News 13:00

BULLETIN 16 February 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Madlanga commission postpones witness F’s testimony due to medical concerns
# Large-scale diesel users will benefit from SARS’ diesel refund scheme
# And rugby: England drops to fourth in the world rankings after their slip-up at Murrayfield

# The Madlanga commission probing alleged political interference in the justice system has postponed the testimony of Witness F to next month after he was hospitalised. Chief evidence leader, Matthew Chaskalson, says an application for postponement was supported by a medical certificate. Although the witness requested an open-ended delay, chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga ruled the matter be postponed to a date which is currently the final scheduled day of proceedings:

Meanwhile, the Soil of Africa Movement says the vetting of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department in Gauteng needs to be fair and transparent. Testimony before the Madlanga commission revealed serious misconduct in the department. City manager Kagiso Lerutla is overseeing the annual criminal record vetting process which will be implemented through a phased approach to ensure operational continuity. Spokesperson Bongani Ramontja says it’s important to strengthen the EMPD’s credibility:

# The Revenue Service has informed large-scale diesel users in the farming, forestry, and mining sectors they will be able to claim refunds on 100-percent of the eligible diesel used in qualifying activities, from April. This is up from 80-percent before. SARS is currently working on upgrading its systems for the change. The new rate, effective from the April return, will reflect only from the calendar month when a VAT return must be submitted, which is May.

Moving abroad:

# The FBI believes a glove recovered near Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Arizona, represents a pivotal development in her missing case. The 84-year-old mother of US news anchor Savannah Guthrie went missing from her home two weeks ago. The FBI says DNA recovered from the glove is undergoing forensic testing in an effort to identify a potential suspect. Guthrie says the family still has hope for her mother’s return:

# Rugby: France replaced England in third place in the world rankings after the English yet again fell to Scotland at their home ground of Murrayfield in the capital of Edinburgh. The 31-20 Six Nations loss benefitted the defending champion despite not earning any ranking points by routing Wales 54-12. The Springboks and the All Blacks are still in the top-two positions. Ireland is fifth after beating Italy, followed by Argentina, Australia and Fiji. Scotland is ninth, and Italy tenth.  

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-91-cents and the euro at 18-rand-88-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-74-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-889-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-and-12-dollars-60-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-19-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….