News 11:00

BULLETIN 22 October 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Lamola says South Africa is in a difficult position between China and the US
# Coca-Cola creates Africa’s biggest beverages group
# And rugby: Ireland’s scrum coach is not worried about their form before their All Blacks’ clash

# International Relations and Cooperation minister, Ronald Lamola, admits that the US-China trade war has put South Africa in a difficult position, balancing between its two biggest trade partners. China overtook the US as South Africa’s largest trading partner in 2008, with South Africa becoming China’s biggest market in Africa. Lamola says America is pushing for South Africa to choose between the two countries, but government will not submit to the pressure:

# Swiss-based Coca-Cola HBC AG has bought a majority stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa for 45-billion-rand, to create the second-largest bottling partner for the fizzy drink by volume globally. Coca-Cola HBC, founded in 1951 in Nigeria as the Nigerian Bottling Company, now headquartered in Switzerland, operates in 29 countries on three continents. The group will buy 75-percent of Johannesburg-based CCBA, adding 14 African markets to its portfolio. Coca-Cola HBC CEO, Zoran Bogdanovic, says the acquisition is about growth, and jobs won’t be affected in South Africa.

# Crime expert Calvin Rafadi has resigned as a research associate at the University of Johannesburg following damning allegations presented before the Madlanga commission. A protected witness, identified only as Witness X, testified that Rafadi allegedly solicited financial favours from attempted murder-accused businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala. According to the witness, Rafadi returned the favour by contributing to a media narrative that suited Matlala regarding the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team. Rafadi has denied the allegations, saying he intends to provide the commission with his version of events.

# The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has extended the deadline for written submissions and supporting evidence regarding the market inquiry into the impact of fixed charges being levied by Eskom and municipal electricity distributors. The inquiry’s purpose is to evaluate how fixed and capacity-based charges are structured and applied across the electricity distribution sector, and their impact. This is particularly in instances where increases have exceeded Eskom’s approved 12.74-percent tariff adjustments. Nersa’s Charles Hlebela says the deadline is now November 8:

# Rugby: Ireland’s scrum coach, John Fogarty, says they are not worried about the team’s form before next weekend’s Test against the All Blacks in Chicago in the US. Ireland last played a Test during the Six Nations, although most of their players were involved in the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia. The All Blacks just came off a competitive Rugby Championship against winners South Africa, Australia and Argentina. Fogarty says a Test against the Kiwis is the perfect challenge to sharpen Ireland’s focus.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-37-cents and the euro at 20-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-15-cents and Bitcoin trades at 107-thousand-766-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-135-dollars-24-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 62-dollars-10-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….