News 14:00

BULLETIN 25 March 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A former Steinhoff executive is granted bail 
# The Ministry of Electricity accelerates the approval times to boost investment in energy projects 
# And motorsport: Brad Binder is second in the Moto GP standings after a fourth place in Portugal 

# The former head of legal affairs at Steinhoff, Stéhan Grobler, has been granted 150-thousand-rand bail by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court after spending the weekend in custody. News24 reports Magistrate Nicca Setshogoe ruled Grobler was not a flight risk. Bail conditions include surrendering his passport, and regular reporting to the Brooklyn police. Grobler, who resigned in 2018, faces charges of fraud and racketeering. He surrendered to police the day after former CEO Markus Jooste died by suicide on Human Rights Day.

# The Ministry of Electricity confirms efforts to speed up Environmental Impact Assessment and Water Use Licence approvals to prevent delays in commercial projects. Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa claims the acceleration won’t compromise ecological or biodiversity concerns, aiming to maintain investor confidence while ensuring environmental protection:

# Western Cape MEC for Police Oversight and Community Safety, Reagen Allen says the provincial police ombud’s report indicate that between April to December last year, it finalised 86.3-percent of the 307 cases it investigated. Allen says there are currently 30 cases under investigation, eight still need to be allocated, while four are to be finalised:

# Motorsport: South Africa’s Brad Binder is second on the Moto GP log after finishing fourth in yesterday’s Grand Prix in Portugal. This followed his second place for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in the previous race in Qatar. Yesterday, Binder finished behind Prima Pamac Racing driver Jorge Martín of Spain, Italian Enea Bastianini of the Ducati Lenovo Team, and another Spaniard, Pedro Acosta of Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing. Martín is currently on top of the standings, with Bastianini in third place.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-95-cents and the euro at 20-rand-50-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-92-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-100-dollars-10-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-169-dollars-13-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 85-dollars-46-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The 12th annual Buy Local Summit and Expo gets underway at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg today. More than 200 exhibitors from various sectors, including fast-moving consumer goods, manufacturing, retail, and agro-processing, will showcase their products over the two-day event. Trade and Industry minister Ebrahim Patel highlighted the importance of localisation for economic growth. He says the event aims to promote local procurement and job creation:

Stay tuned for more news………….