News 11:00

BULLETIN 15 July 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says an accelerated effort is needed to make the country climate-resilient
# The Gauteng government is making progress in settling its part of the e-toll debt
# And rugby, five players are called up to the Springbok squad for the Test against Portugal

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says the increasing frequency of extreme weather events is a stark reminder that government needs to accelerate the pace of efforts to fight climate change. The Western Cape experienced severe storms in the past two weeks, while KwaZulu-Natal is battling wildfires. In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa says South Africa is undertaking a range of policies and programmes to both adapt to climate change and mitigate its impact. He says government is strengthening its efforts to make the economy and society more climate resilient.

# Mineral and Petroleum Resources minister Gwede Mantashe says his department is drafting amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. This is aimed at ensuring areas that have been identified as weak, and those that have been challenged legally, are strengthened against international best practice. Mantashe says it will also review the licensing regime to reduce red tape and improve the business environment for investors, while complying with South Africa’s social and economic fabric:

# Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile says the provincial government is making progress in securing the 12.9-billion-rand needed to settle its part of the e-toll debt. Government officially scrapped e-tolls earlier this year. The provincial government agreed to pay 30-percent of the almost 43-billion-rand debt and the National Treasury the remaining 70-percent owed to the South African National Roads Agency. Maile says they have different options for funding on the table:

# The security plans for America’s Republican national convention, which kicks off in Milwaukee today, are not changing. This is despite former president Donald Trump surviving an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Some 50-thousand people are expected to attend the four-day convention where Trump will formally be nominated as the Republican presidential nominee for the November elections. The convention’s coordinator for the Secret Service, Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, says they are confident in the security plans already in place:

# Rugby: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has called up five players to the squad for the Test against Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The new additions to the squad are loose forward Elrigh Louw, prop Ntuthuko Mchunu, and uncapped fullback Quan Horn, hooker André-Hugo Venter and loose forward Ruan Venter. Franco Mostert and Edwill van der Merwe have been ruled out due to injury while Damian de Allende has been granted leave from the camp due to personal reasons. The 41-man squad now features seven uncapped players.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-6-cents and the euro at 19-rand-66-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-42-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-929-dollars-10-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-403-dollars-44-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-85-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….