News 12:00

BULLETIN 12 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The GOOD Party urges South Africa’s government to do more to support Palestine
# National Treasury calls for enhanced oversight to curb social grant fraud
# And rugby: The Blitzboks’ coach is focused on building the squad’s depth

# The GOOD Party says as the world awaits the International Court of Justice’s decision on South Africa’s genocide charges against Israel, action is needed to push Israel to the negotiating table. More than 43-thousand people have been killed in retaliatory strikes by Israel in Gaza. The war was triggered by Hamas’s October seven attack in Israel last year which left one-thousand-200 people dead and 251 others taken hostage. GOOD’s Brett Herron says the South African government must do more to support Palestine:

# National Treasury has called on the Department of Social Development and the South African Social Security Agency to improve its checks and balances to prevent fraud. The department, through Sassa, manages an annual budget of 266-billion-rand, with the social relief of distress grants making up 35-billion-rand of the total allocation. Over eight million people rely on social grants. Treasury has highlighted the need for better income assessment and social grant beneficiary validation through the use of data crosschecks.

# The EFF has criticised the Department of Basic Education’s decision to allow provincial departments to outsource the printing of national senior certificate exam papers to private companies. This has resulted in the total cost of printing increasing from less than one-billion-rand to 3.6-billion-rand. The EFF’s spokesperson, Leigh-Ann Mathys, says it is clear that this decision was driven by the DA’s privatisation agenda under minister Siviwe Gwarube:

# Rugby: Springbok Sevens coach Philip Snyman says he is looking to build squad depth heading into the upcoming World Sevens Series campaign. The Blitzboks will be without captain Selvyn Davids and Tiaan Pretorius for at least the first two tournaments in Dubai and Cape Town due to injury. Rosko Specman has stepped away from the sevens programme, while Justin Geduld has moved into the Stormers set-up. Snyman says they have several strong and experienced leaders in the squad:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-2-cents and the euro at 19-rand-16-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-8-cents and Bitcoin trades at 88-thousand-925-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-604-dollars-96-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-10-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Record-breaking levels of thick, toxic smog shrouding eastern Pakistan and northern India since last month, can be seen in satellite imagery. The pollution has forced authorities in Pakistan to close schools and public spaces as the smog threatens the health of tens of millions of people. Hospitals and clinics in Pakistan have become inundated with patients suffering from the effects of pollution, with Punjab health officials saying more than 30-thousand people have been treated for respiratory ailments. Air pollution from fossil fuels is killing 5.1-million people worldwide every year.

Stay tuned for more news………….