News 12:00

BULLETIN 23 January 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Zuma and Thales’ latest appeal application ruling is delayed
# The DA describes the controversial BRICS naval exercise as a chain-of-command failure
# And rugby: Baltimore will host the final Test of the Springboks-All Blacks Greatest Rivalry

# Former president Jacob Zuma and his co-accused, French arms manufacturer Thales, will now only know next Friday if their latest leave to appeal application in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, has been successful. The court was set to hand down its ruling today on the application for leave to appeal the dismissal of their bid for an acquittal in the multibillion-rand arms deal corruption case. In the fresh application in December, Zuma and Thales advanced, among other reasons, that two witnesses in the matter have since passed away.

# The DA says president Cyril Ramaphosa’s admission that the process for the Exercise Will for Peace naval exercise was flawed, makes this a chain-of-command failure, not merely an operational issue. Defence minister Angie Motshekga has ordered an investigation to determine why Ramaphosa’s instruction for Iran’s withdrawal was not adhered to. The DA’s Chris Hattingh says the president must deal decisively with Motshekga and publicly disclose his plan of action:

# Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, says operations to impound unsafe learner transport vehicles will continue throughout the province. Over 60 vehicles were impounded in the Lenasia area for non-compliance yesterday. Diale-Tlabela says vehicles found to be unroadworthy or operating without proper permits will be impounded on the spot, while drivers without valid licenses will be arrested:

Moving abroad:

# A commuter train has crashed into a construction crane in southeastern Spain, the fourth rail incident within a week. Emergency services say four people suffered minor injuries. A high-speed collision in the southern Andalusia region on killed at least 43 people and injuring around 200 on Sunday. On Tuesday, a commuter train derailed near Barcelona, killing the driver and seriously injuring four passengers, while two trains collided in the Catalonia region on the same day. Spain’s biggest train drivers’ union since called for a three-day nationwide strike.

# Rugby: South Africa and New Zealand will play the final Test of their Greatest Rivalry series at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore in the US in September. Two of the first three Tests will take place in Johannesburg, and the other in Cape Town. The Springboks last played in the US in 2018, against Wales in Washington, while the All Blacks played Ireland in Chicago last year. SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer says taking the Boks to new audiences and territories is one of their key objectives.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-17-cents and the euro at 18-rand-97-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 89-thousand-330-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-916-dollars-64-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-82-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….