News 13:00

BULLETIN 9 December 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A Gauteng department is ordered to release a decade of NPO grant records to GroundUp
# A court dismisses the bid to freeze 40-percent of Makate’s ‘Please Call Me’ payout
# And Miss Jamaica suffered brain hemorrhage after falling off the Miss Universe stage

# The Western Cape High Court has ordered the Gauteng Department of Social Development to release all records of grants awarded to non-profit organisations between 2014 and 2024. This follows news agency GroundUp’s successful appeal after the department refused to provide the information. GroundUp sought the documents under the Promotion of Access to Information Act following reports that some organisations received millions of rand while budgets were being cut. Judges Mark Sher and Melanie Holderness found the refusal inauthentic and ruled that public transparency outweighs any claimed financial harm.

Meanwhile, the High Court in Johannesburg has dismissed with costs an urgent application by litigation funder Black Rock Mining to freeze 40-percent of Vodacom’s settlement due to “Please Call Me” inventor Kenneth Makate. Judge Don Mahon ruled there was no evidence Makate planned to hide or dissipate the money, saying any dispute must proceed through normal legal channels. The case stems from an agreement in which Black Rock funded Makate’s litigation in exchange for a 40-percent share. The matter now moves to arbitration.

# Western Cape Education MEC, David Maynier, says 2025 has been a long and challenging year, but there have been so many highlights to celebrate. These include the #BackOnTrack programme, which recovered up to 205 days’ worth of learning lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, and learners achieving big victories on the sports field. Schools close for the Christmas holidays tomorrow. Maynier urges the public to keep a close eye on their local school during the holiday period:

Moving abroad:

# The Miss Universe organisation revealed new details about the serious injuries that landed Miss Jamaica in hospital. The organisation and Gabrielle Henry’s family revealed in a joint statement she suffered a brain bleed with loss of consciousness, a fracture and facial lacerations. Henry fell through an opening on the stage during the preliminary competition in Bangkok, Thailand, on 19 November. She remains in critical condition in hospital. The organisers reiterated Henry is not to blame and say they will cover all future medical expenses arising from the incident.

# Cricket: Australian fast bowler, Josh Hazlewood, has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series due to injury. He hurt his hamstring when featuring in Australia’s domestic Sheffield Shield competition last month. Hazlewood then suffered a further setback last week when he hurt his Achilles tendon. Australia leads the Ashes series against England 2-0. Hazlewood says it is frustrating not being able to play:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-1-cent and the euro at 19-rand-82-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 90-thousand-369-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-208-dollars-23-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 62-dollars-20-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….