News 09:00

BULLETIN 25 August 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Freedom Front Plus says municipalities should be driving the economy
# South Africa’s 1.9-trillion-rand infrastructure development signals opportunities
# And cricket: Jason Smith is ruled out of the Proteas’ Namibian tour

# The Freedom Front Plus says South Africa cannot sustainably restore its trade markets, investments and economic growth if the country’s local government is not restored first. The party has cited municipal mismanagement, water outages, crumbling roads and poor waste management as some of the issues affecting local government. FF Plus’s Jaco Mulder says municipalities should go back to the basic principles of competent governance, financial discipline, effective revenue collection, regular infrastructure maintenance, and consequences for mismanagement and non-performance:

# Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson says South Africa is stepping up the pace of infrastructure delivery, with 81 Strategic Integrated Projects comprising 263 individual projects. The projects’ estimated combined value is 1.9-trillion-rand. The minister says over the past 18 months, 37 projects, worth approximately 69-billion-rand, have been completed, while a further 82 projects, valued at about 502.7-billion-rand, are currently under construction. Macpherson says the projects show that government is creating significant opportunities for infrastructure investment, development and partnerships.

# City Power says it has made significant progress in restoring electricity to areas affected by the Fordsburg substation fire. An underground fire in tunnels containing high-voltage power cables led to the shutdown of the substation on Sunday evening, disrupting electricity supply. This loss of power also affected water supply. City Power spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, says electricity was restored to most of the affected substations yesterday. He says the Bree, Braamfontein and John Ware substations remain offline:

# Rwandan president Paul Kagame has rejected the narrative that his country is responsible for the current conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, blaming factions within the DRC instead. His remarks come against the backdrop of successive attempts to negotiate an end to the conflict, including the US peace agreement. Kagame says his country will remain involved in the conflict for as long as the threat posed by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda remains unresolved:

# Cricket: South Africa will be without all-rounder Jason Smith for the T20 Tri Series against Zimbabwe and Namibia in Windhoek due to injury. The 31-year-old has suffered an adductor muscle strain. Bjorn Fortuin will captain the squad for the tri-series, which will run from August 28 to September 6. Smith will undergo further assessments to determine his availability for the ODI series against Namibia, scheduled to start on September ninth. South Africa has opted not to name a replacement for Smith.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-2-cents and the euro at 18-rand-68-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-83-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 80-thousand-250-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-634-dollars-72-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 93-dollars-41-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….