News 08:00

BULLETIN 30 April 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says the bilateral relations between South Africa and Botswana are strong
# Consumers are encouraged to check that they are charged the correct VAT rate
# And tennis: Medvedev and Sabalenka are through to the quarterfinals in Madrid

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa and Botswana want to advance trade, investment, and good international relations. On Wednesday, he hosted Botswana’s president, Duma Boko, at Mahlamba Ndlopfu, his official residence in Pretoria. Ramaphosa says bilateral relations between the two countries are strong and cover a wide spectrum of areas, including political, economic, environmental, science and technology, social, defence, and security cooperation:

# Parliament maintains that the processes followed in adopting the 2025 fiscal framework were not unlawful and procedurally defective, as they complied with the Constitution. National Treasury has been sent back to the drawing board by the Western Cape High Court after it set aside the fiscal framework. This follows the reversal of the 0.5-percent value-added tax hike. Parliament’s spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, says they are actively engaging with the government to finalise an appropriate date for the tabling of the revised national budget:

Meanwhile Government is urging consumers to check that they are charged the correct value-added tax rate of 15-percent on all goods and services from tomorrow. Government Communication and Information System’s spokesperson, Kgomotso Ranoto, says vendors are expected to charge VAT at the rate of 15-percent and not 15.5-percent for the relevant goods and services as per the VAT Act:

# Higher Education minister, Nobuhle Nkabane, says the timely disbursement of Technical and Vocational Education and Training allowances, and the NSFAS appeals process are paramount towards a streamlined and transparent funding process. This is after recent delays in the disbursement of TVET student allowances, which were scheduled for 25 April but were affected by a system glitch. Nkabane says NSFAS is prioritising the settlement of all outstanding amounts from 2024 owed to students and accommodation providers.

# Tennis: Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo knocked out top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, 7-5, 6-3, to reach the Madrid Open quarterfinals. Ninth seed Russia’s Daniil Medvedev avoided an upset of his own as he advanced to the last eight by rallying past American Brandon Nakashima, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Norwegian Casper Ruud defeated American Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-4. In the women’s draw, world number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus progressed to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over American Peyton Stearns.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-55-cents and the euro at 21-rand-11-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 94-thousand-751-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-308-dollars-32-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 62-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….