News 12:00

BULLETIN 4 September 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Fraud and corruption are blamed for the collapse of the Post Office
# Government addresses crime as it is a constraint for Chinese businesses to invest in South Africa
# And, soccer: Themba Zwane will captain Bafana Bafana in two Afcon qualifiers

# Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi says fraud and corruption have led to the collapse of the South African Post Office. The state-owned entity needs a 3.8-billion-rand bailout from government to meet its business rescue plan’s needs and to keep operating. Malatsi says forensic investigators who probed the Post Office uncovered gross financial mismanagement and several cases will be referred to the Special Investigating Unit:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa and China have vibrant, diverse, and growing economies, with a wealth of opportunities for businesses wishing to expand into new markets. He addressed the South Africa-China Business Forum in Beijing today. Bilateral trade between the two countries has increased by a third since 2019. Ramaphosa says the government of national unity has embarked on a journey of reforms to attract more investments, with addressing crime as one of the priorities:

# Salvage companies under the protection of European Union military forces are trying to prevent one of the world’s largest environment disasters. Houthi rebels bombed the Greek-owned tanker MV Sounion in the Red Sea two weeks ago, and several fires are still burning on the main deck. The vessel carries about a million barrels of crude oil. BBC News reports the US State Department as saying a spill could be four times as large as the Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska in 1989.

# Soccer: Mamelodi Sundowns’ veteran midfield maestro, Themba Zwane, will captain Bafana Bafana for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Uganda and South Sudan. Regular captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams is recovering from an injury. The national team starts their qualifiers against Uganda at Orlando Stadium on Friday and away to South Sudan on Tuesday. Bafana coach Hugo Broos wants players to rise to the occasion:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-94-cents and the euro at 19-rand-85-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-56-cents and Bitcoin trades at 56-thousand-752-dollars-85-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-480-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-5-cents a barrel.

# And finally, the first commander of the South African National Defence Force, Georg Meiring, has died at the age of 85. He was the chief of the Army from 1990 to ’93 and thereafter the first chief of the South African National Defence Force until 1998. Meiring, known as one of the so-called Big Five generals of the Border War era, was awarded the Order of the Star of South Africa in gold and received the Order of the Cloud and Banner 4th class from Taiwan.

Stay tuned for more news………….