News 15:00

BULLETIN 11 August 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA unveils a six-point plan to turbocharge South Africa’s economy
# SARS has revealed that taxpayers owe over 500-billion-rand to the fiscus
# And rugby: Siya Kolisi leads the Boks against the Wallabies in the number 8 jersey

# The DA has launched a six-point plan aimed at reviving the struggling economy, creating jobs, and attracting investment. Party leader John Steenhuisen told the media the blueprint targets key obstacles to growth, including the repeal of broad-based black economic empowerment, the Employment Equity Act, and the Expropriation Act. Steenhuisen says the plan focuses on cutting red tape, fixing the electricity crisis, upgrading rail, ports and digital infrastructure, reforming public spending, and stabilising local government:

# Revenue Service deputy commissioner Johnstone Makhubu has revealed that taxpayers owe over 500-billion-rand to the fiscus. Speaking at the 12th South African Institute of Taxation conference in Boksburg, he stressed the need to intensify domestic resource mobilisation and embrace digitalisation and artificial intelligence to meet growing revenue demands. Makhubu warned of challenges from an aging workforce, urging new talent recruitment. He calls for increased investment in tax administration capacity:

# The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, in partnership with the Pan African Collective for Evidence, has launched South Africa’s first artificial intelligence-powered Living Evidence Map to fight gender-based violence and femicide. Pan African Collective for Evidence’s Andile Madonsela says the platform centralises and updates research in real-time, helping policymakers and activists drive effective interventions. She affirmed that it honours frontline resilience and urgent, evidence-driven change to end GBV:

# Rugby: Springbok captain Siya Kolisi will play in the number eight jersey in Saturday’s Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. This will be the first time he leads the team from the back of the scrum. Aphelele Fassi will start at fullback, André Esterhyuizen at inside centre and Manie Libbok at flyhalf. Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager partner in the second row. Bok coach Rassie Erasmus expects a challenging test against Australia, who beat the British and Irish Lions recently.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-74-cents and the euro at 20-rand-65-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-84-cents and Bitcoin trades at 120-thousand-651-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-352-dollars-58-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-55-cents a barrel.

# And finally: New Line’s mystery horror Weapons won over critics and audiences alike at the weekend, as it debuted at number one in the North American box office. The movie starring Julia Garner and Josh Brolin is about a group of missing children. Disney’s Freakier Friday starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis premiered at number two. Disney and Marvel’s superhero film The Fantastic Four: First Steps dropped to third. Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys 2 and Paramount’s The Naked Gun rounded out the top five.

Stay tuned for more news………….