News 17:00

BULLETIN 18 March 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The KleuterZone preschool group is provisionally liquidated after claims of financial distress
# Rugby: The Stormers get Willemse and Feinberg-Mngomezulu back for the United Rugby Championship tour
# And the last surviving pilot of the Battle of Britain dies

# An early childhood education group, KleuterZone, founded by singer Anthonie Bougas, has been placed into provisional liquidation by the High Court in Pretoria. This follows claims by an investor that the company is financially troubled. According to News24, the company, which operates 80 schools nationwide, offered investors opportunities in franchises and share purchases. Several KleuterZone-branded schools have distanced themselves, claiming to operate independently. The company will return to court on 14 May to try to avoid final liquidation.

# RISE Mzansi is calling for an investigation into over three-thousand-400 licences issued to artisanal and small-scale miners over the past five years. The party is concerned about the growing issue of illegal mining, which continues to claim lives and rob the government of revenue. A joint parliamentary committee meeting is discussing tackling illegal mining. RISE Mzansi’s Makashule Gana advocates for an electronic licence tracking system to speed up licensing and boost mining investment:

# The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has denied claims of a misconduct crisis at South Africa’s Sanae Four research base in Antarctica. This follows reports of an alleged assault between two team members, but the department confirmed no one was sent back to Cape Town and all evaluations showed no major concerns. Minister Dion George also clarified that claims of sexual assault are false, and an investigation into harassment is ongoing:

# Rugby: A 30-player Stormers squad leaves Cape Town today for a two-match United Rugby Championship tour, which will see them face Scarlets in Wales on Saturday and Ulster in Northern Ireland next Friday. Lock Connor Evans and backs Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Suleiman Hartzenberg and Damian Willemse all make their return from injury, while outside back Luke Burger is the only uncapped player in the group. Ben-Jason Dixon and Stefan Ungerer are out injured and prop Neethling Fouché will welcome the arrival of his second child this week.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-5-cents and the euro at 19-rand-70-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-40-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-298-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-and-34-dollars-78-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-32-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, John Hemingway, has died aged 105. He joined the Royal Air Force as a teenager and during World War Two was a member of the pilot’s squadron that shot down 90 enemy aircraft during an 11-day period in May 1940. The pilots became known as “The Few” after a speech by British premier Winston Churchill. The Air Force says his passing is a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by those who fought for freedom during the war.

Stay tuned for more news………….