News 11:00

BULLETIN 17 November 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Former minister Dion George is accused of sexual misconduct
# The ANC Women’s League says gender-based violence and femicide is a national emergency
# And rugby: Mbonambi and Mchunu join the Springboks in Ireland

# Former minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dion George, is reportedly facing several allegations, including being accused of sexual misconduct. According to News24, staff members have accused him of getting changed while in a room with a staff member without warning, and explicitly recounting his past sexual encounters. George reportedly also took lavish international trips and was fond of expensive hotels. He has denied the allegations, saying the claims were an attempt to damage his reputation.

# The ANC Women’s League says more must be done to curb incidents of gender-based violence and femicide, which have now reached disproportionate levels in South Africa. This comes amid statistics showing over 42-thousand reported rapes and thousands of femicides annually. The league’s secretary-general, Nokuthula Nqaba, says gender-based violence and femicide must be treated as a national emergency, allowing for dedicated resources and coordinated responses similar to natural disasters:

# The Gauteng Education Department has refuted a Sunday World article titled, “Matric exams at risk amid alleged Gauteng school security tender corruption – DA”. The article questions the integrity of the National Senior Certificate examinations in the province following allegations of widespread corruption in the school security tenders. The department’s spokesperson, Steve Mabona, says no question papers or scripts have been reported to be compromised since the beginning of the exams:

Moving abroad:

# US president Donald Trump has called on Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote in favour of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files in a noticeable change to his past rhetoric. His reversal comes as expectations of potentially dozens of Republicans signalling they were willing to break ranks in a House vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act this week. Trump says they have nothing to hide, and criticised Republican representative Thomas Massie, who is a co-sponsor of the bill:

# Rugby: Hooker Bongi Mbonambi and prop Ntuthuko Mchunu joined the Springboks in Ireland as Rassie Erasmus and his coaching team prepare for the final two clashes of the outgoing tour. Erasmus says the decision to call them up was prompted by the longer tour than usual, and the two big matches lined up against Ireland and Wales. The Springboks travelled from Italy to Dublin yesterday and will begin their on-field preparations for Saturday’s match against the Irish today.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-7-cents and the euro at 19-rand-82-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-46-cents and Bitcoin trades at 95-thousand-352-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-seven-dollars-16-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-46-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….