News 09:00

BULLETIN 6 September 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Cosatu appeals to the Justice minister to come clean amidst VBS allegations

# FF Plus says it remains committed to the coalition government in Tshwane

# And, Tennis: Sabalenka to face Pegula in the US Open women’s final

# Cosatu says minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Thembi Simelane, must do the right thing and give a full account of her involvement in the demise of the now debunked VBS Mutual bank. She is set to appear before Parliament today, to account for allegations that she received more than half a million rand from an organisation that brokered unlawful investments with VBS. This was when she was the Polokwane mayor. Cosatu’s, Zanele Sabela, says Simelane needs to be transparent with the public:

# Airports Company South Africa says despite operating in a relatively challenging global economic environment, it has posted an after-tax profit of 472-million-rand for the 2023/2024 financial year. This is against a 466-million-rand loss in 2023. The company’s revenue increased by 16-percent to seven-billion-rand from the six-billion-rand reported in the previous financial year. Speaking to the SABC, Acsa CEO, Mpumi Mpofu, says one of the factors behind this financial performance is the airline traffic growth:

# The Freedom Front Plus says it remains committed to the existing coalition government in the City of Tshwane, and will do everything to cooperate with coalition partners to fulfil the mandate given to it by voters. The party says many of the challenges faced by the coalition have been years in the making and solving them will require patience, teamwork, and stability. It is calling on its coalition partners, particularly ActionSA, to band together, create the necessary stability and demonstrate their commitment to the task at hand.

# Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov says his arrest in France last week was surprising and misguided. He has been charged with facilitating criminal activities on the messaging platform. The Russian-born billionaire, who is also a French national, is accused of operating a platform that is being used for child sexual abuse material and by organised crime gangs, for drug trafficking and fraud. Durov, who is out on bail, says any suggestion that Telegram was an anarchic paradise is false.

# Tennis: World number two Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will face American Jessica Pegula in the US Open women’s final tomorrow. Sabalenka, last year’s runner-up, defeated American Emma Navarro, 6-3, 7-6, to become the first woman to reach back-to-back US Open finals since Serena Williams. Pegula beat Czech’s Karolina Muchova, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, to make her first Grand Slam final. Sabalenka says the match was tough but she is happy to be in the final again:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-69-cents and the euro at 19-rand-68-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-33-cents and Bitcoin trades at 56-thousand-660-dollars-51-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-519-dollars-30-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-65-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….