News 14:00

BULLETIN 13 January 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Gwede Mantashe denies human rights violations in the Stilfontein illegal mining crisis
# Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal lead in exam malpractice reports
# And Cricket: Shreyas Iyer will captain the Punjab Kings in the IPL

# Mineral and Petroleum Resources minister, Gwede Mantashe has refuted claims of human rights violations in Stilfontein’s illegal mining crisis. One-thousand-564 miners have resurfaced, with eight bodies recovered. Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Mantashe said that the trade of illegal minerals has reached 50-billion-rand in 2024. He also cautioned the group Mining Affected Communities United in Action against encouraging criminality:

# Quality assurance body, Umalusi, reports that Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of exam malpractices during the 2024 national senior certificate examinations. Mpumalanga reported 195 implicated candidates, while KwaZulu-Natal followed with 74 cases. The incidents included group copying and other irregular activities. In a media briefing, Umalusi CEO Mafu Rakometsi has called for stricter measures to uphold the integrity of the examinations and prevent future occurrences:

# Mozambique is set to swear in its new parliament today, following months of deadly protests over an election in October that the opposition said was rigged. Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane has called on his supporters to hold peaceful protests from today till Wednesday, when Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo is due to be installed as president. Two opposition parties, Renamo and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, MDM, announced they would boycott today’s session, which will swear in new parliamentarians.

# Cricket: Indian batsman Shreyas Iyer has been named captain of Indian Premier League team Punjab Kings for the upcoming edition of the lucrative T20 tournament. Iyer was captain of the title-winning Kolkata Knight Riders last season. He was picked by Punjab for 60-million-rand as the second-most expensive buy in the IPL auction in December. The 30-year-old Iyer said he was excited to re-unite with Australian great and new Punjab coach Ricky Ponting, after the two previously worked together with Delhi Capitals.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-17-cents and the euro at 19-rand-56-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-23-cents and Bitcoin trades at 92-thousand-252-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-680-dollars-31-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-19-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Lionsgate’s heist thriller Den of Thieves 2: Pantera debuted at number one in North American theatres over the weekend. The film starring Gerard Butler follows a gritty Los Angeles police officer on the hunt in Europe to track down ex-marine-turned-robber Donnie, played by O’Shea Jackson Junior, who is plotting a massive diamond heist. Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King stayed in second place in its fourth weekend of release with Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in third.

Stay tuned for more news………….