News 13:00

BULLETIN 19 November 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Christian Forum says government’s spaza shop intervention is more of a barrier than a solution
# The DA in Gauteng says learners are being exposed to sexual offenders
# And tennis: Rafael Nadal will focus on helping Spain during the Davis Cup Finals, and not on his coming retirement

# The South African National Christian Forum says it is disappointed that the government has missed a great opportunity to demonstrate leadership proactively in dealing with the scourge of food poisoning. Forum president Marothi Mashashane says the requirements raised by municipalities for registration are barriers to kill the township economy in general. He says there is no scientific proof that food poisoning emanates from spaza shops only:

# The South African Revenue Service is urging taxpayers to ensure they use correct identity and tax numbers when applying for tax directives under the two-pot pension fund system. Since the inception of the system, SARS has issued one-million-914-thousand-306 directives, with a value of almost 50-billion-rand. SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter encourages the use of digital channels, such as the WhatsApp calculator and website tools to streamline the process and avoid delays. Taxpayers are advised to comply correctly to avoid criminality.

# The DA in Gauteng says learners in the province are alarmingly being exposed to sexual offenders and predators within their school environments. The provincial Department of Education has revealed that out of the 86-thousand-367 employees in public schools, only eight-thousand-782 have been vetted against the National Register for Sexual Offences. The DA’s Michael Waters says among those vetted, nine employees were identified as convicted sexual offenders:

# Tennis: Spanish ace Rafael Nadal says the Davis Cup Finals will be about trying to help his country win and not about his coming retirement. The 38-year-old 22-time Grand Slam champion will end his illustrious career after the tournament, starting in Málaga in his home country today. Nadal may only play doubles if it gives Spain a better chance of clinching the title for the seventh time. The quarterfinals will conclude on Thursday, followed by the semifinals on Friday and Saturday, and the final on Sunday.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-4-cents and the euro at 19-rand-7-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-83-cents and Bitcoin trades at 91-thousand-946-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-619-dollars-95-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

# And finally: As artificial intelligence technologies evolve, the need for adaptive policies and regulatory frameworks that address emerging threats has never been more urgent. This is according to Tshwane University of Technology’s professor Topside Mathonsi. AI is seen to be driving revolutionary changes in sectors in Africa, such as healthcare, agriculture, finance, and education. Mathonsi says AI’s rapid advancement demands a unified approach to ensure it is deployed ethically and responsibly, with a focus on protecting sensitive data.

Stay tuned for more news………….