News 07:00

BULLETIN 1 October 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Tau says South Africa’s priority is to get AGOA extended even for a short period
# Eskom posts its first profit in eight years
# And, the UN chief urges all parties to commit to the Gaza 20-point peace plan

# Trade, Industry, and Competition minister Parks Tau says he remains optimistic about the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This is despite AGOA officially expiring yesterday. Renewal is critical for South Africa as AGOA accounts for over 69-billion-rand in exports to the US, which represents 28-percent of all SA-US trade. Tau says there remains broad support for the renewal of AGOA. He, however, adds that questions remain on the period of renewal, the timing of when the Agoa will be renewed, and the legislative vehicle for renewal.

Meanwhile, the Motor Industry Staff Association says South Africa acted too late to secure new trade deals with the US as the African Growth and Opportunity Act expired yesterday. They warn that this failure will worsen job losses in the retail motor industry, where retrenchments are already rising. The association’s spokesperson Sonja Carstens says efforts by president Cyril Ramaphosa and Trade, Industry and Competition minister Parks Tau to save the deal, failed:

# Eskom has posted an after-tax profit of 16-billion-rand for the full year ending March 2025, its first return to profitability in eight years. This is up from the 55-billion-rand loss recorded in the previous year. The power utility has attributed its return to profit in large part to its unpopular 12.74-percent standard tariff increase, debt relief support, and a 14-percent reduction in primary energy costs. Eskom chief executive Dan Marokane says they are reinvesting profits back into national assets:

# The DA is urging the City of Tshwane to stop defending the cleansing levy in court and halt credit control on affected accounts. DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink says 783-thousand-rand of taxpayers’ money has already been spent, despite the court ruling that the levy was not legally justified. He highlights ongoing double billing issues and calls for the City to resolve the billing crisis before taking further action:

# The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has welcomed US president Donald Trump’s Gaza peace deal proposal, urging all parties to commit to its implementation. The 20-point peace plan includes an end to fighting, the return of the hostages, and the creation of an international Board of Peace to help run Gaza. Guterres says the priority must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by the devastating conflict since the 7 October attacks. He has also reiterated his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

# Cricket: India got their Women’s World Cup campaign off to a winning start, defeating Sri Lanka by 59 runs in a rain-affected match in Guwahati. A 103-run seventh-wicket stand between Deepti Sharma and Amanjot Kaur, who both scored half-centuries, helped the hosts post 269 for eight from 47 overs, with three overs lost to rain delays. Inoka Ranaweera was the pick of the bowlers, taking four wickets. In reply, Sri Lanka’s target was revised to 271, but they were bowled out for 211 in the 46th over.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-26-cents and the euro at 20-rand-26-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-20-cents and Bitcoin trades at 114-thousand-278-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-864-dollars-89-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-3-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….