News 15:00

BULLETIN NEWS AGENCY 27 August 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Auditor-General warns financial mismanagement and poor service delivery persist in municipalities 
# Nersa promises transparency in considering Eskom’s multi-year price determination application
# And, rugby: Jasper Wiese returns as the Boks make nine changes for the All Blacks clash

# Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke has warned that financial mismanagement and poor service delivery continue to plague municipalities. Her 2022-’23 audit report reveals that many municipalities remain unable to manage their finances effectively, leading to wasted resources, infrastructure neglect, and declining living conditions. The majority of municipalities still struggle with delivering essential services like water, sanitation, and electricity. Maluleke told Parliament the direct impact of failures in the metros are reflected in the lives of citizens: 

# The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has confirmed that it received Eskom’s sixth multiyear price determination application. The application covers the next three financial years. The submission did not disclose details, noting that unbundled tariffs for generation, distribution, and transmission were included. Nersa states that all regulatory processes, including public consultations, will be followed with transparency. Public comments will be invited after Nersa assesses the application’s compliance.

# The City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre is monitoring any potential incidents related to the current bad weather. Spokesperson Charlotte Powell says according to the South African Weather Service, the rainfall and wind gusts being experienced across the metropole will start easing off in the early hours of tomorrow. She says city services are on standby to attend to any problems that may arise:

# Rugby: Jasper Wiese makes his first appearances of the season as Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus rang the changes for the Rugby Championship Test against New Zealand in Johannesburg on Saturday. There are nine changes to the team that defeated the Wallabies in Perth, but only three changes to the match day squad that opened the series against the Aussies. Wiese is back from suspension while Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortjé will play in the second row as a result of injuries to six other locks.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-74-cents and the euro at 19-rand-82-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-46-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-428-dollars-67-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-510-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-5-cents a barrel.

# And, finally: Turkey’s Istanbul Airport is the world’s best-connected airport, according to new data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. The airport operates 309 nonstop flights to destinations around the world, most of which are with Turkish Airlines, which serves more countries than any other airline. It is also the seventh busiest airport in the world, with around 90 million passengers a year passing through. Second on Cirium’s list is the Frankfurt Airport in Germany with Paris Charles de Gaulle in third.

Stay tuned for more news………….