to Limpopo. Their bodies were recovered days later in the Hennops River. National Police Commissioner, Fannie Masemola, says the investigation is not complete as there are reports, including from forensic, that are still outstanding:

# Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a deadly Russian drone strike on a passenger train in the north-eastern Kharkiv region. At least five people were killed after the train with more than 200 people on board was hit. Zelensky says in any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be considered in the same way – purely as terrorism. He added that this latest bombardment undermines peace efforts and has urged allies to step up pressure on Moscow to end the war.

# Surfing: South Africa’s iconic destination, Jeffreys Bay, won’t host a World Surf League event this year because of a lack of funds. The Eastern Cape coastal town had been replaced by Waikato in New Zealand as one of the 12 events in the series. The league’s CEO, Ryan Crosby, says they love J-Bay, which features some of the world’s best waves, but the financial support just wasn’t there to make it viable. Kouga Municipality mayor Hattingh Bornman confirmed the local authority doesn’t have enough money to host the event.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-88-cents and the euro at 19-rand-5-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-91-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 89-thousand-29-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-236-dollars-82-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-79-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….