News 11:00

BULLETIN 20 January 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA questions minister De Lille’s appointment of Khomotso Mosehla to the SA Tourism board
# Tax Justice SA calls for transparency amid the expulsion of Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association members
# And tennis: Australian Open defending champion Madison Keys battles into the second round

# The DA says the appointment of Khomotso 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:

# Tax Justice SA is demanding that the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association disclose the identities of criminal manufacturers purportedly undermining South Africa’s economy. The association’s chairperson, Sinenhlanhla Mnguni, last week stated they recently expelled members who were non-compliant with local laws. Tax Justice SA founder, Yusuf Abramjee, says the expelled members were allegedly involved in tax evasion linked to the illicit cigarette trade:

# The ANC’s Gauteng provincial task team is calling on authorities to strengthen measures aimed at improving the safety of learner transport. This follows yesterday’s deadly crash between a learner transport vehicle and a truck in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg, which claimed the lives of 14 learners. Police have opened a culpable homicide case. The ANC says all relevant authorities must conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding this accident to ensure accountability.

Moving abroad:

# Australia’s lower house of Parliament has passed laws to enable a national gun buyback and tighten background checks for gun licences. This is in response to last month’s Bondi Beach attack that left 15 people dead during a Jewish festival. The buyback scheme will target surplus and newly restricted firearms. The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill was also passed. Home Affairs minister, Tony Burke, says the government is committed to tackling antisemitism:

# Tennis: Defending women’s singles champion Madison Keys survived an early scare in the first round of the Australian Open. The American eventually battled past Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova. Former US Open champion American Sloane Stephens was knocked out in the first round by the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova. Janice Tjen of Indonesia knocked out 22nd-seeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez. In the men’s draw, fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy advanced when Raphael Collignon of Belgium retired in the fourth set.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-39-cents and the euro at 19-rand-12-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-2-cents and Bitcoin trades at 90-thousand-883-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-713-dollars-80-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-46-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….