News 09:00

BULLETIN 7 February 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Competition Commission approaches the Constitutional Court to appeal the rand manipulation ruling
# OUTA chooses to disengage from this year’s State of the Nation Address
# And, the fire at Brandvlei is contained but several hot spots are being monitored

# The Competition Commission has approached the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal the judgment of the Competition Appeal Court, which dismissed the currency manipulation charges against several local and international banks. This is after the court threw out the commission’s case against 23 of the 28 banks alleged to have been involved in manipulating the rand-dollar exchange rate between 2007 and 2013. The commission’s spokesperson, Siyabulela Makunga, says its application appeal is against 13 banks including Standard Bank and Bank of America:

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says it has opted to boycott this year’s State of the Nation address by president Cyril Ramaphosa. It says this is a protest against what they perceive as political posturing and empty rhetoric during SONA. Urging fellow South Africans to participate in this act of disengagement, OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage anticipates SONA to prioritise political spectacle over addressing critical national issues:

# Firefighters in the Cape Winelands have managed to contain the Brandvlei fire outside Worcester, although there are many hot spots and several smouldering pine stumps in the area. The firefighters spent yesterday evening protecting properties and monitoring various fire lines including in Baviaanshoek and Matroosberg. Cape Winelands District Municipality’s spokesperson, Jo-Anne Otto, says there has been no damage to homes or the Brandvlei prison facility:

# Actress, Gina Carano, is suing Disney and Lucasfilm for discrimination and wrongful termination. She portrayed Cara Dune in the first two seasons of the Disney Plus show The Mandalorian. The 41-year-old was fired in 2021, over a social media post in which she compared being a Republican to being a Jew during the Holocaust. Carano says she was harassed and defamed for having rightwing opinions and refusing to conform to those held by Disney and Lucasfilm. She is seeking around 1.4-million-rand in damages and for Lucasfilm to recast her.

# Rugby: France lock Paul Willemse has received a four-week suspension following his red card against Ireland in the Six Nations last week Friday. He was issued a yellow card in the eighth minute for a high tackle on Andrew Porter. This was followed by a second yellow card for another high tackle, this time on Caelan Doris, which was upgraded into a red after a bunker review. A panel found the 31-year-old guilty of two acts of foul play. The suspension means Willemse will miss the games against Scotland and Italy.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-83-cents and the euro at 20-rand-26-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-74-cents and Bitcoin trades at 42-thousand-913-dollars-88-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-35-dollars-34-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-66-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….