News 09:00

BULLETIN 4 February 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister De Lille says trade and tourism with Singapore have strengthened
# GOOD says excluding smaller parties won’t stop bigger parties from appointing poor mayors
# And, Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, has been shot dead in Libya

# Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille says South Africa is strengthening its tourism growth strategy through investment promotion, improved air connectivity and visa reforms, as the country deepens engagement with key Asian markets. The minister concluded the Singapore leg of the department’s South-East Asia outreach programme on Tuesday. Last year, South Africa reached a record-breaking tourist season, with 10.48-million international arrivals between January and December of 2025, of which over nine-thousand-827 were from Singapore. De Lille says her visit has enabled the two countries to deepen trade and tourism cooperation.

# The GOOD Party says the DA’s proposal to introduce an electoral threshold to prevent smaller parties from gaining representation in city councils is an affront to the Constitution. The DA says the current electoral rules for municipal councils have led to a plethora of smaller parties, which obtain a fraction of the votes in a municipality, thereby becoming kingmakers in forming coalitions. GOOD’s secretary-general Brett Herron says this proposal will infringe on the rights of citizens to establish new political parties:

# The general industries union, Giwusa, says the state’s fuel pricing system is protecting corporate profiteers rather than workers. While this month sees petrol and diesel prices fall, the union warns the relief is temporary, controlled by global speculation, with the way fuel is priced still driving costs up. Giwusa’s Mametlwe Sebei says the government should take control of refineries and the energy sector, to protect citizens from volatile prices and corporate greed:

# Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed in Libya. The 53-year-old was reportedly killed in his home in the city of Zintan. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was long seen as the most influential and feared figure in the country after his father, who ruled Libya from 1969 until being ousted and killed during an uprising in 2011. In 2021, he announced he would run for the presidency in the elections, which were then postponed indefinitely.

# Soccer: Arsenal have moved a step closer to winning their first major silverware since 2020 by beating Chelsea 4-2 on aggregate in the Carabao Cup semifinal. Carrying a 3-2 advantage from the first leg, the Gunners were tested in the second leg, but it was Kai Havertz’s stoppage-time goal that sealed the victory for Mikel Arteta’s side. Arsenal will face either Manchester City or Newcastle in next month’s final at Wembley. Arteta says they deserved to make the final:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-94-cents and the euro at 18-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-83-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 76-thousand-642-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-63-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-52-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….