News 13:00

BULLETIN 28 November 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa’s Public Procurement Act is criticised over corruption loopholes
# Sassa is to re-introduce plans for a nationwide rollout of the facial recognition system to combat fraud
# And rugby: Senior All Blacks were angry over the mild punishment for Damian McKenzie after breaching team protocol

# The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has criticised South Africa’s Public Procurement Act, signed in July, for leaving loopholes that allow corruption. It flags excessive discretion for officials in blacklisting firms and withholding procurement information, reducing transparency. The act is also believed to lack a clear conflict-of-interest definition and omit environmental criteria in tenders. The organisation says while the legislation introduces a Public Procurement Tribunal, systemic weaknesses remain a concern, risking procurement integrity.

# Social security agency Sassa will reintroduce facial recognition nationwide to combat fraud after Stellenbosch students exposed vulnerabilities in Social Relief of Distress grants. Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi confirmed to Newzroom Afrika that an investigative report released yesterday on theft vulnerabilities has shown weaknesses in grant application processes:

# The City of Johannesburg will pay its 1.4-billion-rand current debt to Eskom today, avoiding power cuts previously threatened over overdue payments. The metro’s spokesperson, Nthatisi Modingoane, says the South African National Energy Development Institute’s billing investigation deadline has been extended to 6 December. According to News24, the city also battles illegal electricity use, with nearly 47-percent of prepaid meters identified as non-vending. Efforts to address tampering and arrears are ongoing.

# Action Society says South Africa needs 365 days of action, not just 16-days of activism, to combat gender-based violence effectively. They warn speeches and campaigns mean little without real change. The organisation’s Juanita du Preez states real change requires fixing broken systems, not lip service, to ensure women and children are safe every day, not just during an annual campaign:

# Rugby: Senior All Blacks were reportedly angry and disillusioned by head coach Scott Robertson’s mild punishment of flyhalf Damian McKenzie for breaching team protocol earlier this year. He missed the team bus after New Zealand’s victory over Fiji in San Diego in July, but only had to get to the airport on his own, and apologise to the team. The Kiwis lost to Argentina in their next match. The new coach apparently risked alienating the senior players for not meting out more severe punishment to McKenzie.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-23-cents and the euro at 19-rand-21-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-6-cents and Bitcoin trades at 95-thousand-295-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-646-dollars-47-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-7-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….