News 12:00

BULLETIN 2 September 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The FF Plus’s national chairperson resigns over a travel allowance repayment dispute
# Justice minister Simelane is to appear before the ANC’s integrity commission
# And, rugby: The Boks are in a good position in the Rugby Championship

# The Freedom Front Plus’s national chairperson, Anton Alberts, has resigned after the party’s federal council ordered him to repay over 100-thousand-rand. The payment relates to a disputed travel allowance claim to Parliament. Although Alberts denies wrongdoing, he says he chose to step down and repay the amount as a gift to the party to maintain unity. FF Plus member of Parliament, Wouter Wessels, confirmed the resignation and the repayment decision.

# ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says Justice and Constitutional Development minister, Thembi Simelane, will appear before the party’s integrity commission. This is over allegations that she received more than 500-thousand-rand from a company that brokered deals with VBS Mutual Bank, which led to its collapse. This was when she was Polokwane’s mayor. Simelane is also set to appear before Parliament’s portfolio committee on Justice on Friday. Mbalula told eNCA they are expecting a full report from Simelane on the allegations:

# The Department of Transport says Idemia Identity and Security South Africa has been appointed to produce new smart driving licence cards. Cabinet gave the go-ahead to produce a new driving license card in August 2022 already. The department’s spokesperson, Collen Msibi, says Idemia will enter into a service-level agreement with the department before commencing with its work to put in place the infrastructure and systems:

# Advocacy groups are concerned about the Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill. The legislation aims to regulate tobacco and vaping products more strictly. It has drawn criticism from advocacy groups such as the National Informal Traders Alliance of South Africa and Vaping Saved My Life. They argue that the bill could drive consumers to illicit markets and negatively impact around 2.2 million informal traders who rely on cigarette sales. The groups are also concerned about potential job losses and reduced tax revenue.

# Rugby: The Springboks remain the only undefeated team in the Rugby Championship after three rounds after beating beat New Zealand 31-27 at Ellis Park on Saturday. The Boks lead the competition with 14 points, followed by the All Blacks with six points, Argentina with five, and Australia with four. The Wallabies recorded their maiden win of the championship over the Pumas this weekend. Bok coach Rassie Erasmus says winning the championship is very important, but the focus now is on facing New Zealand again in Cape Town.

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-87-cents and the euro at 19-rand-79-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-49-cents and Bitcoin trades at 57-thousand-742-dollars-90-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-499-dollars-49-cent a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-71-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….