News 15:00

BULLETIN 14 January 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Steenhuisen seeks a national disaster declaration amid the foot-and-mouth outbreak
# The gold price hits an all-time high
# And motorsport: Doohan ends his contract with Alpine

# Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen will table to cabinet the need to declare the foot-and-mouth outbreak a national disaster as the disease escalates in various provinces. During a media briefing, Steenhuisen announced a mass vaccination campaign, and expects one-million vaccine doses within two weeks, pending regulatory approval for import of unregistered vaccines. He emphasised a declaration will mobilise law enforcement to curb animal movement to halt the spread of the disease:

Meanwhile, agricultural body TLU SA says further increases to South Africa’s minimum wage could worsen job losses, mechanisation, and poverty, particularly in agriculture and small businesses. Spokesperson Bennie van Zyl says rising labour costs amid weak economic growth, high unemployment, and soaring input costs threaten sustainable employment. He calls for wage determination that considers market forces, sector differences, and alternative state support to protect jobs and economic growth:

# Former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane has urged Parliament’s ad hoc committee on alleged policie corruption to allow adequate time for him to fully address issues raised in his affidavit. Phahlane says rushing the process would undermine justice. He also raised concern that he was never granted an opportunity to testify at the Zondo Commission, despite submitting an affidavit on matters that remain relevant:

# Major South African export, gold, climbed to a record high of over four-thousand-600-dollar per fine ounce this morning. This lifted the rand in early trade, while global markets continued to assess key US inflation indicators which could offer more clues on the Federal Reserve’s plans on interest rates. Research director at BullionVault, Adrian Ash, says the gold price has risen more than 68-percent since New Year’s Day – the highest increase since 1979. Investors also see gold as a safe haven in times of geo-political tensions.

# Motorsport: Australian driver Jack Doohan is free to pursue other opportunities after ending his contract with Alpine’s Formula One team. He lost his racing seat to Argentinian Franco Colapinto after just six races last year, but stayed on as reserve driver. The 22-year-old and the team now reached a mutual agreement to not continue his driving services this season. Alpine decided to stick with Colapinto, despite him not earning any points in 18 races last year. He will again partner with Frenchman Pierre Gasly.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-40-cents and the euro at 19-rand-10-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-5-cents and Bitcoin trades at 94-thousand-759-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-626-dollars-6-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-75-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….