News 14:00

BULLETIN 29 August 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The state urges the court to proceed with the scheduled arms deal trial dates despite Zuma’s ongoing recusal efforts
# The ConCourt dismisses Shell’s appeal over Wild Coast exploration rights
# And, rugby: The Stormers will kick off their Champions Cup campaign against Toulon in Gqeberha

# State prosecutor Billy Downer has urged the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, to proceed with the scheduled arms deal trial dates, despite former president Jacob Zuma’s ongoing efforts to have him removed. Zuma’s legal team has recently sought to appeal Judge Nkosinathi Chili’s refusal to remove Downer and demanded reasons for the judge’s decision. Downer argues the trial should go ahead as planned from April next year: 

# The Constitutional Court has dismissed Shell and Impact Africa’s appeal against a ruling that annulled their exploration rights off the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast. The court determined the application had no reasonable prospects of success. The court is expected to hear the local communities’ concerns regarding government’s consideration of the renewal application. The communities argue that the previous rulings fail to protect their rights, emphasising inadequate public consultation.

# Potatoes SA data indicates that South African potato prices have increased by 15-percent in just a week, following severe black frost damage to crops in Limpopo – a major producing region. The data shows the average price of a ten-kilogram bag rose to over 85-rand, and even to 100-rand in Mbombela in Mpumalanga, and in Cape Town. The report indicates that this spike comes despite a general slowdown in food inflation, highlighting the impact of adverse weather on staple food supplies in the country.

# Rugby: The Stormers will face French team Toulon in Gqeberha at the start of the new Champions Cup season. The match will be played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on the seventh of December. The game had been moved from the Cape Town Stadium because the South African leg of the world sevens series is taking place at the venue that weekend. The Stormers also played the Dragons in the Eastern Cape two years ago, and coach John Dobson says that was a fantastic experience.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-69-cents and the euro at 19-rand-62-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-32-cents and Bitcoin trades at 59-thousand-785-dollars-15-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-522-dollars-51-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

# And finally, the Human Sciences Research Council has revealed that Limpopo had one of the lowest HIV prevalence rates among South African provinces in 2022. The rate went down to 8.9-percent from 10.1-percent in 2017. This indicates that approximately 570-thousand people are living with HIV in Limpopo, a two-percent decrease from the 580-thousand reported in 2017. Professor Khangelani Zuma says there are some factors that could be responsible for the decline:

Stay tuned for more news………….