News 15:00

BULLETIN 8 October 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Parliament’s third term focuses on oversight and audit reports
# President Cyril Ramaphosa signs the Communal Property Associations Amendment Bill into law
# And an American and a Canadian is the joint winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics

# Parliament’s third and final term of the year has begun this week. Committees are expected to review audit outcomes from the auditor general in two weeks. The standing committee on Public Accounts will conduct oversight visits to Eskom and PRASA. SCOPA chairperson Songezo Zibi confirmed today’s visit to Medupi power station in Limpopo, and meetings with Eskom’s management for governance, operational and finance performance updates:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Communal Property Associations Amendment Bill into law. It aims to enhance protections for communities within communal property associations. The bill amends the 1996 act, establishing a Communal Property Associations office and a registrar, while clarifying land ownership for residents. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says the act also addresses challenges like power abuse in association committees and limited government oversight, aiming to strengthen land rights for communities:

# AfriForum has reiterated that community involvement is key to addressing the 21-billion-rand municipal debt owed to water boards. This comes after minister Pemmy Majodina’s report to Parliament highlighted the Department of Water and Sanitation’s challenges with unpaid municipal bills. AfriForum’s Lambert de Klerk stressed the need for public-private partnerships to manage municipal services and reduce debt. He proposes collaborative solutions between communities, the private sector, and the government.

# Soccer: Italian striker Marco Curto will miss his next five matches. He was given a ten-match ban for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-can during his club, Como’s pre-season friendly against Wolverhampton Wanderers in July. Half of the penalty was suspended for two years. Curto is currently on loan to Serie B club Cesena. FIFA says he must also do community services and undergo training and education with an organisation approved by the world governing body.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-45-cents and the euro at 19-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-86-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-510-dollars-42-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-647-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-49-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics to John Hopfield from the United States and Geoffrey Hinton from Canada for their work on artificial neural networks. Hopfield created a network that stores and recreates patterns in data, while Hinton developed methods for machines to learn and recognize patterns on their own. In a media briefing, Hinton says their research has greatly advanced artificial intelligence, with applications in image recognition and new material development:  

Stay tuned for more news………….