News 15:00

BULLETIN 19 December 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Hawks continue a probe into the deaths of three Simon’s Town naval officers
# Putin says Russia doesn’t believe Ukraine is ready for peace talks
# And soccer: Bafana Bafana’s winger Appollis is declared fit for the AFCON opener against Angola

# Acting minister of Police Firoz Cachalia says the Hawks are still investigating the deaths of three officers from Simon’s Town Naval Base in Cape Town in 2023. They were washed off the deck of the submarine Manthatisi, leaving a senior officer seriously injured. Cachalia says a classified report suggested possible negligence by the South African Navy and the captain on duty, but no suspects have been identified.

# A thirteen-month-old baby has died after the Gwadana clinic in the Eastern Cape closed early in the afternoon, despite provincial policy requiring clinics to remain open until 4 pm. Jane Cowley of the DA says the child’s grandmother sought help at 3, but was turned away. She says the DA has asked Eastern Cape Health head, Rolene Wagner, for disciplinary action against the clinic’s manager:

# Water and Sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has criticised Johannesburg’s festive-season water maintenance, calling it inadequate and poorly planned. Majodina said municipalities knew in advance about December maintenance but failed to prepare. Majodina warned water tankers are meant for emergencies, not long-term supply, and criticised poor monitoring. She insisted to SABC News that while Joburg has in-sourced 20-tankers, the lack of oversight is leaving residents without basic water needs:

Moving abroad:

# Russian president Vladimir Putin says Moscow doesn’t believe Ukraine is ready for peace talks. He told his annual year-end news conference his country was ready and willing to peacefully end the conflict in Ukraine, based on principles he said he had set out last year. Putin adds so far, they had not really seen such readiness from Ukraine for peace talks, but there were certain signals, including from the Kyiv regime, that they are ready to engage in some kind of dialogue.

# Soccer: Winger Oswin Appollis is available for Bafana Bafana’s Africa Cup of Nations opener against Angola in Marrakech, Morocco, on Monday. He was seen limping off at full-time after South Africa’s 1-0 victory over a second-string Ghana side at Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday. The 24-year-old established himself as a regular under coach Hugo Broos while still with Polokwane City before his move to Orlando Pirates. SAFA’s chief medical official, Thulani Ngwenya, says the team has a clean bill of health.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-77-cents and the euro at 19-rand-64-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-43-cents and Bitcoin trades at 88-thousand-281-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-326-dollars-82-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 59-dollars-68-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….