News 18:00

BULLETIN 9 April 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA and the ANC meet to tackle the budget crisis
# Minister Leon Schreiber calls for electoral reform and stability
# And rugby: A lack of oversight in the 2023 World Cup left France’s governing body in financial difficulties

# ActionSA says it has concluded a productive meeting with the ANC’s national working committee delegation to address the national budget crisis. The two parties discussed alternatives to avoid a VAT increase, with both committed to shielding citizens from any rise before next month. The party’s Matthew George reiterated ActionSA’s commitment to resolving the budget crisis without letting internal power struggles within the government of national unity affect the public:

# Home Affairs minister Leon Schreiber says South Africa needs stronger electoral accountability and stability. Speaking at the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel’s meeting, he emphasized the need for reforms beyond the current coalition culture. Highlighting that multiparty government is now the norm, Schreiber called for legislative structural changes to support long-term governance and democratic resilience in the country:

# Solidarity’s Law Network has filed a court application against new black economic empowerment sector codes for the legal profession. They argue the codes, signed by Trade, Industry, and Competition minister Parks Tau in September, are illegal and unconstitutional and over-regulate the legal sector. Solidarity’s Riaan Visser believes the prescribed racial quotas for law firms limit freedom of choice and unfairly impact ownership and management structures:

# China has retaliated with an 84-percent tariff on US imports after Donald Trump’s 104-percent tariff on China kicked in. This has caused a further drop in European markets. The FTSE 100 index of the largest firms listed in the UK has dropped 3.3-percent so far today, while the German Dax as well as the French Cac 40 are down four-percent. Meanwhile the price of Brent crude oil has dropped to below 60-dollar a barrel at one stage, the lowest price since February 2021.

# Rugby: A French financial watchdog says major failures in the government’s oversight of the 2023 World Cup led to heavy losses which left the governing body in financial difficulty. The French Court of Accounts says the French Rugby Federation and the government have to bear some responsibility for a lack of control over the organisers. It says the tournament, which the Springboks won, was an undeniable success with the public, the media and in a sporting sense, but generated financial losses of up to 630-million-rand.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-79-cents and the euro at 21-rand-86-cents. One British pound costs 25-rand-25-cents and Bitcoin trades at 77-thousand-321-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-and-83-dollars-73-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 60-dollars-4-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….