News 14:00

BULLETIN 4 September 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Public confidence in the government of national unity declined to pre-election levels despite initial optimism
# Five suspects are to be prosecuted over the deadly Jagersfontein tailings dam disaster
# And scores of people died in a boat disaster in Nigeria

# A new Ipsos survey reveals eight in ten South Africans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, despite initial optimism after the formation of the government of national unity last year. While 42-percent say GNU parties are working well together, almost six in ten remain unhappy with municipal services, especially in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Over half of South Africans support inter-party cooperation in local government, hinting voters may favour parties that govern collaboratively ahead of the local government elections.

# Government has confirmed that criminal proceedings are set to commence next week against five suspects in connection with the 2022 Jagersfontein tailings dam disaster in the Free State. Three people died when the dam wall broke. Department of Water and Sanitation’s spokesperson, Wisane Mavasa, says the five suspects, who are employed by an engineering company, will face charges of murder, malicious damage to property and contravention of the Health and Safety Act:

# Cosatu is urging the South African Social Security Agency to reconsider its phasing out of the Postbank as a service provider for social grant payments. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says the federation is extremely dismayed by SASSA’s announcement that they intend to end the Postbank’s participation in processing social grant payments to millions of recipients in favour of private banks:

Moving abroad:

# At least 29 people have died in Nigeria’s northern Niger state after a boat carrying about 100 people sank in a river. However, a local official told Reuters the death toll had risen to 60. Officials say the reportedly overloaded boat capsized when it struck a submerged tree stump. Boat accidents are fairly common in Nigeria, often due to overloading, poor regulation and inadequate safety precautions. In December last year, 54 bodies were recovered from the River Niger after a boat with more than 200 passengers capsized.

# Tennis: Novak Djokovic hopes to be fit enough to properly compete with young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal of the US Open. The 38-year-old Serbian looked in superb form throughout the tournament, including his victory over fourth-seeded American Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinal. But the 22-year-old world number two is the red-hot favourite to deny Djokovic his quest for a record 25th Grand Slam title. Djokovic realises it won’t be easy, but will try his best to be ready for a potential five-set battle.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-78-cents and the euro at 20-rand-72-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-90-cents and Bitcoin trades at 111-thousand-49-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-539-dollars-63-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….