News 12:00

BULLETIN 15 January 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA urges the SA Human Rights Commission to conclude the probe into SASSA
# The eThekwini Municipality closes some beaches as heavy rains compromise water quality
# And, cricket: The uproar into Teeger’s removal as captain continues

# The DA says it has requested an update from the South African Human Rights Commission on its investigation into the persistent crisis surrounding the disbursement of social grants by the South African Social Security Agency. Last year, the party lodged a formal complaint with the commission following a series of payment failures which left vulnerable social grant recipients in distress. The DA’s Bridget Masango says the latest payment failure, which has left 150-thousand beneficiaries without their January payments, is disturbing:

# AfriForum in northern Gauteng says it will continue with its clean-up campaign in Pretoria North this year. Last week, the organisation started cleaning up parks, including Jopie Fourie Park, by removing all the litter, trimming the grass, cutting down tree branches and clearing out landfills to make the parks accessible and safe again. AfriForum says a better and cleaner environment is the goal, vowing to continuously work on cleaning where the City of Tshwane cannot reach.

# eThekwini Municipality has closed all beaches in the north and some in the southern region until further notice. This comes after damaging heavy rains over the weekend affected the water quality. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ spokesperson, Siboniso Mngadi, says the heavy downpours resulted in some areas being waterlogged and debris being washed into the rivers and the sea:

# The South African Revenue Service has opened a criminal case against Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa. He paid 10.82-million-rand in cash for 20 buffalo from president Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in December 2019. Ramaphosa has stated that it was Mustafa’s money that was stolen from his farm in February 2020. According to News24, the case centres around a document, believed to be a copy of the declaration of foreign currency, that Mustafa gave to the police and SARS. The document is believed to be potentially fraudulent.

# Cricket: The DA has threatened to report Cricket South Africa to the Human Rights Commission unless the Under-19 captain, David Teeger, is reinstated ahead of the World Cup. Teeger was stripped of his duties due to fears that he could be targeted by protesters over his pro-Israel views. Last month, Teeger was cleared of wrongdoing after praising Israeli soldiers at an award ceremony. The DA contends his removal violates the Bill of Rights, deeming the decision misguided. The World Cup tournament begins on Friday.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-64-cents and the euro at 20-rand-44-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-78-cents and Bitcoin trades at 42-thousand-639-dollars-51-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-56-dollars-18-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….