News 06:00

BULLETIN 25 April 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The South African Post Office temporarily halts retrenchments
# Louis Liebenberg’s election campaign faces a setback
# And rugby: The Junior Springboks depart for Australia for the Under 20 Rugby Championship

# The South African Post Office has agreed with unions to withdraw retrenchment notices for at least 12 months, saving roughly four-thousand-700 jobs. As part of the agreement, the Post Office’s business rescue practitioners have applied for relief from the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Temporary Employment Relief Scheme. The scheme would pay 75-percent of workers’ salaries, while the Post Office would still be responsible for paying 25-percent of wages. Rescue practitioner Anoosh Roopla says workers were still expected to remain at home pending the outcome of the UIF TERS application.

# Civil rights organisation AfriForum has submitted comments to the Department of Employment and Labour regarding draft regulations on proposed sectoral numerical race targets. These regulations, published in February, faced opposition for their specific race targets. AfriForum’s Ernst van Zyl proposes a fixed deadline for the termination of racially discriminatory legislation, arguing for its abolition in all facets of society. The public has until 2 May to submit comments:

# The DA says it is concerned about the state of the rule of law in the City of Johannesburg. This comes after a warrant of arrest for city manager Floyd Brink was defective and erroneous and could not be legally executed yesterday. The warrant relates to a legal matter between the city and a resident who’s disputing their utility account. The DA’s, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, says the city has now approached the courts to stay the execution of the warrant of arrest against Brink:

# A diamond dealer and independent candidate for Parliament, Louis Liebenberg, faces a setback in his election campaign as sheriffs raided his Cape Town house and Kempton Park offices to attach assets. News24 reports the raids, conducted following the liquidation of his company Tariomix, were aimed at locating assets to repay investors. The raids, coming shortly after Liebenberg’s party launch, raise questions about their impact on his campaign. Known for his support of economic reform and mineral wealth redistribution, Liebenberg pledged to work closely with former president Jacob Zuma’s MK party if elected.

# The US president Joe Biden has signed into law the 1.81-trillion-rand foreign aid package to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, saying this is a victory for world peace. The package includes legislation to confiscate Russian assets held by Western banks and new sanctions on Russia, Iran, and China. Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says the aid comes at a time when they badly need air defence systems and long-range capabilities. Biden says the US will send fresh weapons and equipment to Ukraine immediately:  

# Rugby: The Junior Springboks have left for Australia for the Under 20 Rugby Championship taking place in Queensland from next Thursday until the 12th of next month. They will face New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina’s young squads at the Sunshine Coast Stadium. The Baby Boks held a camp in Johannesburg to prepare for the tournament, which is the first of two international events they will participate in this year. The annual World Rugby Under-20 championship will be played in the Western Cape in June and July.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-22-cents and the euro at 20-rand-57-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-95-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-412-dollars-47-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-316-dollars-59-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 87-dollars-86-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….