News 13:00

BULLETIN 17 July 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Cosatu has high expectations for Ramaphosa’s opening of Parliament address
# Medical experts urge the Transport minister to resolve the RAF payment crisis
# And, soccer: Mbappé has been officially unveiled as a Real Madrid player

# Cosatu says it has high expectations for president Cyril Ramaphosa’s opening of Parliament address tomorrow evening. It says this provides him the opportunity to outline the key priorities and policies of the seventh administration, made up of several political parties in the government of national unity. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says key areas government needs to focus on include economic growth and assistance for Eskom to end load-shedding:

# Experts from various medical fields, owed for up to seven years by the Road Accident Fund, have appealed to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy for urgent intervention. They accuse the RAF of negligence, citing unpaid claims totaling over 150-million-rand. Despite their crucial role in court assessments, the RAF denies liability, alleging improper engagements by former attorneys. The medical practitioners claim this has led to financial ruin, urging the ministry to address the fund’s failures urgently.

# The Unemployment Insurance Fund says it intends to spend over 7.7-billion-rand on several government agencies to implement interventions that will create employment opportunities. This is part of the fund’s partnership with government institutions to create more than 234-thousand job opportunities. The UIF’s spokesperson, Trevor Hattingh, says apart from working with private businesses through the Labour Activation Programme, they will also leverage existing government programmes and interventions to reduce unemployment:

# ActionSA says it will request an investigation into WesBank from the Prudential Authority. Earlier this year, a former employee of the bank exposed how the finance provider allegedly used a specific system to overcharge black clients. Wesbank has strongly denied the allegations. ActionSA’s Lerato Ngobeni says Wesbank needs to be held accountable if found guilty:

# Soccer: French superstar Kylian Mbappé was officially unveiled as a Real Madrid player, telling 80-thousand fans at a packed Santiago Bernabau stadium his dream has come true. The striker signed a five-year contract. The club is hoping to offset his salary of around 295-million-rand per season and a signing bonus of more than 1.9-billion-rand, through sponsorship deals and merchandise sales. Mbappé hopes the move will finally see him win a Champions League and the Ballon d’Or, two of his lifelong objectives.

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-14-cents and the euro at 19-rand-85-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-65-cents and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-345-dollars-46-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-472-dollars-55-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….