News 12:00

BULLETIN 28 February 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# It is D-Day for the ANC to hand over outstanding documents related to cadre deployment 
# Transnet halts its expansion plans for a berthing facility 
# And Rugby: Argentina and New Zealand are crowned men’s and women’s champions in Vancouver 

# The DA says the ANC has until the end of today to hand over the outstanding documents related to its cadre deployment committee meetings dating back to January 2013, or it will launch a contempt of court application. Last week, the ruling party handed over to the DA its cadre deployment documents as per the Constitutional Court order. However, the DA says the ANC failed to include president Cyril Ramaphosa’s emails and WhatsApps, even though he was the committee’s chairperson, and it failed to provide a list of all decisions taken by the committee.

# The Transnet National Port Authority has suspended its proposed expansion of a stand-alone berthing facility due to current financial constraints. The expansion was intended to boost iron ore export volumes by an additional seven-million tons at the port of Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape. Transnet aims to reposition the port by increasing export capacity between 2022 and 2032 through the Phase 2 iron ore expansion berth construction project. The planned Berth 100 would have increased handling capacity to 67-million tons per annum. 

# The Department of Basic Education says South Africa is not significantly impacted by teacher shortages, however, challenges persist in teacher competency and proper placement. The Global Report on Teacher Shortages is set to be released in Sandton, Johannesburg, this week. The department’s, Enoch Rabotapi, says the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has emphasised that 44 million new teachers are needed to meet the sustainable development goal of achieving primary and secondary education for all by 2030:

# Rugby: Argentina reinforced their position as the top men’s team in the world currently, by winning their third straight Canada Sevens crown in Vancouver. The Pumas came from behind to defeat New Zealand 36-12 in the final, to tighten their grip on the eight-leg World Rugby Sevens Series. Meanwhile, a hattrick from Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, saw New Zealand beat France 35-19 to win the women’s final for the second consecutive year. Woodman-Wickliffe says the new players in the squad stepped up:

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-33-cents and the euro at 20-rand-95-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-51-cents and Bitcoin trades at 51-thousand-340-dollars-11-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-36-dollars-30-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-18-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Atomic biopic Oppenheimer won the top prize at the Producers Guild of America Awards. The film won the Darryl F Zanuck Award for outstanding producer of theatrical motion pictures. The Bear won the PGA’s Danny Thomas Award for episodic comedy series, RuPaul’s Drag Race won the best-produced competition and game series, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took the top spot in the variety category. Producer of documentary motion pictures went to American Symphony, while Sesame Street won outstanding children’s programme.

Stay tuned for more news………….