News 11:00

BULLETIN 6 March 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Four people are being questioned in connection with Joslin Smith’s disappearance

# Biden and Trump dominate Super Tuesday    

# And rugby: Rassie Erasmus is very satisfied with his coaching team’s first meeting

# Western Cape police have confirmed that four people, two men, and two women, are being questioned in connection with the disappearance of Joslin Smith in Saldanha Bay. The young girl disappeared from her family’s home in Middelpos last month. Police spokesperson, Novela Potelwa, says their investigation saw the team of detectives visiting several places within the West Coast town and interviewing several other people:

# Parliament’s portfolio committee on Home Affairs is urging the Department of Home Affairs to speed up the investigations into the fraudulent issuing of visas and permits. The department has identified more than 300-thousand cases related to the fraudulent issuing of visas and permits. It is now preparing to hand over at least 94 individuals for investigation by the Hawks, on top of 28 others already handed over to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations. The committee says all staff members linked to malfeasance must be held accountable.

# Electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says he has been working closely with Eskom to address all plant-related shortcomings, resulting in significant improvement of the power utility’s output. An Opera Assessment Report on the operations of Eskom’s coal-fired power stations was released last week. It found that the underperformance of coal-fired power stations is primarily attributable to the dysfunctional and overly complex management system within the power utility. Ramokgopa says numerous interventions aimed at improving the operational capacity of Eskom plants have been undertaken.

# US president Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump are on track for a rematch in November’s general election following Super Tuesday results. They both notched wins in delegate-rich states like California, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina in their respective Democratic and Republican primaries. Nikki Haley won Vermont’s Republican primary. Trump says he is more confident that he will be president again:

# Rugby: Springbok head coach Rassie Eramus is very satisfied with his coaching team’s two-day strategic meeting in Cape Town. He was joined by new defence coach Jerry Flannery, new attacking coach Tony Brown and retired international referee Jaco Peyper, now the national laws advisor. Forty-three players are attending an alignment camp today, where the coaching team’s planning and discussions are continued. The Boks start their international season against Wales at Twickenham in London on the 22nd of June.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-95-cents and the euro at 20-rand-58-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-8-cents and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-677-dollars-3-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-127-dollars-34-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-36-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….