January 8, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Shomolekae.

Making headlines:

DA initiates mass mobilisation campaign as it calls for Nzimande’s axing

Absa PMI ends 2023 on stronger footing as December business activity rises

And, Top political minds to choose Rise Mzansi's MPs

The Democratic Alliance has said, it will initiate mass mobilisation campaigns, through its student organisation, at tertiary education campuses across the country to force President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande.

Last week, a series of leaked recordings released by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse revealed the details of a criminal cartel operating inside the Department of Higher Education and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

The recordings revealed that service providers that were awarded multimillion-rand tenders to administer direct payments to students allegedly paid kickbacks to NSFAS chairperson Ernest Khosa, to Nzimande, and to the South African Communist Party.

According to Outa, “This was done in return for tenders and protection for service providers.”

DA leader John Steenhuisen said that these revelations demonstrated that nothing was sacred to the African National Congress government.

Financial institution Absa’s Purchasing Managers’ Index closed out 2023 on a somewhat stronger footing, rising by 2.7 points to 50.9 index points in December.

Absa said on January 8 that part of the uptick could be attributed to an encouraging increase in business activity. It was noted that businesses operating through the festive period also benefited from relatively less loadshedding in December. 

Given that new sales orders did not improve further after a solid increase in November, underlying demand for manufactured goods remained relatively weak at year-end. 

The business activity index rose to 51.4 in December, up from 46 in November, while new sales orders ticked down to 46.3 from 46.6 in November. The employment index also remained below 50 points at 44.8. 

Rise Mzansi coopted several political bigwigs to oversee its independent candidate selection nominations for the upcoming general election.

The party announced the names of experienced political players who will serve on its Independent Candidate Selection Nominations Committee. They will have the final say as to who represents the party in the national and provincial legislatures as MPs and MPLs respectively.

In a statement, party leader Songezo Zibi said the NomCom will deliberate on the more than 400 nominations and applications received over the last few months.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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