News 12:00

BULLETIN 11 February 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The US consulate could close if the renaming of Sandton Drive proceeds
# Saftu describes Elon Musk’s attack on Julius Malema as reckless
# And New Zealand Rugby is taking legal action against sponsor Ineos

# Frontrunner for United States ambassador to South Africa, Joel Pollak, has warned of the possible closure of the US consulate in Johannesburg if Sandton Drive is renamed Leila Khaled Drive. The proposed name change, backed by the ANC and EFF, continues to face strong opposition. Palestinian activist Khaled is best known for her involvement in plane hijackings. Pollak argues that honouring Khaled is in direct conflict with core US values. The proposal has since been halted.

# Union federation Saftu has strongly condemned what it calls reckless and inflammatory statements made by billionaire Elon Musk against EFF leader Julius Malema. Musk has called for Malema to be sanctioned and declared an international criminal over his comments about white people. Saftu’s spokesperson, Newton Masuku, says Musk’s comments are not only deeply offensive but also a blatant affront to South Africa’s constitutional democracy:

# The DA in Gauteng is calling on the provincial Department of Community Safety, to take immediate action to address the shortage of fire trucks and equipment. The Gauteng Disaster Management Centre confirmed that the province has 92 fire trucks, but only 57 can be used. The DA’s Michael Sun says furthermore, municipalities are facing a critical crisis of non-functional fire engines and a lack of firefighting equipment:

# New Zealand Rugby is taking legal action against British chemicals giant Ineos, accusing the company of breaching its six-year sponsorship deal. The company, owned by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, allegedly abruptly walked away from its lucrative sponsorship agreement three years early, and failed to make its first payment this year. New Zealand Rugby says it has been left with no option but to launch legal proceedings to protect its commercial position. It adds it is actively pursuing new commercial opportunities.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-47-cents and the euro at 19-rand-3-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-80-cents and Bitcoin trades at 98-thousand-186-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-910-dollars-96-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-34-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Transparency International has released its 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, showing South Africa’s anti-corruption efforts have remained stagnant. With a score of 41, the same as last year, the country remains stubbornly below the global average of 43. The index assesses 180 countries and territories around the world, according to the levels of public sector corruption. Transparency International says with South Africa hosting the G20 leaders’ summit, it must strengthen oversight mechanisms, to ensure that corruption does not interfere with such crucial international processes.

Stay tuned for more news………….