News 11:00

BULLETIN 11 September 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA wants the long-promised Whistleblower Protections Bill tabled in Parliament immediately
# The Qatari prime minister says the Israeli airstrikes killed any hope for the hostages in Gaza
# And rugby: The All Blacks coach makes six changes to his starting side for the Springbok clash in Wellington

# The DA is calling on minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, to table the long-promised Whistleblower Protections Bill in Parliament without delay. The party’s Glynnis Breytenbach says the brutal murder of Bouwer van Niekerk, shot dead at his law firm while working to expose corruption, has confirmed that South Africans are now living in a mafia state. She says the DA will not sit by while the bill is buried in endless delays:

# The South African Local Government Association says it remains committed to strengthening accountability, ethical leadership, and improved service delivery across municipalities. The association has reported a 98-percent achievement rate against its performance targets, coupled with its 13th consecutive unqualified audit opinion outcome. SALGA president Bheke Stofile says the priority is to strengthen the capacity of municipalities, support councillors and officials to lead with integrity, and ensure that communities see real improvements in governance and service delivery.

Meanwhile, Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya says the metro’s capital budget has not kept pace with the scale of development. South Africa’s capital has secured commitments worth 86-billion-rand to help upgrade the metro, lift economic growth and create jobs. Moya says at the current pace of investment, it would take 36-years to fund the infrastructure that Tshwane needs in the next decade. She adds this gap cannot be closed through public funding alone:

Moving abroad: 

# Qatar’s prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, believes Israel’s strike on Doha on Tuesday killed any hope for the remaining hostages in Gaza. The airstrike targeted senior Hamas leaders, killing five of them. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike was justified because it targeted what he called the terrorist masterminds of the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023. In an interview with CNN, Al-Thani called the deadly strike an act of state terror:

# Rugby: New Zealand coach Scott Robertson has made six changes to the side that will face South Africa in the second Rugby Championship Test in Wellington on Saturday. Leroy Carter will make his Test debut, replacing Rieko Ioane on the left wing. Samisoni Taukei’aho comes in for Codie Taylor, who is on concussion stand-down, while Will Jordan moves from fullback to right wing, taking over from the injured Emoni Narawa. Noah Hotham and Tyrel Lomax are back in the starting side. Brodie McAlister comes into the reserves.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-52-cents and the euro at 20-rand-49-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-69-cents and Bitcoin trades at 114-thousand-252-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-630-dollars-74-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-20-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….