News 18:00

BULLETIN 9 December 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The SA Zionist Federation accuses government of misusing public funds for a political campaign against Israel
# Former teacher and journalist Willem Breytenbach is sentenced to five years in prison for sexual assault
# And cricket: Only the Proteas, Australia and India remain in the running for the final of the World Test Championship

# The South African Zionist Federation has condemned the government for spending 95-million-rand of taxpayer money on a legal case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. The organisation argues this is a waste of public funds, especially with South Africa facing a high unemployment rate of 41.9-percent. The funds, approved through Parliament’s Special Appropriations Bill, include 3.47-million-rand for business-class travel for the legal team. The federation’s Rolene Marks urges Parliament to reject the bill, criticising government’s focus on foreign issues instead of domestic problems.

# Former teacher and Media24 journalist, Willem Breytenbach, has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexual and indecent assault. He pleaded guilty to seven counts of indecent assault and three counts of sexual assault in the Cape Town Regional Court last week. The court’s acceptance of his guilty plea followed a police investigation linked to Deon Wiggett’s podcast, My Only Story. Breytenbach is also banned from working with children and will be added to the national child protection and sex offender registers.

# Foreign spaza shop owners are facing challenges registering their businesses due to a backlog with asylum papers dating back to 2018. An association representing foreign spaza shop owners has called for a six-month extension to the registration deadline and urged Home Affairs to assist. He told Newzroom Afrika the backlog, worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, has left many unable to comply with registration requirements, risking exclusion from the process.

# Gauteng parents have until the end of next month to finalise grades one and eight school placements for their children. Over 325-thousand learners have been successfully placed for the 2025 school year. However, eight-thousand-379 grade one applications and ten-thousand-653 grade eight applications were incomplete. MEC for Education Matome Chiloane says late applications can be submitted online from Wednesday. He urges parents to submit complete and correct documentation:

# Cricket: Only South Africa, Australia and India are still in the running to reach next year’s final of the World Test Championship. The Proteas advanced to top position after completing a 2-nil series whitewash against Sri Lanka in Gqeberha today, with Australia second and India third. Proteas bowler Dane Paterson was named player of the match and captain Temba Bavuma player of the series. Bavuma says they realise victory in the coming two Tests against Pakistan will propel them to the final:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-80-cents and the euro at 18-rand-82-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-73-cents and Bitcoin trades at 99-thousand-121-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-665-dollars-63-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-2-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….