News 12:00

BULLETIN 1 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The GOOD party says the decision to cancel the Social Relief of Distress Grant is wrong and reckless
# The eviction of the Castle of Good Hope’s illegal dwellers is complete
# And cricket: SA’s Heinrich Klaasen is now the most expensive retention in IPL history

# The Good party says Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s decision to cancel the 370-rand a month Social Relief of Distress grant next year, despite the economy being forecast to continue growing too slowly to generate jobs, is a slap in the faces of millions of South Africans who did not choose to be poor. Secretary-general Brett Herron says by the State’s own reckoning, the amount of money needed to feed an adult South African, known as the food poverty line, is 796-rand a month.

# Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says eviction of unlawful occupants at the Castle of Good Hope was carried out this morning. In September, the Western Cape High Court granted an eviction order to the Public Works and Infrastructure Department, giving the homeless community until the 17 of October to leave the area. Hill-Lewis says the eviction was carried out under the direction of the Sheriff of the Court with the assistance of the police:

# Preliminary election results show that Botswana’s governing party has suffered a shock defeat, losing its nearly six-decade grip on power of the diamond-rich country. President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Botswana Democratic Party, which has ruled since independence from Britain in 1966, has only won one parliamentary seat so far. Three opposition parties had together won 31 of 61 seats. More than one million people were registered to vote on Wednesday, from a population of 2.6 million. The Independent Electoral Commission is set to announce the official results later today.

# Cricket: South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen has become the most expensive player retained in the history of the Indian Premier League. Sunrisers Hyderabad have re-signed the wicketkeeper-batter for 48-million-rand for the 2025 season, alongside captain Australians Pat Cummins and Travis Head. Another South African, Faf du Plessis, has not been retained by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders have released their captain Shreyas Iyer. Klaasen says he is excited to continue playing for the Sunrisers:

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-65-cents and the euro at 19-rand-16-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-78-cents and Bitcoin trades at 69-thousand-237-dollars-10-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-752-dollars-68-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Non-profit organisation, Outside the Bowl Africa, is urging South Africans to join its current Million Meals campaign. The campaign aims to provide one million meals to vulnerable children across the country. A donation of 150-rand can feed 20 children and make a direct impact. The organisation’s executive director, Loren Erasmus, says through collaboration with Feed the Nation Foundation and support from donors, they are setting the stage to ensure that no child goes hungry. The campaign ends on the first week of December.

Stay tuned for more news………….