News 07:00

BULLETIN 20 February 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says the successes of the government of national unity are the achievements of the collective
# The Competition Commission prosecutes PG Glass and Glasfit
# And, Donald Trump says the Board of Peace will be ‘looking over’ the United Nations

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says no minister or deputy minister should be claiming their work in the government of national unity as an achievement of their party. He gave his reply to the debate on his State of the Nation Address. This comes as DA leader John Steenhuisen stated that much of the progress made in the GNU bears the unmistakable imprint of his party’s principled participation, which had injected competence, fiscal discipline, and pro-growth policies. Ramaphosa says in Cabinet, there are no parties:

# The Competition Commission has referred two automotive glass companies, PG Glass and Glasfit, to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution over alleged price fixing. The companies are accused of agreeing to increase glass prices annually since 2004, which has affected customers and insurance firms. The commission’s Siyabulela Makunga says the alleged cartel harmed fair competition and the commission is seeking penalties of up to ten-percent of the companies’ turnover.

# The DA has criticised the ANC-led City of Tshwane for its agreement with trade unions over the one-billion-rand in backdated salaries, saying this will impact service delivery. In 2022, the metro reneged on implementing a previously agreed-upon 3.5-percent salary increase for its workers, citing financial difficulties. Following years of litigation, Tshwane has agreed to pay the increase. The DA’s Jacqui Uys says the savings used to pay for this deal are at the expense of employing fewer frontline service delivery employees:

# US president Donald Trump says his Board of Peace plans to work very closely with the United Nations moving forward. At least 20 countries represented by their heads of state or by foreign ministers and envoys attended the inaugural summit for the Trump-chaired Board of Peace in Washington. Several allied countries, including the Vatican, have avoided joining the board because it could usurp the UN’s power. Trump says what they are doing is very simple, peace:

# Cricket: The T20 World Cup reaches the end of the group phase today, with Australia hoping to end on a high with victory over Oman in Pallekele. The 2021 champion was already eliminated after losing two of its first three matches. The Super Eights stage starts in Colombo tomorrow when Pakistan and New Zealand will do battle. South Africa faces India in Ahmedabad on Sunday. The top-two teams in each group qualify for the semifinals. The final will be played on the eighth of next month.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-15-cents and the euro at 19-rand. One British pound costs 21-rand-73-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-169-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-999-dollars-90-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-43-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The disgraced former prince Andrew has become the first senior British royal in modern history to be arrested since King Charles the First in 1647.  Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on his birthday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, linked to revelations in the Epstein files. Princess Anne became the first royal to be convicted of a criminal offence in 2002, for having a dog dangerously out of control. Prince Philip was spoken to by police in 2019 after a car crash and driving without a seatbelt, but he was not arrested.

Stay tuned for more news………….