News 13:00

BULLETIN 22 April 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The corruption-accused Edwin Sodi’s company is still not blacklisted by Treasury 
# The Western Cape premier is concerned by the challenges at the port of Cape Town 
# And tennis: Iga Swiatek celebrates 100 weeks as world number one

# Corruption-accused Edwin Sodi’s company, Blackhead Consulting, has still not been blacklisted by National Treasury from doing business with the state. This is despite a request from the City of Tshwane in February. The company was part of a joint venture contracted in 2019 to upgrade the metro’s Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant. The 295-million-rand tender was found to be irregular and five senior metro officials have been suspended. Corruption Watch says blacklisting of companies involved in irregular procurement should be a straightforward administrative function.

# Western Cape premier Alan Winde says the challenges at the port of Cape Town are concerning. This is despite the port moving off the port congestion top 30 watch list of the global vessel tracking platform, Linerlytica, improving to position 50 this week. This is from position 49 last week and 26 the previous week. Winde says a functional container terminal in the port over the next four years could translate into 5.6-billion-rand in economic growth, and 20-thousand new job opportunities:

# Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has announced that Eskom has provided uninterrupted electricity for 26 days. Updating the media on the implementation of the energy action plan, the minister credited an increase in planned maintenance and improved performance of generational units. He cautions while the country is closer to ending load-shedding, the system remains vulnerable:

# The Israeli military has announced that the chief of its intelligence directorate has resigned after taking responsibility for failures leading to the unprecedented attack by Hamas on 7 October last year. Major General Aharon Haliva is the first high-ranking official to step down for failing to prevent the attack that shocked Israel and the international community. In his resignation letter, Haliva took responsibility for failing to prevent the attack.

# Tennis: Iga Swiatek from Poland is celebrating a hundred weeks of being world number one today. This put her ninth on the all-time list. But there are a few players knocking on the door, such as Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who beat her in the semifinals of the Stuttgart Open last week. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus briefly took over as world number one in September last year, while American Coco Gauff is also a serious contender. The WTA tour goes to Spain for the Madrid Open this week.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-8-cents and the euro at 20-rand-34-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-58-cents and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-967-dollars-13-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-361-dollars-6-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-61-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….