News 12:00

BULLETIN 12 April 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The IEC approaches the Constitutional Court to appeal the ruling on Zuma’s candidacy
# Airports Company South Africa is working on averting a jet fuel shortage
# And, motorsport: Verstappen Senior makes his debut in the British Rally Championship

# The Electoral Commission has confirmed it has approached the Constitutional Court to appeal the Electoral Court’s ruling on former president Jacob Zuma’s exclusion from the elections. The court ruled that Zuma could contest the May 29th elections for the MK Party. The IEC had argued Zuma could not be a candidate because he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court. It says if the matter is not finalised before the elections, there is a real risk a person who is not qualified would have been allowed to contest.

# Airports Company South Africa says it is taking proactive steps to avoid a looming jet fuel shortage. A planned seasonal shutdown of the Natref refinery, and a dispute between the South African Revenue Service and petroleum companies, could lead to disruptions of fuel supply to airports. The shutdown of the refinery, which is the main source of jet fuel for OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng, will lead to greater reliance on imported fuel from Durban. ACSA says contingency plans to avert a fuel shortage crisis are being finalised.

# Western Cape MEC for Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, has welcomed the arrival of both the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria at the same time to the Cape Town Cruise Terminal. It is estimated that around 90-thousand passengers will arrive in Cape Town in the 2023/24 cruise season. Wenger says this is great news because more tourists mean more jobs, as roughly three-thousand new permanent jobs have already been created in this season alone:

# Motorsport: Former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen is making his debut in the British Rally Championship this weekend when he races in the Severn Valley Stages in Wales. The father of current F1 champion Max Verstappen retired from F1 in 2003 and took up rally driving in 2022. This is the first time the Dutchman, driving a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, is racing on gravel. Belgian Renaud Jamoul is his co-driver for the event, with the ceremonial start today and the race taking place tomorrow.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-66-cents and the euro at 19-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 70-thousand-757-dollars-34-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-399-dollars-10-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 90-dollars-33-cents a barrel.

# And finally, Sport, Arts and Culture minister, Zizi Kodwa, will honour one of South Africa’s greatest jazz icons, Abdullah Ibrahim, in Cape Town today. This is part of the department’s Van Toeka Af Living Legends Recognition Series, which recognises and acclaims the country’s living legends in the creative and cultural sectors. The department’s spokesperson, Litha Mpondwana, says previous honourees include actor, director and playwright, John Kani, and sculptor and poet Pitika Ntuli:

Stay tuned for more news………….