News 14:00

BULLETIN 26 August 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa reassigns state-owned enterprises to respective ministries
# ActionSA files an urgent complaint against the Justice minister over a dodgy VBS broker loan
# And, tennis: The US Open gets going at Flushing Meadows in New York today

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has reassigned state-owned enterprises from the Public Enterprises Department to relevant ministries. Eskom is under the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, South African Airways goes to the Ministry of Transport, and Denel to the Ministry of Defence. Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says the minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, will finalise the National State Enterprise Bill for phased transitions:

# ActionSA has filed an urgent Public Protector complaint against the minister of Justice, Thembi Simelane. This follows revelations that during her tenure as mayor of the Polokwane Municipality in Limpopo, she personally took a loan from the same investment brokerage that facilitated the unlawful investment of 349-million-rand from the municipality into the now-collapsed VBS Mutual Bank. ActionSA’s Athol Trollip says the party will also inform president Cyril Ramaphosa of this complaint:

# Cosatu has welcomed progress made in preparation for the implementation of the two-pot pension reforms on 1 September.  Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says millions of workers have been waiting for this day and are looking forward to being able to access a limited portion of their pension funds.  He says negotiations inevitably involve a give and take, and compromises:

# The National Informal Traders Alliance of South Africa urges the seventh administration to restart the legislative process for the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill from scratch. NITASA argues that reintroducing the bill without proper review ignores democratic principles, calling for an assessment of its impact on informal traders amid the rising illegal tobacco trade. The organisation’s Rosheda Muller also calls for discussions at the National Economic Development and Labour Council to ensure broader stakeholder engagement. 

# Tennis: The final Grand Slam tournament of the your, the US Open, starts at Flushing Meadows in New York today. Among the women’s favourites are the top-two seeds, Iga Swiatek of Poland and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. Swiatek starts her quest for a sixth Grand Slam title against Kamilla Rakhinova of Russia, while two-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka will face Priscilla Hon of Australia. Defending men’s champion and second seed, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, plays Radu Albot of Moldovia in the first round.

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-72-cents and the euro at 19-rand-81-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-38-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-971-dollars-74-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-524-dollars-31-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-19-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….